| 释义 |
ˈnightman
[f. night n. + man n. Cf. Da. natmand, † nattemand (1647).]
1. A man employed during the night to empty cesspools, etc., and to convey away the night-soil. Also transf.
1606Dekker News fr. Hell Wks. (Grosart) II. 121 More stinkingly musty..then the fists of night-men. 1665Orders of Ld. Mayor in De Foe Journ. Plague (Rtldg.) 64 That no Nightman..be suffered to empty a Vault into any Garden. 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. (1709) 34 A Milch-Ass, to be sold at the Night-Man's in White-chapel. 1763C. Johnston Reverie II. 246 ‘We shall all want..our vaults emptied’,—said the night-man. 1813Moore Post Bag iv. 291 Who now will be The Nightman of No-Popery? 1828P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 104 An odour to which that of a nightman's museum of foul abominations is myrrh and frankincense. 1869Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 109 Nightmen, and the collectors and sorters of dust.
2. A man who does work during the night, or on a night-shift. (Usu. as two words.) Also, one who works illegally at night; a burglar.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick III. xlix. 293 The solitary night-man at the fore-mast-head. 1885Harper's Mag. May 870/2 There is a day and a night man to each lock. 1887Pall Mall G. 19 Feb. 8/2 The night men usually descend between half-past six and seven. 1928Amer. Mercury May 78/1 Rowdy-dowdy..was borrowed from the more aristocratic night-men, who use it in this manner: ‘Charge on a town, make as many clouts on the kiester (safe) as necessary, and then battle the irate citizens in a rowdy-dowdy get-a-way.’ 1957M. Banton W. Afr. City v. 87 The people hated any type of investigator because so many of them were ‘night men’ (i.e. made an illegal living after dark). 1960Times 29 Sept. 7/1 A company taxi is usually driven by both a day-man and a night-man. |