| 释义 |
ˈmill-horse
[f. mill n.1 + horse n.]
a. A horse used for turning or working a mill.
1552Huloet, Myll horse, molarius equus. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. II. 17/1 As if a man would reason thus: Before saint Patrike his time there was no horssemill in Ireland: Ergo before his time there was no milhorsse. a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 197 His Impresa was, a mill-horse still bound to goe in one circle. 1650B. Discolliminium 19 Hob, my blind Mil-horse. 1781C. Johnston Hist. J. Juniper II. 219, I was obliged to drudge on like a blinded mill-horse.
b. transf. and fig.
1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 47 And so by consequent all runne Hysteron Protheron, a milne horse, a King Pope, a Curch Spaniard. 1673Dryden Amboyna ii. i, You are the mill-horses of mankind. 1890Spectator 21 June, Will the work of intellectual mill-horses suit the..more sensitive natures of women?
c. attrib.
1859Mill On Liberty v. 203 The official body are under the constant temptation of sinking into indolent routine, or, if they now and then desert that mill-horse round, of rushing into some half-examined crudity which has struck the fancy of some leading member of the corps. 1881Ruskin in Lett. Art & Lit. (1894) 65 It cost Turner forty years of mill-horse toil. 1903Contemp. Rev. Oct. 514 Her mill-horse round of vain repetitions. |