| 释义 |
opossum|əˈpɒsəm|
Forms: 7 opassom, opossom, 8 opassum, oposon, 8–9 oppossum, 8– opossum. See also possum.
[American Indian name in Virginia, given by early writers as aposon, apossoun, oposon, opassom.]
1. General name of the small marsupial mammals of the American family Didelphyidæ, mostly arboreal, some (genus Chironectes) aquatic, of nocturnal habits, with an opposable digit (thumb) on the hind foot, and tail usually prehensile; esp. Didelphys virginiana, the common opossum of the United States. (Colloq. shortened to possum, q.v.)
1610True Declar. Col. Virginia (1844) 13 There are Arocouns, and Apossouns, in shape like to pigges, shrowded in hollow roots of trees. 1612Capt. Smith Map Virginia 14 An Opassom hath an head like a Swine, and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignes of a Cat. Vnder her belly she hath a bagge, wherein shee lodgeth, carrieth, and sucketh [1624 suckleth] her young. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage 636 [erron.] The Ouassom [etc. (quoting Smith)]. c1615W. Strachey Hist. Trav. Virginia (Hakl. Soc. 1849) 123 An opussum is a beast as big as a pretty beagle, of grey cullour. Ibid. Glossary Indian Wds. 183, Aposon, a beast in bignes like a pig and in tast alike. 1635Swan Spec. M. ix. §1 (1643) 439 [erron.] A beast called Ovassom [etc. (quoting Purchas)]. 1688J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 122 An Opossom, as big, and something shaped like our Badgers, but of a lighter Dun colour. 1719Ozell tr. Misson's Mem. 280 The Oposon is of the Bigness of a Pig of a Fortnight old. 1763Wesley Compend. of Nat. Philos. (1784) I. ii. i. § 10. 236 The tender young of the Opossum are delicate morsels. 1769Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 19 As the young of the oppossum retire into the ventral pouch of the old one. 1859Thackeray Virgin. xxxviii, Like the fabled opossum..who when he spied the unerring gunner from his gum-tree said ‘It's no use, Major, I will come down’. 1880Haughton Phys. Geog. vi. 267 Seven species of Opossum have been found, fossil, in caves of Brazil.
2. Extended to various other small or moderate-sized marsupials; esp. the common name in Australia and Tasmania of those of the sub-family Phalangistinæ, more properly called Phalangers. (Now normally replaced in Australian usage by possum but still the more usual form in New Zealand.)
‘The name opossum is applied in Australia to all or any of the species belonging to the genera, which together form the sub-family Phalangerinæ... The commoner forms are as follows:—Common Dormouse O., Dromicia nana. Common Opossum, Trichosurus vulpecula. Common Ring-tailed O., Pseudochirus peregrinus. Greater Flying-O., Petauroides volans. Lesser Dormouse O., Dromicia lepida. Lesser Flying-O., Petaurus breviceps. Pigmy Flying-O., Acrobates pygmæus. Short-eared O., Trichosurus caninus. Squirrel Flying-O., or Flying-Squirrel, Petaurus sciureus. Striped O., Dactylopsila trivirgata. Tasmanian, or Sooty O., Trichosurus vulpecula, var. fuliginosus. Tasmanian Ring-tailed O., Pseudochirus Cooki. Yellow-bellied Flying-O., Petaurus australis'. (Morris Austral Eng. (1898) s.v.)
[1770Capt. Cook's Jrnl. 4 Aug. (1893) 294 Here [at Endeavour River] are Wolves, Possums, an animal like a ratt, and snakes. ]1777Cook Voy. (1784) I. 109 The only animal of the quadruped kind we got, was a sort of opossum, about twice the size of a large rat. 1789A. Phillip Voy. Botany Bay xxii. 297 Black Flying Opossum. 1793J. Hunter Voyage 68 The opossum is also very numerous here, but it is not exactly like the American opossum. 1802Barrington Hist. N.S. Wales i. 23 The females..wear a little apron, made from the skin of the opposum. 1847Leichhardt Jrnl. v. 146 The Black⁓fellows told us, that they had caught a ring-tailed opossum. 1862G. T. Lloyd 33 Yrs. Tasmania iv. 47 The large sable and gray opossums, when disturbed, will either await death in their dark nest or at once spring to the earth. 1875Melbourne Spectator 10 July 118/2 A snow-white opossum has been captured on a tree at the Murray. 1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xvii. 162 Australia, at one time, along with its harmless marsupial kangaroos, opossums..and the rest, had its own beasts of prey. 1911E. M. Clowes On Wallaby ii. 19 The only possible chance visitor is an occasional opossum on the roof. 1944Living off Land iii. 57 To improvise a water container, copy the blacks, who used the skins of opossums. 1968Wanganui (N.Z.) Chron. 15 Nov. 10/6 (Advt.), Opossum skins. Good prices, wanted immediately for overseas contract. 1973Massey Ferguson Rev. (N.Z.) Mar.–Apr. 8/3 Intensive control measures around the farms by the New Zealand Forest Service and local pest destruction boards have reduced opossum numbers with the aim that this will break the cattle infection cycle and stop Tb-tested cattle from becoming re-infected.
3. attrib. and Comb., as opossum kind, opossum skin, opossum tribe; opossum-mouse, the Pygmy Flying Phalanger of Australia, Acrobates pygmæus; opossum-shrew, an insectivorous mammal of the West Indian genus Solenodon, outwardly resembling an opossum; opossum-shrimp, a shrimp of the genus Mysis or family Mysidæ, so called from the brood-pouch in which the female carries her eggs; opossum-tree, an Australian timber-tree, Quintinia Sieberi.
1770J. Banks Jrnl. 26 July (1896) 291 While botanising to-day I had the good fortune to take an animal of the opossum (Didelphis) tribe. 1789A. Phillip Voy. Botany Bay xv. 147 A small animal of the opossum kind. 1832J. Bischoff Van Diemen's Land 28 The opossum mouse is about the size of our largest barn mouse. 1844Carpenter Zool. §790 The curious genus Mysis, or Opossum-Shrimp. 1859Cornwallis New World I. 161 Beating their stretched oppossum-skin rugs as a drum accompaniment. 1862G. J. Whyte-Melville Ins. Bar 343 What I believe Mr. Poole terms the ‘opossum pocket’ of his shooting-jacket. 1894Lydekker Marsupialia 118 The Flying Mouse, or Opossum Mouse,..is one of the most elegant of the Australian Marsupials. |