| 释义 |
roly-poly, n., a., and adv.|ˈrəʊlɪˈpəʊlɪ|
Also rolypoly. Forms: 7 rowle-powle, 7–8 (9 dial.) rowly-powly (8 Sc. -powl), 8 (9 dial.) rowley-powley, 8 rouly-pouly, 9 Sc. roulie-poulie, 8–9 rolly-pooly, -polly, 9 rol(l)ey-pol(l)ey (-boley), roly-poley, 9 dial. rolli-powley, Sc. rollie-poly; 7– roly-poly, 9 rolypoly.
[App. a fanciful formation on roll v.2 In sense 1 the second element may be based on poll n.1]
†1.
a. A worthless fellow; a rascal. Obs.
1601B. Jonson Poetaster i. ii, How now, good man slaue? what, rowle powle [1692 rowly powly]? all riualls, rascall? 1602Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 201 Ile have thee in league first with these two rowly powlies. 1609R. Armin Maids of More-Cl. (1880) 107 Sause box, rowly powly, am I not your master?
†b. ? adv. Pell-mell, without distinction. Obs.—1
1605Rowlands Hell's broke loose (Hunterian Club) 17 Wee'le ayme our thoughts on high, at Honors marke: All rowly, powly; Tayler, Smyth, and Clarke.
†c. adj. ? Trifling, worthless. Obs.—1
1679Sp. Miles Corbet 5 That we have plotted and laboured long to turn this glorious Monarchy into a peddling roly poly, Independant Anarchy.
2. a. The name of various games, in most of which the rolling of a ball is the chief feature.
Johnson (1755), citing Arbuthnot, says ‘A sort of game, in which, when a ball rolls into a certain place, it wins’. For later accounts of the various forms, see the Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v.
1713Arbuthnot John Bull ii. xv, If this be your Play.., let us begin some Diversion; what d'ye think of Rouly⁓pouly, or a Country Dance? 1730in Lett. C'tess Suffolk (1824) I. 374 Lady Betty and herself play only at quadrille; but the Duchess of Marlborough takes to losing her money at roly-poly. 1745Act 18 Geo. II, c. 34 §1 A certain pernicious Game called Roulet, or Roly-poly is daily practised. 1759Brit. Chron. 17 Aug. 163 As some men were playing at Rolly poley at the Bird-cage alehouse. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iii. vii. (1810) 241 Half-bowl is practised to this day in Hertfordshire, where it is commonly called rolly-polly. 1807E. S. Barrett Rising Sun I. 76 To a luxurious supper succeeded wines,..fire and flames, and rolly-polly on the floor. 1847Illustr. Lond. News 6 Nov. 302/1 Restore roulette and rowley-powley to the Surrey hills, and the Knaves-mire flats. 1883Longman's Mag. Apr. 655 [At Haddington Fair] there are..travelling photographers, merry-go-rounds.., games of rolly-polly [etc.].
attrib.1747S. Fielding Lett. David Simple I. 84, I did not go to the Roly-poly or Card-Tables.
b. pl. Billiard-balls. nonce-use.
1850Smedley F. Fairleigh vii, Going to have a touch at the rolley-polleys, I suppose.
3. A game in which children roll over and over down a bank or grassy slope.
1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 128, I..often mark'd the place I play'd At ‘roly poly’ down the hill. 1894Heslop Northumberld. Gloss. 585.
4. A jocular name for a pea.
1784Cries of London 32 Here's your large Rowley Powlies, no more than Six-pence a Peck. Ibid. 33 Rowley Powley, jolly Pease.
5. A kind of pudding, consisting of a sheet of pastry covered with jam or preserves, formed into a roll and boiled or steamed. attrib.
1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxxv, As for the roly-poly, it was too good. 1866Times 2 Oct., He..would have devoured a Charlotte Russe or a Nesselrode pudding as unthinkingly as a common rolly-pooly. 1894Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Yrs. Life I. 247 Our menu not bad—carrot soup (potted), mutton pudding,..and marmalade roly-poly.
attrib.1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. (1849) xii. 168 You said I make the best rolly-polly puddings in the world. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 197 It is sometimes made in the rounded form of the plum-pudding; but more frequently in the ‘roly-poly’ style.
6. A roll or coil of hair (see quot.).
1866Daily Tel. 16 Jan. 7/5 The German ladies are seen to be tremendous in back hair, front cascades, side bulbs, transverse roly-polies.
7. A kind of dance (see quots.).
1830–2Carleton Traits (1843) I. 341 The usual variety of Irish dances—the reel, jig, fling, three-part-reel, four-part-reel, rowly-powly. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 145 When I danced, it was merely a comic dance—what we call a ‘roley poley’.
8. a. Austr. A salsolaceous plant having characteristics similar to those of the Rose of Jericho.
1859D. Bunce Trav. w. Leichhardt in Austr. 168 These weeds grow in the form of a large ball... No sooner were a few of these balls (or, as we were in the habit of calling them, ‘rolly-poleys’) taken up with the current of air [etc.]. 1865J. E. Tenison-Woods Discov. & Expl. Austr. II. 468 In the dry season it withers, and is easily broken off and rolled about by the winds, whence it is called roley-poley by the settlers. 1896B. Spencer Thro' Larapinta Land 13 On the loamy flats..the most noticeable plant is Salsola kali, popularly known as the Rolly-polly.
b. roly-poly grass (see quots.).
1889J. H. Maiden Useful Native Pl. 100 Panicum macractinum,..‘Roly-poly Grass’. This species produces immense dry and spreading panicles. 1896Daily News 11 June 3/1 The singular object labelled ‘Roley-poley grass’..is made up of tufts of a particular kind of grass, which, forming..into a small ball, rolls away over the limitless prairie, gathering as it goes.
9. adj. Short and stout; podgy, dumpy, plump. Chiefly of children.
1820Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) II. 85 The very reverse of the romping roly-poly thing, as round and blooming as a rose,..which is my beau-ideal of a child of that age. 1853Miss Mulock Agatha's Husb. II. i. 13 Cottages, in the doors of which a few rolypoly, open-eyed children stood. 1865― Christian's Mistake 44 A little roly-poly woman, with a meek, round, fair-complexioned face. 1885E. Garrett At Any Cost vii, A beautiful beagle, watching..over two roly-poly pups.
absol.1836Backwoods of Canada 216 One little girl, a fat brown roly-poly, of three years old, beat time on her father's knee.
Comb.1874Coues Birds N.W. 147 The plumage all..puffy, making very pretty ‘roly-poly’ looking objects. |