| 释义 |
ˈcorn-stalk
1. a. A stalk of corn, esp. in U.S. of Indian corn.
1816J. Pickering Voc. Words U.S., Corn-Stalks. The farmers of New England use this term..to denote the upper part of the stalks of Indian Corn (above the ear) which is cut off while green, and then dried to make fodder for their cattle. 1832Lander Adv. Niger II. x. 107 The surprising height and stiffness of the corn-stalks.
b. attrib. and Comb., as corn-stalk cutter, a machine for cutting up the stalks of Indian corn of a previous year's crop to allow them to be ploughed into the ground; corn-stalk disease, a disease of cattle caused by the eating of dry corn-stalks; corn-stalk fiddle, a musical toy made of a stalk of Indian corn.
1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 77 A spoonful or two of..corn-stalk molasses. a1834Dow Serm. (Bartlett), There is no more sentiment in the soul of an old bachelor, than there is music in a corn-stalk fiddle. 1900Yearbk. U.S. Dept. Argic. 307 (Cent. D. Suppl.), The cornstalk disease..is a..little-understood malady of cattle.
2. fig. A tall, lithe person; hence, a nickname given to persons of European descent born in Australia, more particularly in New South Wales.
1827Cunningham Two Yrs. N.S.W. II. 116 We have, as I said before, first, the sterling and currency, or English and Colonial born, the latter bearing also the name of corn stalks (Indian corn), from the way in which they shoot up. 1848H. W. Haygarth Bush Life in Australia xi. 123 The average height of the Australians is probably more than that of the English, but when they exceed a certain standard they are apt to become loose made and weedy, thereby justifying their appellation of ‘cornstalks’. 1852G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. ii. 45 There are probably more gleaners of the profits; not..a thinner crop of ‘cornstalks’ for the harvest,—some of them as long in the ear as could be wished. 1865H. Kingsley Hillyars & Burtons xxviii, More particular over their rations than any corn-stalk cockatoo. 1880Inglis Austral. Cousins 149 ‘Cornstalk’ is the generic nickname applied to the native-born New South Welshman..they are thus dubbed from the prevailing tendency of the adolescens simplex of Australia to run somewhat more to length than to breadth. 1886F. H. H. Guillemard Cruise Marchesa I. 92 We were astonished at being greeted in very fair English by a long lean cornstalk of a lad. 1908Daily Chron. 21 Jan. 4/6 ‘Cornstalks’, as our general and sporting appellation of Australians, applies in strictness to the people of New South Wales only, on account of their height and slimness. 1934[see Bananaland]. |