| 释义 |
moonraker|ˈmuːnreɪkə(r)|
[f. moon n.1 + raker1.]
1. A native of Wiltshire.
See quot. 1787. In Wiltshire a more complimentary turn is given to the story: the men were caught raking a pond for kegs of smuggled brandy, and put off the revenue men by pretending folly.
1787Grose Provinc. Gloss., Prov. R vij b, Wiltshire Moon⁓rakers. Some Wiltshire rusticks, as the story goes, seeing the figure of the moon in a pond, attempted to rake it out. 1819J. C. Hobhouse Let. in Smiles J. Murray (1891) I. xvi. 409, I have been..immersed in the miserable provincial politics of my brother moon-rakers of this county. 1881E. Slow Wiltsh. Rhymes 1 The Wiltshire Moonrakers.
2. Naut. A sail above the sky-sail; cf. moon-sail.
c1829D. Jerrold in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1969) I. 173 Now she makes more sail..mounts her royals, moon-rakers and sky-scrapers. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 37 Now all the old canvas has gone, with its snowy wings from the watersails to the moonrakers.
Hence ˈmoon-raking vbl. n., ‘raking the moon’; fig. pursuing vain thoughts.
1869Blackmore Lorna D. xvii, As soon as ever it was known that my wits were gone moonraking. 1894Hall Caine Manxman i. ix. 43 Have the lad's wits gone moon⁓raking, I wonder? |