| 释义 |
bushwhacker U.S.|ˈbʊʃˌhwækə(r)|
[f. bush n.1 + whacker, one who ‘whacks’ or beats. (Cf. also Du. bosch-wachter, forest-keeper.)]
lit. One who whacks or beats bushes; hence,
1. One accustomed to beat about or make his way through bushes; a backwoodsman, a bush-ranger.
1809W. Irving Knickerb. vi. v. (1849) 342 They were gallant bush-whackers and hunters of racoons by moon-light.
2. Applied in the American Civil War to irregular combatants who took to the woods, and were variously regarded as patriot guerillas, or as bush-rangers and banditti; a bush-fighter.
1862Macm. Mag. June 141 Of banditti, or bush-whackers..we say nothing. 1866J. E. H. Skinner After Storm I. 240 Neither bushwhackers or slaves were seen in the streets.
3. A scythe or other implement used to cut away brushwood.
1858J. Dow Serm. I. (Bartlett) The victim soon destined to fall before the keen-edged bush-whacker of Time. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit. iv. 81 He is a graduate of the plough, and the stub-hoe, and the bushwhacker.
4. One who clears the land of bush, esp. an axeman engaged in cutting timber. N.Z.
1898J. Bell In Shadow of Bush iv. 18 Davie isn't qualified as a bush whacker yet. 1907W. H. Koebel Return of Joe 257 The most skilful bush-whacker in the district. 1948R. Finlayson Tidal Creek ii. v. 149 How nice after Uncle Ted's bushwhacker style to see a table with a crisp white cloth.
Hence bushwhackerism.
1883American VI. 356 The ‘border ruffianism’ and the ‘bushwhackerism’ which disgraced Missouri. |