| 释义 |
▪ I. feral, a.1|ˈfɪərəl|
[ad. L. fērāl-is of or pertaining to funeral rites or to the dead.]
1. Of a deadly nature; deadly, fatal.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. ii. xi. (1651) 30 Thence come..vitious habits..feral diseases. 1652Gaule Magastrom. 303 Cæsar himselfe had noted, that the Ides of March would be ferall to him. 1773J. Ross Fratricide (MS.) ii. 298 The feral tempter..Stalks noiseless round him.
b. Astrol. (See quots.)
The astrologers identified this with feral a.2
1647Lilly Chr. Astrol. xvi. 89 Feral Signes are ♌ [Leo] and last part of {sagit} [Sagittarius]. Ibid. clvi. 648 {male} in the seventh in ferall signes, argues death by Distraction. 1658–1706Phillips, Feral Signs are Leo and the last part of Sagittarius, so call'd, not only upon Account of the representing the Figure of wild Beasts, but also [etc.]. 1819J. Wilson Dict. Astrol., The {moonfq} is also said to be feral, when she is void of course, having separated from a planet, and applying to no other.
2. Of or pertaining to the dead; funereal, gloomy.
1640Gauden Love Truth (1641) 26 Those Owles, and Bats, and ferall Birds that love Darknesse. 1648Eikon Bas. 134 Such a degree of splendour, as those ferall birds shall be grieved to behold. 1678H. Vaughan Thalia Rediv. (1858) 246 A night, where..feral fires appear instead of stars. 1705Berkeley Cave Dunmore Wks. 1871 IV. 504 Ravens, screech-owls, and such like feral birds. 1785Headley Ruins Broomholm Priory 14 in Fugitive Pieces 4 Oft the Bird of Night Lengthens her feral note. 1881Palgrave Visions of Eng. 302 In feral order slow, The slaughter-barges go.
▪ II. feral, a.2|ˈfɪərəl, ˈfɛrəl|
[f. L. fer-a wild beast + -al1.]
1. Of an animal: Wild, untamed. Of a plant, also (rarely), of ground: Uncultivated.
Now often applied to animals or plants that have lapsed into a wild from a domesticated condition.
1659D. Pell Impr. Sea 213 It is impossible to reduce this feral creature. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1878) 18 The dovecot pigeon..has become feral in several places. 1875Lyell Princ. Geol. II. iii. xxxv. 281 Domesticated animals allowed to run wild or become ‘feral’. 1877Coues & Allen N. Amer. Rod. 200 A corresponding variability is as normal to some purely feral animals as to the semi-domesticated species. 1882W. T. T. Dyer in Nature XXV. 390 The Jardin des Plantes deals not merely with plants in their feral, but also in their cultivated state. 1882Geikie Geol. Sketches 377 The feral ground, or territory left in a state of nature and given up to game, lies mostly upon rocks.
2. Of, pertaining to, or resembling a wild beast; brutal, savage.
1604T. Wright Passions v. 268 Some..arrive at a certayne ferall or savage brutishnesse. 1659D. Pell Impr. Sea 299 That feral and savage kinde of people which are..of a Cannibal..nature. Ibid. 368 Against the Spaniard, and the rest of our feral, and remote Antagonists. 1838Blackw. Mag. XLIII. 789 A..more potent charm..which converts the feral into the human being. 1847Gilfillan in Tait's Mag. XIV. 622 It is not the feral or fiendish element in human nature.
3. Used as n.: A wild-beast. Obs. rare.
1639G. Daniel Ecclus. xiii. 61 What [alliance] 'twixt those ferals of Societie, Hiena and the Dog?
Hence feˈrality, the state of being feral.
1885Stallybrass tr. Hehn's Wand. Plants & Anim. 21 There often sets in..a period of ferality, when the land presents the appearance..of being exhausted by culture. Ibid. 39 The freedom in which young horses were bred must have frequently led to complete ferality. |