| 释义 |
ˈweb-foot
[See web n. 8.]
1. A foot with webbed toes. Also, the condition of being web-footed.
1765Museum Rust. IV. lxxv. 325 note, It was common to say a fenman was an amphibious creature; and that their children were born with web-feet. 1777Pennant Brit. Zool. IV. 5 This is among the species taken notice of by Aristotle on account of the broad feet, which, he says, assist them in swimming: as web-feet do the water-fowl. 1884J. Tait Mind in Matter (1892) 64 If it dive, it will generally have a hull-shaped body, short legs, and web⁓feet.
2. A bird or other animal having web-feet.
1895Funk's Stand. Dict. 1911Webster.
3. a. A nickname for a dweller in the Fens. ? Obs. b. A native of the State of Oregon. So called on account of the moist climate.
1765Museum Rust. IV. lxxv. 325, I would fain rouse up the spirits of some of my brother webfeet. [Note.] This is a contemptuous term given to fenmen. 1845W. Whitman in Amer. Speech (1961) XXXVI. 297 Oregonese [are called] Webfoots. 1873J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West xxxv. 759 Everybody and everything we saw had the unmistakable ‘Oregon look’. We were among the ‘Web-feet’ at last, and a comely race they are. 1875Chamb. Jrnl. 13 Mar. 171/2 The inhabitants of Alabama are Lizards;..Oregon, Hard-cases or Web-feet.
c. An infantryman. U.S. slang.
1867B. W. Duke Hist. Morgan's Cavalry xiv. 400 When the ‘webfeet’ called us ‘buttermilk rangers’, we did not get angry with them. 1917J. Morgan Recoll. Rebel Reefer 210, I was only a poor ‘webfoot’. |