| 释义 |
green man, greenman
†1. A man dressed up with greenery to represent a wild man of the woods, who took part in outdoor shows, masques, triumphs, and the like; a Jack-in-the-green. Obs.
The common tavern sign of ‘The Green Man and Still’ seems to have been suggested by the arms of the Distillers' Company, the supporters of which are two Indians. The sign-painters represented the Indian by a ‘Green man’ (in the above sense), and this figure was afterwards replaced by that of a man clothed in green, a forester, often Robin Hood. (See ‘Larwood’ & Hotten Signboards 148.)
1638Kirke 7 Champions iii. H 2, Have you any squibs in your Country? any Green-men in your shows? 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes i. vi. 19 The strange Feasts of the Greenmen, Whiflers, Marshals, and his Ministers. 1687M. Taubman London's Tri. 7 Besides Green-men, Swabs, Satyrs, and Attendants innumerable. a1716Bagford in ‘Larwood’ & Hotten Signboards (1866) 367 They are called woudmen or wildmen, thou' at thes day we in ye signe call them Green Men, couered with grene boues. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iii. 282 The actors formerly concerned in the pyrotechnical shows..were called monstrous wilde men; others were frequently distinguished by the appellation of green men; and both of them were men whimsically attired and disguised with droll masks [etc.]. 1810Crabbe Borough xi. 229 But the Green-Man shall I pass by unsung, Which mine own James upon his sign-post hung? His sign, his image,—for he once was seen A squire's attendant, clad in keeper's green.
2. A fresh, raw, or inexperienced man; a ‘green hand’; spec. in whale-fishing, one who had not been to sea before. Obs. exc. Hist.
1682J. Collins Salt & Fishery 99 The third of the Men that go a Fishing being Green-Men, that never were at Sea before. 1690Child Disc. Trade (1694) 228 Boat-keepers enter very few new or green men. 1699Act 10 Will. III, c. 25 §10 Every Master of any Fishing Ship going to Newfoundland..shall have in his Ship's Company every fifth Man a Green-man (that is to say) not a Seaman, or having been ever at Sea before. 1786Act 26 Geo. III, c. 26 It shall and may be lawful for the Hirer or Employer of any such Green Men engaged in the said Fishery, to advance to any such Green Man, during the Time he shall be in his Service, a Sum not exceeding Five Pounds. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Green-men, the five supernumerary sea⁓men who had not been before in the Arctic Seas, whom vessels in the whale-fishery were obliged to bear, to get the tonnage bounty. [1886H. Clarke in Science VIII. 604, I am afraid we would have killed a green man, travelling and working as we did.]
3. A name for Aceras anthropophora; in full green man orchis.
1829Loudon Encycl. Pl. 752.
Add:4. U.K. The symbol of a walking figure illuminated on the green light of a pelican crossing to indicate that it is safe for pedestrians to cross with care; also loosely, a pelican crossing.
1969Highway Code 6 At some of the crossings with the green man symbol, the green man will flash for a short time before changing to the red man, i.e. ‘wait’ signal. 1979Financial Times 31 Jan. 7/3 On wide roads, pedestrians are often stranded in the middle when the ‘green man’ lights flash. 1990N. Watts Billy Bayswater 107, I got to cross the road, but I can't see no green man thing where I can cross safely. |