| 释义 |
ˈwater-hen
1. Any of the various ralline birds, esp. the moor-hen, Gallinula chloropus.
a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 453 The dyuendop to slepe; The water-hen to wepe. 1544Turner Avium Præcip. I 6, τρύγγας, trynga, Anglice a water hen, or a mot hen. 1621[see didapper]. 1675Hobbes Odyss. v. 316 And now in figure of a Water-hen, She sat upon the Raft and to him spake. 1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. ii. i. 312 Section I. Cloven-footed Birds that swim in the Water... Chap. 1. Of Water-hens or More-hens in general. 1765Sterne Tr. Shandy viii. xxxiv, Thou must..carefully abstain..from peacocks, cranes, coots, didappers and water⁓hens. 1844Hood Haunted Ho. i. 54 The coot was swimming in the reedy pond, Beside the water-hen. 1867Morris Jason xv. 130 So still she stood, that the quick water-hen Noted her not. 1885A. Brassey The Trades 118 The specimens included..rails, water-hens, [etc.].
b. water-hen hackle, an artificial fly made of the hackle feathers of the water-hen.
1837J. Kirkbride Northern Angler 31 The Water-hen Hackle..is an excellent trout-fly.
†2. purple water-hen: = porphyrio. Obs.
1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. ii. iii. 318 Of the Porphyrio, or purple Water-hen. 1743G. Edwards Nat. Hist. Birds ii. 87 The Purple Water-Hen.
3. The American coot, Pulica americana. local U.S. (Mass.)
1891Century Dict.
4. East Indian. (See quot.)
1873E. Balfour Cycl. India (ed. 2) V. s.v. Water hen. The Indian water hen, Parra Sinensis,..is met with in the north of India, running over the leaves of the lotus. |