| 释义 |
messmate|ˈmɛsmeɪt|
[f. mess n. + mate n.]
1. A companion at meals; one of a mess, esp. of a ship's mess.
1746Brit. Mag. 346, I..had him for a Mess-mate. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 10 June, At two in the afternoon, I found myself one of ten messmates seated at table. 1835Marryat Jac. Faithf. x, He was..a good, quiet, honest messmate, as ever slung a hammock.
Proverbial.1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk s.v., Messmate before a shipmate, shipmate before a stranger [etc.].
2. Biol. = commensal B. 2.
1876Beneden's Anim. Parasites i. 1 Animal messmates. Ibid. 3 There are some free messmates which never renounce their independence... The others, the fixed messmates, instal themselves with a neighbour, and live at their ease. Ibid. 48 We only know one Ophiurus which lives as a messmate on a comatula. 1879[see commensal B. 2].
3. Austral. A name given to some species of Eucalyptus; esp. E. amygdalina and E. obliqua.
1889J. H. Maiden Usef. Plants 429 Because it is allied to, or associated with, ‘Stringybark’, it [Eucalyptus amygdalina] is also known by the name of ‘Messmate’. 1890Melbourne Argus 7 June 13/4 Dead messmates and white gums rise like gaunt skeletons from..the underwood.
Hence ˈmessmatism Biol. = commensalism.
1886Lond. Q. Rev. July 246 Marine Messmatism. One of the most interesting features of life in the waters is that which has been called ‘Commensalism’, or, if we may adopt a newly coined word, ‘Messmatism’. |