释义 |
▪ I. bidental, a.|baɪˈdɛntəl| [f. L. bident-em (see prec.) + -al1.] ‘Belonging to a Fork, or Instrument with two teeth.’ Bullokar, 1676. ▪ II. ‖ biˈdental, n. Rom. Antiq. [L. bidental, f. bident-em (see bident), according to some called from the forked lightning (see bidental = fulmen bifidum in Du Cange), according to others from the bidens or sheep sacrificed at its consecration.] A place struck by lightning, consecrated by the haruspices, and enclosed. Also fig.
1692Coles, Bidental..also a place where sheep were sacrificed. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Festus represents the bidental as a temple, where sheep of two years old were offered in sacrifice. 1794Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 29, I would only set up the bidental at the bookseller's door at Wimbledon. 1873Blackmore Cradock N. xxvii, The scene of his ruin and despair,—the ‘bidental’ of his destiny. |