| 释义 |
▪ I. battler1|ˈbætlə(r)|
Forms: 3 batelur, 5 batailler, 9 battler.
[ME. batelur, a. OF. batailleor, -eur, agent-noun f. bataillier to battle; also ME. batailler, a. OF. bataillier, f. bataille battle. In mod.Eng. perh. directly f. battle v.]
1. One who battles or fights; a warrior, a fighter.
c1300K. Alis. 1433 He wan of that lond the honor, And mony noble batelur. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. i. x. 28 The right worthy and preu baitailler Cena the romain. 1862Q. Rev. Apr. 410 Rough battlers with the world.
2. a. spec. A swagman (cf. swag n. 12 (b). Austral.
1900H. Lawson Over Sliprails 6 We're only ‘battlers’, and me and my mate, pickin' up crumbs by the wayside. 1928Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Feb. 21/1 Last time the poor old battler jus' struggled to our place. 1961‘J. Danvers’ Living came First vii. 116 ‘Nice bloke, Marty,’ added the swagman.., ‘always got a crust for a battler, an' a kind word.’
b. Used in Australia and New Zealand in various other senses and shades of meaning (see quots.), esp. a person struggling against odds. Cf. quot. 1862 under sense 1.
1898Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Dec. (Red Page), A bludger is about the lowest grade of human thing, and is a brothel bully... A battler is the feminine. 1941K. Tennant Battlers xvi. 165 They were a new sort of people, the travellers; and he belonged to them... He was a ‘battler’... They would still have a job on their hands clearing out the battlers; men and women who could face a desert and live off the country, travelling in small mobs. 1943J. A. W. Bennett in Amer. Speech XVIII. 88 [In N.Z.] a toiler or battler is a hard, conscientious worker—both are used with a shade of condescension. 1943Baker Dict. Austral. Slang (ed. 3) 9 Battler, a small-time hawker; a hard-up horse trainer struggling along in the game; a broken-down punter who still continues betting;..anyone who struggles for existence. 1962Listener 18 Jan. 128/1 Ditchburn is another Australian, a ‘battler’ as we say, a man who knows what he wants. 1964D. Horne Lucky Country: Australia 25 Australians love a ‘battler’, an underdog who is fighting the top dog, although their veneration for him is likely to pass if he comes out from under.
▪ II. † ˈbattler2 Obs. rare.
Also 7 batteller.
[f. battle v.4 + -er1.]
1. One who beats with a ‘bat’ or ‘battledore.’
1662Fuller Worthies iv. 49 Capping anciently set fifteen distinct Callings on work..9. Dyers. 10. Battellers. 11. Shearers. 1720Stow's Surv. (Strype 1754) II. v. xvi. 318/1 Carders, spinners, knitters..dyers, Battlers, shearers.
2. A small bat to play at ball with.
c1650Halliwell refers to Howell.
3. A utensil for battling clothes. [see ]
▪ III. battler3
var. batteler (at Oxford). |