| 释义 |
‖ rara avis|ˈrɛərə ˈeɪvɪs, ˈrɑːrə ˈævɪs|
Pl. rara avises, ‖ rarae aves.
[L., ‘rare bird’ (Juvenal Sat. vi. 165; cf. also Persius Sat. i. 46).]
1. A person of a type seldom encountered; an exceptional person, a paragon. Occas. without article.
1607G. Wilkins Miseries Inforst Mariage sig. A3v, And by that, thou hast beene married but three weekes, tho thou shouldst wed a Cynthia rara avis, thou wouldest be a man monstrous: A cuckold, a cuckold. [1654E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iv. xv. 251 But all to Donna Clara The judges daughter yield, shee's Avis rara.] 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. II. li. 166 Calling my Lord Strutwell by the appellations of Jewel, Phœnix, Rara avis. 1749Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. i. 150 A single instance..is not sufficient to justify us, while we are writing to thousands who never heard of the person, nor of any thing like him. Such Raræ Aves should be remitted to the epitaph-writer. 1813Southey Let. 30 Nov. (1856) II. 338, I sent them, thinking that a char in London must be like a tortoise-shell Tom cat, a rara avis. 1825Mill in Jrnl. Adult Educ. (1929) IV. 54 A good doubter may as yet be truly pronounced to be rara avis, etc. 1852‘G. Greenwood’ Haps & Mishaps (1854) iv. 91 A pretty Irish peasant girl we found the rarest of rara avises. 1892D. H. Tuke Dict. Psychol. Med. 854 A good nurse for neurotic patients is a rara avis indeed. 1919V. Woolf Night & Day xii. 154 ‘But I do read De Quincey.., more than Belloc and Chesterton, anyhow.’ ‘Indeed!’ exclaimed Mrs Cosham... ‘You are, then, a rara avis in your generation.’ 1931‘G. Trevor’ Murder at School i. 13 That rara avis, the headmaster who was also a man of the world. 1955Times 23 May 3/3 The harpist is a rara avis among recitalists. 1975Listener 31 July 140/1 Peter Jay is the rara avis of broadcasting. He is the high⁓flyer who descends from the thunderous crags of the Times to perch, with no hint of condescension, on the television aerials of the nation.
2. That which is seldom found; an unusual occurrence, etc.; something very remarkable.
1884J. J. Hissey Old-Fashioned Journey vii. 99 A perfect day with us is somewhat of a rara avis. 1906[see redouble n.2]. 1942Burlington Mag. Feb. 50/2 Truly a rara avis among books of memoirs! 1979Guardian 15 Mar. 11/1 It is a moving document, not to say a rara avis.
3. lit. A rare bird.
1891H. M. Smith in Proc. U.S. Nat. Museum XIII. 171 The Dick Cissel [sc. a bird]..is now a veritable rara avis. |