| 释义 |
‖ demoiˈselle
[mod.F. (dəmwazɛl), from earlier damoiselle: see damsel.]
1. A young lady, a maid, a girl.
Occurs in 16th c. for earlier damoiselle, damisell (see damsel); in modern writers, in reference to France or other foreign country.
1520Caxton's Chron. Eng. i. 8 b/1 A gentyl demoysell [ed. 1480 damisell] that was wonder fayre. 1762Sterne Lett. Wks. (1839) 750/2 (Stanf.), A month's play with a French Demoiselle. 1824Byron Juan xv. xlii, A dashing damoiselle of good estate. 1884Hunter & Whyte My Ducats iii. (1885) 38 One student, skating along with his demoiselle, has cannoned against another.
2. Zool.
a. The Numidian Crane (Anthropoides virgo); so called from its elegance of form.
1687Phil. Trans. XVI. 374 Six Demoiselles of Numidia, a Kind of Crane. 1766Ibid. LVI. 210 The next I shall mention is the Grus Numidica, Numidian crane, or Demoiselle. 1862Chambers' Encycl. 484 The Numidian demoiselle is remarkable..for elegance and symmetry of form and grace of deportment.
b. A dragon-fly.
[1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1818) I. 276 The name given to them in England, ‘Dragon flies’, seems much more applicable than ‘Demoiselles’ by which the French distinguish them.] 1844Gosse in Zoologist II. 709 Thus I contracted an acquaintance with these demoiselles.
c. = damsel-fish (damsel III. 6).
1884G. B. Goode Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 275 The Demoiselle and the Cichlid Families. 1926C. W. Beebe Arcturus Adv. xii. 315 Out from this very coral rock in its path there would shoot a diminutive demoiselle, fins erect in righteous wrath. 1931J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes xi. 208 A little coral-reef fish (Amphiprion) belonging to the family of Desmoiselles (Pomacentridae) has a ground colour of vivid orange. 1967N.Z. Listener 29 Dec. 5/1 At a depth of 160 feet, diver Jeff Pearch is surrounded by a shoal of demoiselles as he swims behind the branches of a long-armed red sponge. 1968J. E. Randall Caribbean Reef Fishes 189 The damselfishes (or demoiselles) are small reef fishes which are often very colorful. |