| 释义 |
ˈnight-crow Now arch.
[f. night n. + crow n.1]
A bird supposed to croak or cry in the night and to be of evil omen; prob. an owl or nightjar. Cf. night-raven.
c1340Nominale (Skeat) 794 Nytcrowe [F. fresoie] and watirfynch. 1382Wyclif Lev. xi. 16 An ostriche, and a nyȝt crowe [L. noctua], and a coote. c1440Promp. Parv. 356/1 Nyghte crowe, nict(ic)orax. 1508Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 152 The nyght crowe or the oule. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb). 52 On the nighte time..nyghte crowes and poulcattes,..with all other vermine, and noysome beastes vse mooste styrringe. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. vi. 45 The Owle shriek'd.., The Night-Crow cry'de, aboding lucklesse time. 1614Scourge Venns (1876) 30 These goblins, lich-fouls, Owls, and night-crows to At murthers raile. 1631P. Fletcher Piscatory Eclog. i, No shrieking owl, no night-crow lodgeth here. 1825Scott Talism. v, A voice..resembling that of the night-crow more than any sound which is heard by daylight.
b. transf. Applied abusively to persons.
1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 174 I neede not admonish thee to smell out the blinde practises of these night crowes. c1613Rowlands Fours Knaves (Percy Soc.) 88 Such night-crowes and owles, That lurke in bushes,..And cowardly upon a man will set. 1658J. Jones Ovid's Ibis 27 The just judgment of God upon an unmerciful father provoked by the false suggestions of a femal night-crow. |