| 释义 |
guinea-pig|ˈgɪnɪpɪg|
[Perh. the animal was thought to resemble the young of the Guinea Hog (Potamochœrus); or the name Guinea may have been applied loosely, as in some other instances, as a designation for an unknown distant country. Confusion with Guiana seems unlikely.]
1. a. A rodent mammal (Cavia Cobaya) of the genus Cavia, originating in S. America, but now widely distributed in a half-domesticated state.
The term is applied dialectally to the wood-louse, and in Cornwall to the small white cowrie.
1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 16 You may see them [Cheese Mites]..like so many Ginny-Pigs, munching and chewing the cud. 1673C. Brown Trav. Germany, etc. (1677) 109 Some odde dishes at their Tables; as Guiny-pigs, divers sorts of Snails, and Tortoises. 1713Steele Guardian No. 106. ⁋4 These were driven off at last by a Lap-dog, who was succeeded by a Guiney pig. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 72 The mouse being..the most timid of all quadrupedes, except the guinea-pig. 1806Hatchett in Phil. Trans. XCVI. 378 The same chemist found that the urine of the guinea-pig deposited carbonat of lime. 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet ii. xvii, There isn't a mouse in all Epsom can be muter, or a guinea-pig dumber.
b. A person or thing used like a guinea-pig as the subject of an experiment.
[1913G. B. Shaw Quintessence of Ibsenism Now Completed 135 The..folly which sees in the child nothing more than the vivisector sees in a guinea pig: something to experiment on with a view to rearranging the world.] 1920U. Sinclair Brass Check xviii. 102 Say to yourself that Upton Sinclair is a guinea-pig. 1923H. G. Wells Men Like Gods 180 And may I ask..the nature of this treatment of yours, these experiments of which we are to be the—guinea pigs, so to speak? Is it to be anything in the nature of a vaccination? 1955Times 15 June 5/3 The corporation are also guinea-pigs, because it is hoped that decisions arising out of these cases will save a great amount of public money and trouble, and provide a guide in law and principle which may go a long way in aiding other cases. 1955R. Bannister First Four Minutes 119 In some of my experiments I used other athletes as guinea pigs. 1961Times 24 May 13/6 Something of a guinea-pig, the ship has demonstrated its value. 1970Daily Tel. 13 Oct. 19/5 ‘You can't detect any difference unless you know it's synthetic material,’ one guinea-pig commented yesterday.
2. Naut.
a. A midshipman in the East Indian service.
b. An inefficient seaman.
1747Adv. Kidnapped Orphan 69 He sent his nephew, at the age of fourteen, on a voyage as a Guinea-pig. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xxiv, A brave fellow as ever crackt bisket;—none of your guinea pigs. 1840Marryat Poor Jack xxvi, The midshipmen, or guinea pigs, as they are called. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk., Guinea-pigs, the younger midshipmen of an Indiaman.
3. In various jocular or contemptuous applications with allusions to the coin.
a. One who receives the fee of a guinea; e.g. a medical man, a director of a public company (see quot. 1895), a clergyman doing duty for another, etc.
b. (See quot.)
a.1821Combe Wife iv. (1869) 347 ‘Oh! oh!’ cried Pat, ‘how my hand itches, Thou guinea pig [a ‘vet.’], in boots and breeches, To trounce thee well’. 1855Smedley H. Coverdale xxxvii, That ailment [‘heart-ache’] which defies those guinea-pigs, ‘the faculty’. 1858Chamb. Jrnl. 1 May 279/2 Whenever the court sits..the guinea-pigs [jurymen] sit along with it. 1871Temple Bar XXXI. 320 ‘Guinea pigs,’ the pleasant name for those gentlemen of more rank than means..who have a guinea and a copious lunch when they attend board meetings. 1891S. Mostyn Curatica 18 The Vicar has managed by himself, with occasional help from guinea-pigs. 1895A. J. Wilson Gloss. Terms Stock Exch. s.v., A man who lives by getting himself placed upon the Boards of a number of companies whose business he can have neither the time nor the qualifications to assist in directing, is a ‘guinea pig’.
attrib.1887Standard 12 May, We..have here the ‘guinea pig’ Director in all his pristine simplicity. 1909Daily Chron. 18 Jan. 4/6 Greedy manufacturers..have already laid their plans for large commercial trusts with their ‘expenses’-paid Members of Parliament, purchased Press and guinea-pig peers. 1930Economist 9 Aug. 284/2 A large number of the ‘bubble’ company boards of the 1928 boom were packed with guinea-pig directors.
b.1860Fairholt Costume (ed. 2) 328 Those who persevered in the fashion [of wearing hair-powder] paid one guinea a year for the privilege, hence the jesters nicknamed them guinea-pigs.
c. An evacuee or billetee in the war of 1939–45. colloq.
1939Daily Dispatch 10 Oct., We are known here [West of England] as the guinea-pigs..and we are being treated locally like those tailless rodents. 1940Manch. Evening News 16 July, I toured a part of Manchester in which every other house seems to be teeming with guinea-pigs, the nickname for the men [sc. soldiers] because the billeting allowances are about a guinea. 1941New Statesman 30 Aug. 218/3 Guinea Pig—Evacuated civil servant.
Hence guinea-pigging vbl. n., the practice of acting as director of a company for the sake of the guinea fees; also of acting as clerical substitute (or, rarely, engaging the services of one); guinea-pig v. intr., to act as the subject of an experiment; also trans., to use (a person) thus.
1887Ch. Times 14 Jan. 26/4 The Rector..preferred guinea-pigging once a Sunday to being present at his post twice a day. 1890J. Hatton By order Czar (1891) 125 A unanimity of belief in joint-stock enterprises that makes guinea-pigging a positive virture. 1894Wilkins & Vivian Green bay tree I. 7 By ‘guinea-pigging’, floating Companies, and other means. 1955Times 20 June 9/4 He..might like to spend a ‘holiday’ at Salisbury, guinea pigging for the Common Cold Research Unit. 1961Time (Atlantic ed.) 3 Mar. 19 [The astronauts] were guinea-pigged into hot chambers. |