| 释义 |
‖ vagina|vəˈdʒaɪnə|
Pl. vaginæ |-ˈaɪniː|, vaginas.
[L. vāgīna sheath, scabbard. Cf. F. vagin (1762), † vagina, Pg. vagina.]
1. Anat. and Med.
a. The membranous canal leading from the vulva to the uterus in women and female mammals.
1682Gibson Anat. 20 It has passages..for the neck of the Bladder, and in Women for the vagina of the Womb. 1754–64Smellie Midwifery I. 95 The upper end of the vagina is joined to the circumference of the lips of the os uteri. 1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 21 Neither could we discover by the touch any communication between the rectum and vagina. 1847Youatt Horse viii. 174 The true polypus..is usually found in the nostrils, the pharynx, the uterus, or the vagina. 1896tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 490 In the Marsupials..the two vaginæ open separately on the floor of the urinogenital sinus.
b. A canal or organ having similar form or function in other animals; a genital passage.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 146 This vessel, which consists of a double tunic, in the cabbage-butterfly terminates the vagina. 1871T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 358 Female generative organs of the Queen Bee:..e, vagina, or common excretory duct.
c. vagina dentata (Anthrop. and Psychol.). [L. dentata adj., having teeth, toothed], the motif or theme of a vagina equipped with teeth which occurs in myth, folklore, and fantasy, and is said to symbolize fear of castration, the dangers of sexual intercourse, of birth or rebirth, etc.
1908R. H. Lowie in Jrnl. Amer. Folklore XXI. 108 Its variants in North America are innumerable; the most important being the crushing entrance to heaven, snapping doors,..and the vagina dentata. 1926J. I. Suttie tr. Ferenczi's Further Contributions Psycho-Anal. xxxii. 279 Anxiety in regard to the mother's vagina (vagina dentata = birth anxiety). 1932Jrnl. R. Anthrop. Inst. LXII. 219 There is in fact one fear, the neurotic dread of sexual intercourse, which is symbolized in the same manner as vagina dentata by many people in many countries. 1950[see beast n. 4 b]. 1958W. R. Trask tr. Eliade's Birth & Rebirth iii. 51 The return [to the womb] implies the risk of being torn to pieces in the monster's jaws (or in the vagina dentata of Mother Earth). 1976Listener 26 Feb. 249/3 Vagina dentata, that prototype male nightmare which..always seems to crop up more often in books than real life. 1983Observer 5 June 32/3 The heroes fight against being fed into the all-consuming mouth..of a nightmarish gigantic vagina dentata.
2. a. A part or formation serving as or suggestive of a sheath; a sheath-like covering, organ, or part; a theca.
1713Derham Phys.-Theol. viii. iv. (1727) 363 note, The Female hath vaginæ prettily furrow'd; the Male smooth. Ibid. 365 Many of them provided with the finest Articulations, and Foldings, for the Wings to be withdrawn, and neatly laid up in their Vaginæ, and Cases. 1771Encycl. Brit. I. 191/1 The fibres [of the muscles] are..distinguished by membranous, cellular, or adipose septa, as by so many particular vaginæ. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 361 Vagina (the Vagina), the jointed sheath of the Promuscis, representing the Labium in a perfect mouth.
b. Bot. = sheath n.1 2 b.
1720P. Blair Bot. Ess. i. 28 Sometimes they are covered with a Vagina or Sheath at the top. 1731P. Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Narcissus, The Empalement, which commonly rises out of a membranous Vagina. 1832Lindley Introd. Bot. i. ii. 95 Occasionally the petiole embraces the branch from which it springs, and in such cases is said to be sheathing; and is even called a sheath or vagina, as in grasses. 1857Henfrey Bot. §75 The sheathing portion..or vagina.
c. Sculpture. The lower part of a terminus, out of which the bust or figure appears to rise. (So F. gaîne.) rare—0.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., The Vagina is that long Part between the Base and the Capital; and is found in divers Manners, and with divers Ornaments.
Hence vaˈgina-less a.
1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 1061, I have recently pointed out..the process by which the embryo dracunculi quit the body of the vaginaless parent worm. |