| 释义 |
whitethroat, n. (a.)|ˈhwaɪtθrəʊt|
(Also with hyphen, and formerly as two words.)
A. n. Name of several birds characterized by a white throat.
1. Any one of several species of warbler (Sylvia), esp. the common whitethroat, S. cinerea, and the lesser whitethroat, S. curruca.
1676Grew Musæum, Anat. Stomach & Guts viii. 38 The White-Throat hath no small Gut. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 247/1 The White Throat..hath..the upper surface of the Body red. 1774G. White Selborne, To Pennant 2 Sept., The note of the whitethroat, which is continually repeated, and often attended with odd gesticulations on the wing, is harsh and displeasing... In July and August they..make great havoc among the summer fruits. 1825W. Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 320 The sweet and soft voice of the white-throat. 1839Macgillivray Brit. Birds II. 345 Sylvia hortensis. The Garden Warbler or Pettychaps... Billy Whitethroat. Ibid. 357 Sylvia garrula. The White-breasted Warbler. Lesser White-throat. 1845Browning Home Thoughts ii, And after April, when May follows, And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
2. The white-throated sparrow of N. America, Zonotrichia albicollis.
a1862Thoreau Maine Woods (1864) 198 We heard the white throats along the shore. 1889Science-Gossip XXV. 146 White-throated sparrows sing magnificently all winter long... Here..concerted action makes the charm. A single white-throat would prove a trifle monotonous. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xviii, The notes of the white-throat—the nightingale of the North. 1916D. C. Scott Poems (1927) 47 A rocky islet followed With one lone poplar and a single nest Of white-throat-sparrows that took no rest. 1939[see Peabody]. 1978A. Lampman Lyrics of Earth 32 The white-throat's distant descant with slow stress Note after note upon the noonday falls.
B. adj. White-throated. whitethroat warbler = sense 1 above.
1876Rep. & Trans. Devonsh. Assoc. VIII. 265 The White-throat Warbler... Common everywhere. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 61 O white-throat swallow flicking The loch with long wing-tips. |