| 释义 |
▪ I. ratel1|ˈreɪtəl|
Also 9 rattel.
[a. Cape Du. ratel, of uncertain origin.
Kolbe identified the name with the Du. equivalent of rattle n.1 (see rattlemouse 2, and J. Platt in Athenæum 11 Apr. 1903, p. 466), but the reason he gives appears to be quite unfounded.]
The honey badger, Mellivora capensis, belonging to the family Mustelidæ, native to Africa and southern Asia, and distinguished by a coat that is light grey on the back and black elsewhere, powerful claws on the front feet, and a diet that includes honey, insects, reptiles, birds, and small mammals.
1777tr. Sparrman in Phil. Trans. LXVII. 43 Not only the Dutch and Hottentots, but likewise a species of quadruped, which the Dutch name a Ratel [note, Probably a new species of badger], are frequently conducted to wild bee-hives by this bird. 1785G. Forster tr. Sparrman's Voy. Cape G. Hope II. xiv. 179 The Ratel, so called in Africa both by the colonists and Hottentots. 1830Bennett Menag. Zool. Soc. i. 16 In size the Ratel is about equal to the Badger, to which it also bears a distant resemblance in form. 1862C. Rossetti Goblin M. (1884) 3 One like a ratel tumbled hurry-skurry. Ibid. 13 Cat-like and rat-like, Ratel- and wombat-like. 1902Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 667/2 The camel and llama, the badger and ratel, all of which may be seen and compared at the Zoo. 1947J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life S. Afr. xxix. 242 The ratel does not hesitate to attack the most venomous species of snakes. 1961L. van der Post Heart of Hunter iv. 73 He gave me such a vivid picture of the ratel eating snakes that I saw it gobbling up tangles of serpents like spaghetti. 1969B. Seshadri Twilight of India's Wild Life v. 139 The ratel, or honey badger..has lived its life adapting it to many types of forest and plain. 1975H. B. Cott Looking at Animals iii. 73 Ratels are said to trot unhurriedly with a long, swinging stride.
▪ II. † ratel2 Obs. rare—1.
Also 6 -yll.
[a. OF. ratelle (Godef.), dim. of rate rate n.4; cf. F. rateleux splenetic.]
The spleen.
1503Kal. of Shepherdes I vj b, Cancer has lordshyp aboue..the stomak..the ratel [1506 ratyll] and the lyghttys.
▪ III. ratel, -er
obs. forms of rattle, -ler. |