| 释义 |
ˈtonguer
[f. tongue v. + -er1.]
1. An utterer, a speaker.
1822New Monthly Mag. IV. 297 Ceaseless tonguers of ‘words of no tone’, they lisp.
†2. N.Z. (See quots.) Obs. exc. Hist.
1836in R. McNab Old Whaling Days (1913) 436 Some mention of what are called tonguers... When the whale is cut in they are entitled to the carcass and the tongue. 1843[see cutter n.1 1 b]. 1845E. J. Wakefield Adventure N.Z. I. xi. 323 The proper officers have been selected—such as cooper, carpenter, cooks, painter, and ‘tonguer’..[who] takes his name from having an exclusive right to the oil obtained from the tongue..in payment of his duty of ‘cutting-in’, or dissecting, the whale. 1941Baker N.Z. Slang ii. 13 A tonguer was a native or white living in New Zealand who assisted a whaling crew to cut up whales... These men earned their name..from the fact that they were given the whale's carcass and tongue to dispose of as they wished. |