| 释义 |
▪ I. wasp, n.1|wɒsp|
Forms: α. 1 wæfs, wæps, 2 weaps, 5, dial. 8–9 waps, 7, 9 dial. wapse, 9– dial. or joc. wops(e. β. 1 wæsp, 4–7 waspe (7 whaspe, 8 whasp), 6– wasp. pl. α. 5 wappys.
[OE. wæfs, wæps, wæsp masc. corresponds (with differences of declension) to OS. uuepsia, fem. (MLG. wepse, wespe, wispe), MDu. wespe fem. (mod.Du. wesp), OHG. wafsa, wefsa fem. (MHG. wefse, webse, mod.G. wespe, dial. webes):—OTeut. *waƀiso-z, -isō, *waps-:—pre-Teut. *wobhes-, *wops-: cf. Lith. vapsà gadfly, OSl. vosa (Russ. osá) wasp; L. vespa has another ablaut-grade. The root is believed to be *webh- to weave, the name having reference to the nests which the insect constructs.
The word is not found in Gothic, and in the Scandinavian langs. it exists only as an adoption from Low German: Da. hveps, Norw. kvefs, gvefs, veps, vops, etc., mod.Icel. vespa. The OF. guespe, mod.F. guêpe, represents the L. vespa, but the initial gu- (:—w-) for v seems to be due to the influence of the Teut. word.]
1. In popular language, any insect of the genus Vespa; chiefly applied to V. vulgaris, the Common Wasp, and such other species as are not readily distinguishable from this; sometimes taken to include the Hornet, V. crabro, which resembles the Common Wasp, but is larger and has a more powerful sting. The obvious characteristics of the genus are the alternate rings of black and yellow on the abdomen, the narrow stalk or petiole by which the abdomen is attached to the thorax, the fully developed wings, and the formidable sting (which, however, is peculiar to the females and the workers or imperfect females). In scientific language applied generally to two divisions of hymenopterous insects, the Diploptera or true wasps, and the Fossores or digger wasps.
The true wasps (Diploptera) are divided into three families; (1) Vespidæ, to which the common wasp belongs; (2) Eumenidæ; and (3) Masaridæ.
See also digger n. 4, paper n. 12, queen n. 14, sand n.2 10 b, social a. 6 b, solitary a. 4.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) C 902 Crabro: waefs vel hurnitu. Ibid. F 136 Fespa, waefs. c875Erfurt Gloss. 255 C[r]abro: uaeps. a1100Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 318/36 Uespa, weaps. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (James Minor) 420 Þe waspis þat in his hewid ware, at his nese-thrillis flaw al owt. c1394P. Pl. Crede 648 Þer is no waspe in þis werlde þat will wilfullok[e]r styngen, For stappyng on a too of a styncande frere! 1400–50Wars Alex. 3011 Full many flees may fell, bot a fewe waspis. a1450Mirk's Festial 141 Out of hys naseþurles dropped wormys out lyke waspes. 1496Cov. Leet Bk. 577 Where as they light, The been will byte, And also styng. Be-ware of wappys. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §122 And beware, that no waspes come in-to the hyue, for they wyll kyl the bees, and eate the honny. 1546J. Heywood Prov. i. xi. (1867) 25 Nowe mery as a cricket, and by and by, Angry as a waspe, though in both no cause why. 1593G. Harvey Pierces Super. 148, I cannot maruell enough, how the nimble Bee should be ingendred of the sluggish Oxe, or the liuely waspe of the dead Horse. a1591H. Smith Serm. (1637) 239 God is not like a Waspe, which when she hath stung cannot sting again. 1653Walton Angler xii. 226 To take the Roch and Dace, a good bait is the young brood of Wasps or Bees, baked or hardned in their husks in an Oven. 1724Derham in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 54 The Male Wasps are lesser than the Queens, but as much longer and larger than the Common Wasps, as the Queen is longer and larger than these. 1730Young Epist. i. To Pope 33 As by depredations whasps proclaim The fairest fruit. 1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 263 The nest of the Common Wasp is always formed under the surface of the earth. 1848Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xlix. 421 ‘Just as if we hadn't enough wapses,’ exclaimed the old lady... ‘No, my good Grittles—that's a hornet,—not a ‘waps’ as you wrongly call it.’ 1862Calverley Verses & Transl. (ed. 2) 95 As females vanish at the sight Of shorthorns and of wopses. 1893A. Lang Prince Ricardo of Pantouflia vii. 128 ‘Hang that wops!’ said Prince Ricardo..when it buzzed in his ear. 1905H. G. Wells Kipps ii. iii. §3 ‘These old Roman chaps ―’ he said; and then the wasps arrived. They killed three in the jam alone. 1908O. Seaman Wearing of Whisker in Salvage 82 Trained like the ampelopsis, That happy haunt of woolly bears and wopses. 1932E. Step Bees, Wasps, Ants 81 Wopses, what eat up all our fruit. 1937D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon xv. 308 Out comes me lord, and they wos all on to 'im like wopses round a jam-pot.
2. fig.
a. Applied to persons characterized by irascibility and persistent petty malignity, esp. to a multitude of contemptible but irritating assailants.
1508Dunbar Flyting 195 Wan wraiglane wasp. 1560Bp. Pilkington Aggeus Pref. A iij, So..vnder our gracious late Iosias, crepte oute a swarm of romish waspes, stynging to death all who wold not worshyp theyr gods, nor beleue theyr doctrine. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 210 Come, come you Waspe, y'faith you are too angrie. 1611Beaum. & Fl. King & no K. iv. iii, I will not hear you, wasp. a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) I. 169 The Frenche Agent..promised to joine with the Generall for a publicke redresse from those perfidious whaspes. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 5. 23, I had no sooner undertaken this task, but I raised a nest of holy wasps and hornets about my ears. 1775H. Walpole Let. to W. Cole 25 Apr., The reviewers and such litterati have called me a learned and ingenious gentleman... These wasps, I suppose, will be very angry at the just contempt Mr. Gray had for them. 1791D'Israeli Cur. Lit. I. 97 Sallo, after having published only his third Journal, felt the irritated wasps of literature thronging so thick about him, that he very gladly abdicated the throne of Criticism. 1844W. Cross Disruption xxxiii. 362 Mr. Bacon, ye ken, is in a pretty pickle wi' this wasp o' a body McCorkle. 1910Ld. Rosebery Chatham vii. 177 Glover was an ill-conditioned wasp, and his story refutes itself.
b. Something that irritates or offends one.
† the wasp got him by the nose (Prov.): he was infuriated.
1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 20 At the hearing of this speeche, the waspe got my brother by the nose, which mad him in his rage to affirme, that [etc.]. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 55. 1781 Cowper Truth 160 Of temper as envenom'd as an asp; Censorious, and her ev'ry word a wasp. 1845Jerrold St. Giles iv. (1851) 34 That little head of his is full of wasps as July.
3. An artificial fly for salmon-fishing (made to imitate the appearance of a wasp). Cf. wasp-fly in 6 b.
1867F. Francis Angling x. (1880) 352 Some of the Tay flies, particularly the Wasps, dressed small, will kill well in the Tweed.
4. Conchol. A variety of cowry (see quot.).
1815S. Brookes Introd. Conchol. 157 Wasp, Cypræa Asellus.
5. (With capital initial.) A kind of flame-thrower developed by the British army during the war of 1939–45.
1944Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 12 Apr.–26 Sept. 467 Like that of the Crocodile, the range of the Wasp is upwards of 150 yards. Fitted to the standard bullet-proof carrier, it is a terrorising weapon. 1965Listener 11 Nov. 763/3 There was this Bren gun carrier with the flame thrower, sir, a Wasp I believe they're called, and I thought it was my duty to see how it worked. 1975Incendiary Weapons (Stockholm Internat. Peace Research Inst.) v. 38 British and Canadian engineers developed a lighter mechanized flamethrower, called the Ronson... This was the forerunner of the Wasp (Mark 1) flame gun of which 1000 were ordered and went into production in March 1943.
6. attrib. and Comb., as wasp-comb, wasp-egg, wasp-grub, wasp-honey, wasp-larva, wasp-maggot, wasp-pupa, wasp-sting, wasp-worm; wasp-barbed, wasp-like, wasp-striped adjs.
1887Ruskin Præterita II. 346 One of the worst, *wasp-barbed, most tingling pangs of my memory is yet of a sunny afternoon at Pisa, when [etc.].
1877Wood Nature's Teachings 168 There is..one curious point of difference between the *Wasp-comb and human architecture.
1870Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. Ser. iv. VI. 327 It is..also a great deal smaller than the *wasp-egg.
1678*Wasp-grub [see wasp-maggot below]. 1760Hawkins Walton's Angler xi. 197 note, There are no better Baits for this fish than..a Gentle, a young Wasp-grub boiled, or a green Worm. 1919J. Masefield Reynard 61 Brocks eat wasp-grubs.
1904Westm. Gaz. 4 July 2/3 Some *wasp honey. 1870*Wasp-larva [see wasp-pupa].
1668Wilkins Real Char. 125 *Wasp-like Fly Maggot. 1867G. M. Musgrave Nooks Old France II. 209 Picturesque and coquette as ever their [mills] wasp-like waists were.
1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. ii. v. 72 marg. *Wasp-Maggots or Grubs. 1836Jesse Angler's Rambles 197 The chub may be taken with..gentles, wasp-maggots, and black-snails.
1870Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. Ser. iv. VI. 314 Doubtless also their fellow inhabitants, described..as injured *wasp-pupæ, were in reality the partially devoured wasp-larvæ.
1726Swift Gulliver ii. viii, Four *Wasp Stings, like Joyners Tacks. 1822Scott Halidon Hill i. ii. 339 A cobweb gossamer were guard as good Against a wasp-sting.
1952P. Atkey Juniper Rock x. 87 *Wasp-striped..the helicopter reappeared. 1974E. Ambler Dr. Frigo i. 49 A black butler in a wasp-striped waistcoat.
1804–6*Wasp-worm [see wasphood].
b. Special comb.: wasp-bee, a bee of the genus Nomada, a cuckoo-bee; wasp-beetle, a beetle of the genus Clytus, esp. C. arietis; wasp-cake dial., the comb in a wasp's nest; wasp-flower, a flower frequented by honey-gathering wasps; wasp-fly, a syrphid fly somewhat resembling a hornet; also an artificial fly for fishing; wasp-paper, the paper-like material, produced by mastication, of which wasps' nests are made; † wasp-spade, a spade for digging out wasps' nests; † wasp-stung a., irritable (as if stung by a wasp); wasp-waist, a very slender waist, esp. the characteristic waist of a woman who laces tightly; wasp-wood dial. (see quot.).
1844F. Smith in Zoologist II. 587 Descriptions of the British *Wasp-Bees.
1704Petiver Gazophyl. III. Tab. xxvii, The Maryland *Wasp Beetle. 1863Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 476 The common wasp beetle (Clytus arietis).
1907Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 10/1 Experienced anglers cannot recall a season in which *wasp-cake is so difficult to obtain.
1884Cornhill Mag. Oct. 399 *Wasp-flowers are remarkable for having a helmet-shaped tube, exactly fitted to a wasp's head, with abundant honey filling the bottom of the bell.
1676Cotton Angler ii. viii. 77 We have likewise this month [July] a *Wasp-flie, made..of a dark brown dubbing..ribb'd about with yellow silk. 1681Grew Musæum i. §vii. i. 156 The Wasp-Fly, Tabani species altera. 1854M. Howitt Pict. Cal. Seasons 404 The buzz of a wasp-fly, when resting apparently motionless on the window. 1867F. Francis Angling xii. (1880) 456 The Wasp Fly.—Three mauve hackle fibres for tail [etc.].
1899D. Sharp Insects ii. 83 These little habitations consist of masses of cells, wrapped in *wasp-paper, in which there are one or more orifices for ingress and egress.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 126 With a *Wasp-spade, search for the nest.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 236 (1598 Qo.) Why what a *waspe-stung [later Quos. wasp(e) tongue; Folios wasp(e)-tongu'd] and impatient foole Art thou?
1870Illustr. Lond. News 24 Sept. 330 The fearful displacement of the vital organs which must be effected to procure a *wasp-waist. 1905Athenæum 18 Mar. 344/3 The cylinder..shows a person tightly cinctured, and with a wasp-waist, resembling the men on Mycenæan monuments.
1887N. & Q. Ser. vii. III. 421 Touchwood, or as it is sometimes called, *wasp-wood, because wasps use it to make their nests.
▪ II. wasp, v.|wɒsp|
[f. wasp n.1]
1. trans. To sting as a wasp does. nonce-wd.
1846Landor Imag. Conv., Emp. China & Tsing-Ti Wks. II. 137/1 That blow upon the cheek-bone! those rotten eggs!..surely they have wasped thee!
2. intr. Const. around, about. To dart about in the manner of a wasp, in an irritating, noisy, or tenacious fashion.
1967G. F. Fiennes I tried to run a Railway iii. 22 Most nights brought an intruder bumbling overhead with one of our fighters wasping around looking for him. 1981B. Healey Week of Scorpion ii. 43 ‘It must be very unpleasant for her.’.. ‘No doubt... But have you conseedered how you'll make it any less so by having the police wasping about your own ears?’ 1981B. Freemantle Madrigal for Charlie Muffin (1982) xx. 152 Traffic wasped around the piazza.
▪ III. wasp
obs. Sc. var. wisp, quantity of fish. |