| 释义 |
‖ chaparral U.S.|ˌtʃæpəˈræl|
[a. Sp. chaparral, f. chaparra, -arro evergreen oak + -al a common ending for a grove, plantation, or collection of trees, as in almendral, cafetal, etc.]
properly, A thicket of low evergreen oaks; hence gen. Dense tangled brushwood, composed of low thorny shrubs, brambles, briars, etc., such as abounds on poor soil in Mexico and Texas. (The word came into use in U.S. during the Mexican War, c 1846.)
1850B. Taylor Eldorado x. (1862) 94 The road passed between low hills, covered with patches of chapparal. 1860Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., This word, chapparal, has been introduced into the language since our acquisition of Texas and New Mexico, where these bushes abound. 1872C. King Sierra Nev. 47 We descended the long slope, through chaparral and forest. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. 236.
b. chaparral cock, a species of cuckoo (Geococcyx californianus) in the west of North America.
1882A. E. Sweet Sketches fr. ‘Texas Siftings’ 177 The American name chapparel cock is evidently the Mexican name caporal Americanized. 1885Harper's Mag. Feb. 423/1 This bird..is..known under several names, such as road-runner, chaparral cock. |