| 释义 |
▪ I. loon, n.1 Chiefly Sc. and north. dial.|lun|
Forms: 5 lowen, 5–6 loone, 6 lound, 6–9 loun(e, lown(e, 7– loon.
[In 16th c. lowen, lowne, rhyming with chenoun, downe. Of obscure origin; the early forms do not favour the current hypothesis of connexion with early mod.Du. loen ‘homo stupidus’ (Plantijn and Kilian) which seems to be known only from dictionaries. The ON. lúenn, beaten, benumbed, weary, exhausted (pa. ppl. of lýja to beat, thrash) has been suggested as a possible etymon. The order of development of the senses is somewhat uncertain.]
1. A worthless person; a rogue, scamp (esp. in false loon, to play the loon); a sluggard, idler.
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7957 Þe clerkis þat were þare, leþir lowens [rime chenouns]. c1470Henryson Fables 2413 in Anglia IX. 475 Than lichtlie in the bukket lap the loun..The tod come hailland vp, the wolf yeid doun. 1508Kennedy Flyting w. Dunbar 485 Fra honest folk deuoide this lathly lown. 1514Barclay Eclog. ii. (1570) B iij, That men shall call the malapart or dronke, Or an abbey lowne or limmer [printed limner] of a monke. 1548Patten Exped. Scot. G. viii b, Cum here loundes, cum here tykes. 1571Satir. Poems Reform. xxviii. 68 To loup on lassis, lait, and play the Lowne. 1590Marlowe Edw. II, i. iv. 82 For shame, subscribe, and let the lowne depart. a1600Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxiii. 36 Let not sik louns with teasings ȝou allure. 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 95 He held them [breeches] all to deere, With that he cald the Tailor Lowne. 1605― Macb. v. iii. 11 The diuell damne thee blacke, thou cream-fac'd Loon. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 289 Looking on with their hands folded behind their back when louns are running with the spoil of Zion on their back. 1674–91Ray N.C. Words 47 The Scots say, a fausse, i.e. false Loon. 1700Dryden Cock & Fox 589 But the false loon who cou'd not work his will By open force employ'd his flatt'ring skill. 1762Churchill Prophecy Famine Poems I. 114 When with a foreign loon she stole away. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. iv. Refectory, Out upon him, the lazy loon!
appositively.16..in Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 392 Christ's minister may not preach Christ's trueth, if a loun minister neare by him have taught lies, except the Bishop give him leave so to doe.
b. Of a woman: A strumpet, concubine.
c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) iv. 87 The gayest grittest loun. c1600in Gordon Fraser Wigtown (1877) 392 Bad hir swithe [printed snyithe] pack hir furthe harlot lowne. 1714Ramsay Elegy J. Cowper vii, He ken'd the bawds and louns fou well. a1800in Scott Minstr. Scot. Bord. (1802) II. 68, I trow some may has plaid the lown. 1828Scott F.M. Perth ii, Thou art too low to be their lawful love, and too high to be their unlawful loon.
2. A man of low birth or condition; in phrase lord and loon. Now only arch.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 45 Thus for ane loun than lichlyit is ane lord. 1548Patten Exped. Scot. I viii b, The Lurdein was, in a maner, all one wyth the Lorde, and the Lounde wyth the Larde. 1608Shakes. Per. iv. vi. 20 Wee should haue both Lorde and Lowne, if the peeuish baggadge would but giue way to customers. a1650Capt. Carr in Furnivall Percy Folio I. 81, ‘I will not geve over my hous,’ she saithe, ‘Neither for lord nor lowne.’ 1840Barham Ingol. Leg., ‘Monstre’ Balloon, The peer and the peasant, the lord and the loon.
3. A boor, lout, clown; an untaught, ill-bred person.
1619Bk. Demeanor 12 in Babees Bk., With manlike cheere, Not like a rustic lowne. 1784Unfortunate Sensibility I. 133, I contrasted him with the ill-bred loons who had addressed my mother in my behalf. 1790Burns Ep. R. Graham 11 [He] Came shaking hands wi' wabster lowns. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. i. iii, Now get thee hence, thou grey-beard Loon. 1828Scott F.M. Perth vii, Go to your Provost, you lorrel loons. 1872Blackie Lays Highl. 49 A titled loon of high degree.
4. A fellow, man, ‘chap’.
a1550Christis Kirke Gr. xii, The wyves..fand lyfe in the loune. 1728Starrat To Ramsay 15 in R.'s Poems, And learn'd the Latin lowns sic springs to play As gars the world gang dancing to this day. 1901Scotsman 28 Feb. 8/3 Wherever Moray loons may gather.
5. A boy, lad, youth.
c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 107 For thair wes nowdir lad not loun Mycht eit ane baikin loche For fowness. 1659–60Pepys Diary 11 Jan., I..went in to see Crowly who was now grown a very great loon and very tame. 1791Boswell Johnson 17 Sept. an. 1773, The usual figure of a Sky-boy is a lown with bare legs and feet. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 75 Urging each lown to leave his sports in fear. 1891‘H. Haliburton’ Ochil Idylls 127 As when ye roamed, a hardy loon, Upon the banks o' May. 1893Crockett Stickit Minister (1894) 202 The family..consisted of three loons and a lassie.
▪ II. loon, n.2|luːn|
[App. an alteration of loom n.2 q.v., perh. by assimilation to prec. n.]
A name for certain aquatic birds.
1. a. Any bird of the genus Colymbus, esp. the Great Northern Diver (C. glacialis), remarkable for its loud cry.
1634W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) 34 The Loone is an ill shap'd thing like a Cormorant. 1672J. Josselyn New Eng. Rarities 12 The Loone is a Water Fowl, alike in shape to the Wobble. 1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. 341 Greatest speckled-Diver, or Loon. 1759B. Stillingfl. tr. Biberg's Econ. Nature Misc. Tracts (1762) 90 The diver or loon..lays also two eggs. 1766Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 414 On the Thames they [the grey speckled divers] are called Sprat loons, for they attend that fish during its continuance in the river. 1831A. Wilson & Bonaparte's Amer. Ornith. III. 255 Colymbus glacialis..Great Northern Diver, or Loon. 1839Marryat Diary Amer. Ser. i. I. 187 Listening to the whistling of the solitary loon. 1860All Year Round No. 75. 586 The loons hallooed and laughed at our approach. 1880M. Fitzgibbon Trip to Manitoba ix. 101 The weird cry of the loon diving.
b. In phrases with loon's (see quots.). Also freq. as crazy as a loon (in reference to its actions in escaping from danger and its wild cry) and varr.; so, as drunk as a loon; to hunt the loon (see quot. 1880).
1830Kentucky Intelligencer (Flemingsburg) 29 May 4 Patton informed me that McLaughlin had just gone from Elizabethville, and was ‘drunk as a loon’. 1834C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing 42, I saw thru' it in a minute, and made it all as strait as a loon's leg. 1834S. Smith Sel. Lett. J. Downing 110 He begun to sing out like a loon for us to come and take him. 1840C. F. Hoffman Greyslaer I. i. xi. 129 After tramposing for twenty-four hours on a stretch, with not even a loon's nap at the end of it. 1845C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings 83 Why, you're both as crazy as loons! 1865‘Mark Twain’ in Harte & ‘Twain’ Sk. Sixties (1926) 163 Our reserve..came filing down the street as drunk as loons. 1880Harper's Mag. Dec. 31 Miss Lois had been hunting the loon with a hand-net—a Northern way of phrasing the wearing of the willow. 1931W. Faulkner Sanctuary vi. 57 You're as crazy as a loon. 1934J. T. Farrell Young Manhood xxiv. 398 Jesus, I'm drunk as a loon. I'm drunk, Kelly. Drunk. 1951Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xv. 66 Crazy as a loon.
c. transf. A crazy person; a simpleton.
Perhaps influenced by loony a. and n.
1885‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet Gt. Smoky Mts. xii. 230 But ye air a smart man ter that loon, fur..he dunno he air a loon. 1918C. Sandburg Cornhuskers 99, I am a loon about the sea. 1945Coast to Coast 1944 72 There we were, bottled up in camp because the loon in charge couldn't get the order signed for the trucks to leave.
2. a. The Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus). b. The Little Grebe or Dabchick (P. fluviatilis or minor).
1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. 339 The greater Loon or Arsfoot. Ibid. 340 The Didapper, or Dipper, or Dobchick, or small Doucker, Loon, or Arsfoot. 1766Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 395, 398. 1828 Fleming Hist. Brit. Anim. 131 P[odiceps] cristatus,..Greater Loon. Ibid. 132 P. minor,..Small Loon. 1880Times 28 Sept. 4/4 Loon is a name for a small bird of the grebe tribe, and much better known as the dabchick.
3. An early type of guided missile developed by the U.S. Navy.
1947Newsweek 17 Mar. 64/2 The Navy also displayed a ‘bat bomb’ and a ‘loon’, two hitherto secret radio-controlled missiles. 1951Coggins & Pratt Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles & Space Ships iii. [28/1] Later the [U.S.] Navy built its own improved version of the V-1, called the ‘Loon’. It can be launched from a submarine far at sea in a surprise attack against a harbor or convoy. 1952Jane's Fighting Ships 1952–53 410/1 ‘Loon’ missile is contained in a watertight steel hangar and takes off from a ramp fixed to the submarine's deck.
4. attrib., as loon-skin.
1807P. Gass Jrnl. 166 Some have robes made of muskrat skins..and I saw some of loon-skins.
Hence ˈlooning nonce-wd., the cry of the loon.
1857Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 307 This of the loon—I do not mean its laugh, but its looning,—is a long-drawn call, as it were, sometimes singularly human to my ear.
▪ III. loon, n.3 dial. (Cheshire).|luːn|
Also 7 lound, loone, 9 (? erron.) loom.
[? Corruption of lond land n.1]
= land n.1 7.
1611Will (Cheshire) in 31st Rep. Comm. Inq. Charities (1837) 361 Two butts of ground containing one lound. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 136/2 Butt is half the quantity of a Loon. 1688[see land n.1 7]. 1844Palin in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 62 A large portion of the flat clay-land has been formed, ages ago, into butts or loons, varying in width from 15 to 50 feet. 1855Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 724/2 Looms, (Chesh.), are wide lands, wider than butts.
▪ IV. loon, n.4 colloq.|luːn|
[f. the vb.]
pl. A style of close-fitting casual trousers widely flared from the knees to the ankles. Also (in sing.) attrib., as loon pants, loon trousers.
1971Melody Maker 13 Nov. 50 (Advt.), New velvet and cord loon pants with 28{pp} flare... New cotton drill loons and military trousers. 1972Guardian 15 Aug. 17/3 As dead as tucked up loon pants. 1974‘D. Craig’ Whose Little Girl are You? v. 94 They had bloody long-hairs in the police now and kids in loon trousers. 1974D. Winsor Death Convention xii. 98, I wriggled into a pair of brown velvet loons, dropped a cream lace tunic over them.
▪ V. loon, v.|luːn|
[Etym. unknown.]
intr. Esp. of young people: to spend one's leisure time in a pleasurable way, e.g. by dancing to popular music; to lie about or wander about. So ˈlooner, one who loons; ˈlooning vbl. n. Cf. loon n.4
1966Melody Maker 30 July 8/6 The younger members of the MM staff spend a lot of time doing something called ‘looning’. To judge by their general condition the next morning I gather this is what used to be known as ‘raving’. 1969It 4–17 July 12/2 It's sort of music essentially to loon about to. 1969Daily Tel. 14 July 11 (heading) Long enough to loon in. Ibid., A fashion designer..has just completed his first collection of clothes aimed purely for after work. He calls them ‘looning’ clothes. 1969Melody Maker 13 Sept. 12/4 In the company of looners like Eric Burdon and Brian Auger, Zoot was the king looner. Zoot became a much beloved symbol of good fun and good time music. 1971It 2–16 June 21/3 Children and the younger adults alike looning about in wonderful costumes.
▪ VI. loon(e
obs. form of loan. |