| 释义 |
jay|dʒeɪ|
Also 5–6 Sc. ia, 5–7 iaye.
[a. OF. jay, mod.F. geai, in ONF. gai, gay = Pr. gai (jai), Sp. gayo, med.L. gaius, gaia (Papias); of uncertain origin: some refer it to OHG. gâhi adj. quick; hence, lively. It cannot be identified with F. gai adj. ‘gay’, which has g, not j, in Central F.]
1. a. The name of a common European bird, Garrulus glandarius, in structure and noisy chattering resembling the magpie, but in habits arboreal, and having a plumage of striking appearance, in which vivid tints of blue are heightened by bars of jet-black and patches of white. Hence used as the English name of the genus Garrulus, and applied with distinguishing additions to the other species.
a1310in Wright Lyric P. 52 Heo is dereworthe in day,..Gentyl, jolyf so the jay. c1386Chaucer Manciple's T. 28 And taughte it speke as men teche a Iay. 1412–13Hoccleve Ball. to Hen. V, 37 My wordes..clappe and iangle foorth, as dooth a iay. 1530Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 725 The gentyll Ia, the Merle, and Turtur trew. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. viii. 5 Decked with diverse plumes, like painted Iayes. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 177 What is the Iay more precious then the Larke? Because his feathers are more beautifull. 1746–7Hervey Medit. (1818) 43 Not long ago I happened to spy a thoughtless jay; the poor bird was idly busied in dressing his pretty plumes. 1766Pennant Zool. (1768) I. 173 Jays..may be brought to imitate the human voice. 1880A. R. Wallace Isl. Life ii. 20 There are, so far as yet known, twelve species of true jays. 1893Newton Dict. Birds 470 Doubts may be expressed whether these birds are not more nearly related to the Pies than to the Jays.
b. In more extended sense, applied to birds of the sub-family Garrulinæ or family Garrulidæ, among which are the Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis), the grey jay, green jay, Siberian jay, etc.
1688J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 991 The Pica Glandarea, or Jay, is much less than our English Jay..it has both the same Cry, and suddain jetting Motion. 1838Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XVI. 584/2, A most magnificent bird is the Columbia jay. 1855Longfellow Hiaw. xiii. 100 Jays and ravens, Clamorous on the dusky tree-tops. 1886Yule Anglo-Ind. Gloss., Jay, the name usually given by Europeans to the Coracias Indica, Linn., the Nīlkant or ‘blue⁓throat’ of the Hindus, found all over India. 1893Newton Dict. Birds 469 The Lanius infaustus of Linnæus..the Siberian Jay of English writers, which ranges throughout the pine-forests of the north of Europe and Asia. Ibid., The Canada Jay, or ‘Whiskey Jack’..presents a still more sombre coloration.
c. Also, the blue jay: (a) a North American jay, Cyanocitta cristata; (b) = roller n.2 1.
(a)1709Gleanings Anc. Rec. Bristol, R.I. 18 Mar. in Narragansett Hist. Reg. (1885) III. iii. 211 The same order shall extend to the killing of blew Jawes [sic]. 1731M. Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina I. 15 The Blew Jay is full as big, or bigger than a Starling. 1792J. Belknap Hist. New Hampshire III. 173 The blue jay, the wood pecker and the partridge..are then seen flying. 1838Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XVI. 584/2 The blue jay of America is an almost universal inhabitant of the western woods. 1885‘C. E. Cradock’ (Miss Murfree) Proph. Gt. Smoky Mount. viii, He saw..the white tips of the tail-feathers of a fluttering bluejay. 1886Harper's Mag. Nov. 877/2 The bell note of the blue-jay comes up from some mysterious haunt. 1961O. L. Austin Birds of World 226/2 Essentially a woodland species fond of open forest, the Blue Jay has become a common resident of the parks and suburbs of most North American cities.
(b)1878T. J. Lucas Camp Life & Sport S. Afr. vi. 83 Conspicuous among them [sc. the birds] were..the beautiful blue jay, and the Kaffir finch. 1896H. A. Bryden Tales S. Afr. viii. 185 Please don't forget the blue jay [fn. the ‘roller’ is usally called ‘blue jay’ by colonists] feathers. 1911Encycl. Brit. XV. 298/1 The birds known as blue jays in India and Africa are rollers. 1964A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 411/2 ‘Blue Jay’ is a misnomer in India for Coracias benghalensis.
2. Applied to other birds:
a. The Jackdaw (app. from a French mistransl. of κόλοιος or graculus in the fable of the jackdaw decked in peacock's plumes).
b. The Cornish chough, also termed Cornish jay.
c. The Missel thrush. local.
1484Caxton Fables of æsop ii. xv, The xv fable is of the Iaye and of the pecok. 1552Huloet, Iaye, byrde, gracus, graculus. [1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Graculus, They are much deceyued that haue taken Graculus for a Iaye.] 1628Wither Brit. Rememb. Pref. 129 The Jay that vaunts In others plumes. 1706Phillips, Jay, or Jack-daw, a kind of chattering Bird. 1750Pococke Trav. Eng., etc. (Camden) 135 About Penzance, in the rocks, are jays with red bills and legs, called a Cornish jay, and by Pliny Pyrrhocorax. 1880Antrim & Down Gloss., Jay, the missel thrush is called the jay here. The jay does not occur.
3. transf.
a. An impertinent chatterer.
b. A showy or flashy woman; one of light character.
c. A person absurdly dressed; a gawk or ‘sight’.
d. A stupid or silly person; a simpleton. Also attrib. or as adj., dull, unsophisticated; inferior, poor (U.S. colloq.).
1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 1262 For the gyse now adays Of sum iangelyng iays Is to discommende What they cannot amende. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 44 We'll teach him to know Turtles from Iayes. 1611― Cymb. iii. iv. 51 Some Iay of Italy..hath betraid him. 1639Chapman & Shirley The Ball ii. ii, Sol. Mr. Bostock, madam. Luc. Retire, and give the jay admittance. 1884Pall Mall G. 29 Dec. 4/2 The intending larcenist will strike up a conversation with a likely looking Jay in a public conveyance..and win his friendship. 1886Baring-Gould Mehalah vii. 91 You stood by..and listened while that jay snapped and screamed at me. 1888N.Y. Herald Sept. (Farmer Americanisms), Never..have I been annoyed in the slightest way by any of the so-called jays. 1889Daily Even. Bulletin (San Francisco) 13 July 1/6 Smith has a poor opinion..of St. Joseph, which he alludes to as a ‘jay’ town of the worst description. 1891H. C. Bunner Short Sixes 91 'T ain't neuralogy, you jay pillbox, she's cooked! 1898Westm. Gaz. 7 Oct. 4/2 ‘Kharki is not exactly a blanket; besides, we are jays enough as it is, and if we had had our old things on we should have been regular jays’. 1900Dundee Advertiser 30 July 4 An underbred undergraduate—called in America a ‘jay’. 1900Ade More Fables (1902) 185 It was a Shame to String these Jay Amateurs. a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. ii. 23 Gee, what awful jay things we work off on them, sometimes! They can't see the dress for the figure. 1916H. L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap viii. 348 Them jay New York newspapers would fall for it. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §21/10 Small; insignificant,..jay. Ibid. §30/4 Poor; mean; contemptible,..jay. Ibid. §45/3 Small country town; ‘hick’ town,..jay town.
4. Angling. Name of a variety of artificial fly.
1867F. Francis Angling xi. (1880) 432 The Blue Jay..is the Blue Doctor dressed with jay.
5. Coal-mining. (See quot.)
1829Glover's Hist. Derby I. 59 Strong jay or roof coal. Ibid. 60 Black jay, a sort of cannel coal.
6. attrib. and Comb., as jay-black, jay-like adjs.; jay-feather, esp. in Sc. phrase to set up one's jay-feathers (see quot.); jay pie, jay-piet, (a) the jay; (b) locally, the Missel thrush; jay-teal, locally, the common teal. Also jay-bird, etc.
1706Lond. Gaz. No. 4236/8 Stolen..a black Mare, but not *Jay-black.
1825–80Jamieson s.v., She made sic a rampaging, that I was obliged to set up my *jay-feathers at her, Roxb. The expression contains a ludicrous allusion to the mighty airs of a jackdaw, when in a bad humour.
1880Duke of Argyll in Fraser's Mag. Jan. 49 The large Belted Kingfisher..was passing with a *Jay-like flight over the creeks..of the Hudson.
1880W. Cornwall Gloss., *Jay-pie, a jay. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 2 Missel Thrush..the harsh note it utters when alarmed has caused it to receive the names of..Jay (North of Ireland), Jay pie (Wilts).
1895Crockett Men Moss Hags xxxix. 282 Yet I saw as it had been the waft of a *jaypiet's wing among them.
1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 158 Common Teal..*Jay teal (Kirkcudbright). |