| 释义 |
▪ I. conker|ˈkɒŋkə(r)|
Also conquer.
[f. dial. conker snail-shell, prob. f. conqueror 1 f.]
a. pl. A boys' game, played originally with snail-shells (see quot. 1877) but now with horse-chestnuts, in which each boy has a chestnut on a string which he alternately strikes against that of his opponent and holds to be struck until one of the two is broken.
b. A horse-chestnut (formerly a snail-shell) used in the game; hence gen. a snail-shell or horse-chestnut. Cf. conqueror 1 f and conquering vbl. n. b.
1847Halliwell Dict. Arch. & Prov. Words I. 268/1 Conkers, snail-shells. East. 1866J. G. Nall Great Yarmouth 534 Conkers, snail shells. 1877F. Ross et al. Gloss. Holderness 45/1 Conkers,..small snail-shells. In the boy's game of conkers the apexes of two shells are pressed together until one is broken, the owner of the other being the victor. 1879G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-Bk. 95 Conquer, a snail-shell. In the children's game of pitting snail-shells one against the other, that which breaks its opponent is called the conquer. 1886F. T. Elsworthy W. Somerset Word-Bk. 156 Conkers, horse-chestnuts... From this the name is given..to the tree—conker-tree. 1903Little Frolic 78 ‘Please may I pick up the conquers?’ ‘What?’ said Bessie. Bessie did not know that the boys called the pretty brown chestnuts ‘conquers’. 1921Spectator 2 July 8/1 There is a season for hoops and another for whip-tops,..to say nothing of the ‘conkers’ fashion. 1928G. D. H. & M. Cole Man from River xxxiii. 246 ‘What's this?’ ‘A chestnut on a string,’ said Michael, picking it up. ‘Not much good to us, is it? They're hardly likely to have been playing conkers here.’ 1929Morning Post 2 Oct. 10/5 The use of the horse-chestnut in the game of ‘Conquers’. 1963Times 18 Jan. 9/4 Few, to be sure, are to be observed engaged in solemn duels with conkers, once a ravishing delight. 1965East Anglian Mag. May 241/1 The shells of a small variegated snail were conkers.
▪ II. conker
variant of kunkur. |