| 释义 |
manatee Zool.|mænəˈtiː|
Forms: 6–7 manat, manaty, 6–9 manati, 7 mannatee, manentine, manacy, mannaty, manitte, 7–8 manate, mannati, 8 mannasy, mannasi, manatea, manatae, minati, manatie, manattee, 9 mannittee, manatin, 7– manatee.
[a. Sp. manati (Oviedo 1535), a. Carib manattouï (Raymond Breton Dict. Caraïbe, 1665). Cf. mod.L. manātus (Rondelet De Pisc. Mar. 1554, xvi. xviii), whence F. † manat (Cotgr.), manate (Littré), It. manátto (Florio).
The word was commonly identified with the L. manātus ‘furnished with hands’, the animal having fins somewhat resembling hands.]
1. A large aquatic herbivorous cetacean of the genus Manatus (order Sirenia), esp. M. americanus; it inhabits the shallow waters of rivers and estuaries on the Atlantic shores within the tropics. Called also lamantin.
1555Eden Decades 130 A yonge fyshe of the kynde of those huge monsters of the sea whiche thinhabitours caule Manati. 1568Hacket Thevet's New found World lxxi. 115 Among the which [fish] there is one named Manaty. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. 1243 The Indian Manat and the Mullet float O'r Mountain tops, where erst the bearded Goat Did bound and brouz. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 212 The Mannatee or Cow-fish for taste and shape can pose both feeders and beholders. 1684Bucaniers Amer. iii. vii. 82 A certain Animal, which the Spaniards call Manentines, and the Dutch, Sea-Cows. 1735J. Atkins Voy. Guinea 42 Fit haunts for the Manatea and Crocodile. 1799W. Tooke View Russian Emp. I. 204 Sea-bears, manatis and other sea-animals frequent these shores in herds. 1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 289/1 The American Manatee is of rounded form, and has been compared to a leathern bottle or wine-skin. 1883C. A. Moloney W. African Fisheries 28 (Fish. Exh. Publ.) The flesh of the manatee is much appreciated by the natives, resembling a combination of veal and pork.
2. northern manatee, the edentulous animal Rhytina Stelleri, formerly existing in the Behring Straits. † Saint Helena manatee, app. some kind of seal.
1697W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 547, I found the Santa Hellena Manatee to be, by their shapes..those Creatures called Sea-lyons. 1855W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. II. 413 The Rhytina Stelleri, or Northern Manatee, which like the Dodo, has become extinct.
3. attrib. and Comb., as manatee-catching; manatee-grass, a marine plant of the West Indies, Thalassia testudinum; manatee-hide, a whip made of the hide of the manatee; manatee leather, leather made from the hide of the manatee; manatee strap, a strap made of manatee leather; manatee-trap, a trap for harpooning manatees.
1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 289/2 The sport of *manatee-catching, thus conducted, is described as highly diverting.
1696Sloane Catal. Plant. Jamaica 5 Alga Juncea,..*Manati Grasse. 1871Kingsley At Last i, A bottom of white sand, bedded here and there with the short manati-grass.
1855― Westw. Ho! xxv, The driver applied the *manati-hide across his loins, once, twice, with fearful force.
1836Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xviii. 258 She was scourged with straps of *manatee leather. 1682T. A. Carolina 32 With one of these Manaty Strapps I have seen a Bar of Iron cut and dented.
1883C. A. Moloney W. African Fisheries 27 *Manatee-trap... Briefly described it is a harpoon of heavy wood tipped with iron, suspended by a string..from the cross-piece of a supporting wooden framework. |