| 释义 |
topknot|ˈtɒpnɒt|
[f. top n.1 + knot n.1]
1. a. A knot or bow of ribbon worn on the top of the head by ladies towards the end of the 17th and in the 18th century; later, a bow of ribbon worn in a lace cap; ? also of flowers, feathers, etc.
c1686–8Roxb. Ball. (1890) VII. 21 The lofty Top-knots on her crown,..Makes me with care, alas! look down. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xiv. (Roxb.) 12/1 Glasses..used by Lady's..to see how to dress their heads, and set their top knotts on their fore heads vpright. 1716–20Lett. fr. Mist's Jrnl. (1722) I. 51 Let me beg thee..to insert a polite History of Hoop-Petticoats, Top-Knots,..and all that. 1831Scott Nigel Introd., Obliged to compel..a fellow-knight or squire to restore the top-knot of ribbon which he had stolen from a fair damsel. 1910O. Barron in Encycl. Brit. VII. 242/2 A cap [late 17th c.] whose top-knot or commode stood up stiff and fan-shaped.
b. A tuft of hair on the top or crown of the head of a person or animal; a knob of hair worn on the crown of the head in some styles of hair-dressing; also, a plume or crest of feathers or filaments on the head of a bird; also Austral. and N.Z., wool shorn from the top of the head of a sheep.
1700T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. 22 A..Trumpeter calling in the Rabble to see a Calf with Six Legs and a Top⁓knot. 1849D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 12 Unacquainted with fowls with topknots. 1867Baker Nile Trib. iii. (1872) 41 A Bishareen Arab wears his hair in hundreds of minute plaits..surmounted by a circular bushy topknot upon the crown. 1894Gladstone Odes of Horace ii. xi. 24 Her hair be dressed like Spartan maid, With comely top-knot upwards tied. 1902O. Wister Virginian i, Have you ever seen a cockatoo—the white kind with the top-knot—enraged by insult? 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 313 (caption) Pick over lambs' wool. Pick out stained wool, face pieces, leggings, and top-knots. 1972J. S. Gunn in G. W. Turner Good Austral. Eng. iii. 61 One thing I did notice about shearing was that two terms for the one idea sometimes shared popularity, for example rouseabout/shedhand,..topknot/wig, [etc.].
c. The head. slang.
1869E. Waugh Hermit Cobbler iii, I doubt it's unsattle't his top-knot a bit. 1889‘J. S. Winter’ Mrs. Bob (1891) 63 The little tip-tilted nose and curly top-knot.
2. transf.
a. One who wears a topknot.
1697I. Wright in Collect. Dying Test (1806) 42 Like gowkhorns, topeknots and I know not what to call them. 1909Bible in World Feb. 60/1 Dirty children, and everywhere dreamy ‘Top-knots’, as the Korean men are called because they wear their hair in a top-knot.
b. One of several species of small European flat-fish, with a tapering filament on the head.
1832Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. i. 7 The most remarkable [fishes]..were..the top-knot, the toothed gilt-head. 1843Zoologist I. 106 Description of Muller's Top-knot..taken from a fresh specimen. 1880Günther Stud. Fishes 555 ‘Bloch's Top-knot’, Rh[ombus] punctatus. Ibid., The ‘Top-knot’ (Ph[rynorhombus] unimaculatus) occurs occasionally on the south coast of England.
3. attrib., as topknot duck: see quot.; topknot pigeon, an Australian crested fruit-pigeon, Lopholaimus antarcticus.
1849D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 197 Also the ‘crested’, or ‘topknot duck’, a beautiful ornamental tame variety. 1891F. Adams J. Webb's End i. ii. 33 Flying for a moment by a lovely, melodious top-knot pigeon.
Hence ˈtopknotted a., having a topknot.
1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede vi, The old top-knotted hens, scratching with their chicks among the straw. 1868Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. viii. 295 There are topknotted canaries, and it is a singular fact, that, if two topknotted birds are matched, the young, instead of having very fine topknots, are generally bald, or even have a wound on their heads. |