| 释义 |
hog in armour
1. An awkward or clumsy person, stiff and ill at ease in his attire. (Hence Thackeray's ‘Count Hogginarmo’ in Rose and Ring xiii.)
1660Howell Eng. Prov. 19 He looketh like a Hogg in armour. 1774Westm. Mag. II. 457, I never see Alderman ― on horseback, but he reminds me of an hog in armour; and yet a knowledge of dress is what this man has been all his life aiming to acquire. 1857Trollope Three Clerks (1860) 289 But he did not carry his finery like a hog in armour, as an Englishman so often does when an Englishman stoops to be fine.
b. An unwieldy iron-clad ship.
1865Examiner 11 Mar. 146/2 If these vessels are made as proposed, to combine the greatest speed with the most efficient armament, they will be far superior to the slugs with iron skins, and the huge, unwieldy hogs-in-armour.
2. The nine-banded armadillo, Dasypus or Tatusia novemcinctus, of Central and N. America.
1729Collect. Voy. IV. iv. 96 Here is..a little Animal that is somewhat less than a Land-Turtle, having a jointed shell on his Back..the Spaniards call it a Hog in Armour. 1834Blackw. Mag. XXXVI. 40/2 Why, they have two monkeys on board, and a kangaroo, and a hog in armour. |