| 释义 |
holey, a.|ˈhəʊlɪ|
Forms: 4–7 holy, hollie, -y, 5–6 hooly, (6 erron. holely), 7– holey.
[f. hole n. + -y. (The e is retained, to distinguish it to the eye from holy a.)]
Full of holes.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xxi. (Bodl. MS.), Thei [stars] beþ rounde in substaunce..nouȝt holouȝ noþer holly in þe vtter partie. 1551–2Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 6 §6 Yf..Clothe..happen..to be full of holes mylbrack or to be hollie [Ruffhead holely]. 1578Lyte Dodoens ii. xxv. 177 Leaues..holy, as though they had bene eaten with Locustes, Paulmers or Snayles. 1637Rutherford Let. to Ld. Lowdoun 10 Sept., An old hollie and threed-bare garment. 1818J. Brown Psyche 127 'Tis just as holey as a crumpet. 1875Jowett Plato, Gorgias Introd. II. 287 Fools are supposed to be carrying water to this vessel in a holey sieve.
b. holey (erron. holy) dollar, a Spanish dollar out of which a dump had been punched (see dump n.2 b), formerly current in parts of Australia.
1857D. Bunce Austral. Remin. 59 Our first change for a pound consisted of two dumps, two holy dollars, one Spanish dollar, one French coin [etc.]. 1883Numism. Chron. Ser. iii. III. 119 These coins popularly called ‘holey dollars’ are extremely scarce. |