| 释义 |
▪ I. spat, n.1|spæt|
Also 7 spatt.
[Of obscure origin; perh. related to spit v.1]
1. a. The spawn of oysters or other shell-fish.[1376–7Rolls of Parlt. II. 369/1 Il destruit..le spat des oistres, musklys, & d'autres Pessons.] 1667Sprat Hist. R. Soc. 307 In the Month of May the Oysters cast their Spaun (which the Dredgers call their Spat). 1687Lond. Gaz. No. 2272/4 The Laws for the preservation of the Spawn and Spatt of Oysters in the River of Burnham. 1721Phil. Trans. XXXI. 251 From the Spat or Seed of which, it is most probable,..all the Bottom at length..became cover'd with Oysters. 1796Statist. Acc. Scot. XVII. 70 In May the oysters cast their spat or spawn. 1817in J. Evans Excurs. Windsor 448 For the preservation of the brood and spat of Oysters, and for otherwise regulating the said fishery. 1826Sir A. Carlisle Hunter. Oration 19 The whole brood are associated together, by being involved in a viscid slime, and in that state called ‘The Spat’. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 76 To save the bulk of the spat when free is the great object of oyster culture.
fig.1881Blackw. Mag. Mar. 272 Many square miles of the South and West of Ireland are but spawning beds of misery. The spat is nourished by the poor laws.
Comb.1891W. K. Brooks Oyster 112 Shells are very effective as spat-collectors.
b. In pl. in the same sense.
1667Sprat Hist. R. Soc. 307 One Shell having many times 20 Spats. 1777Pennant Brit. Zool. IV. 89 The oysters, or their spats, are brought to convenient places, where they improve in taste and size. 1854S. P. Woodward Mollusca ii. 254 The oysters spawn in May and June, and the fry (‘spats’) are extensively collected.
†2. The eggs of bees. Obs.
1634J. Levett Ordering of Bees 14 The Bees haue first brought out the Drone spat, and after that their owne spat. Ibid. 61 The spat or brood of the Bees are nourished by honey and water. 1657S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. 47 Their young is called spat, that which the bees spit forth or deliver by their mouth.
3. Comb.: spat fall, spatfall, the settling of the planktonic larvæ of bivalves at the sites where they will develop as adults; the extent of such settling.
1925Nature 26 Sept. 486/2 The spat falls in the three years 1922–24 were failures. 1963Washington Post 2 Oct. b2 The 1963 fall of spat (young oysters) in the James River seed area has been inadequate to maintain seed stocks for the third successive year. This contrasts sharply with the above average spatfall throughout the rest of Virginia's Chesapeake Bay system. 1972Aquaculture I. 258 The possibility of spatfalls must be recognized if the harbour were heavily stocked with this species.
▪ II. spat, n.2 rare.|spæt|
[app. an abbreviation of spatule.]
†1. (See quots.) Obs.—0
1647Hexham i. s.v., A Spat or an instrument that Chirurgions use in spreading their salves. 1656Blount Glossogr., Spat,..a little slice or Splatter, wherewith Surgeons and Apothecaries use to spread their plaisters and salves.
2. A flat implement used in playing ball-games.
1866Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 180 A..version of racquets, with a ‘spat’ and an India rubber ball.
▪ III. † spat, n.3 Min. Obs. rare.
[a. G. spat, also spath spath1.]
= spar n.2
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Spat,..a kind of Mineral Stone. 1762tr. Busching's Syst. Geog. I. 41 Spat, or Spar, the species of which are cubic, flaky, granular Spat, and transparent Spat;..glass spat, and field spat.
▪ IV. spat, n.4 Chiefly dial. or colloq.|spæt|
[Probably imitative: cf. spat v.2]
1. A tiff or dispute; a quarrel. orig. U.S.
1804Repertory (Boston) 27 April (Thornton), [London news] The late spat between Mr. Pitt and Mr. W. Pulteney. 1828Webster, Spat, a petty combat; a little quarrel or dissension. (A vulgar use of the word in New England.) 1869Mrs. Stowe Old Town 33 They was pretty apt to have spats. 1898J. M. Henderson Chron. Kartdale, etc. 316 Robert and his uncle had a bit o' a spat this morning.
2. A smart blow, smack, or slap. Also fig.
1823Creevey in C. Papers (1904) II. 62 The first sentence relating to Spain is a regular spat on the face to the Villains of Verona. 1831Ibid. 231, I received rather a smartish spat on my shoulder from an unseen stick. 1840Comic Lat. Gram. 23 More kicks, more boxes on the ear, more spats, more canings. 1899Contemp. Rev. Dec. 881 An attention which she promptly requited by a ‘spat’ on the nose.
3. A sharp, smacking sound.
1881M. H. Catherwood Craque o' Doom ix. 74 They heard the spat of boot-soles on the flinty pike behind them. 1893C. King Foes in Ambush 110 The bullets with furious spat drove deep into the adobe.
▪ V. spat, n.5|spæt|
[Abbreviation of spatterdash.]
1. A short gaiter worn over the instep and reaching only a little way above the ankle, usually fastened under the foot by means of a strap. Chiefly in pl.
1802James Milit. Dict., Spatts, a small sort of spatter⁓dashes, that reach only a little above the ancle, called also half gaiters. 1820Hogg Shepherd's Cal. xiv, Take in black spats, and a very narrow-brimmed hat, and you have the figure complete. 1863A. Marsh Heathside Farm I. 28 Whose nether man was generally cased in brown spats (Anglice gaiters). 1888Times (weekly ed.) 16 Nov. 3/4 He wore a pair of dark spats with light buttons.
2. Aeronaut. A streamlined covering for the upper part of the wheel of an aircraft, usu. one with fixed landing gear.
1931Flight 16 Oct. 1047/1 (caption) The way in which the radius rod and axle are faired into the ‘spat’ is shown very clearly in these pictures. 1938Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLII. 442, I have noticed that wheels which have spats covering all but the lower portion often spin quite fast in flight. 1943[see spatted ppl. a. b].
▪ VI. spat, n.6|spæt|
[app. a. Du. spat in the same sense.]
A small splash of something.
1876J. Weiss Wit, Hum., & Shaks. ii. 47 When a skilfully distended bubble breaks, and only a thin spat of suds is left. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 258 Spats of mud..came flap, flap among the bushes covering me.
▪ VII. spat, v.1|spæt|
[f. spat n.1 The use of the form as a pa. pple. (in quots. 1677) is prob. due to association with spit v.1]
1. intr. and trans. Of oysters: To spawn.
1667Sprat Hist. R. Soc. 307 With a knife they gently raise the small brood [of oysters] from the Cultch, and then they throw the Cultch in again, to preserve the ground for the future, unless they be so newly Spat that they cannot be safely severed from the Cultch. Ibid. 309 The Oysters are sick after they have spat. 1865Rep. Sea Fisheries Comm. II. 1359/2 Some of the oysters..spat as late as the end of September. The general time of spatting, however, is much earlier. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 77/1 As oysters..have been known to spat very late in the year.
†2. intr. Of bees: To breed. Obs.
1634J. Levett Ordering of Bees 25 The Bees both spat faster and preserve..their brood the better. Ibid. 61.
▪ VIII. spat, v.2|spæt|
[Prob. imitative: cf. spat n.4]
1. intr. To start up sharply or actively; to engage in a dispute. U.S.
1809Kendall Trav. III. 292, I was answered, ‘that the women had not much to say in politics, though now and then they would spat up’. 1848Bartlett Dict. Amer. 323 Spat, to dispute; to quarrel. A low word. New England.
2. trans. To clap, slap, or smack.
c1832Sir C. Lyell in Mrs. Lyell Life (1881) I. 11 We were very angry with him for having spatted us all round with a ruler. 1845S. Judd Margaret (Bartlett), The little Isabel leaped up and down spatting her hands. 1886Cent. Mag. Jan. 429/2 You can't spat a man harder betwixt the eyes than to set back an' not break bread wi' 'im.
b. To beat down with a spade or the like.
1845Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. ii. 553 It must be..finally spatted down and smoothed by the spade. 1890Lippincott's Mag. Apr. 579 Shovelled away by dozens and spatted down under neat mounds by the unfeeling spade of the scientific excavator.
3. intr. To administer slaps or pats; to strike sharply, to spatter.
1868L. M. Alcott Lit. Women (1869) I. xv. 231 Amy spatted away energetically. 1894Crockett Raiders xl. (ed. 3) 341 Bullets spatted uncomfortably among the rocks.
b. Used adverbially.
1890L. D'Oyle Notches 71 Bill fired again,..and I heard the ball go ‘spat!’ 1895Outing XXVI. 30/2 Spat⁓spat, splash! they fell, one big sprig coming down squarely on top of my head.
Hence ˈspatting vbl. n., a slapping, a smacking.
1840Comic Lat. Gram. 34 A caning... A spatting... A flogging. 1883C. D. Warner Roundabout Journ. 24 As I approached this sunken place I heard a tremendous spatting, and pounding, and chattering, and laughing.
▪ IX. spat, ppl. a.
[Pa. tense and pple. of spit v.2]
With preps. and advbs., as spat-on, spat-out.
1922Joyce Ulysses 167 His gorge rose. Spat on sawdust, warmish cigarette smoke..the state of ferment. 1948T. A. M. Nash Anchau Rural Devel. & Settlement Scheme 6 Ankle deep in spat-out sugarcane fibre. 1968Listener 11 July 40/1 It was generally conceived in the Labour movement that that old-fashioned and now spat-out word, ‘comradeship’, mattered an awful lot. 1978A. J. Huxley Illustr. Hist. Gardening i. 10 Presumably growing from spat-out seeds, they [sc. wild fruits] were nearly always found close to the dwellings. |