| 释义 |
▪ I. elk1|ɛlk|
Forms: 5–7 elke, (6 alke), 6 elcke, 7– elk. See also alce.
[Of obscure history: the existing word is not the normal phonetic representative of OE. elch, elh (eolh), and is probably ad. MHG. elch (:— OHG. elaho). The relation of the ON. elg-r (Sw. elg):— type *algi-z to the OE. and German words (:— types *elho-, *elhon-) is uncertain. The Eng. form alke was influenced by L. alces, Gr. ἄλκη (cf. alce), which appear only as the name of an animal living in northern Europe (app. the elk), and are probably adopted from Teut. or some other northern lang.]
1. a. The largest existing animal of the deer kind (Alces malchis), inhabiting large portions of Northern Europe and of North America. The American variety is also called the moose. (In quot. 1541 the name seems to be applied to some English species of deer.)
[a700Epinal Gloss. 233 Cer[v]us, elch. a800Corpus Gloss. 443 Cer[v]us, elh. Ibid. 2054 Tragelaphus, elch. a900Leiden Gloss., Damma, elha. ]1486Bk. St. Albans D iij b, The symplest of theis iij will slee an Hynde calfe, a Fawn, a Roo, an Elke. 1541Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 6 It shall be lawfull..to have, exercise, and vse their handgounnes..so that it be at no maner of deere..or wild elke. [1555Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 305 Bisontes which in theyr toonge [Swedish] they caule Elg (that is) wild asses. ]1577Harrison Descr. Eng. iii. v. (1877) ii. 29 Plowing with vres..and alkes a thing commonlie vsed in the east countries. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 169 The Elk on the contrary is most impatient of all heat. 1629Capt. Smith Trav. & Adv. xv. 28 These Tartars possesse many..plaines, wherein feed Elkes, Bisones, Horses..and divers others. 1682Milton Hist. Mosc. ii. (1851) 482 Those Messengers..made report of..people riding on Elks. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. II. 82 It is known in Europe by the name of the elk, and in America by that of the Moose-deer. 1836W. Irving Astoria (1849) 196 They saw..frequent gangs of stately elks. 1853Kingsley Hypatia xxii. 281 Followed by..elks from beyond the Danube.
b. pl. (With capital initial.) In full: the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, formed in New York City in 1868, orig. a society of actors and writers, later a social and charitable organization; sing. a member of this organization.
1879Chicago Tribune 14 Mar. 5/4 The second annual benefit of Chicago Lodge, No. 4, ‘D.’, Protective Order of Elks, was given yesterday afternoon. 1922L. Mumford in H. Stearns Civiliz. U.S. 6 In every American city, small or big, Odd Fellows,..Elks,..and other orders without number..found for themselves a prominent place. 1950W. Stevens Let. 27 Feb. (1967) 670 The other hotels are full of Elks. 1957W. H. Whyte Organization Man vii. xxi. 268 He can move upward (from the Elks, say, to the Rotary) only by sanction of the next upper group.
2. a. Applied to certain species of deer: e.g. to the ‘Irish Elk’, an extinct animal (Cervus megaceros), which inhabited Ireland in prehistoric times; and to the Canadian Deer or Wapiti (Cervus canadensis).
1884M. Hickson Irel. in 17th C. I. Introd. 11 Celts and Saxons being as extinct in Ireland as the ancient elk.
b. In Anglo-Indian use, the sambur.
1884W. Rice Indian Game vi. 95 The deer in the foreground..are the samber stag, beautiful animals one sometimes hears miscalled the ‘elk’. 1890S. Baker Wild Beasts xxv. 306 Sambur deer, (miscalled elk in Ceylon).
3. A species of antelope: the eland or Cape-elk.
1731Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 110 The haunts of the African Elks are generally on high mountains, on good pasture grounds, and near good springs. 1786tr. Sparrman's Voy. Cape G.H. II. 264 The Cape elk, or more properly the elk-antilope, is a name given by the colonists to a species of gazel.
4. Comb. as elk-skin; also elk-bark, Magnolia glauca; elk-hound, a dog of Scandinavian origin specially adapted for hunting the elk, having a thick and weather-resisting coat of a grey colour with black tips, and a thick tail curled over the back; elk('s)-horn, a kind of fern, Platycerium alcicorne; elk-horse, a horse employed in hunting the elk; elk-nut, Hamiltonia oleifera; elk-tree, Andromeda arborea; elk-wood Andromeda arborea and Magnolia macrophylla; elk-yard, a kind of habitation made by the elk.
1865Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 330 note, The *Elk-horn fern. 1882J. Hardy in Proc. Brew. Nat. Club IX. 434 The Elk's-horn fern.
1888Century Mag. Jan. 451/2 The ‘*elk’ horses received three-quarters forage at night and a quarter forage in the morning.
[1835C. F. Hoffman Winter in West II. 12 A very successful experiment has been made here in crossing the greyhound and Newfoundland... If the race be continued, they ought to be dubbed elkhounds.] 1878Kennel Club Stud Bk. 213 Norwegian *Elbehound [sic]. 1889Kennel Gaz., Swedish Elk Hound. 1907R. Leighton New Bk. Dog xvi. 491 The Elk-hound..may be termed the Scandinavian Pointer, for, as well as for elk and bear-hunting, it is used as a gun-dog for blackcock. 1908Kennel Encycl. II. 588 The true Elk or Bear hound is distinctly by nature a hunting dog, hailing originally from Swedish Lapland or Jemtland... The dogs are designated by their owners ‘Svenske Hunder’. 1945C. L. B. Hubbard Observer's Bk. Dogs 62 In 1923..the British Elkhound Society was formed.
1759Harte Gust. Adolphus II. 321 He wore..an *elkskin buff-waistcoat.
1807F. Pursh Jrnl. Bot. Excursion (1923) 27 Acer montanum, very common throughout these woods, called *Elkwood. 1834Southern Lit. Messenger I. 97 The underwood is mostly streaked maple or elkwood (the Acer Striatum of Michaux). 1880Harper's Mag. July 182/2 Vines and elk-wood cover both sides (of the rock).
1868Wood Homes without H. xxxi. 612 That curious temporary habitation..popularly termed an *Elk-yard.
▸ elkhorn n. (more fully elkhorn coral) a staghorn coral, Acropora palmata (family Acroporidae), found in shallow waters throughout the Caribbean.
1928W. Beebe Rec. Diving among Reefs Haiti x. 138 Unlike Sand Cay, its sea-fans and gorgonias were subordinate to its corals—massive brain mounds as big as automobiles, and *elkhorn forests twelve and fifteen feet high. 1950Jrnl. Ecol. 38 360 The elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata..with strong flattened branches and reaching 10 ft. or more in height, is another important form. 1998R. Stone Damascus Gate iii. lxxiv. 496 There were sea fans and elkhorn and sea pens, bright grouper audibly crunching the coral. 2002Atlanta Jrnl. & Constit. (Nexis) 18 June 3 a, An epidemic of ‘white pox’ that has decimated the once-plentiful elkhorn coral in the Caribbean Sea has been traced to bacteria found in sewage.
▪ II. † elk2 Obs. rare.
Also 6 elke (see quots.).
1541Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 9 §6 No bowyer shall sell..any bowe of ewe of the taxe called elke, aboue the price of .iii.s. iiii.d. 1607J. Cowell Interpr., Elk, a kind of ewe to make bowes of.
▪ III. † elk3|ɛlk|
Forms: 6–7 elke, 7 pl. elkys, 7– elk.
The Wild Swan or Hooper (Cygnus ferus). Also the Wild Goose (Anas anser).
1552Huloet s.v. Swanne, Some take thys to be the elke, or wild swanne. 1621Markham Fowling (1655) 6 Such as liue of the water and on the water, are wild Swannes or Elkes. 1674Ray Water Fowl 95 The Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan. 1691― Local Wds. 129 Elkys, Wild Geese. 1709Derham in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 466 Cygnus ferus, the Elk, or Hooper, or Wild Swan. 1839Proc. Berw. Nat. Club. I. 189 Both of these were of the common or elk species. |