| 释义 |
▪ I. ferret, n.1|ˈfɛrɪt|
Forms: 4 fyrette, 5 for-, feret(te, 5–7 firret(te, 7 ferrit, 6– ferret.
[a. OF. (? *firet), fuiret, furet (mod.F. furet) = It. furetto, dim. of the Com. Rom. word which appears in OF. as firon, fuiron (:—L. type *fūriōn-em), furon = Pr. furon, Cat. furó, Sp. huron (earlier furon), Pg. furão:—late L. fūrōn-em, recorded in 7th c. by Isidore Etym. xii. ii. §39; usually identified with late L. fūrōn-em robber (f. L. fūr thief; common in the Langobardic laws), whence It. furone robber.
The F. dim. was adopted as MDu. foret, furet, fret, mod.Du. fret, mod.G. frett, frettchen; the OF. furon appears in early mod.Du. veure, Westphal. vürn, denoting the same or a similar animal.]
1. a. A half-tamed variety of the common polecat (Putorius fœtidus), kept for the purpose of driving rabbits from their burrows, destroying rats, etc.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxxv. (1495) 829 A fyrette hyghte Migale and is a lytyll beest as it were a wesel. c1440Promp. Parv. 171/2 Forette, or ferette, lytyll beste. a1500Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) I. 51 Heare are beares..squirelles, and firrette. 1581Lambarde Eiren. iv. iv. (1588) 444 If any..Labourer have used firrets..to take or destroy Deere. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 647 Good hunters will neuer put their ferret into any earth, whose mouth they see stopt. 1647H. More Song of Soul i. ii. lxxxv, Strait Graculo with eyes as fierce as Ferrit Reply'd. 1766Pennant Zool. (1768) I. 78 Warreners assert that the Polecat will mix with the ferret. 1844Penny Cycl. XXVII. 167/1 Ferrets should not be fed before they are taken to the warren. 1879Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) IX. 109/1 The ferret is peculiarly intolerant of cold.
b. transf. and fig.
1626L. Owen Spec. Jesuit. (1629) 66 These Ferrets (or if you will Iesuites). 1641Milton Reform. i. (1851) 31 Many of those that pretend to be great Rabbies in these studies..have bin but the Ferrets and Moushunts of an Index. 1856G. H. Boker Poems (1857) II. 25 A cunning ferret after doubtful phrases. 1891Daily News 19 June 7/3 He engaged him as a kind of ferret or detective. 1946Brickhill & Norton Escape to Danger xv. 140 Night and day..German security guards patrolled and snooped... These guards were known by us as ‘ferrets’. 1960Times 2 Dec. 17/2 A more recent approach starts from a device known as a ‘ferret’ which operates in the mains themselves. Its ordinary use is in cleaning out mains and it consists of an arrangement of water-propelled cleaning brushes.
2. slang.
a. A dunning tradesman (see quot. 1700). ? Obs.
b. (See quot. 1889.)
†c. A pawnbroker (Bailey 1736). Obs.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Ferret, a Tradesman that sells Goods to young Unthrifts, upon Trust at excessive Rates, and then continually duns them for the debt. 1725in New Cant. Dict. 1889Barrère & Leland Slang Dict., Ferret, a young thief who gets into a coal barge and throws coal over the side to his confederates.
3. attrib. and Comb.: simple attrib., as ferret-eye; parasynthetic and similative, as ferret-eyed, ferret-faced, ferret-like adjs. Also † ferret-claw v., fig. to scratch, claw like a ferret; to strip bare; ferret-eye, ‘the spur-winged goose, so called from the red circle around the eyes’ (Webster 1890).
1591Greene Disc. Coosnage, So *ferret-claw him at cards that they leave him as bare of money, as an ape of a taile. c1620Fletcher Wom. Pleased iii. iv, H'as light legs else I had so ferret-claw'd him.
a1586Sidney (J.), Having threatning..in her *ferret eyes. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 186 Cicero Lookes with..Ferret..eyes. 1781Bentham Wks. (1838–43) X. 104 A hook nose and ferret eyes. 1837Marryat Snarleyyow (ed. 2) III. iii. 36 Vanslyperken, whose..small ferret-eyes, and downcast look, were certainly not in his favour.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Ferret⁓eyed: or Eyes as red as a Ferret. 1850E. Elliott More Verse & Prose I. 18 Cried To prayerless Want, his plunderer ferret-eyed. 1870L'Estrange Miss Mitford I. v. 156 They are really ferret-eyed this morning.
1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Spectre of Tapp., A little *ferret-faced woman.
1801Monthly Mirror June 421 The contour of the face is what is called *ferret-like. 1843James Forest Days ii, A shrewd merry, ferret-like face.
▪ II. ferret, n.2|ˈfɛrɪt|
Forms: 6 foret, 7 ferrit, 7– ferret. See also floret.
[Usually believed to be ad. It. fioretti floss-silk (rendered ‘ferret silk’ by Florio: see quot. 1598), pl. of fioretto, dim. of fiore flower; the corresponding F. fleuret has senses answering to both those explained below.]
†1. attrib. ferret-silk = floss silk. Obs.
1576Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 80 When perchmentiers [i.e. makers of trimmings, F. passementiers] put in no ferret Silke. 1598Florio, Fioretti..a kind of course silke called foret or ferret silke. 1612Sc. Bk. Customs in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 326 Filosell or ferrett silk the pound viii li.
2. A stout tape most commonly made of cotton, but also of silk; then known as Italian ferret. green-ferret, fig. of officialism (cf. red-tape). Also attrib., as ferret-ribbon, ferret-ribboning.
1649Gild Law in Mackenzie Newcastle II. 666 note, They shall wear no show strings better than ferret..ribbin. 1668Dryden Evening's Love iv. iii, There's your ferret-ribboning for garters. 1697Lond. Gaz. No. 3331/4 Leather Breeches, tied at the Knees with green Ferrit. 1715Ibid. No. 5327/2 The working of Galloons, Ribbons, Ferret, &c. by Mills. 1783W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. II. 268 The inhabitants [of Amiens] carry on a manufacture of ferrets. 1812H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. (1839) 54 Red wax and green ferret Are fixed at the foot of the deeds. 1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 426 The bobbin, the ferret, shirt-buttons, shoe⁓strings? 1836in Mrs. Papendiek Crt. Q. Charlotte (1887) II. 257 The venetian blinds I had new strung at home with silk ferret. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. x, Mr. Snagsby has dealt in..red tape and green ferret.
▪ III. † ˈferret, n.3 rare—1. Glass-making.
[a. Fr. ferret, féret, dim. of fer iron.]
See quot.
1662Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass 364 Ferrets are the Irons wherewith they try whether the Metall be fit to work, as also those Irons which make the Ring at the mouth of Glass Bottles. 1753in Chambers Suppl. Hence in mod. Dicts. 1874in Knight.
▪ IV. ferret, v.|ˈfɛrɪt|
[f. ferret n.1; cf. F. fureter (16th c. in Littré), which may be the source.]
1. intr. To hunt with ferrets.
c1450Lydg. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 26 With hem that fyrretyth robbe conyngherthys. 1576,1879[see ferreting vbl. n.1].
b. trans. To hunt over (ground) with a ferret; to clear out by means of a ferret.
a1483Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. 66 To geve any servaunts occasion to furett..any mannys warreynes. 1879Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 214 Even if the burrows be ferreted, in a few weeks this great hole shows signs of fresh inhabitants. Ibid. 248 In ferreting this place.
2. trans. To take (rabbits, etc.) with ferrets. Also, to drive forth by means of a ferret.
1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 893/2 Some fell to drinking, some to feretting of other mens conies. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 35 These prettie Rabbets very cunningly ferretted from their borrowes. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Ferreted, hunted as Conies. 1724Swift Wood's Execution Wks. 1738 IV. 234 Rabbet-catcher, I'll ferret him. 1884York Herald 26 Aug. 6/2 The tenants..have permission to ferret and dig rabbits.
3. Of actions resembling a ferret's.
a. To hunt after; to worry. Also with about.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. iv. 30 Ile fer him, and firke him, and ferret him. 1605Old King Leir in Nichols Six Old Plays (1779) 461 I'll ferret you ere night for that word. 1663Butler Hud. i. iii. 236 And..vow'd He'd ferret him, lurk where he wou'd. 1713Steele Guardian No. 132 ⁋4 She does so ferrit them about..that they..give her immediate warning. 1810Lamb Let. to Manning (1888) I. 115 He ferrets me day and night to do something.
b. To drive from, off, out of (a place). Also, to ferret about, ferret away, ferret forth, ferret out.
1601Deacon & Walker Spirits & Divels 287 You are almost quite ferreted foorth from all your starting holes. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 177 With Terriar Dogs they ferret him out of his den again. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. iv. (1669) 193/2 Speak..did the Lord ever ferret thee out of this burrow? a1679Earl of Orrery Guzman 111 I'll ferret him away. 1683Wycherley Country Wife iv. iii, I'll ferret her out to you presently. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 124 Dr. Laud..sifted and ferreted him about from one hole to another. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. viii. 86 They..took Counsel to ferret them off their Island. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. II. 241 Measures were accordingly taken..to ferret this vermin brood out of the colonies.
c. intr. To rummage, search about; † to be restless, worry; also, to ferret up and down.
1580North Plutarch (1676) 963 Souldiers, who went ferriting up and down in his House. 1624Gee Foot out of Snare 52 Making him [a diuell] ferret vp and downe, from tongue to toe. 1693Southerne Maid's last Prayer ii. ii, You must be..ferreting in my Borough. 1792A. Young Trav. France 201 Ferret among the booksellers and find more tracts..upon agriculture than I expected. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life xx. (1826) 276 How would these conjurors ferret and sweat, To see us pair off. 1891E. Gosse Gossip in Library xii. 150 He has to ferret among the pawnbrokers for scraps of finery.
d. trans. To search (a place); also, to question (a person) searchingly. rare.
1583Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 27 æneas..vpgot, too ferret al vncooth Nouks of strang country. 1607Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Magnificence 198 Ferret all Corners of this neather Ball. 1647Wharton Wks. (1683) 277, I have proposed..to ferret the poor Quack in point of Art.
e. To burrow (a passage). rare.
1583Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 93 Alpheus.. this passadge ferreted.
4. to ferret out, ferret up: To search out, discover, bring to light.
1577–87Holinshed Chron. II. 36/2 That he were able to ferret out such..brats. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 122 b, Let us now fyrritte out the other, and see what vermine it is. a1643W. Cartwright Ordinary v. iv, Let's in, and ferret out these cheating rake-hells. 1775Wesley Wks. (1872) XII. 324 Rather ferret them out, and drag them into open day. 1847Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xxxix. (1879) 330 She had been out in the village, and ferretted up all the guides. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. ix, I have ferreted out evidence, got up cases.
5. slang. To cheat.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Ferreted, cheated. |