| 释义 |
witchetty Austral.|ˈwɪtʃɪtɪ|
Also (rare) wichetty, widgety.
[Native name.]
In full witchetty grub. A large white grub (the larva of certain moths and other insects) which infests the roots and stem of the witchetty bush (= mulga 1 a), from which it is extracted for use as food by Aboriginals and as bait by fishermen.
1891Stirling in Trans. Roy. Soc. South Australia XIV. 158. 1894 R. Lydekker Marsupialia 191 The Marsupial Mole..was fed on the ‘witchetty’. 1899Contemp. Rev. Mar. 407 In the witchetty grub totem this sacred painting tallies with..a stone kist at Tillicoutry. 1935H. H. Finlayson Red Centre iii. 30 The broad-leafed mulga or witchetty bush, the roots of which harbour a grub beloved by the blacks. 1944F. Clune Red Heart 37 The sun gleamed on a motor-bike beneath a clump of witchetty bushes. 1954B. Miles Stars my Blanket viii. 50 The widgetty grub tree at the roots of which the natives dig for the grubs which are like fat white slugs. 1960Times 5 July 11/7 ‘Witchetty’ bushes, a kind of wattle with bright yellow blossom. 1961P. White Riders in Chariot xi. 373 You look to me..like you was made out of old wichetty grubs. 1962Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 19 Mar. 849/1 It is a pointed, oval, red-ochre⁓coloured, wooden bullroarer with designs of witchetty⁓grubs. 1968M. Pyke Food & Society iv. 42 Witchetty grubs are famous as an article of diet eaten by aborigines. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds viii. 178 There were witchetty grubs, fat and white and loathsome. |