| 释义 |
▪ I. ‖ laager, n.|ˈlɑːgə(r)|
Also lager.
[S. African Du. lager = G. lager, Du. leger (see leaguer).]
a. A camp, encampment; among the S. African Boers, a temporary lodgement in the open marked out by an encircling line of wagons.
1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 202 Their tents and waggons were drawn up on every side of the farm-house... The Boers informed me that all their countrymen, and also the Griquas, were thus packed together in ‘lagers’, or encampments. 1883Standard 7 Sept. 5 Captain Mansell, with the native police force, has been obliged to go into laager at Ekowe for safety. 1891R. W. Murray S. Africa 177 Laager was formed that same evening about five o'clock. 1899Times 25 Oct. 5/2 Our men dashed forward to carry the laager with bayonets.
b. transf. A defensive position in a country other than S. Africa, esp. one protected by armoured vehicles. Also fig., an entrenched policy, viewpoint, etc., under attack from opponents.
1896G. Meredith Let. 7 Dec. (1970) III. 1253, I have lowered my health by writing at night..and am now in laager against a host of Matabelly assailants. 1901Daily Tel. 9 Mar. 11/5 It has been the custom of the Secretary of State to lie in laager, surrounded by his civilian secretaries. 1941Illustr. London News CXCIX. 719 According to the dictionary, a zareba or laager is ‘an enclosure against enemies’, but now the term is used to describe the protective dispositions of armed and mechanised forces at night. 1946G. Millar Horned Pigeon ii. 19 Our close night's formation (called either a ‘leaguer’ or a ‘laager’). 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Feb. 87/4 That the leaders of the Nationalist Party have created a ‘laager’ mentality and hate all opponents of apartheid is a fact. 1960Economist l5 Oct. 216/2 Whether to take Southern Rhodesia into the South African laager for whatever period of time this may buy them. 1968Ibid. 14 Dec. 12/2 It would be disastrous if it showed that members of both faiths [in N. Ireland] have been driven by the atmosphere of crisis back into their laagers. 1971Rand Daily Mail 27 Mar. 12/3 A confrontation which would only drive White South Africa deeper into its laager. 1973Times 1 Oct. (Nigeria Suppl.) p. viii/7 These real or imagined anti-Ibo factors translate themselves inside the state into a kind of laager mentality, ‘them’ against ‘us’. 1975Guardian 11 Jan. 11 What's happening there will only make the Afrikaners withdraw further into their laager.
▪ II. ‖ laager, v.|ˈlɑːgə(r)|
[f. laager n.]
trans. To form (wagons) into a laager; to encamp (persons) in a laager; also with up and fig. Also absol. or intr. Hence ˈlaagered ppl. a., ˈlaagering vbl. n.
1879Daily News 1 Mar., The waggons were not ‘laagered’ or drawn up so close as to make it difficult to force the camp. 1881Contemp. Rev. Feb. 222 The laagered waggon their sole protection. 1883Standard 17 May 5/4 Four hundred Boers, laagered in Stilleland, have threatened to attack Mankoroane. 1894Daily News 14 Sept. 5/2 The Army Service Corps were drilled in laagering. 1895Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 1/2 What, then, can be more absurd, to adopt Mr. Healy's picturesque phrase, than ‘to laager the Postmaster-General in the Lords’? 1896Tablet 22 Feb. 290 We stopped firing at about seven o'clock, and laagered up for the night. 1949Cape Times 27 Apr. 10/5 Are we really going to keep ourselves laagered when other countries in Africa get together on economic expansion projects? |