| 释义 |
ˈred-legs, red-leg
1. Ornith. A name given to various birds with red legs; esp. the redshank (Totanus calidris), the purple sandpiper (Tringa maritima), the red-legged partridge (Caccabis rufa), and (U.S.) the turnstone (Strepsilas interpres).
1802Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1831) 392 Two [purple sandpipers] were shot there.., and were called by the fishermen red-legs. Ibid. 407 Red-legs. A name for the Red-shank. 1831Rennie Montagu's Ornith. Dict. 291 Laughing gull (Larus ridibundus)..Red Legs. 1878Daily News 12 Sept. 3/1 The red-legged partridge is not a native of this country... In 1826 the red-legs were reported ‘now plentiful in Suffolk’. 1892[see red-legged horseman in prec.].
2. (See quot. and cf. redshank 1 a.)
1887N. D. Davis Cavaliers & Roundheads of Barbados 83 note, The descendants of the old clansmen form a peculiar people at the present time, in Barbados, where they are known as Red Legs.
3. The plant bistort (Polygonum bistorta). Also = red-shanks 3 a.
1820Q. Jrnl. Sci. Lit. & Arts IX. 422 The juices of some plants contain nitrate of potash; among others, I have detected it in the polygonum bistorta, called in English ‘red-legs’. 1866Treas. Bot. 962/2. 1886 Britten & Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-Names 399 Red Legs. From the general redness of the stems. (1) Polygonum bistorta... (2) Polygonum Persicaria. 1960Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 126/1 Spotted Persicaria or Red-legs..can usually be easily recognized by the red stems and the dark blotch in the middle of the leaves. 1971Countryman Winter 126 The redleg..was flowering in late summer.
4. U.S. Mil. slang. An artilleryman.
1900P. Revere Cleveland in War with Spain 164 The battery marched down the street... Cleveland's ‘red-legs’ were off. Ibid., For once the ‘dough boys’ were envied by the ‘red legs’. 1927Amer. Legion Monthly July 16 Reilly's redlegs..admired the advance guard of Bengal lancers. 1969S. N. Spetz Rat Pack Six 71 Anyway, you'll get a chance to cool it down there, just guarding a bunch of Red Legs. |