| 释义 |
shepstare dial.|ˈʃɛpstə(r)|
Also 6, 9 sheepstare, 7, 9 shepster, 9 shepstey, shepsterd, -ert, shipster, chepster, -stow.
[f. sheep + stare n.1 The name is said to refer to the bird's habit of perching on the backs of sheep to feed on the ticks.]
The starling.
1563Googe Eglogs vi. (Arb.) 54 Sometime I wold betraye the Byrds, that lyght on lymed tree, Especially in Shepstare tyme, when thicke in flockes they flye. 1584Cogan Haven Health clxiii. 135 The Stare or Shepstare. 1660W. Blundell Cavalier's Note Bk. (1880) 296 Observe a flock of stares (or shepsters) when they are ready to lodge themselves in a dovecote. 1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. xxxiv. §14 (1689) 190 Wings of shepstares, stares or starlings. 1802Montagu Ornith. Dict. s.v. Stare, In the north of England it is called Chepster, or Chep-Starling. 1848Zoologist VI. 2290 The starling [is called in Yorkshire] a ‘shepstey’ or ‘shepster’. 1864J. C. Atkinson Stanton Grange 225 A pair of shepstares. 1884A. Doherty Nathan Barlow 32 The youngling chepstows creaking in the eaves. 1887E. F. Byrrne Heir without Heritage I. viii. 136 They took wing like a flock of shepsters from a field. |