| 释义 |
wombat|ˈwɒmbæt|
Also womat, wombach, wo(o)mback.
[Native Australian name.]
Any of the burrowing marsupials of the genus Phascolomys, native to South Australia and Tasmania, characterized by a thick heavy body, short legs, and a general resemblance to a small bear.
1798Flinders in Voy. Terra Australis (1814) Introd. p. cxxviii, Point Womat, a rocky projection of Cape-Barren Island, where a number of the new animals, called womat, were seen. [Ibid. p. cxxxv, Called by the natives, womat, wombat, or womback, according to the different dialects, or perhaps to the different rendering of the wood rangers who brought the information.] 1827in Bischoff Van Diemen's Land (1832) 175 The dogs had caught them three kangaroos, and two badgers or woombacks. 1852J. West Hist. Tasmania I. 324 The Wombat, commonly called in the colony Badger. 1896Gosse Critical Kit-Kats 267 Pater has often reminded me of some such armadillo or wombat.
attrib. and Comb.1847G. F. Angas Savage Life I. 66 Wombat burrows. 1859C. Rossetti Goblin Market xvii, Cat-like and rat-like, Ratel- and wombat-like. 1870Gordon Bush Ballads, From the Wreck 24 Look out for the holes On the wombat hills. |