| 释义 |
Great Plains, n.
Brit. |greɪt ˈpleɪnz|, U.S. |ˌgreɪt ˈpleɪnz|
Forms: also with lower-case initials.
[‹ great adj. + the plural of plain n.1 Compare plain n.1 1c.
Earlier examples do not represent a fixed collocation. However, Great Plains is attested earlier as a place name in Long Island, New York:
1756in Laws N.-Y. (1762) II. lxxxvi. 94 The Proprietors or Owners of that Part of the Great-Plains..which lies within the Township of Hampstead and Oysterbay,..are hereby permitted and allowed, to hang good easy swinging Gates on the Highways running thro' the said Plains. ]
With the or in attrib. use. A vast expanse of prairie to the east of the Rocky Mountains in central North America, extending from Texas into southern Canada.
1796Free-mason's Mag. Jan. 34 He continued down till he came to the north branch [of the Red River], and so continued along its banks in the great plains till he came to the Pawnee nation of Indians. 1801Eccentric Biogr. 305 He came..from the Pawnies to the Cadom nation, who live in the Great Plains. 1898Bot. Gaz. 25 384 The foothills along the eastern border of the Rocky mountains are an intrinsic portion of the great plains. 1944R. Matheson Entomol. for Introd. Courses viii. 158 The Rocky Mountain locust..has done..immense damage in the Great Plains region. 1988D. Ing Chernobyl Syndrome 122 The ‘soddy’ dugouts that insulated settlers from ferocious great-plains weather. 2003Canad. Geographic May–June 48/2 Across the northern Great Plains, channelization and drainage practices have greatly reduced the land's capacity to withstand and recover from drought.
Compounds. Great Plains Indian n. = Plains Indian n.
1903Ann. Rep. Board of Regents Smithsonian Inst. 1902 112 Dwelling group models... Skin lodges of the *Great Plains Indians. 2001Montana Winter 84 Harney served on the three major Indian peace commissions..that ultimately led to..concentrating all Great Plains Indians on reservations. |