| 释义 |
reptilian, a. (and n.)|rɛpˈtɪlɪən|
[See prec. and -an.]
1. Resembling a reptile; having the characteristics of the Reptilia.
1846Worcester cites Silliman. 1863Dana Man. Geol. p. ix, The..reptilian Bird of Solenhofen. 1865Englishman's Mag. Nov. 388 It was then that the ocean swarmed with reptiles and reptilian fish. 1881Lubbock in Nature No. 618. 403 The profound break once supposed to exist between birds and reptiles has been bridged over by the discovery of reptilian birds and bird-like reptiles.
b. Consisting or composed of reptiles.
1851Richardson Geol. viii. (1855) 294 The Sauria..may be regarded as the true type of the Reptilian Class. 1876Goode Fishes Bermudas 61 note, These, with a small Saurian,..make up the reptilian fauna of the Bermudas.
c. n. A member of the class Reptilia.
1847Webster cites Lyell.
2. Of or pertaining to, characteristic of, a reptile or the Reptilia.
1849H. Miller Footpr. Creat. iv. (1874) 60 It might be regarded, found detached, as at least a reptilian, if not mammalian, bone. 1860Gillmore tr. Figuier's Rept. & Birds Introd. 3 Exhibiting..closer approximation to the reptilian structure than any existing bird. 1893Newton Dict. Birds i. 16 The presence of the Ambiens Muscle is a Reptilian feature.
3. transf. Mean, malignant, underhand.
1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede xii, He had an agreeable confidence that his faults were all..impetuous,..leonine; never crawling, crafty, reptilian. 1888Pall Mall G. 5 Nov. 4/2 His dead father is fair game for Reptilian slanderers. |