| 释义 |
sheldrake|ˈʃɛldreɪk|
Forms: 4 sheldedrake, selddrake, shelledrake, 5 scheldrak, 5–6 -drake, 7–9 shell(-)drake, 8 shel-drake, sheldrach, 8–9 shieldrake, (9 shield-drake), 6– sheldrake.
[prob. f. sheld a. + drake2. A northern form skeldraik (see scaledrake) is recorded from 1600.
Connexion with shield n. is improbable, since ‘spot of colour’ is not an established sense of this word, as it is of the cognate G. schild and ON. skjǫldr (cf. skjǫldóttr dappled). The commonly cited ON. skjǫldungr, occuring in a late alliterative list of bird-names, is not identifiable (the Icel. names of the sheldrake are brandgás and andakóngur). The form scheldrack given by Gesner (Anim. III. 131) is app. from Eng.]
A bird of the genus Tadorna of the duck tribe, frequenting sandy coasts in Europe, North Africa, and Asia, and remarkable for its bright and variegated colouring.
† Occas. applied to the North American canvas-back.
c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 164 La herle [glossed the selddrake, v.r. sheldedrake]. c1340Nominale (Skeat) 802 Herle, schelledrake. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 762/39 Hic umnis, a scheldrak. 1530Palsgr. 266/2 Scheldrake a byrde. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. ii. i, All those Teales, Curres, Sheldrakes, and peckled Fowles, which come hether in winter. 1668Charleton Onomast. 96 Mergus Harle..the Shell-drake. a1672Willughby Ornith. (1678) 28 The Sheldrake, or Borough-Duck: Tadorna Bellonii. Ibid. 364 The Swallow-tail'd Sheldrake of Mr. Johnson. 1782T. Jefferson Notes State Virginia (1787) 118 Sheldrach, or Canvas back. 1821Scott Pirate iv, The shelldrake seems, through the mist, as large as the scart. 1847Leichhardt Jrnl. vii. 217 Charley shot the sheldrake of Port Essington (Tadorna Rajah). 1855F. O. Morris Brit. Birds V. 137 Ruddy Shieldrake... Collared Duck. Tadorna rutila. 1870Gillmore tr. Figuier's Reptiles & Birds 229 The Shieldrake is the most remarkable of all the Duck tribe, not only from its size, but from its beauty and the elegant variations of its plumage. |