| 释义 |
‖ jerboa|dʒəˈbəʊə, ˈdʒɜːbəʊə|
Forms: 7 jerbuah, 8 gerbo, gerbua, yerbua, jeribo, 8– jerboa.
[mod.L. jerbōa, a. Arab. yarbūﻋ, in Barbary yerbōﻋ, the flesh of the loins, also the animal; whence F. gerbo, gerboise, Sp. gerbasia.]
1. A small rodent quadruped, Dipus sagitta, found in the deserts of Africa; it is of the size of a rat, has very long hind legs and short fore legs, and a long tufted tail, and is remarkable for its powers of jumping. Hence, any Jumping-mouse of the genus Dipus, or of the family Dipodidæ, representatives of which are found in various arid regions.
1662J. Davies Olearius' Voy. Ambass. vii. 415 We saw also, neer Terki, a kind of Field-mice, which in the Arabian Language are called Jerbuah. 1702W. J. Bruyn's Voy. Levant lxxviii. 287, I was presented with a small Animal called Gerbo, which was brought for a rarity from Barbary. 1752H. Walpole Corr. (1837) I. 182 Mr. Conway has brought lady Ailesbury..a Jeribo..a composition of a squirrel, a hare, a rat, and a monkey, which altogether looks very like a bird. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. II. 432 The gerbua, though, properly speaking, furnished with but two legs, is one of the swiftest animals in the world. 1813Bingley Anim. Biog. (ed. 4) I. 399 The Jerboas seem, in many respects both of conformation and habit, much allied to the kanguroos. 1853Kingsley Hypatia xxi, A jerboa sprang up from a tuft of bushes at his feet.
2. Comb. jerboa-mouse, a North American rodent of the genus Dipodomys, one of the pouched-mice or kangaroo-rats of the South-western U.S. and Mexico. |