| 释义 |
mongoose, mungoose|ˈmɒŋguːs, ˈmʌŋguːs|
Forms: 8 mongoes, -goos, mungos, 8–9 mungoos, mongooz, -goz, 9 mongous, mungoose, (pl. ? erron. mungoes), 7– mongoose; β. 8–9 mangoust, (-oost).
[a. (? through Pg. mangus) Marathi mangūs (Telugu mangisu, Konkani mungasa, Canarese mungisi). The β-forms are from F. mangouste.]
1. An ichneumon, Herpestes griseus, common in India, and well known for its ability to kill venomous snakes unharmed. Also applied to other ichneumons (subfamily Herpestinæ); in the form Mungos the word has been used in zoological Latin as the name of a genus (now Crossarchus) of this subfamily. The proper plural form is mongooses, but mongoose, mongeese, and other variants are occasionally used.
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 116 A Mongoose is a-kin to a Ferret. 1764Grainger Sugar Cane ii. 95 note, A species of East India animal, called a Mongoes, which bears a natural antipathy to rats. 1800Asiat. Ann. Reg., Misc. Tracts 3/2 The viverra ichneumon, which, by the Europeans, is called mongoos. 1827D. Johnson Ind. Field Sports 204 A cat withstood the poison better than any other animal, excepting the Mungoose (Ichneumon). 1859Bowring Vis. Philippine Isl. xvi. 274 Oxen, swine, buffaloes, deer, goats..flying squirrels, dogs, rats, mungoes and other quadrupeds, are found in various stages of domesiticity and wildness. 1881Encycl. Brit. XII. 629/1 The Indian ichneumon or mungoos..is considerably smaller than the Egyptian form. 1893–4Roy. Nat. Hist. I. 474 The thick-tailed mungoose (Cynictis penicillata)..inhabits the Cape Colony, and is of medium size. 1894Kipling Jungle Bk. 124 It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose. 1896R. Lydekker Hand-bk. Carnivora 244 (heading) The mungooses. Genus Herpestes. 1927L. Gask All about Animals 158 Mongooses..are well known in Africa and in the warmer parts of Asia. 1927G. Jennison Nat. Hist.: Animals 82 Mongoose saved the West Indian sugar plantations from total destruction by rats. 1960G. Durrell Zoo in my Luggage 109 Young pigmy mongooses flatly refuse to feed from bottle or from fountain pen filler. 1971F. Collymore in J. Figueroa Caribbean Voices I. 81 The mongoose..is a troublesome sort of creature... For nobody seems to know with any degree of certainty which to choose of his plural forms—mongooses, mongeese, mongoose or mongooze.
β1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. II. 304 The Weasil kind..comprehends..the Ferrit, the Mangoust [etc.]. 1785G. Forster tr. Sparrman's Voy. Cape G.H. (1786) II. 246 The viverra ichneumon, or the mangoust. 1840tr. Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 93 The Urva of Mr. Hodgson appears also to be a Mangouste, with incomplete orbits.
2. A species of lemur or maki, Lemur mongoz.[Possibly a distinct word; but no source has been found for it in Malagasy or any other language of the Indian Ocean, and it may be a transferred use of the name of the ichneumon.] 1758Edwards Glean. Nat. Hist. I. 12 The Mongooz. [The Fr. version, in parallel columns, has Le Mongous.] These animals are brought from Madagascar, and many of the smaller islands between that and the East Indies; they seem to be one remove from the direct Monkey. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. IV. 240 A second of this kind [sc. the Maki], which is also a native of Madagascar, is the Mongooz. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) IX. 785/2 The mongooz, or woolly maucauco, inhabits Madagascar. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 60 L. mongoz... The Mongooz... The Mongous pass a considerable portion of the day in sleep. 1839Penny Cycl. XV. 331/2 Mongoose, or Mongooz, one of the names of a species of Macauco, Lemur Mongoz, Linn. 1868Museum Nat. Hist. I. 43 The Mongous (Lemur Mongoz)..is a little larger than the ring-tailed lemur. |