| 释义 |
ˈwater-ˈwagtail
1. The common pied wagtail, Motacilla lugubris. Also applied, with some distinctive epithet, to other species.
1611Cotgr., Hausse-queue, the yellow Water-wagtaile. 1668Charleton Onomast. 90 Motacilla..the washer, or water-wagtail. a1672Willughby Ornith. ii. xvii. (1676) 171 Motacilla alba. The white Water-wagtail. Ibid. 172 Motacilla flava. The yellow Water-wagtail. 1734E. Albin Nat. Hist. Birds II. 54 The common black and white Water-Wagtail. 1758G. Edwards Glean. Nat. Hist. I. 105 The Grey Water-wagtail. 1826Scott Jrnl. 14 June, As blithe as a water-wagtail. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile vi. 138 The sparrows and water-wagtails perch familiarly on the awnings and hop about the deck. 1894R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. I. 92 The Wagtail of Madagascar, M. flaviventris, and the Grey Wagtail of Europe, M. melanope, are ‘Water’ Wagtails, with the colouring of Yellow Wagtails.
†b. Applied playfully or derisively to a person.
1694Crowne Married Beau v. 61 If my old Water-wagtail will only hop about the brinks of Marriage, and never step in, I'll drive him away. 1697Vanbrugh Prov. Wife v. iii, Why now, my pretty Pall; my Goldfinch; my little Watterwagtail—you must know that.
2. U.S. = water-thrush.
1865J. Burroughs Wake-robin ii. (1884) 77 The water-wagtail (Seiurus noveboracensis)—erroneously called waterthrush. 1872Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 106 Seiurus noveboracensis. Water Thrush. Water Wagtail. |