| 释义 |
dog-days, n. pl.
[tr. L. dies caniculares: see canicular.]
1. The days about the time of the heliacal rising of the Dog-star; noted from ancient times as the hottest and most unwholesome period of the year.
They have been variously calculated, as depending on the greater dog-star (Sirius) or the lesser dog-star (Procyon); on the heliacal, or (by some in modern times) the cosmical rising of either of these (both of which also differ in different latitudes); and as preceding, following, or both preceding and following, one of these epochs; and their duration has been variously reckoned at from 30 to 54 days. In the latitude of Greenwich, the cosmical rising of Procyon now takes place about July 27, that of Sirius about Aug. 11; in Mediterranean latitudes, the former is somewhat later, the latter earlier. The heliacal rising is some days later than the cosmical; and all the phenomena now take place later in the year than in ancient times, owing to the precession of the equinoxes. Thus very different dates have been assigned for the dog-days, their beginning ranging from July 3 to Aug. 15. In current almanacs they are said to begin July 3 and end Aug. 11 (i.e. to be the 40 days preceding the cosmical rising of Sirius).
The name (Gr. ἡµέραι κυνάδες, Lat. dies caniculares) arose from the pernicious qualities of the season being attributed to the ‘influence’ of the Dog-star; but it has long been popularly associated with the belief that at this season dogs are most apt to run mad; see canicular 1, quot. 1601.
1538Elyot Dict., Canicula..a sterre, wherof canicular or dogge days be named Dies caniculares. 1597–8Bp. Hall Sat. iv. i. 138 My double draught may quench his dog daies rage. 1660T. M. Hist. Independ. iv. 52 For now (it being the Dog-dayes) the house grew so hot, that diverse members withdrew. 1712E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 397 Hotter in January, than Italy in the Dog-Days. 1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 62 s.v. Sirius, Even at this day, when the heats of the latter part of the summer are excessive, we are gravely told that we are in the dog-days.
b. Rarely in sing.
1769Ruffhead Life Pope 35 (L.) Is it necessary, to make a complaint of this kind consistent, that every day should be a dog day?
2. fig. An evil time; a period in which malignant influences prevail.
a1555Philpot Exam. & Writ. (Parker Soc.) 283 Neither that any giddy head in these dog-days might take an ensample by you to dissent from Christ's true church. 1629N. Carpenter Achitophel i. 10 What then shall wee now expect in these dogge-dayes of the worlds declining age? 1835I. Taylor Spir. Despot. vii. 306 During the dog-days of the Romish spiritual despotism.
3. attrib. dog-day: Of the dog-days.
1719Young Busiris ii. i, Like pois'nous vermin in a dog-day sun. 1807–8W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 223 Surely never was a town more subject to midsummer fancies and dog-day whim-whams. 1857Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 315, I heard the dog-day locust here. |