| 释义 |
giraffe|dʒɪˈrɑːf, -æf|
Forms: α. 6 gyraffa, 6–9 giraffa. β. 7 giraf(f)le, gyraff, jarraff, ziraph, 7–8 giraff, 6– giraffe.
[Ultimately ad. Arab. zarāfah, whence also It. giraffa, Sp. and Pg. girafa, F. girafe; earlier adoptions of the word are found in OF. as giras (pl.), orafle and giraffle, in ME. as gerfaunt, orafle; also OSp. azorafa. The forms used by English writers have varied at different periods according to their immediate sources. The It. form giraffa was common in the 16–17th c., but some writers of 17th c. use giraff, app. following Gesner. The modern giraffe is from F., though the spelling in that language is now girafe. Jarraff and ziraph (17th c.) are independent adoptions from Arab. or some other oriental language.]
1. A ruminant quadruped found in Africa, remarkable for the length of its neck and legs, and for having its skin spotted like that of a panther; also called camelopard.
α1594Blundevil Exerc. v. ix. (ed. 7) 551 This beast is called of the Arabians, Gyraffa. 1617Moryson Itin. i. iii. v. 263 Another beast newly brought out of Affricke..is called..Giraffa by the Italians. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 130/2 Beasts..Such as chew the Cud, and are not Horned, as Camelopard Giraffa. 1787P. Beckford Lett. Italy (1805) I. 137 In the Piazza..was once seen a Giraffa alive, sent as a present to Lorenzo dei Medici..in 1487. 1822–33tr. Malte-Brun's Geog. (1834) 539 (Stanf.) The Giraffa or the camelopard.
β1598Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 104 Th' horned Hirable [1605 marg. alias Girafle, 1608 marg. Alias Gyraffa]. c1600Sanderson in Purchas Pilgrims ii. (1625) 1619 The admirablest and fairest beast that euer I saw, was a Iarraff. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 988 A live Giraffle (which is a beast like a Cammell and Panther). 1625Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1381 There wee saw a Ziraph speckled white and higher than any beast I had euer seene. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 205 In Gesner's History of Quadrupeds the Gyraff is..mentioned. 1739E. Brown Trav. 289 There is likewise in this country the Giraff, an animal capable of striking with wonder the most incurious spectator. 1773Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 17 Description of the Giraffe, or Camelopardus. 1857Livingstone Trav. iii. 56 The presence..of the giraffe..is always a certain indication of water being within a distance of seven or eight miles.
appos.1892Times (weekly ed.) 25 Nov. 8/1 There my driver shot a fine giraffe-cow.
2. Astr. The constellation camelopard 2.
1836[see camelopard 2]. 1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 320.
3. Mining. (See quots.)
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Giraffe, a car of peculiar construction to run on an incline. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Giraffe, a form of cage or truck used on inclines in mines of the Pacific slope.
†4. A kind of upright spinet.
1876in Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms.
5. Special Comb.: giraffe acacia, tree S. Afr., names occas. used for the camel-thorn tree.
1896H. A. Bryden Tales of S. Afr. 44 Groves of giraffe acacia (kameel doorn).
1815A. Plumptre tr. Lichtenstein's Trav. S. Afr. II. xlix. 288 A tall and wide spreading giraffe tree, the acacia giraffæ of Wildenow. |