| 释义 |
dolphin|ˈdɒlfɪn|
Forms: 4–5 delfyn(e, 6–7 delphin; 5–6 dalphyn(e, 7 daulphin; 4–6 dolphyn, 5 dolfyn(e, dolphyne, 6 doulphyn, 6–7 dolphine, 6– dolphin. See also dauphin.
[In the form delfyn, delphin, app. directly from L. delphīn-us (med.L. also delfīnus, It. delfino, Sp. delfin); with the form dalphyne, cf. Pr. dalfin, OF. daulphin; of the latter dolfin appears to be a phonetic variant with o from au: Littré has an example of doffin in 15th c. French.]
1. A species of cetaceous mammal (Delphinus Delphis), having a longer and more slender snout than the porpoise, with which it is frequently confounded, so that the two names become interchanged; sometimes applied also to the grampus.
13..K. Alis. 6576 Heo noriceth delfyns, and cokadrill. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 13 Þere beeþ ofte i-take dolphyns, and see calues, and baleynes. c1440Promp. Parv. 126/1 Dolfyne, fysche, delphinus. 1530Palsgr. 214/2 Doulphyn a fysshe, doulphin. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 353 The Dalphine feedeth her young with milke. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. ii. 15 Like Orion on the Dolphines backe. 1646J. Hall Poems i. 41 Had but the curteous Delphins heard. 1653Holcroft Procopius, Gothick Wars iii. 102 A great number of Daulphins coming upon the mouth of the Euxine Sea. 1769Pennant Zool. III. 50 It does not appear that the dolphin shews a greater attachment to mankind than the rest of the cetaceous kind. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 521/2 The head [of the porpoise] is rounded in front, and differs from that of the true dolphins in not having the snout produced into a distinct ‘beak’.
2. Popularly applied to the dorado (Coryphæna hippuris), a fish celebrated for its beautiful colours, which, when it is taken out of the water, or is dying, undergo rapid changes of hue.
1578–1628F. Fletcher Drake's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 32 (Yule, s.v. Dorado) The..great mackrel (whom the Aurata or Dolphin also pursueth). 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. viii. 36 Fish hookes, for..Dolphins, or Dorados. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Giddinesse v. 1756P. Browne Jamaica 443 The Dolphin. This is one of the most beautiful fishes of those seas. 1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. xxix, Parting day Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues With a new colour..The last still loveliest. 1844Mrs. Browning Vis. Poets xcvi. Poems 1850 I. 215 Faint and dim His spirits seemed to sink in him, Then, like a dolphin, change and swim The current.
3. Astron. A northern constellation, Delphinus.
1430Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xiv, In whiche the Egle and also the Dolphyne Haue theyr arysynge by reuolucion. 1551Recorde Cast. Knowl. 264 A lyttle from it is the Dolphine, whiche hath in it 10 starres. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 57 About the time of the Daulphins appearance. 1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 358 Two double stars, one of the Lion, the other of the Dolphin.
4. A figure of a dolphin (generally represented as curved) in painting, sculpture, heraldry. etc.
In early Christian art used as an emblem of love, diligence, or swiftness.
a1400Morte Arth. 2054 A derfe schelde..With a dragone engowschede..Devorande a dolphyne. a1440Sir Degrev. 1038 He beres a dolfyn of gold. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 20 The fish or dolphin at the side of the statue, on which some boys seem to be riding. 1851Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. App. 387 A dolphin may be used as a symbol of the sea. 1895Chamb. Jrnl. Aug. 449/1 Some Aldine edition, with..the sign of the well-known anchor and dolphin.
†5. (In full, dalphyn or dolphin crown.) A French gold coin, formerly current in Scotland. Obs.
Prob. the Fr. écu du Dauphiné, weighing about 54 English grains, struck by Louis XI for the Dauphiné.
1451Sc. Acts Jas. II (1597) §33 The Crown of France hauand a crowned Flowre deluce on ilk side of the Schield,..and the Dolphin Crowne, ilk ane of them hauand course for sex shillinges aucht pennies. 1455Ibid. (1597) §59 The Salute, the Rydar, the Crowne, the Dolphin, to elleven shillings.
6. Applied to various contrivances resembling or fancifully likened to a dolphin.
a. In early artillery, each of two handles cast solid on a cannon nearly over the trunnions, commonly made in the conventional form of a dolphin.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. s.v. Ordnance, Maniglions or Dolphins..are the Handles placed on the back of the Piece near the Trunnions, and near the Centre of Gravity, to mount and dismount it the more easily. 1869Boutell Arms & Arm. xi. (1874) 240 Thus the handles, anses (when in use in England called dolphins), are not infrequently made in the form of the body of some living creature; for example, in Fig. 50 they appear in the form of two dolphins.
b. Naut. (a) A spar or block of wood with a ring bolt at each end for vessels to ride by; a mooring-buoy. (b) A mooring-post or bollard placed at the entrance of a dock or along a quay, wharf or beach, to make hawsers fast to. (c) A wreath of plaited cordage fastened about a mast or yard, to prevent the latter from falling in case of the ropes or chains which support it being shot away in action.
1764Croker, etc. Dict. Arts & Sc., Dolphins of the Mast. 1833Marryat P. Simple vi, What with dead-eyes, and shrouds, cats and catblocks, dolphins, and dolphin-strikers, I was so puzzled..that [etc.]. 1840Evid. Hull Docks Comm. 90 Q. What is a dolphin? A. There is a post in the middle, and it is inclosed round by other posts, and this post in the middle is the post to make the rope fast to, and the others support it; it is for the vessels to warp into the river Hull. 1844Hull Dock Act 91 Substantial hawsers..fixed to the dolphins. 1847Craig, Dolphin of the mast. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bollard..also a lighter sort of dolphin for attaching vessels to. Ibid., Puddening..a thick wreath of yarns, matting, or oakum (called a dolphin), tapering from the middle towards the ends.
c. Gr. Antiq. A heavy mass of lead, etc. suspended from a yard at the bows of a war-vessel, to be dropped into an enemy's ship when at close quarters.
1774Goldsm. Grecian Hist. I. 279 The enemy..were stopped by the yards of those ships to which were fixed dolphins of lead. 1820T. Mitchell Aristoph. Knights I. 227 Let your dolphins rise high, while the enemy's nearing. 1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph. Knights ii. iii. Quick haul up your ponderous dolphins. 1849Grote Greece ii. lx. (1862) V. 262.
d. ‘A technical term applied to the pipe and cover at a source for the supply of water’ (Weale Dict. Terms Arch. 1849–50).
e. Angling. A kind of hook.
1854Badham Halieut. 18.
f. (See quot.) U.S.
1905Terms Forestry & Logging 35 Dolphin, a cluster of piles to which a boom is secured.
7. A black species of aphis or plant-louse (Aphis fabæ), very destructive to bean-plants; also called collier and dolphin-fly. Also a black coleopterous insect infesting turnips (quot. 1771).
1731Bailey (ed. 5), Dolphins (with Gardiners) small black Insects that infest Beans, etc. 1771G. White Selborne xxxiv. 90 The country people here call it the Turnip Fly and Black Dolphin; but I know it to be one of the coleoptera; the Chrysomela oleracea. 1846Hannam in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. II. ii. 590 The season of 1846 has been memorable for the dolphin among the pea-crop. 1883Sutton Cult. Veget. & Fl. (1892) 382 The Bean Aphis..the Bean Plant Louse, or Black Dolphin.
†8. = dauphin 1 β, q.v. (Obs.).
9. attrib. and Comb. as dolphin-colour, dolphin-family, dolphin-fish, dolphin-hue, dolphin-shoal; dolphin-borne, dolphin-drawn, dolphin-headed, dolphin-like, dolphin-torn adjs.; dolphin-fat, a fat obtained from species of Delphinus (delphin n. 2); dolphin-flower, the Larkspur (Delphinium); dolphin-fly = sense 7; dolphin-oil = dolphin-fat (Watts Dict. Chem. II. 309); dolphin-striker (Naut.), a short gaff spar fixed perpendicularly under the cap of the bowsprit for guying down the jib-boom; also called martingale (which name is also given to the ropes connecting it with the jib-boom).
1842Mrs. Browning Grk. Chr. Poets (1863) 1 Pang by pang, each with a *dolphin colour.
1914W. B. Yeats Responsibilities 32 Paintings of the *dolphin-drawn Sea-nymphs in their pearly waggons. 1965Eng. Studies XLVI. 383 If Keats did not invent the dolphin-drawn float himself he may have found this picture in..the numerous illustrators of Homer.
1513Douglas æneis v. x. 88 Als swift as *dalfin fische, swymand away. 1671H. M. tr. Colloq. Erasm. 510 The Dolphin fish..is a lover of man.
1846Worcester, *Dolphin-fly, an insect of the aphis tribe, destructive to beans.
1846Greener Sc. Gunnery 15 The fancy cock and hammers have given place to a *dolphin-headed hammer.
1878Browning La Saisiaz 75 Melodious moaned the other ‘Dying day with *dolphin-hues.’
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 89 His delights Were *Dolphin-like, they shew'd his backe aboue The Element they liu'd in.
1887Bowen Virg. æneid v. 594 Some *dolphin shoal..afloat on the watery plain.
1833*Dolphin-striker [see 6 b]. 1841Marryat Poacher xxviii, The..collision carried away our..dolphin-striker. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Martingale, The spar is usually termed the dolphin-striker, from its handy position whence to strike fish.
1932W. B. Yeats Words for Music 2 That *dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.
1891E. Castle Conseq. III. ii. xvii. 3 Hot water bubbled..in an ancient copper *‘dolphin’ urn of exquisite outline. |