| 释义 |
emu|ˈiːmjuː|
Also 7 emia, eme, 7– emeu, 8–9 emew.
[Alleged by early travellers (see quot. 1613) to be the name used by the natives of Banda and the neighbouring islands; now, however, believed to be a. Pg. ema, orig. denoting the crane, but afterwards applied to the ostrich and to various birds of ostrich-like appearance.
‘The form emu is now more common in popular writing, and has latterly been adopted in the transactions of the Zoological Society. Prof. Newton, however, and some other eminent authorities prefer the older form emeu’ (N.E.D., 1891).]
†1. = cassowary 1. Obs.
1613Purchas Pilgr. I. v. xii. 430 The bird called Emia or Eme is admirable. 1656H. More Antid. Ath. ii. xi. (1712) 74 The Cassoware or Emeu.
†2. ? The American Ostrich, Rhea americana. [Perh. an error; the Pg. ema is applied to this bird.]
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. 37 The Emu which many call the American Ostrich. 1796Stedman Surinam I. x. 245 The largest bird in Guiana is there called tuyew, and by others emu.
3. A genus (Dromæus) of birds, constituting the family Dromæidæ of the order Megistanes, subclass Ratitæ. It is peculiar to the Australian continent. The best known species (D. novæ-hollandiæ), discovered soon after the colonization of New South Wales in 1788, was originally regarded as a species of Cassowary; the Emu and Cassowary are closely allied, but the former is distinguished by the absence of the horny ‘helmet’ and of the caruncles on the neck, and by the presence of a singular opening in the front of the windpipe.
1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 145/2 The Emeu can produce a hollow drumming sort of note. 1871Darwin Desc. Man (1888) II. 224 The female of one of the emus (Dromæus inoratus) is..larger than the male. 1875A. R. Wallace Geog. Distrib. Animals II. 368 The Emeus are found only on the main-land of Australia. 1936I. L. Idriess Cattle King v. 46 In a good season emus and kangaroos are fairly plentiful. 1944Living off Land ii. 16 Grubs, snakes, emus, and kangaroos can be palatable. Ibid. 28 Emu meat, when cooked in the skin, is inclined to be oily. 1968K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 76 Many people say that the emu is the fastest creature in the bush.
4. Comb. emu-apple, an Australian tree, Owenia acidula, which bears a red fruit; emu-bush, either of two Australian shrubs (see quot. 1889); emu-tree, a low tree or shrub, a native of Tasmania; emu-wren, an Australian bird, Stipiturus (or Malurus) malacurus, of the family Sylviidæ.
1898Morris Austral Eng. 137/2 *Emu-apple. 1905J. H. Maiden Forest Flora N.S.W. II. 90 It [sc. Owenia acidula] is called ‘Sour Plum’, ‘Native Peach or Nectarine’, and ‘Emu Apple’.
1889― Useful Nat. Plants Austral. 132 Heterodendron oleæfolium..*Emu Bush..All the colonies except Tasmania. Ibid. 317 Eremophila longifolia..‘Emu Bush’, owing to emus feeding on the seeds of this and other species... In all the colonies except Tasmania. 1910C. E. W. Bean On Wool Track 86 The emu-bush, which droops like the bunch of an emu's tail and is very good to eat—as the rabbits have found. 1931V. Palmer Separate Lives 211 Country that was a maze of emu-bush and mulga scrubs. 1936F. Clune Roaming round Darling xvii. 165 The currant or emu bush: needle-leafed, with fruit like blackberries, each one the size of a pea—not caviare to emus.
1875T. Laslett Timber Trees 206 *Emu Tree.
1865Gould Handbk. Birds Australia I. 339 The *Emu Wren is..fond of low marshy districts. |