| 释义 |
albatross|ˈælbətrɒs|
Forms: 7 algatross, 7–8 albi-, 8 albe-, 8– albatross.
[Apparently a modification of alcatras, applied to the Frigate-bird, but extended through inaccurate knowledge to a still larger sea-fowl, and in this sense altered to albi-, albe-, albatross (perhaps with etymological reference to albus white, the albatross being white, while the alcatras was black). Algatross in 17th c. may be an intermediate form; albatross has not been found bef. 1769. The word has now passed into most of the mod. langs. (Du. albatross, G. -tross, -tros, Fr. -tros, It. -tro, Pg. -troz, Sp. -troste), but seems to have originated in Eng. (or ? Du.)]
†1. The Frigate-bird, = alcatras 2. Obs.
1732Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 448 While the Albitrosse are setting and hatching their Young, their Heads change from Brown to Scarlet, and become Brown again afterwards. 1748Anson Voy. i. vi. (ed. 4) 76 Their bills are narrow, like that of an Albitross. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Albitrosse, the name of a large sea-bird, common about Jamaica, and in many other places. This is a thievish creature and principally feeds on the prey which another sea-bird, called the booby, provides for itself.
2. a. The English name of a family of birds allied to the Petrels (Order Tubinares), which inhabit the Pacific and Southern Oceans. The great Albatross, Diomedea exulans, to which the name is usually applied, is the largest of sea-fowls.
1681Grew Mus. Reg. Soc. 73 The Head of the Man of War; called also Albitrosse. [Figured; clearly Diomedea.] 1697W. Dampier Voy. an. 1691 (1703) I. 531 They [sailors] have several other signes, whereby to know when they are near it, by the sea-fowl they meet at sea, especially the Algatrosses, a very large long-winged fowl. 1698Fryer E. India & Persia 12 Those feathered Harbingers of the Cape..Albetrosses. 1719G. Shelvocke Voy. in Harris I. 202 These were accompanied with Albitrosses, the largest sort of sea-fowls. 1768Cook Voy. 24 Dec. (1790) I. 30 We shot an albetross, which measured between the tips of its wings nine feet and an inch. 1769(Jan. 26) Ibid., The Albatrosses proved very good eating. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. ii. xiv, Instead of the cross, the albatross About my neck was hung. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. viii. (1879) 162 It has always been a mystery to me on what the albatross..can subsist. 1865Lubbock Preh. Times 367 Ear-rings made of albatross-down.
b. fig. [In allusion to Coleridge's Ancient Mariner: see sense 2 a quot. 1798.] A source or mark of misfortune, guilt, etc., from which one cannot (easily) be free; a burden or encumbrance. Cf. millstone 3 a.
1936Dylan Thomas in First Comment Treasury (1937) 77 The old forget the grief, Hack of the cough, the hanging albatross. 1955O. Nash in McCall's July 6/2 For when you're cross, Amanda, I feel an albatross Around my neck. 1963Times 16 Feb. 9/7 The Director of Recruiting, with the albatross of ‘165,000’ removed from about his neck, has already started to attack the problem of balance. 1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 11, I am a member of that sad, ever-dwindling minority..the child of an unbroken home. I have carried this albatross since the age of eleven. 1985Toronto Life Sept. 41/2 He got rid of that albatross, the accumulated deficit.
3. Golf. A score of three under par on a hole; a hole played in three under par. Cf. eagle n. 1 d.
1937Evening News 13 Aug. 14/5 Philip H. Savory, of Old Souls Manor Golf Club, Barnet, playing in a four-ball match for his club at Barnet, secured an albatross on the 13th, which is a 545-yards hole. 1965Times 14 July 4/1, I may be excused for dwelling at length on one stroke, but it is seldom that one has the chance to write about an albatross which became the key to an historic round. 1975H. Cotton Golf iv. 109 That 235-yard spoon shot had put him down in two—a double eagle (or albatross). 1983Times 15 July 23 (heading) Rogers sets scene for runaway start at Royal Birkdale with an albatross. |