| 释义 |
▪ I. pet, n.1|pɛt|
Also 6 pette, 8 pett.
[Originally Sc. and north. Eng.; of unknown origin. Ir. peat and Gael. peata are from Sc.
From the history, app. not related in origin to peat n.2, though the words may at times have been confused.]
1. a. Any animal that is domesticated or tamed and kept as a favourite, or treated with indulgence and fondness; esp. applied to ‘a lamb’ (or kid) ‘taken into the house, and brought up by hand, a cade lamb’ (Johnson). (The latter is the ordinary literal sense in Sc. and north. Eng.)
1539Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. in Pitcairn Crim. Trials I. *299 Item, to Thomas Melvillis Wiffe, in Falkland, at þe Kingis command, for keping of certane Pettis, and nurising of þe samyn. [note. These Pets consisted of Parroquets, monkeys, peacocks, swans, &c., &c.] 1674–91Ray N. C. Words, Pet, and Pet-lamb, a cade lamb. 1710Steele Tatler No. 266 ⁋2 The other has transferred the amorous Passions of her first Years to the Love of Cronies, Petts and Favourites [a dog, monkey, squirrel, parrot]. 1808Jamieson s.v. Pet vb., Pet..denotes..more generally, any creature that is fondled and much indulged. 1825Brockett N.C. Gloss., Pet, a domesticated lamb. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pet, a cade or house lamb. [So1869Lonsdale Gloss.] 1830[see cade n.2 2]. 1837M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 119 The animal is cleanly in its habits, and is reared in the houses rather as a pet.
b. Applied to a plant artificially reared.
1842in J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 154 The pet having been brought to this its first state of existence, must be put in the window. At first it will be a stout thread, whitish, and covered with tiny scales; then the scales will expand a little, and the end will become greener.
2. a. An indulged (and, usually, spoiled) child.
1508Dunbar Flyting w. Kennedie 247 Herretyk, lunatyk, purspyk, carlingis pet. 17..Scotch Prov., He has fault of a wife who marries mam's pet. 1788W. Marshall Yorksh. Gloss., Pet, a child spoilt by improper indulgence. 1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 380 A pet is always a dangerous creature; thus, a child petted by its parents, plays the devil some day in the world; a sheep petted is apt to turn a duncher [= butter, one which butts].
b. Any person who is indulged, fondled, or treated with special kindness or favour; a darling, favourite; a sweet or obliging person; † also as a name for a favourite boxer (obs.). Also transf. of a thing. Phr. teacher's pet: a derogatory term for a teacher's favourite pupil; also transf.
[1755Johnson, Peat, a little fondling; a darling; a dear play-thing. It is now commonly called pet.] 1825Brockett N.C. Gloss., Pet,..a fond designation for a female favourite. 1826Disraeli Viv Grey iv. i, Patronise him! he is my political pet! 1833T. Creevey in C. Papers, etc. (1904) II. 260 He made himself a real pet of mine. 1841Dickens Let. 9 Feb. (1969) II. 208 ‘The Pet of the Fancy’, or ‘the Slashing Sailor Boy’, or ‘Young Sawdust’. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxiv. 303 James Crawley had met the Tutbury Pet, who was coming to Brighton to make a match with the Rottingdean Fibber; and enchanted by the Pet's conversation, had passed the evening in company with that..man. 1859J. Blackwood Let. 8 July in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1954) III. 113 A dive kept..by Dick Curtis the pet of the Fancy. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xxx, No place was so much the pet of fortune as the Blue Bell Inn. 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet i. x, I was once the pet and plaything of ladies, a sort of lapdog. 1902R. Hichens Londoners 11 You are the pet of society. 1914B. Tarkington Penrod xii. 89 ‘Teacher's pet!’ whispered Penrod hoarsely. He had nothing but contempt for Georgie Bassett. 1922Wodehouse Girl on Boat iv. 82 Do be a pet and go and talk to Jane Hubbard. I'm sure she must be feeling lonely. 1930J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel iii. 237 The other employees in the department hated her and nick⁓named her Teacher's Pet. 1952S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) xii. 199 He was not only the ‘teacher's pet’, he was the ‘rich kid’. He was doubly isolated. 1957J. Kirkup Only Child xi. 139 So immediately after lessons were over, I would not linger in the classroom ‘sucking up to teacher’ as the ‘teacher's pets’ did. 1968Guardian 16 Mar. 11/5 The anxious child was usually the conventional teacher's pet, always well dressed and obedient. 1976T. Heald Let Sleeping Dogs Die ix. 184 Be a pet and fetch me a Tom Collins. 1976H. Wilson Governance of Britain i. 12 It [sc. the phrase ‘prime minister’] was used to denote ‘court favourite’, with connotations similar to ‘teacher's pet’.
c. = pet-day, ‘a day too fine to last’: see 3 d.
1825Jamieson s.v, It is commonly said ‘I fear this day will be a pet’, Renfrew.
d. Used as a term of endearment or familiar vocative.
1849J. Ruskin Let. 24 Apr. in M. Lutyens Ruskins & Grays (1972) xxi. 185 Do you know, pet, it seems almost a dream to me that we have been married. 1939L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside xxxvii. 293 There is a parcel I want to send up to Thomasine Fair... Will you run up with it this afternoon, pet? 1972G. Sereny Case M. Bell i. ii. 33 Mary smiled and asked to see Martin. I said, ‘No, pet, Martin is dead.’ 1975J. Wainwright Square Dance 186 He..spoke to the policewoman on duty... ‘Now then, pet—can you help me?’ 1977Daily Mirror 22 Mar. 24 Sounds like just the job for you, pet, eh?
3. attrib. and Comb.
a. attrib. or as adj. Of an animal: Kept as a pet or favourite: orig. applied to a lamb brought up by hand, a cade lamb.
1584Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 99 One pette sheipe 4s. 1674–91Pet-lamb [see 1] 1800Wordsw. (title of poem) The Pet Lamb. 1851D. Jerrold St. Giles xi. 105 [He] may keep his pet-lamb safe from London wolves. 1863Bates Nat. Amazon I. 82 A favorite pet-bird of the Brazilians. 1890D. G. Mitchell Lands, Lett., & Kings iii. 124 [Herrick] kept a pet goose at the vicarage, also a pet pig. 1897Westm. Gaz. 30 July 1/2 Threatening, abusive, and coaxing letters from pet-dog owners.
b. Of a person, or more usually transf. of a thing (material or immaterial): Specially cherished; for which one has a particular fondness or weakness; favourite. Also (jocularly or ironically) pet aversion, that which one specially dislikes; also, pet hate; pet peeve: see peeve n.
1826Blackw. Mag. XX. 53/1 Men of the most different habits and characters in other respects, resemble each other in the practice of nursing in secret some pet superstition. 1832Manning Let in Purcell Life (1895) I. 97 My pet iron bed..I shall want at Merton. 1845Miall in Nonconf. V. 25 The success of his pet financial scheme. 1846H. Rogers Ess. (1860) I. 192 Philosophers are apt to be blindly fond of their pet theories. 1870Dickens E. Drood iii, The pet pupil of the Nuns' House is Miss Rosa Bud. 1877Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 242 This pet weakness of her sex is not to be scored against Olga. 1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad xxvi. 262 For years my pet aversion had been the cuckoo clock. 1890Times 14 Jan. 12/2 Prince Metternich was her pet aversion. 1898G. B. Shaw Plays II. Candida 117 My own particular pet scrubbing brush has been used for blackleading. 1920[see assassinate v. 3]. 1939Sun (Baltimore) 21 Apr. 28/2 Hill-passers, he said, were one of his ‘pet hates’. 1949Proc. Inst. Electr. Engin. XCVI. ii. 629/1 Engineers will always have their pet ideas and want their special sizes of cables. 1969Morning Star 19 Nov. 4 Many of you will have your own pet dishes... With your help we could give the cookery column a real international flavour. 1974‘R. Tate’ Birds of Bloodied Feather vi. 118 No doubt you have one of your pet theories. 1977National Observer (U.S.) 22 Jan. 12/2 Another pet hate is the ‘News Flash’ that breaks into a program with total disregard for its distracting impact on the show.
c. Expressing fondness, endearing: chiefly in pet-form, an adaptation of a name used as a pet-name; pet name (often hyphened), a name expressing fondness or familiarity, as the various abbreviated and altered forms, diminutives, etc., of Christian names; a hypocoristic name; hence pet-name v. trans., to give (a person) a pet name; to call by a pet name.
1829Lytton Devereux iii. v, Call me only by those pretty pet words by which I know you will never call any one else. 184.Mrs. Browning Sonn. fr. Portuguese xxxiii, Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear The name I used to run at, when a child, From innocent play. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 359 A lover who uses these pet names. 1892Spectator 5 Mar. 331/2 They invent pet-names [for their parents] usually tinged with a comic irreverence. 1915E. Corri 30 Yrs. Boxing Ref. 183 Men of the most human type are usually pet-named by the public in some way. 1932E. Weekley Words & Names X. 138 Christopher may have implied stupidity, as its German pet-form Stoffel is synonymous with blockhead. 1942C. Morley Thorofare (1943) xix. 66 He had pet-named the two funnels for his twin daughters, Alma and Sophie. 1956Archivum Linguisticum VIII. 70 Ned and Nanny are..mere pet-forms like Ted. 1960P. H. Reaney Orig. Eng. Place-Names i. 8 We must believe..that Brihtling was a pet⁓form for Brihtric. 1973Times Lit. Suppl. 1 June 608/3 His young bride Nadia petnamed him Klop (which is Russian for ‘bug’).
d. Comb.: pet-vendor; pet cemetery = pets' cemetery; pet-day: see quots.; pet-food, food for pet animals; petland, the realm of pets; pet-lover, a lover of domestic pets; pets' cemetery, a burial-ground for domestic pets; pets' corner, a part of a display, zoo, etc., reserved for the display of animals normally kept as pets or suitable for keeping as pets; pet-shop, a shop selling animals to be kept as pets.
1967A. Lewin Unaltered Cat ii. viii. 180 He telephoned the *pet-cemetery... Mr Carpenter agreed to pick up the cat-corpse. 1973Post-Herald (Birmingham, Alabama) c1/1 The Los Angeles Pet Cemetery has a small ‘slumber room’ where owners may view their pet lying in state on a blue satin covered stand.
1823Galt Gilhaize III. viii. 63 The lown of that time was as a *pet day in winter. 1882W. Marriott in Standard 26 Dec. 7/4 They are generally accompanied by weather ‘too fine to last’, or what in Scotland is known as a ‘pet-day’. 1939L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside ii. 14 Such a lovely day... I'm afraid it's a pet day though—there'll be rain to-morrow.
1961A. Wilson Old Men at Zoo i. 48 If I'd been made Director, Beard would be getting a thumping great subsidy from some of those big *pet food people. 1968Observer (Colour Suppl.) 25 Feb. 35/1 Pet foods come sixth in the consumer top ten. Baby food lags way behind. 1973R. Hill Ruling Passion ii. vi. 132 A man was unloading trays of meat and made-up pet food from a blue van.
1884Wood (title) *Petland Revisited.
1904Contemp. Rev. Aug. 230 Pet lions were only one example of the aberrations of *pet-lovers in ancient Rome.
1908Hardy Let. 23 Dec. in One Rare Fair Woman (1972) 138 Our very old cat ‘Comfy’ died two days ago... He is buried in our *pets' cemetery. 1948E. Waugh Loved One 27 He took a job at the pets' cemetery.
1940*Pets' corner [see dumb a. 1 b]. 1961Guardian 5 May 15/4 In the children's corner [of the park] there is..a pets' corner. 1968J. Rathbone Hand Out xiv. 113 Gee, Elmer, it's better'n pets' corner back home. 1976Star (Sheffield) 29 Oct. 14/6 Now he is hoping to open a pet's corner and leisure centre there, with a pride of lions as the star attraction.
1928Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 47 Mr. Wilham's fashionable West End *pet-shop. 1942D. Powell Time to be Born (1943) xii. 295 In front of the pet-shop window a man stood watching half a dozen infant Siamese kittens. 1976W. Greatorex Crossover 35 He called at the pet shop... There were whining puppies and mewing kittens.
1924Glasgow Herald 21 Nov. 10/7 A London *pet-vendor has had about 2,500 snakes through his hands within the last few months.
▪ II. pet, n.2|pɛt|
Also 7–8 pett.
[In use since end of 16th c., first app. in the phrase ‘to take the pet’; origin obscure.
It has naturally been associated with pet n.1, as being a characteristic habit of a ‘pet’ or indulged and spoiled child; but the connexion of sense is not very clear or simple, esp. in the early phrase ‘to take the pet’. It is also to be noted that in the 16th, 17th, and early 18th c., pet n.1 was still an exclusively northern word, while pet n.2 has been app. Southern English also from the first.]
Offence at being (or feeling) slighted or not made enough of; a fit of ill humour or peevishness from this cause: now usually implying one of a slight or childish kind. to take (the) pet, to take offence and become ill-humoured or sulky.
1590Lodge Enphues Gold. Leg. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 90 Some while they thought he had taken some word vnkindly, and had taken the pet. 1606Chapman Mons. D'Olive ii. i, Fled backe as it came and went away in Pett. 1611Cotgr., Se mescontenter de, to take the pet, or pepper in the nose, at. 1621Laud Serm. on Ps. xxi. 6 When they may haue a blessing and will not, it is a sullen pet. 1625Massinger New Way i. ii, But what's this to your pet against my lady? 1640Sanderson Serm. on Ps. cxix. 75 §10 Jonas took pet at the withering of the gourd. 1647Let. of Intelligence 16 Aug. (Clarendon MSS. 2576), The Lords..in a pet did adjourn their House. 1660Pepys Diary 6 Dec., Which did vex me..and so I took occasion to go up and to bed in a pet. 1707Reflex. upon Ridicule 199 Who takes Pett at things that are lightly said. 1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. ii. song iii, The dawted bairn thus takes the pet, Nor eats tho' hunger crave. 1830Scott Jrnl. 23 May, About a year ago I took the pet at my Diary, chiefly because I thought it made me abominably selfish. c1850Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 11 She went back to the house in a pet, shut herself up, and cried the whole night. 1894R. H. Elliot Gold, etc. Mysore 102 They [tigers] take the pet in a case of failure and go off in disgust.
▪ III. † pet, n.3 Obs. rare.
[a. F. pet (13th c. in Littré) = It. petto:—L. pēdit-us, in med.L. pettus.]
A breaking wind; = fart n.
1515Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C vj, Though all their cunning scantly be worth a pet.
▪ IV. pet, v.1|pɛt|
[f. pet n.1; in early use Sc.]
a. trans. To make a pet of, treat as a pet; to indulge; to fondle.
1629Z. Boyd Last Battell 324 Grosse euill thoghts fedde and petted with yeelding and consent. 1788W. Marshall Yorksh. Gloss., Pet, to indulge; to spoil by over-indulgence. 1818Todd, Pet, to treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge. 1824[see pet n.1 2 a]. 1846D. Jerrold Mrs. Caudle xxxvi, Get another wife to study you and pet you up as I've done. 1847Helps Friends in C. (1861) I. 127 The truth is,..we cannot pet anything much without doing it mischief.
b. intr. To have erotic physical contact with another person by kissing, caressing, and sexual stimulation. orig. U.S.
1924P. Marks Plastic Age vi. 53 I'm a bad egg. I drink and gamble and pet. I haven't gone the limit yet..—but I will. 1953A. C. Kinsey et al. Sexual Behav. Human Female ix. 389 The most responsive females may be the ones who most often pet to orgasm before marriage. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 230 The game she cherished was to play the bobby-soxer who petted with a date in the living room and was finally seduced. 1969E. M. Brecher Sex Researchers (1970) v. 113 Some lower⁓level boys also occasionally pet. 1977C. Storr Tales Psychiatrist's Couch 84 Haven't you ever reached a climax when you've been out with a boy? When you'd be petting?
▪ V. pet, v.2|pɛt|
[f. pet n.2]
intr. To be in a pet; to take offence at one's treatment; to sulk.
1629Gaule Holy Madn. 239 Jonas pets for his Gourd. 1661Feltham Resolves ii. ii, He sure is queasie stomack t, that must pet and puke at such a trivial circumstance. c1685Sir P. Hume Narr. Occurr. (1809) 40 The Erle petting at it, forbare and stayed there. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. i, The loyal Right Side sat..as it were pouting and petting.
b. trans. To cause to take offence. dial.
1814W. Nicholson Peacock iv. Poems 104 Shou'd some passage pet or pout them, They ken best if the bonnet suit them.
▪ VI. pet, petach
obs. forms of peat, pit, patache. |