| 释义 |
polecat, pole-cat|ˈpəʊlkæt|
Forms: α. 4–7 polcat, 5 -kat, 6 -catte, 6–7 pol-cat, 7 polcate, -catt, poll-cat, 8 poll cat, 9 pole cat, 6– pole-cat, 7– polecat. β. 5 pulcatt, -kat; 6 poulcatte, 6–8 -cat, powl(-)cat, poul-cat, 9 poulecat; dial. pow-cat.
[ME. polcat, pulcatt, the second element being cat n.1
The element pole, pol- (as already pointed out by Prof. Skeat) may have been OF. pole, -poule, chicken, fowl (cf. sparrow-hawk, gos-hawk, honey-bear); this is favoured by the forms in pul-, poul-, powl-; but pow-cat offers difficulty.]
1. A small dark-brown coloured carnivorous quadruped, Putorius fœtidus, of the Mustelidæ or Weasel family, a native of Europe; called also fitchet, fitchew, foumart.
1320Acc. Roll No. 27205 Westminster Deanery 13–14th Edw. II (Surrey) Anceres..item in deuoracione per Polcat vj. c1386Chaucer Pard. T. 527 And eek ther was a pol⁓cat in his hawe That as he seyde hise capons hadde yslawe. c1440Promp. Parv. 407/2 Pulkat, idem quod fulmere. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 52 Nyghtecrowes and poul⁓cattes, foxes and foumerdes, with all other vermine. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. i. 29 Powlcats? There are fairer things then Powlcats, sure. 1601Holland Pliny I. 218 Grayes, Polcats and Brocks. 1714Gay What d'ye call it i. i, How should he then Who killed but Poulcats, learn to murder Men? 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 363 The Polecat is larger than the weasel, the ermine, or the ferret, being one foot five inches long. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pow-cat, the pole cat. 1876Smiles Sc. Natur. vii. 111 The bite..of a polecat..is anything but agreeable.
b. Applied to other species of the genus Putorius, e.g. P. nigripes, the American polecat, P. eversmanni, the Siberian p., P. sarmaticus, the Mottled p., of Eastern Europe and Western Asia; also to other Mustelidæ, esp. in U.S. the skunks.
1688J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 124 There are [in Virginia] several sorts of Wild Cats, and Poll-Cats. 1781S. Peters Hist. Connecticut 252 The Skunk is..very different from the Pole-Cat, which he is sometimes called. 1860J. W. Warter Sea-board II. 210 During the long winter, it [the Mustela Vison of N. America] leaves the frozen waters, and preys like other polecats on mice and land animals. 1864Webster, Zorilla..called also mariput, Cape polecat, and African polecat.
2. fig. Applied contemptuously to a vile person; a courtesan, a prostitute.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. ii. 195 Out of my doore, you Witch, you Ragge, you Baggage, you Poulcat, you Runnion, out, out. 1607Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe i. D.'s Wks. 1873 III. 4 To take their leaues of their London Polecats, (their wenches I meane Sir). a1640Day Parl. Bees x. (1641) G j b, Hee's a male powl-cat; a meere heart-bloud soaker. 1717L'Estrange & Ozell tr. Sovorcano (title) The Spanish Pole-Cat, or the Adventures of Seniora Rufina. 1790Wolcott (P. Pindar) Advice to Fut. Laureat ii. vi, Brudenell, thou stinkest; weazel, polecat, fly!
3. attrib. and Comb., as polecat head, polecat perfume, etc.; polecat ferret, a brown variety of the ferret; polecat weed, in U.S., the skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus fœtidus; wild polecat weed, Convolvulus panduratus (Miller Plant-n., 1884).
1596Nashe Saffron Walden 59 With one Pol-cat perfume or another hee will poyson thee. 1631P. Fletcher Sicelides I ij, That same Foolishes had a pole-cat head. 1844Dunglison Med. Lex., Polecat weed, Dracontium fœtidum. 1869G. Rooper Flood, Field & Forest (1874) 178 The young ferret came but once a year. I refer to the pole⁓cat ferret. 1893J. Watson Confess. Poacher 123 In the north we have two varieties of ferret,—one a brown colour, the polecat-ferret; the other the common white. |