| 释义 |
troglodyte, n. (a.)|ˈtrɒg-, ˈtrəʊgləʊdaɪt|
Also 6–8 -ite.
[ad. L. trōglodyta, ad. Gr. τρωγλοδύτης, f. τρώγλη hole + δύειν to get or go into.]
1. One of various races or tribes of men (chiefly ancient or prehistoric) inhabiting caves or dens (natural or artificial); a cave-dweller, cave-man.
1555W. Watreman Fardle of Facions i. vi. 93 The Troglodites myne them selues caues in the grounde, wherin to dwell. 1614Raleigh Hist. World i. (1634) 52 Which Regions..(I mean that of Niger, and that of Prester John and the Troglodytes). 1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 51 They were Troglodites, and had no dwelling but in the hollowes of the rocks. 1842W. C. Taylor Anc. Hist. xii. §4 (ed. 3) 336 Some.. Cappadocians were and continue to be Troglodytes, or dwellers in caves. 1851D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) I. ix. 251 The Troglodytes of post-pliocene ages.
2. Applied to various species of animals.
†a. Some kind of deer or other horned quadruped. Obs.
b. A bird of the genus Troglodytes; a wren. rare—0.
c. An anthropoid ape of the genus Troglodytes, as a gorilla or chimpanzee.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., The hornes, in the stagge are ramous,..the Phrygian have moveable hornes, the Troglodyte direct to the earth. [1706Phillips, Troglodytes or Passer Troglodytes, a little Bird call'd a Wren.] 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. vii. i. 491 The Troglodyte of Bontius, the Drill of Purchas, and the Pigmy of Tyson, have all received this general name—oran-outang.
d. Applied allusively to an animal or plant.
1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1818) II. xxi. 265 The caterpillar of another moth (Noctua subterranea, F.)..remains, a true Troglodyte,..in its cell under ground. 1845Longfellow To a Child 99 The cavernous..homes Of wandering..tribes of ants..These hapless Troglodytes. 1856Grindon Life iii. (1875) 29 That sullen troglodyte, the Lathræa, of the woods.
3. fig. A person who lives in seclusion; one unacquainted with the affairs of the world; a ‘hermit’. Also, a dweller in a hovel or slum; a person of a degraded type like the prehistoric or savage cave-dwellers.
1854H. Rogers Ess. II. i. 11 Some would make him..such a very Troglodyte in metaphysics that he was not properly acquainted even with such writers as Descartes or Hobbes. 1879G. Macdonald in Graphic Christmas No. 5 The girl who had been from her very birth a troglodyte, stood in the glory of a southern night. 1905Sat. Westm. Rev. 25 Feb. 3 A belief worthy only of troglodytes inaccessible to Imperial..thought.
4. attrib. or adj. That is a troglodyte, cave-dwelling; of or belonging to a troglodyte or troglodytes.
1704Swift T. Tub x. (1709) 119 Hear the words of the famous Troglodyte Philosopher. 1785Latham Gen. Synopsis V. 229 Troglodyte Rail... These inhabit New Zealand. 1827Buckingham Trav. Mesopot. I. 58 Large caves, and smaller grottoes;..any other Troglodyte habitations. 1873H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. vi. 119 Aboriginal man, of troglodyte or kindred habits.
Hence (or from the L. or Gr.) ˈtrogloˌdytal a., pertaining to or characteristic of a troglodyte; † ˈtroglodytan = troglodyte (sense 1); ˈtroglodytish a., resembling or characteristic of a troglodyte; ˈtroglodyˌtism, the condition of a troglodyte, the habit of dwelling in caves.
1845S. Judd Margaret ii. i. (1871) 160 Coming up from their dark *troglodytal abodes.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 225 People of Arabia called Erembi, which some call Ichthyophagans, and *Troglodytans.
1866Sat. Rev. 3 Mar. 256/2 The most perfect type of *troglodytish women does not care even for theology or religion.
1867Chambers' Encycl. IX. 557/1 Perhaps we shall not be far wrong if we regard *Troglodytism as the primitive state of all..mankind. |