| 释义 |
‖ amphisbæna|æmfɪsˈbiːnə|
Also 4–5 amphibena, 6 -bene.
[L., a. Gr. ἀµϕίσβαινα, f. ἀµϕίς both ways + βαίν-ειν to go. Cf. Fr. amphisbène.]
1. A fabled serpent of the ancients, with a head at each end, and able to move in either direction: retained by the moderns as a poetical conception.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. ix. (1495) 758 Some serpentes hath two heedys as the adder Alphibena [sic]. 1572J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 63 The fielde is Sable, an Amphibene, heade to heade reflexed. 1627Feltham Resolves ii. i. (1677) 159 A corrupt Book is an Amphisbæna: A Serpent headed at either end: one bites him that reads, the other stings him that writes. 1667Milton P.L. x. 524 Complicated monsters head and taile, Scorpion, and Asp, and Amphisbæna dire. 1728Pope Dunciad iii. (1736) 201 note, Thus Amphisbæna (I have read) At either end assails; None knows which leads, or which is led, For both Heads are but Tails. 1788Pasquin Childr. Thespis (1792) 49 Like the vile Amphisbæna, his verses assail, For none can discover their head from their tail. 1878Tennyson Q. Mary iii. iv. 116 For heretic and traitor are all one: Two vipers of one breed—an amphisbæna, Each end a sting.
2. Zool. A worm-like genus of lizards found in America, having the two extremities so much alike that it is difficult to distinguish between the head and the tail.
1833Penny Cycl. I. 467/2 In the amphisbæna..the upper jaw is fixed to the skull..as in birds and mammals. 1847Carpenter Zool. §501 The Amphisbæna bores in the soft earth like a worm, working its way with considerable despatch; and it lives principally on Ants..and their larvæ. |