| 释义 |
▪ I. jackal, n.|ˈdʒækɔːl|
Forms: 7 jaccal(l, jacal, jakhal, jackalle, chacall, (jagale, jacol, joecaul), 7–8 jack-call, 7–9 jackall, chacal, (8 shackal(l, siacalle, 9 shakal), 7– jackal.
[Corruption of Turkish chakāl, ad. Pers. shagāl, or shaghāl, cognate w. Skt. s'rgāla, ç'rgāla jackal. Through Turkish also, F. chacal (formerly also in Eng.), whence Pg. chacal, It. sciacal, Ger. (Da., Sw.) schakal. The Du. jakhals was prob. from Eng.: cf. quot. 1694. The English word was formerly (as still in some dialects) stressed on the second syllable; the current form, and the obsolete Jack-call, show association with the proper name Jack, and names of animals containing it.]
1. An animal of the dog kind, about the size of a fox; one of various species of Canis, as C. aureus or C. anthus, inhabiting Asia and Africa, hunting in packs by night with wailing cries, and feeding on dead carcases and small animals; formerly supposed to go before the lion and hunt up his prey for him, hence termed ‘the lion's provider’.
Described by Topsell, 1607 p. 439 as ‘the second kind of hyæna’.
1603W. Biddulph Let. in Purchas Pilgrims viii. ix. (1625) 1337 About Scanderone there are many ravenous beasts about the bignesse of a Foxe, commonly called there Jackalles. 1615G. Sandys Trav. iii. 205 Iaccalls..do lurke in the obscure vaults. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 247 A kind of beast little bigger then a Foxe..vulgarly called Jagale, used to..scratch the bodies of the dead out of their graves. 1659D. Pell Impr. Sea 255 The Lyon..will not seek his prey himself, but sends his Caterer, or Jack-call to run about to seek it. 1667Dryden Ann. Mirab. lxxxii, Close by, their Fire-ships, like Jackals, appear, Who on their Lions for the prey attend. 1672W. de Britaine Dutch Usurp. 33 They must not be like the Joe-caul, which provides food for the Lyon. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece iii. 264 An Habitation only for Wolves, Foxes, and Chacals. 1694T. R. in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 276 Those Asiatick Foxes, vulgarly named by Travellers, Jakhals, or Jacals. 1702W. J. Bruyn's Voy. Levant x. 39 A great many Siacalles, or Wild Dogs. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xxvi. 112 The shackalls in the woods bark'd and howl'd. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India ii. vi. I. 266 He who has been bitten by a dog, a shakal, or an ass. 1831Moir in Blackw. Mag. XXIX. 914 From burial fields the midnight chacal cried. 1860Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 237 The shriek of the jackal bursting on the ear in the silence of night. 1885Bible (R.V.) Job xxx. 29, I am a brother to jackals [1611 dragons], and a companion to ostriches.
2. fig. A person who acts like a jackal, esp. one who does subordinate preparatory work or drudgery for another, or ministers to his requirements.
a1688G. Stradling Serm. & Disc. (1692) 384 Those lesser ones..are but so many Jack-calls to fetch him in store of prey. 1713Addison Guardian No. 71 ⁋7 A lion, or a master-spy, hath several jack-calls under him, who are his retailers in intelligence. 1739Cibber Apol. (1756) II. 146 (Dial. old plays) Alexander Goffe, the woman-actor at Blackfriers..used to be the jackall, and give notice of time and place. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xviii. 460 [Richard's] cruelty and ingratitude towards his jackal, Buckingham, who wrought hard to help him to his bad eminence.
3. attrib. and Comb., as jackal cry, jackal-hunting, jackal skin; jackal-headed adj.; jackal buzzard, an African species of buzzard (Buteo jackal).
1680Morden Geog. Rect., Lesser Tartary (1685) 77 The Commodities..are Slaves..Chacal-Skins. 1823Byron Juan ix. xxvi, Nor give my voice to slavery's jackall cry. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. Introd. (1858) 43 Endless processions of jackal-headed gods. 1900Westm. Gaz. 19 Apr. 4/3 His chapters..on jackal-hunting are excellent.
▪ II. ˈjackal, v.
[f. the n.]
intr. To play the jackal (see jackal 2); to do subordinate work or drudgery.
1900Kipling in Daily Mail 21 Apr. 4/5 For three months she had jackalled behind the army..and in that time had carried over thirteen hundred sick and wounded. 1914A. Dobson 18th Cent. Stud. 204 Johnson..lost many of the papers lent to him by Percy. Malone, who jackalled for him, lost others. 1940V. Woolf Writer's Diary 6 Apr. (1953) 331, I..brooded quietly till the tyre punctured: we had to jackal in mid-road.
▪ III. jackal(l)
varr. jacal. |