| 释义 |
wag-at-the-wall Sc. and north.
Also wag-on-the-wall, etc.
[wag v. 3.]
1. A hanging clock with pendulum and weights exposed. Also attrib.
1825Jamieson Suppl. II. 637/2 Wag-at-the-Wa',..a name given to a clock, which has no case, frequently used in the country. 1825Brockett N.C. Words, Wag-at-the-waw, Wagger, a cheap wooden German clock. Perhaps from the pendulum being exposed; or, provincially, seen wagging against the wall. 1894J. Davidson Baptist Lake 82 ‘It's nearly half past four,’ said he, looking at a wag-at-the-wall that hung behind him. 1904J. Smith Handbk. Old Scottish Clockmakers 45 The poorer members of the community could not afford the price demanded for the long case clocks and would be content with a ‘Wag at the Wa’. 1911N. H. Moore Old Clock Bk. 59 Many Dutch works were sent to England without their cases... Such clocks went till the dirt and dust clogged their wheels... Such clocks as these are often called in rustic communities by the quaint name of ‘wag-on-the-wall’. 1966P. Boyle At Night All Cats are Grey 221 What was this nagging memory of a wag-o'-the-wall?.. With a bottle of water used as a driving weight.
attrib.1858G. Roy Generalship 55 To take a fancy to a waggitonawa clock. 1889Barrie Window in Thrums xix, When I entered, the wag-at-the-wa' clock had again possession of the kitchen.
2. ‘A spectre supposed to haunt the kitchen..wagging backwards and forwards before the death of one of the family’ (Jam.). |