单词 | bower-bird |
释义 | bower-birdn. 1. The name given to several Australian birds belonging to the Starling family, remarkable for their habit of building bowers or ‘runs’, and adorning them with feathers, bones, shells, etc. These are not used as nests, but as places of resort. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > larger song birds > [noun] > family Ptilinorhynchidae (bower-bird) bower-bird1847 1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. I. §395. 1884 Grant Allen in Pall Mall Gaz. 20 Sept. 3/2 He had brought a bower of the Australian bower-birds over to England. 2. figurative. A person who collects ornaments, odds and ends, etc. (see also quot. 1943). Also attributive. Hence as v. intransitive, to pick up odds and ends. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > petty thief or pilferer > [noun] mitcher?c1225 nimmera1325 pilferer1350 truffer1485 lurcher1528 picker1549 filcher1557 purloiner1557 prig1567 prigger1567 prigman1567 fingerer1575 piker1590 prag1592 nibbler1598 lurch-man1603 petty larcener1640 budge1673 catch-cloaka1679 prigster1682 sutler1699 marauder1764 snib1823 chicken thief1840 lurker1841 souvenir hunter1862 robberling1865 jackdaw1887 miker1890 frisker1892 bower-bird1926 jagoff1931 magpie1944 slockster- the mind > possession > supply > storage > be stored [verb (intransitive)] > store > collect and store odds and ends bower-bird1926 the mind > possession > supply > storage > [noun] > collecting and storing > collecting curiosities, etc. > one who collector1774 bower-bird1926 1926 H. W. Fowler Dict. Mod. Eng. Usage 193/2 Such bower-birds' treasures as au pied de la lettre, à merveille. 1926 H. W. Fowler Dict. Mod. Eng. Usage 194/1 Every writer..who suspects himself of the bower-bird instinct should make and use some such classification system. 1941 K. Tennant Battlers xxvii. 301 George the Bower-bird..was..prowling around deserted camps, swooping on rubbish. 1941 K. Tennant Battlers xxvii. 301 I don't want him bower-birding round this camp. 1943 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang (ed. 3) 13 Bower bird, a petty thief. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.1847 |
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