| 释义 |
ˈrazor-back, n. and a.
[f. razor n.]
A. n.
1. The Razor-back whale or Rorqual.
1823W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-Fishery 143 Several razor-backs (Balaena physalis) had been seen, but no whales. 1832Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 278 The other [whale]..mentioned by Sibbald..was probably a Razor-back. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. vi. (1858) 77 The razor⁓back is sometimes met with one hundred and five feet long.
2. A pig having a sharp ridge-like back.
Now chiefly applied to a half-wild breed of hogs common in the southern United States; cf. razor-backed.
1849J. Barrow Facts Texas iii. 57 Hogs are a very numerous family, but they are of very indifferent breed, and receive the appellation of ‘razor backs’, which is significant enough of their appearance. 1867Hawker Prose Wks. (1893) 149 Prominent among them the old Cornish razor-back asserted his pre-eminence of height and bone. 1878C. Hallock Amer. Club List & Sportsman's Gloss. p. ix, Razorback, a domestic hog which runs wild in the woods of the Southern States. 1901Munsey's Mag. XXIV. 494/1 In the vernacular of the South, they were razor backs... Nevertheless, these two hogs had a value. 1941Arkansas: Guide to State 99 Outside the imagination, a true razorback probably does not exist. 1976N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone xiii. 302 It has come to him now, what it was about the razorback.
3. A narrow ridge-like back in cattle and horses.
1844H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 164 A high narrow shoulder is frequently attended with a rigid back bone, and low-set narrow hooks, a form which gets the appropriate name of razor-back. 1908Animal Managem. 25 The ‘razor’ back may..be due only to want of muscle which judicious rest, food, and work will produce. 1941I. L. Idriess Great Boomerang vii. 51 Fine upstanding beasts... No ‘razor⁓backs’ going away with nothing behind. These were ‘table⁓tops’; you could throw your blanket on any beast and camp on his back.
4. Chiefly Austral. and N.Z. A steep-sided, narrow ridge of land.
1874W. M. Baines Narr. E. Crewe xi. 247 From a high ‘razor-back’, I had a magnificent view. 1889Trans. N.Z. Inst. 110 Supposing the traveller to be standing on a narrow spur, or razorback, leading to the mountain-top. 1902[see cow-track s.v. cow n.1 7]. 1911Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 30/1 Twice the way led along a real ‘razor-back’. On both sides the mountain sloped precipitously. 1957P. White Voss vi. 153 Presently the path, which had reached a razorback..wound suddenly..and plunged down.
5. U.S. Circus slang. A circus hand; spec. one who loads and unloads the wagons.
1904Everybody's Mag. X. 658/1 That night it took the Old Man 'n Early Jim both to keep a razorback from carvin' up Ibree. 1909Youth's Compan. LXXXIII. 289/4 There was too much worth seeing outside. The loaders—‘razor⁓backs’, in circus language—were putting the great clanking parade wagons on the flat cars. 1926R. E. Sherwood Here we are Again 162 Canvasmen or ‘razorbacks’, as they are known in the slang of the circus, are rarely in funds. 1975New Yorker 13 Oct. 38 Some people..were watching the roller coaster... I went up to the razorback who ran the controls.
B. adj. Having a very sharp back or ridge.
1836Uncle Philip's Convers. Whale Fishery 34 The ‘Razor-back whale’..is longer and stronger and swifter than any other sort. 1851G. S. Cooper Jrnl. Expedition Overland 110 Gullies..ran down from each side of the razor-back ridge. 1859Trollope West Indies iii. (1860) 50 Riding over some of these razorback crags. 1896[see hump-backed a.]. 1899B. Tarkington Gentleman from Indiana iv. 44 A squad of thin, ‘razor-back’ hogs. 1924J. Masefield Sard Harker iii. 126 It was one of the half-wild razor-back hogs which the negroes allowed to stray in the woods there. 1976N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone xiii. 302 As it fell open Bone was able to see his T-shirt underneath, and the emblem on it: a red Arkansas razorback hog, name and symbol of the state university's sports teams.
So ˈrazor-backed a.
1829Sporting Mag. XXIV. 116 A razor-backed yellow tit. 1846Youatt Pig vi. (1847) 69 The old Cornish hog, a large..razor-backed animal. 1885Times (weekly ed.) 13 Feb. 1/3 A high ridge of razor-backed hills. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 336/2 Their..razor-backed hogs climb the steep hills like goats. 1904Daily Chron. 12 May 5/3 A fierce struggle ensued for the possession of two razor-backed ridges above which runs the main Peking road. |