| 释义 |
fledgeling, fledgling, n. and a.|ˈflɛdʒlɪŋ|
[f. as prec. + -ling.]
1. A young bird just fledged.
1846Worcester (citing Monthly Rev.). 1847Longfellow Ev. i. i. 119 That wondrous stone which the swallow Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight of its fledglings. 1879Jefferies Wild Life in S. Co. 239 The tiny fledglings swim at once if alarmed.
2. fig.; esp. A raw and inexperienced person, one just starting on his career.
1856G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. iii, Young fledglings pining madly for their enslavers. 1866Reader 10 Feb. 148/2 The few ideas they have were hatched only yesterday; but the beauty and vitality of the fledglings they are so proud of, bear no proportion to their youth. 1877Owen Wellesley's Desp. p. xlvi, On emerging from the College, the fledgling should (as at Woolwich) take rank according to the impartial award of the educational authorities.
3. attrib. (appositive) or as adj.
1830Tennyson Claribel 17 The fledgling [later edd. callow] throstle lispeth. 1876E. C. Stedman Vict. Poets xi. §3. 390 The style of fledgling poets. 1888Pall Mall G. 3 Nov. 10/1 The little fledgling party which had hardly broken its shell..the Liberal Unionists. |