| 释义 |
▪ I. bullfinch1|ˈbʊlfɪnʃ|
Also bulfinch.
[f. bull n.1 + finch. The reason for the name is uncertain: some have suggested that it was given on account of the thickness of the bird's neck.]
One of a genus of birds (Pyrrhula), allied to the Grosbeaks, having handsome plumage and a short, hard, rounded beak; well known for its aptness to be trained as a singing bird.
1570Levins Manip. 134/4 A Bulfinche, bird, ribicilla. 1609N. F. Fruiterers Secrets 2 A Bulfinch will eate [cherries] stones and all. 1655Mouffet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 188 Bulfinches feed..upon Hemp-seed, and the Blossoms of Pear, plum, and Apple-trees. 1789G. White Selborne xxxix. (1853) 134 Bullfinches when fed on hempseed often become wholly black. 1835Marryat Olla Podr. xiv, The piping bullfinch..must have a good memory. 1847Gard. Chron. 118 The bill of the bulfinch is a most suspicious-looking instrument.
b. Comb., as bullfinch plover, bullfinch trainer.
1864Atkinson Provinc. names Birds, Bullfinch Plover, Prov. name for Turnstone, Strepsilas interpres. 1857Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 59 This tuition among professional bullfinch-trainers, is systematic.
▪ II. bullfinch2|ˈbʊlfɪnʃ|
[Evans Leicestersh. Gloss. (1881) suggests a corruption of bull-fence. If it was so, the origin must have been forgotten before bull-finch fence was said.]
A kind of hedge (see quot.).
1832Quart. Rev. Mar. 226 The bull-finch fence..is a quickset hedge of perhaps fifty years' growth with a ditch on one side or the other, and so high and strong that [one] cannot clear it. 1857Kingsley in Life xvi. (1879) II. 56 Race at the brook, Then smash at the bullfinch. 1880Times 2 Nov. 4/5 Double-stitched shooting coats, that will stand the ordeal of ‘bull-finches’ and brambles.
Hence ˈbullfinch v. intr., to leap a horse through such a hedge.
1837Gambler's Dream III. 208 A fox hunter who must bullfinch out [of] a field in Northamptonshire, looks out for a little daylight between the twigs. |