| 释义 |
▪ I. screech, n.1|skriːtʃ|
Forms: 6 skreeche, 7 scriech, screitch, skreech, 7–8 skriech, 8 schreetch, skreetch, 7– screech.
[f. screech v. Cf. scritch n.]
1. A loud shrill cry, usually one expressive of violent and uncontrollable pain or alarm.
1560Ovid's Narcissus A ij b, Ecco..the dobbeler of skreeche [rime speche]. 1614Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue ii. 238 Th' one insulting proud; Th' other in skrieches, and sad cryes, as loud, Deafned the shores. 1615G. Sandys Trav. i. 11 A great lamentation, accompanied with grones and skreeches. 1628Dudley Ld. Carleton in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 259 But to returne to the screeches made att the fatall blow given. 1722De Foe Plague (1884) 109 A Woman gave three frightful Skreetches. 1743Appleton Serm. 93 Draw forth Teares, yea, to cause Schreetches and screamings out. a1822Shelley Hate-song 3 He sang a song which was more of a screech [rime-word ditch] 'Gainst a woman that was a brute. 1851Hawthorne Ho. Sev. Gables xix. (1852) 230 Shouting to her at mouth-wide screech. 1864C. Geikie Life in Woods vii. (1874) 128 Suddenly an unearthly sound broke from one side, a sort of screech.
† fig.1671J. Flavel Fount. Life xii. 35 Oh what a fearful scriech will thy Conscience give.
2. A name for various birds having a harsh discordant cry, e.g. the Barn-owl (Strix flammea), the Swift (Cypselus apus), the Missel-thrush (Turdus viscivorus), etc. Now only dial.
1637G. Daniel Genius of this Isle 346 Where the owle And yelling Screitch, (full of portent and Fate) Late kept. 1802Montagu Ornith. Dict., Swift... Screech. 1822Shelley tr. Goethe's Faust ii. 67 Are the screech, the lapwing, and the jay, All awake as if 'twere day? 1852F. O. Morris Brit. Birds II. 75 Swift... Black Martin. Screech.
3. transf. A harsh, squeaking sound made by some inanimate object.
1832H. Martineau Hill & Valley iii. 46 He was completely roused by a creak and screech of the latticed window. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home II. 85 We could hear the galloping sweep of a railway train..and its discordant screech.
4. attrib. and Comb.
a. Simple attrib., with the sense ‘screeching, loud and discordant’.
a1830Cockburn Mem. (1856) 179 A wild-looking..man with sandy hair, a screech voice, and staring eyes.
b. In dial. names of birds with reference to their characteristic cry (cf. sense 2), as screech-bird, -thrush, the Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris); screech-cock, -drossle, -thrush, the Missel-thrush (Turdus viscivorus); screech-devil, -martin, the Swift (Cypselus apus); screech-hawk, the Nightjar (Caprimulgus Europæus). See Eng. Dial. Dict.
1802Montagu Ornith. Dict., Swift... Screech Martin. 1839Macgillivray Brit. Birds II. 114 Turdus viscivorus. The Missel Thrush... Screech Thrush.
¶5. Misused for screak, skreigh, break of day.
1883F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius iii, I am a very early bird: I get up at the screech of dawn.
▪ II. screech, n.2 slang.|skriːtʃ|
[ult. ad. Sc. dial. screigh whisky.]
a. Whisky.
b. Any strong alcoholic liquor, freq. one of inferior quality.
c. Newfoundland. A specific rum, or a specific mixture of rums.
1902Farmer & Henley Slang VI. 126/1 Screech, subs. (common), whiskey. 1944T. H. Wisdom Triumph over Tunisia viii. 68 The famous and kindly Peres Blanc from the Monastery at near-by Thibar had supplied them with drink from the monks' own cellars, and the popular drink was one that had been aptly christened ‘Screech’ by ‘111’. 1945W. H. Pugsley Saints, Sinners & Ordinary Seamen 231 [The rating] gets hold of some bootleg scotch—‘high life’, they call it on the West Coast, and ‘screech’ in Newfie—and then he's away to..Cells or Detention. 1957B. Hutchison Canada: Tomorrow's Giant 24 He is a little addicted to the Island's national drink called ‘Screech’. 1958Maclean's Mag. 27 Sept. 63/3 Screech is a mixture of rums now sold by the liquor board under a new label that displays..the legend ‘Newfoundland's Famous Screech’. 1959Manch. Guardian 7 July 7/4 There has been some concern at the violence during fights ashore between servicemen following the drinking of a local concoction known in the service [the Navy] as ‘Screech’. It is made of a local wine, ‘Imbeet’, mixed with Coca Cola. 1963[see Newfie]. 1964C. Rougvie Medal from Pamplona vi. 80 ‘Beer and screech.’ ‘Screech?’.. ‘It's a term embracing all cheap Canadian wines.’ 1973Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 29 Aug. 2/2 The taste of beer must rank somewhere between buttermilk and Newfie Screech. 1979Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Oct. 6/1 But allow us to explain. Screech, the hairy-chested Newfoundland libation, is based on Jamaican rum which arrives on the tight little island in 40-gallon, fire-charred oak barrels.
▪ III. screech, v.|skriːtʃ|
Forms: 6 skrech, 7 screch, skriech, scrietch, 8 skrietch, screetch, 7– screech.
[Echoic modification of scritch v.]
1. intr. To utter a sharp, piercing cry, as of pain or alarm; to scream or call out with a shrill voice; also occas. used transf. of inanimate things.
1577Kendall Flowers of Epigr. 26 b, Thou weepest still, thou skrechest shrill, thou halest from head thyne heares. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iii. iii, Now croakes the toad and night crowes screech aloud. 1704Lond. Post 28–30 June 2/1 The Nurse and 2 Maids who lay in a Room backwards, were heard to Skriech out a considerable time, in a most pitiful manner. 1792Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes of Condolence Wks. 1794 III. 232 The fiddles screech with rapture one and all. 1853Kane Grinnell Exped. xix. (1856) 146 Crowds of Auks and Ivory Gulls, screeching with execrable clamor. 1862Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. iii. x, I screeched out all the more..when I remembered the quarrel that had took place at dinner. 1888Henley Bk. Verses 152 A draggled fishwife screeches at the gates. 1919[see grab v. 3 b].
2. trans. To utter (a word or sentence) with a loud, shrill, piercing sound.
1844Disraeli Coningsby v. iv. 205 ‘Rigby’, screeched a hoarse voice, ‘don't you mind’. 1889Barrie Window in Thrums 149 Next minute she screeches, ‘What, what, what?’
3. To cause to utter a shrill, squeaking noise. rare.
1862Lady Duff-Gordon in F. Galton Vac. Tourists (1864) 161 When I went into the hall, a Dutchman was screeching a concertina hideously. 1972‘M. Sinclair’ Norslag iv. 35 The ancient lift operative..had been less than polite as he had screeched the gates open for him. |