| 释义 |
mopoke, morepork|ˈməʊpəʊk, ˈmɔəpɔək|
Also maw(e)pawk, mope hawk, moopoo.
[Imitative of the bird's note; the forms morepork, mope hawk are obvious interpretative corruptions; the prevailing form in Australian use is now mopoke.]
1. a. A name given in New Zealand to an owl, the Spiloglaux novæ-zealandiæ, in Tasmania to the night-jar, Podargus cuvieri, and in Australia to other birds, as the Ninox boobook.
1827Hellyer in Bischoff Van Diemen's Land (1832) 177 One of the men shot a ‘more pork’. 1846G. H. Haydon 5 Yrs. Austral. Felix vi. 132 The doleful cry of the more⁓pork. 1848Gould Birds Australia II. pl. 1 ægotheles Novæ-Hollandiæ Vig. and Horsf., Owlet Nightjar..Little Mawepawk, colonists of Van Diemen's Land. 1849W. T. Power Sketches in N.Z. ix. 74 Among the commonest birds which frequent the forest is a small owl, generally known..by the denomination of ‘More pork’. 1852L. A. Meredith My Home in Tasmania II. xviii. 253 The Maw⁓pawk, More Pork, or Mope Hawk, is common in most parts of the colony. 1864J. Rogers New Rush ii. 39 A Mopoke may pick out my eyes. 1866M. A. Barker Let. in Station Life N.Z. (1870) xiv. 100 The last cry of a very pretty little owl, called from its distinctly uttered cries, the ‘more-pork’. 1874T. H. Potts On Recent Changes Fauna N.Z. 8 The name..morepork is well-known throughout the country. Australian settlers distinguish a podargus by a similar name. 1882― Out in Open 118 Athene Novæ Zelandiæ, morepork, ruru rarupeho of the Maoris. 1890Melbourne Argus 26 July 4/4 The shapeless moopoo seemed to cast down an evil eye as he flitted past. 1894C. W. Richmond Let. 22 Mar. in Richmond–Atkinson Papers (1960) II. x. 597 Once..they had nothing to eat but a tui and a morepork. 1896Spencer Through Larapinta Land 124 In the gum trees the ‘mopokes’ (Ninox boobook) were calling to one another. 1898M. Roberts Keeper of Waters 138 He sold a station in Victoria, and they said he was as silly as a ‘morepork’. 1905J. M. Thomson Bush Boys of N.Z. iv. 59 The More-pork is the small New Zealand owl, so-called from its peculiar guttural cry. 1963Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 26 Oct., In the..action shots which are skilfully interwoven with Maori legends and traditions about each bird, are the morepork..fantail, bellbird, tui.
b. transf. A ‘stupid’.
1845R. Howitt Impressions Australia Felix 233 ‘A more-pork kind of fellow’ is a man of cut-and-dry phrases; a person remarkable for nothing new in common conversation. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xiii. 125 What a regular more-pork I was to be sure. 1946Coast to Coast 1945 132 He was such a helpless sort of a poor mopoke.
2. The note of the mopoke.
1827Hellyer in Bischoff Van Diemen's Land (1832) 177 The owl's doleful cry of ‘more pork’. 1868Carleton Austr. Nts. 19 The Austral cuckoo spoke His melancholy note—‘Mo-poke’. 1889C. Lumholtz Cannibals 33 We are lulled to sleep by the melancholy..voices of the night bird Podargus ‘more-pork! more-pork!’ 1916,1934[see boobook]. |