| 释义 |
magpie|ˈmægpaɪ|
Also 7 magge pye, megpye.
[f. Mag n.2 + pie1. Cf. maggot-pie, maw-pie.]
1. a. A common European bird, Pica caudata, of the family Corvidæ, having a long pointed tail and black-and-white plumage. It is well known for its noisy chatter, and is often taught to speak; its habits of pilfering and hoarding are proverbial, and it is popularly regarded as a bird of ill omen.
1605S. Rowley When You See Me C 3 As merie as a magge pie. 1634Peacham Gentl. Exerc. ii. i. 108 Dissimulation. A Lady wearing a vizard of two faces,..in her right hand a magpye. 1647R. Stapylton Juvenal 62 The nine daughters of Pierus..were for that saucy ambition transformed into meg-pyes. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. 333 The Loquacity of the Magpie. 1720Gay Poems (1745) I. 70 No magpie chatter'd, nor the painted Jay. 1751in Hone Every-day Bk. II. 1457 No horseshoe nor magpye shall baffle our skill. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 159 And magpies that chattered, no omen so black. 1855Tennyson To F. D. Maurice 19 And only hear the Magpie gossip Garrulous under a roof of pine. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. viii. (1873) 209 The magpie, so wary in England, is tame in Norway.
b. Austral. Applied to the black-and-white Crow-shrike (Gymnorrhina); also, in Tasmania, to the genus Strepera.
1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xviii. II. 4 A magpie was chanting his noble vesper hymn from a lofty tree. Ibid. xxxiii. II. 314 note, Magpie, a large, pied crow. Of all the birds I have ever seen, the cleverest, the most grotesque, and the most musical. 1886T. Heney Fortunate Days 47 The magpie swells from knoll or silent brake His loud sweet tune. 1898Morris Austral Eng. 277.
2. transf. An idle or impertinent chatterer.
1632Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry iv. i, I haue waited, sir, Three houres to speake w'ee, and not take it well, Such magpies, are admitted, whilst I daunce Attendance. 1791Burke Let. to Chev. de Rivarol (1844) III. 211 He will not care what..the whole flight of the magpies and jays of philosophy, may fancy and chatter. 1838Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 189 The Moonshee..is not the little talkative magpie who told me about the language of the planets. 1895Scully Kafir Stories 132 He was so fond of talking that his comrades nicknamed him ‘magpie’.
3.
†a. A derisive term for an Anglican bishop, from the black chimere and white rochet forming his ordinary ceremonial attire (obs.).
b. In recent use, a jocular name for the episcopal costume consisting of these vestments.
[c1645Howell Lett. Verses to Rdr., Prelats, like mag⁓pies, in the Ayr had flown. 1663Killigrew Parsons Wedd. iii. v. 114 Have you not heard of the Scriveners Wife that..was deliver'd of a Mag-Pie;..the Mid-wife cri'd out, 'twas born a Bishop, with Tippet and white-sleeves] a1704T. Brown Wks. (1730) I. 107 Root out of them all Anti-Christian Tyranny of most abominable Bishops; let not those Silk-worms and Magpies have dominion over us. a1904Mod. Did he wear a cope, or only his magpie? 1917G. W. E. Russell Politics & Personalities iv. ix. 357 The most hideous of all known costumes—the episcopal ‘Magpie’—costs {pstlg}100. Ibid. 360 Carrying with his own apostolic hands the sacred appliances of Mitre or Magpie. 1920P. Dearmer Ornaments of Ministers (new ed.) plate 29 (caption) The..figures of the two bishops well illustrate the ‘magpie’ dress. 1923Brewer's Dict. Phr. & Fable (new ed.) 700/2 Formerly bishops were humorously or derisively called magpies because of their black and white vestments.
4. A kind of potato.
1794Billingsley Agric. Somerset (1797) 116 The sorts [of potatoes] cultivated are the kidney,..magpie, rough red [etc.]. 1829Jrnl. of Naturalist 31 Our chief sorts [of potato] are pink eyes,.. magpies, and china oranges.
5. A name given to a particular variety of the domestic pigeon.
1868Tegetmeier Pigeons xxi. 174 Magpies are another variety of German Toys that are well known in England. 1895Times 16 Jan. 11/6 For the rest, the Magpies, black, red, yellow, and blue..deserve to be mentioned. 1898Daily News 5 Jan. 2 Mr. F. Warner has some excellent magpies.
6. slang. A halfpenny. (Cf. mag n.3)
1838Dickens O. Twist viii, I'm at low-water-mark my self—only one bob and a magpie.
7. Mil. slang. A shot from a rifle which strikes the outermost division but one of a target, and is signalled by a black and white flag.
1884Times 23 July 8/1 After running through the scoring gamut with an outer, a magpie, and a miss. 1894Ibid. 14 July 10/1 He followed his first two bull's eyes with two more, then came a magpie.
8. a. attrib. and Comb., as magpie-like, magpie-minded adjs.: magpie diver, (a) the Golden-eye Duck, Clangula glaucion; (b) the Smew, Merganser albellus; magpie finch, a bird of the genus Spermestes; magpie goose (see quot.); magpie lark, a small Australian bird, Grallina picata; magpie-maki, a species of lemur, Lemur macaco (Cent. Dict.); magpie moth, a white moth, patched with black and some yellow spots, Abraxas grossulariata; magpie perch (see quot.); magpie robin = dial-bird; magpie shrike, a South American bird, Cissopis leverianus.
1796Nemnich Polygl. Lex. Nat. Hist. v. 820 *Magpie diver, the smew. 1882Payne-Gallwey Fowler in Irel. 107 Another local name [of the Goldeneye] is the ‘Magpie Diver’, a very descriptive one by reason of the black and white plumage of the adult male.
1869–73T. R. Jones Cassell's Bk. of Birds I. 158 The *Magpie Finch is an inhabitant of the countries in the vicinity of the river Gambia.
1898Morris Austral Eng. 278 *Magpie-Goose, a common name for the Australian Goose, Anseranus melanoleuca.
1888Cassell's Pict. Australasia II. 235 The little *magpie-lark.
1805T. Harrol Scenes of Life III. 104 What was before black had now assumed a *magpie-like appearance.
1955G. A. N. Lowndes Brit. Educ. Syst. iii. 49 Satisfying his curiosity..with unrelated snippets of knowledge which may lead to his becoming *magpie-minded.
1796Nemnich Polygl. Lex. Nat. Hist. v. 820 The large *Magpie moth, Phal. grossulariata. The small Magpie moth, Phal. urticata. 1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 252 Magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata). 1890E. A. Ormerod Injur. Insects (ed. 2) 310 The caterpillars of the Magpie Moth sometimes do a great deal of mischief.
1898Morris Austral Eng. 278 *Magpie-Perch, a West Australian, Victorian, and Tasmanian fish, Chilodactylus gibbosus.
1839Jerdon in Madras Jrnl. X. 263 Dial bird... Large or *Magpie Robin.
1781Latham Gen. Syn. Birds I. 192 *Magpie Shrike. Size of a Song⁓thrush: length ten inches.
b. attrib. and quasi-adj.: with allusion to the acquisitiveness, curiosity, etc., of the magpie.
1808M. Wilmot Russ. Jrnls. (1934) iii. 371 He deplores..the Magpye mingle of foreign expressions with the language of the Country. 1901G. B. Shaw Caesar & Cleopatra ii. 114 He maintains an air of magpie keenness and profundity. 1936P. Fleming News from Tartary iii. ii. 116 All our actions..were closely scrutinized..by the Chinese with ill-concealed amusement and a magpie curiosity. 1940Proc. Prehist. Soc. VI. 120 Beaker people..showed a magpie acquisitiveness for other people's chattels. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove ii. 32 Where does she get this magpie streak from?.. But Mother hoarded, didn't she? 1962G. K. Hunter John Lyly iv. 162 A variety of elements which would appeal to the magpie taste for classical motifs. 1974‘J. Le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor xv. 125 That whole magpie collection of tattered hotel junk.
c. Used attrib. of something with black and white colouring.
1885Kipling Phantom 'Rickshaw (1889) 9 My eye was arrested by the sight of four jhampanies in ‘magpie’ livery... Was it not enough that the woman was dead.., without her black and white servitors re-appearing? 1923Daily Mail 28 Mar. 11 Magpie Millinery. Black and white millinery is popular at all seasons. 1932Daily Tel. 25 Apr. 4/5 Black and white is to continue its long reign this summer. Charming examples of this smart, practical ‘magpie’ fashion will be found at most inexpensive prices. Ibid. (Advt.), Ermine that imparts the fashionable magpie effect. 1942H. J. Massingham Field Fellowship ii. 58 Moreton Old Hall in Cheshire is the conventional example of the magpie style. Ibid., We find the wood-workmanship of the Avon Valley carried to the utmost pitch of elaboration and complexity... This is the country of the ‘magpie’ timber-framing. 1971J. S. Gunn Opal Terminol. 26 Magpie, black and white patch formed together.
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈmagpied ppl. a., made like a magpie; ˈmagpieish a., magpie-like.
1845E. Warburton Crescent & Cross I. 64 Black slaves, magpied with white napkins round their head and loins. 1880Daily News 9 Aug. 2/2 Money, which..had been abstracted and disposed of in a magpieish spirit of mischief.
Add:[2.] b. One who collects or hoards (objects, information, etc.), esp. indiscriminately; an acquisitive or eclectic person; also, a petty pilferer. Cf. sense 8 b.
1903Eng. Dial. Dict. IV. 8/2 Magpie,..in Birmingham the word is used of collectors. ‘What a magpie he is’, he is enthusiastic in adding to his collection. 1944J. H. Fullarton Troop Target iv. 34 You bloody magpie, what have you done with my tobacco? 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes ii. i. 236 That must be a mot she's picked up second-hand, Gerald thought, she's a cultural magpie. 1963Daily Tel. 24 Dec. 6/2 Some cherished beliefs about trading stamp collectors take a rude knock from a survey published in Sales Director. Apparently the keenest magpie is the London male. 1985L. Blue Kitchen Blues 79 There is a magpie in all of us, and..there is enough tucked away in our cupboards to supply church bazaars, tombolas and countless bring-and-buys. 1990Newsweek 16 July 61/2 Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin is a clever magpie: he's raided every genre to create this seductive, funny hybrid. |