| 释义 |
house snake
1. One of several North American snakes belonging to the genera Elaphe and Lampropeltis.
1807in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1815) 2nd Ser. III. 54 The milk or house snake, speckled like a rattlesnake. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxxix. 396 We went for the snakes, and grabbed a couple of dozen garters and house-snakes. 1958R. Conant Field Guide Reptiles U.S. 171 Sometimes called ‘house snake’, but ‘barn snake’ would be more descriptive, for it would reflect the frequency with which farm buildings are entered in search of rodents.
2. A snake kept as a household god.
[1742C. Owen Ess. towards Nat. Hist. Serpents 218 ælian speaks of domestick Serpents, that were in the Houses of the Egyptians, and look'd upon as household Gods. Ibid., The Arabians reputed Serpents sacred Beings... They take them into their Houses, feed and worship them as Genii, or Guardians of the Place. 1868J. Fergusson Tree & Serpent Worship 25 There are house serpents which are accounted in the northern parts of Sweden as household gods.] 1894W. Crooke Pop. Relig. & Folk-Lore N. India vii. 276 Should rain drive the house snake out of his hole, he is worshipped. 1935A. Evans Palace of Minos IV. i. 153/2 When the house snakes died the master and mistress of the house died too. 1962R. W. Hutchinson Prehist. Crete viii. 124 It was the house snake that was fed and revered as the genius, the guardian angel of the house. 1965R. & D. Morris Men & Snakes ii. 47 A gallant housesnake..refused to desert the Macedonian village of Kalenova when the human inhabitants fled.
3. A southern African snake of the genus Boædon.
1907R. L. Ditmars Reptile Bk. xxxii. 300 (heading) The Red Coluber; Corn Snake; Red Chicken Snake; Mouse Snake; Scarlet Racer; House Snake Coluber guttatus, (Linn.). 1911East London (Cape Province) Dispatch 1 Sept. 7 These house snakes are more serviceable to man than cats, for they can follow rats and mice into their hiding places. 1932Discovery XIII. 364/2 The brown house snake, Boodon [sic] lineatus, is far more efficient than a cat in keeping down rats and mice, as it penetrates into their holes and destroys the young. 1962V. F. M. FitzSimons Snakes S. Afr. 123/1 In search of its prey it is often attracted to, and found in and about, human settlements, and has thus got the name of House Snake. |