| 释义 |
▪ I. possum, n.1 Now colloq.|ˈpɒsəm|
Also 7 possown, -e, possam, 8 posom, 9 'possum.
a. Aphetic form of opossum.
1613A. Whitaker Gd. Newes fr. Virginia 41 The female possown which will let forth her young out of her bellie. 1670D. Denton Descr. New York (1845) 7 They eat like⁓wise Polecats, Skunks, Racoon, Possum. 1698G. Thomas Pensilvania 14 That strange creature, the Possam. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Marsupiale, in natural history, a name given by Tyson to the creature commonly called, the possum, or opossum. a1813A. Wilson Foresters Poet. Wks. (1846) 235 While owls and 'possums found concealment there. 1869Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 594 He's a rare dog for 'possums. 1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad iii. 38 He cocked his head to one side, shut one eye and put the other one to the hole, like a 'possum looking down a pig. 1905N. Davis Northerner 156 Falls ate his possum with the appetite which the ride in the cold air had given him. 1932W. Faulkner Light in August (1933) i. 19, I reckon it ain't any human in this country is going to dispute them hens with you, lessen it's the possums and the snakes. 1948Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 29 May 4/2 The possum broke out of his cage. 1971Black World Oct. 64/2, I suggested castor oil and fricassee possum in the milkshakes. 1975E. Wigginton Foxfire 3 25, I wish I could get a good possum.
b. to play possum: to feign, dissemble; to pretend illness: in allusion to the opossum's habit of feigning death when threatened or attacked. So to act possum, to come possum over. colloq. (orig. U.S.)
1822W. H. Simmons Notices E. Florida 40 After being severely wounded, they have been known to lie for several hours as if dead... Hence, the expression of ‘playing possum’ is common among the inhabitants, being applied to those who act with cunning and duplicity. 1824W. N. Blane Excursion 134 It is a common saying in America..that he is ‘playing possum’. 1844Mrs. Houston Yacht Voy. to Texas II. 216 When a slave is suspected by his employers of shamming sickness, to avoid his work, he is compared to this cunning little beast: ‘Well, I guess he's coming 'possum over us’. 1855Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. I. 5, I will play possum with these folks. 1924[see death-feigning (death n. 19)]. 1949Time 5 Sept. 13/1 By last week, in the Senate investigation of Washington five-percenters, it became plain that John had been playing possum the whole time. 1961G. H. Coxe Error of Judgment iii. 26, I knew the only way I could beat you was to play possum, but it was a good try, kid.
c. Applied to the phalangers: = opossum 2.
1770Cook Jrnl. (1893) 294 Here are Wolves, Possums, an Animal like a ratt, and snakes. 1864R. Henning Let. 27 Nov. (1966) 184 Several [aborigines] were carrying possums which they had caught on their way. 1869Hoare Figures of Fancy 86 The 'possum prattles in the trees. 1878Punch 10 Aug. 59/2 Australian beef, and kangaroos—and 'possums, wombats, and ornithorhyncusses. 1901M. Franklin My Brilliant Career xxx. 258 There would be more life in trapping 'possums out on Timlinbilly. 1916J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee xii. 174 ‘Tim’ was pushing his cold nose into Jack's hand to coax him to open the back door to let him out to race round the hut to bark at the 'possums. 1928‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country i. 6 'Possums when excited by the bark of dogs at the foot of trees where they have refuge will run up and down every branch in turn. 1941I. L. Idriess Great Boomerang xiii. 93 His arm caught in a hollow limb reaching for possum or cockatoo's nest. 1959Post-Primary School Bulletin (Wellington, N.Z.) XII. iii. 22 A 'possum is born only sixteen days after the egg starts developing within the mother's body. 1966J. K. Baxter Pig Island Lett. 4 He sets his trap for possums And whistles to his dog. 1966New Scientist 29 Sept. 713/3 Although still popularly known as possums to distinguish them from the opossums of the New World, the Australasian family has been given the apt name of Phalangeridae. 1970Southerly XXX. 303 One night a possum broke into the kitchen, through a window left just slightly ajar. 1977D. P. Gilmore in Stonehouse & Gilmore Biol. Marsupials x. 171 Today the possum is probably the most numerous mammal in New Zealand.
d. fig. In various slang uses (see quots.).
1833N.Y. Mirror 7 Sept. 80 A 'possum, the western phrase for a paltry fellow—a coward. 1900Dialect Notes II. 51 Possum, a negro, or negress. 1943Baker Dict. Austral. Slang (ed. 3) 61 Possum, a ‘ring-in’. 1945― Austral. Lang. vi. 130 Fools of one kind and another..flathead, possum, gammy, [etc.]. Ibid. vii. 138 Thieves are described variously as..dwelling dancers, stoops and possums. Ibid. 142 Jay and possum, a trickster's victim.
e. like a possum up a gum-tree: contented; (see also quot. 1898); to stir (or rouse) the possum: to stir up controversy, to liven things up. See also gum-tree 2. Austral. colloq.
1898Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Dec. (Red Page), ‘Like a possum up a gum tree’ is not bad to express quickness or cleverness in doing anything. 1907C. MacAlister Old Pioneering Days in Sunny South 51 Sometimes..an ambitious carrier or drover would ‘rouse the 'possum’ by giving some long-winded ditty of the time. 1908E. S. Sorenson Squatter's Ward 144, I mean to stir the 'possum in Sultan Susman from this out. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 56 Like a possum up a gumtree, completely happy, in the best of spirits and contentment. 1958‘W. Henry’ Seven Men at Mimbres Springs (1960) viii. 94 They made ‘more racket about it than six pickaninnies with a possum up a gum tree’. 1972Sydney Morning Herald 31 Oct. 3 ‘I could be sitting in Parliament now without any great cost provided I forgot this idea of stirring the possum,’ he said. 1976Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 27 Mar. 18/2 Mr. Bob Hawke sees an opening to stir the possum and to step up union wage demands.
f. attrib. and Comb., as possum beard, possum hunt (also as v. intr.), possum hunter, possum hunting, possum-playing, possum rug, possum scalper, possum skin, possum snare, possum token; possum belly U.S. slang (see quots.).
1928‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country xvi. 273 His 'possum beard and his slouch hat, out of which his mild blue eyes looked with incontestable simplicity.
1926Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 12/1 Possum belly tent stake box carried under circus railroad cars. 1939P. A. Rollins Gone Haywire 66 There was a sufficient supply of firewood in the ‘cooney’ or ‘possum belly’ (a baggy, dried cowhide fastened horizontally beneath the wagon box and used for carrying a reserve of fuel). 1973Amer. Speech 1969 XLIV. 207 Possum belly, livestock trailer with a drop frame to haul small animals underneath heavy cattle.
1841Spirit of Times 17 July 235/1 A 'possum Hunt. 1900Congress. Rec. 11 Jan. 784/1, I used to 'possum hunt. 1949Natural Hist. May 223/1 According to song and story, most 'possum hunts end at the foot of a 'simmon tree. 1976C. S. Brown Gloss. Faulkner's South 154 An axe is a regular part of a possum hunt.
1869Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 645 A true 'possum hunter never aims except in the head.
1840Southern Lit. Messenger VI. 784/1 He is fond of possum, rabbit, and coon-hunting.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 391 The Esquimaux..say that the dogs soon learn this ‘possum-playing’ habit.
1873J. H. H. St. John Pakeha Rambles through Maori Lands vii. 128 With a blanket, or better still, a 'possum rug,..the traveller may jog along very comfortably. 1880Fison & Howitt Kamilaroi 197 Each lad has his head covered up in a 'possum rug. 1942C. Barrett On Wallaby iii. 36 ‘Fifty quid,’ he said reflectively. ‘More than a possum rug's worth.’
1946F. D. Davison Dusty 164 He was a possum scalper, now.
1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxix. 249 They did..sometimes sew themselves sort of elementary clothes out of possum skins threaded together with kangaroo tendons. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 13, I remembered the honey and the fruit, the rabbits, the possum-skins, the money—all the help my little world had given me.
Ibid. 8 Before the dawn I went round possum snares.
1961B. Crump Hang on a Minute 145 Well, a man could sell deerskins and possum tokens.
▪ II. ˈpossum, v. U.S. and Austral. colloq.
[f. prec. n.]
1. a. intr. To ‘play possum’: see prec. b.
1832T. Flint Geog. Mississippi Valley (ed. 2) I. 67 In the common parlance of the country, any one, who counterfeits sickness..is said to be ‘possuming’ [ed. 1828 oppossuming]. 1846R. G. A. Levinge Echoes from Backwoods II. 32 'Possuming is become an idiom; a term signifying any one who is humbugging or deceiving. 1862Harper's Mag. Dec. 99/2 So you see you must endure it to the end—fur thar's no possumin' thar. 1888Daily Inter-Ocean 6 Feb. (Farmer), With three dangerously wounded grizzlies roaming around the immediate neighbourhood, besides the possibility of possuming among those stretched out below. 1912W. H. Thomas in J. F. Dobie Rainbow in Morning (1965) ii. 4 Now when that nigger comes to, if she's been possumin', she sho' will be hungry.
b. trans. To feign, to simulate.
1853J. G. Baldwin Flush Times Alabama 150 All this time I was possuming sleep..as innocent as a lamb.
2. To hunt opossums. Usually in vbl. n.
1869Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 607 To go out with him on a 'possuming expedition. 1900H. Lawson Over Shiprails 152, I promised to go 'possuming with Johnny Nowlett. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Jan. 11 A short-sighted young man went out 'possuming. 1942C. Barrett On Wallaby iii. 36 He may have done a bit of cyaniding and out of season possuming. |