| 释义 |
rat-tail
[f. rat n.1 Cf. rat's-tail.]
1. pl. = rat's-tail 1.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Rat-tails, or Arrests, in the manege, signify callous hard swellings upon the hinder legs under the hough, running along the sinew. 1831Youatt Horse xiv. (1848) 275 On the back part of the leg, are sometimes excrescences, called by farriers Rat-Tails, from the appearance they give the hair.
2. A tail resembling that of a rat; esp. a horse's tail with little or no hair; also, a horse having a hairless tail, or the diseased condition which causes the hair of the tail to fall off.
1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4086/4 A black Horse.., with a Rat Tail. 1787‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsem. (1809) 26 Buy a horse with a rat tail, if possible. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXIX. 540/1, I like his [a pointer's] clean-cut appearance, his rat-tail, his style in the field.
3. a. gen. Something resembling a rat's tail. b. A rat-tailed spoon (see rat-tailed a. 2). c. = rat's-tail 2 d.
1871Kingsley At Last xi. (1880) 266 Their rat-tails of small green flowers prove them to be peppers. 1974Country Life 14 Nov. 1447/1 Spoons ranging from 1661 to 1718..include..split-ended rat-tails or treffid spoons. 1977J. Wainwright Day of Peppercorn Kill 121 The woman's hair was in sodden rat-tails... Her shoes squelched water.
4. A deep-water marine fish belonging to the family Coryphænoididæ, esp. one of the genus Macrurus, characterized by a long, tapering tail. Also attrib.
1882Gilbert & Jordan Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 811. 1905 D. S. Jordan Guide to Study of Fishes I. xii. 209 In the deep-sea allies of the codfishes, the grenadiers or rat-tails (Macrouridæ), the numbers [of vertebrae] range from 65 to 80. 1928Russell & Yonge Seas iv. 91 That curious fish of the cod family known as the Macrurus or rat-tail..spends the greater part of its life in the cold dark depths over the abyssal plain. 1936P. S. Barnhart Marine Fishes California 24 Rat-tails. The fishes of this family are deep-water fishes, and are seldom seen or taken. 1956J. L. B. Smith Old Fourlegs ix. 92 In this they [sc. seals] are like humans, who will not eat those perfectly wholesome but..unfortunately named ‘Rat Tails’. 1975New Yorker 19 May 32/1 There might be a few rattails (bottom feeders related to the shark family) near the ocean floor. 1975Sci. Amer. Oct. 86/3 The bait was visited by only a few eelpouts, brotulids and rattail fish (grenadiers).
5. attrib. (Cf. rat-tailed.)
rat-tail cactus, a pendent or creeping cactus, Aporocactus flagelliformis, native to central America and having spiny stems bearing scarlet flowers. rat-tail comb, a comb with a long tapering handle at one end. rat-tail file, a fine round file used for enlarging holes in metal, etc. rat-tail grass, a name given to two Australian grasses (Ischæmum laxum and Sporobolus indicus). rat-tail radish, an East Indian radish (Raphanus caudatus); cf. rat-tailed a. 1 d.
1744in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1926) XXI. 251, 6 Ratt Tale Files. 1793[see rat-tailed 1 b, quot. 1768]. 1801C. K. Sharpe Corr. 12 Jan. (1888) I. 103 The clowns with lank rat-tail hair. 1846Holtzapffel Turning II. 824 Small taper round files are often called rat-tail files. 1866Harvard Memor. Biogr., S. Willet I. 267 A rat-tail file..would render useless in a moment a superb piece of ordnance. 1867Gardeners' Chron. 3 Aug. 807/1 (heading) Raphanus caudatus, or Rat-tail Radish. 1889J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Plants Austr. 92 Rat-tail Grass. An upright, slender growing grass [etc.]. Ibid. 109 Rat-tail grass. A fine, open, pasture grass [etc.]. 1895Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 754 (caption) Queen Anne or Rat-tail [spoons]. 1900L. H. Bailey Cycl. Amer. Hort. I. 283/2 Rat-tail Cactus. Creeping or pendent, slender and very branching. 1904Daily Chron. 20 July 5/6 The bride's father presented her with a superb tiara of diamonds and pearls, and a canteen of rat-tail silver. 1925S. T. Warner Espalier 77 The rat-tail spoons, The china dishes. 1945Sun (Baltimore) 30 Jan. 6-0/3 It was made in 1898 from a rat-tail file which had been used in a bicycle factory. 1946M. Free All about House Plants xvii. 203 Rat-tail Cactus..has long flexible stems about ½ inch in diameter covered with bristly hairs. 1972F. Perry Flowers of World 60/1 Aporocactus flagelliformis, the Rat-tail Cactus, is well named for the long flexible stems..hang down all round the plant. They are covered with bristly hairs and carry masses of crimson flowers. 1978Chatelaine (Canada) Dec. 67/1 Tuck ends in with a rat-tail comb. |