| 释义 |
squeaker|ˈskwiːkə(r)|
[f. the vb.]
1. a. One who plays on a squeaking instrument.
1641Cowley Guardian v. xi, Stay at the door, ye sempiternal squeakers. 1663― Cutter Coleman St. v. vi, Go home?..no, we'l Dance home; afore us Squeakers, that way.
b. One who squeaks.
1671Eachard Obs. Answ. Cont. Clergy 132 Mimical squeakers and bellowers, and the vain-glorious admirers only of themselves. 1702Motteux Prol. to Farquhar's Inconstant, Your rarity for the fair guest to gape on, Is your nice squeaker, or Italian capon. c1753Fox in Trevelyan (1880) ii. 45, I..found Harry in his nurse's arms... I called him Squeaker. 1823Byron Juan xi. lxxxv, I have seen the country gentlemen turn squeakers.
c. slang. (See quot.)
1676Coles Dict., Squeeker, a Barboy; also a Bastard, or any other child.
d. Criminals' slang. An informer. Cf. squealer 2 b.
1903Farmer & Henley Slang VI. 335/1 Squeaker, (1) a blab.., and (2) an informer. 1924E. Wallace Room 13 vii. 171, I want to talk with you, you dirty squeaker! You're the fellow that told the deputy I was getting tobacco in through a screw. 1930Observer 19 Oct. 17 The recent attempt to murder him..was not due to..the impulse to remove rivals or ‘squeakers’. 1950[see grasser2]. 1973A. Hunter Gently French ii. 14 Dutt had been brooding over the tip-off mystery... The squeaker must have been Rampant.
2. A bird or animal which squeaks:
a. A young pigeon, partridge, etc.
1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iv. ii. 179 Thou shalt lie upon thy pallat, and call to thy cook-maid, and say, dresse me that Squeeker for my breakfast. 1694Motteux Rabelais iv. lix. 234 Pigeons, Squobbs, and Squeakers. 1829P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 2, I actually brought home 24 partridges, 20 of which were old ones..and two squeakers. 1854Poultry Chron. I. 263 Squeakers will often return home from long distances though they may have been kept in a considerable time. 1881Greener Gun 535 Mr. Campbell..succeeded in bagging 220 grouse by evening; every ‘squeaker’ was, however, counted.
b. Ornith. One or other of various birds characterized by their squeaking call.
1817T. Forster Nat. Hist. Swallow-tribe (ed. 6) 9 Hirundo Apus,..Black Swallow, Squeaker, Screamer, Deviling, or Shriek Owl. 1848J. Gould Birds Australia II. pl. 45 Strepera Anaphonensis, Grey Cow-Shrike;..Squeaker of the Colonists. Its note is a piercing shriek. 1896A. J. North List Insectiv. Birds N.S.W. i. 1 For instance, Corcorax melanorhampus, Xerophila leucopsis, and Myzantha garrula are all locally known in different parts of the Colony by the name of ‘Squeaker’.
c. slang. A foxhound.
1828Sporting Mag. XXII. 23 He was often alone with the squeakers, and sometimes racing with the leaders.
d. colloq. A (young) pig.
1861Dickens Gt. Expect. iv, If you'd been born a Squeaker. 1889Baden-Powell Pigsticking 28 At this period of his existence he is called a ‘squeaker’ and is not ridden.
e. Zool. (a) (See quots.) Also attrib. (b) = cicada.
1887Goode Fisheries U.S. 651 The lady crab, sand crab, or squeaker crab (Platyonichus ocellatus),..occurs on most sandy shores from Cape Cod to Mexico. 1897‘Natalian’ S. Afr. Boy viii. 76 The youthful genius who brought two squeakers—tree cicadæ—before school hours, and released one in each room. 1899D. Sharp Insects 209 The adult Pelobius tardus is remarkable for its loud stridulation... The Insects are called squeakers in the Covent Garden market. 1959S. J. Baker Drum 147 Squeaker: A type of cicada.
3. a. slang. (See quot.)
1796Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3) s.v., Organ pipes are likewise called squeakers.
b. A device or toy instrument for producing a squeaking sound; esp. as a party toy (see quot. 1980). Cf. squawker 1.
1878Grove's Dict. Music I. 124 The ‘squeaker’ which children in the fields fashion out of joints in tall grass. 1894Westm. Gaz. 8 March 6/3 A small wooden squeaker..attached to an indiarubber balloon. 1930[see paper streamer s.v. paper n. 12]. 1939N. Coward To step Aside 49 She was seated on the knee of an Argentine with a paper fireman's hat on her head, blowing a squeaker. 1980J. W. Hill Intermediate Physics v. 45 The party ‘squeaker’, a paper tube containing a weak coiled spring which uncoils when it is blown, works on the same principle.
4. colloq.
a. A heavy blow. rare—1.
1877in Casquet of Literature I. 245/2 We must give him a squeaker quickly or all will go wrong, I tell you.
b. N. Amer. A game won by a very narrow margin.
1961in Webster. 1969Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard 3 Dec. 1d/1 Remember that 26–24 squeaker over Stanford, when the Indians kicked a field goal with 63 seconds left to ‘win’ the game. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 18/8 Ottawa Rough Riders..lost a squeaker to Montreal. |