| 释义 |
ˈcat's-eye
[In sense 2, prob. a translation: cf. F. œil de chat, It. occhi de gatti, Pg. olhos de gatos, Ger. katzenauge, etc.]
1. The eye of a cat; a cat-like eye.
1555Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 266 Stones lyke vnto cattes eyes. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Chat, Oeil de chat..a cat-eye, or sight that is as good by night as in the day.
2. A precious stone, a variety of chalcedonic quartz, very hard and transparent, which, when cut en cabochon, displays, on being held to the light, a peculiar floating lustre, resembling the contracted pupil of a cat's eye, supposed to be caused by small parallel fibres of asbestos. The finest come from Ceylon and Malabar. Also attrib.
[1555Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 265 They bore a fine hole in these [diamonds] throughe the myddest, wherby they appere lyke the eyes of a catte. ]a1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 226 It [Ceylon] bringeth foorth great store of Christall Cats eyes, or Ochi de Gati. 1704Collect. Voy. (Churchill) III. 657/1 Called Olhos de Gatos, i.e. Cats-eyes, by the Portugueses. 1798Greville in Phil. Trans. LXXXVIII. 414 Reflection of light, which, in a polished state, gives varieties to the cat's eye, star-stone, sun-stone, etc. 1859Lang Wand. India 70 Confined his purchases to a large cat's-eye ring. 1859Tennent Ceylon I. i. i. 37 The Cat's-eye is one of the jewels of which the Singhalese are especially proud. 1874Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXVII. 555 The so-called Cat's-eye and Fibrous Quartz. 1899T. M. Ellis (title) The three Cat's-eye Rings. 1903Daily Mail 8 Sept. 7/4 A..narrow edging of cat's-eye green.
3. A rural name of the Germander Speedwell, Veronica Chamædrys; also of the Forget-me-not, and various other small bright flowers.
1817Keats Calidore, The glow Of the wild cat's eyes. 1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 96.
4. The calcareous operculum of turban shells, esp. the south Pacific Turbo petholatus.
1898Morris Austral Eng. 83/1 Cat's Eyes..the name given in Australia to the opercula of Turbo smaragdus. 1949E. de Mauny Huntsman in Career ii. 70 He collected a pocketful of cats' eyes, and sat on a shelf of rock to watch the sea. 1962Abbott & Zim Sea Shells of World 32 Its [sc. Turbo petholatus] operculum is the famous blue-green ‘cat's eye’.
5. One of the chain of light-reflecting studs used to demarcate traffic lanes on roads at night. Also attrib.
1940New Statesman 20 Jan. 63/1 Few motorists..in Oxfordshire will deny that the ‘cats-eyes’,with which the County Council has studded its main roads, are an improvement for night driving on the old white line. 1948Times 4 Dec. 3/2 Drivers of vehicles..had reason to challenge the decision of the Ministry of Transport..to dispense with ‘cat's eye’ reflector studs in roads provided with street lighting. 1958E. Hyams Taking it Easy iv. 200 The endless chaplet of cat's eye reflectors..was conjured out of the road's long darkness. |