| 释义 |
hamadryad|hæməˈdraɪæd|
Pl. -ads: also in Lat. form hamadryades |-ədiːz|.
[ad. L. Hamādryas, a. Gr. Ἁµαδρυάς, chiefly in pl. Hamādryad-es, Ἁµαδρυάδ-ες wood-nymphs, f. ἅµα together with + δρῦς tree]
1. Gr. and Lat. Mythol. A wood-nymph fabled to live and die with the tree which she inhabited.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2070 In whiche they woneden in reste and pees Nymphus, ffawnes, and Amadrides [v. rr. amadries, Amadryes]. 1390Gower Conf. II. 336 With suche, as Amadriades Were cleped wodemaidens tho. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. vi. 18 The wooddy nymphes, faire Hamadryades,..And all the troupe of light-foot Naiades. 1664Evelyn Sylva Concl. §13 (R.) The fittest sacrifice for the royal oaks, and their hamadryads. 1769Johnson Lett. to Mrs. Thrale 14 Aug., Nothing has deterred these audacious aldermen from violating the hamadryads of George Lane. 1873Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 166, I am not sure that the tree was a gainer when the hamadryad flitted and left it nothing but ship-timber.
transf.1791W. Bartram Carolina 357 An innocent frolic with this gay assembly of hamadryades [Indian girls].
2. Zool.
a. A large, very venomous, hooded serpent of India (Naja hamadryas, or Hamadryas (Ophiophagus) elaps), allied to the cobra.
1863Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 140 The Serpent-eating Hamadryas.. feeds almost wholly on reptiles. 1894Daily News 4 June 7/5 When the Zoological Gardens were first opened, a hamadryad, imported with a selection of cobras, ate up fifty pounds' worth of the latter before its nature was discovered.
b. A large baboon of Abyssinia (Cynocephalus hamadryas).
1894Daily News 6 Dec. 5/3 Four hamadryads are now the sight of the day at the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris..M. Milne-Edwards gives the hamadryad a high character for intellect. |