| 释义 |
Noah's Ark
[See Genesis vi. 14, etc.]
1. a. The ark in which Noah and his family, with many animals, were saved from the Flood.
1611Florio, Noale, any place, roome, or thing that containeth varietie of things, as Noes Arke did. 1688Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 27/1 Some blazon it Noahs Arke sable. 1725Watts Logic (1736) 321 All Animals were in Noah's Ark. 1777Sheridan Trip Scarb. iii. iii, The seat of our family looks like Noah's ark.
b. A small imitation of this, intended as a plaything for children.
1846Dickens Cricket on Hearth ii, Noah's Arks, in which Birds and Beasts were an uncommonly tight fit. 1883Ruskin Art Eng. 9 A Noah's Ark from the nearest toy-shop.
2. Something suggestive of the Ark in respect of size, shape, etc., esp. a large, cumbrous, or old-fashioned trunk or vehicle.
1829Marryat F. Mildmay iv, I and my Noah's ark [= sea-chest] lay slap in the way. 1835― Olla Podr. iii, There was the pouring out of the Noah's Ark. 1880M. E. Braddon Just as I am xxxiv, The barouche will hold us all. It is a regular Noah's Ark. 1884Harper's Mag. Feb. 339/2 You hire a sort of floating Noah's ark, and live in it.
3. A small bivalve mollusc (Arca Noæ).
1713Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amb. 2/1 Chama Noachina, Noahs Ark. 1753Chambers Cycl. Suppl. s.v., Another shell of this genus which..resembles the Noah's ark,..is the oblong bucardium or ox heart shell, commonly called the bastard Noah's ark. 1823in Crabb Technol. Dict. 1854A. Catlow Conchol. (ed. 2) 279 The Arca Noæ or Noah's Ark and several other species like it in form and character. 1871Kingsley At Last i, Delicate prickly Pinnæ; ‘Noah's arks’ in abundance.
attrib.1753Chambers Cycl. Suppl., Noah's ark shell,..the name of a kind of sea shell [etc.]. 1882Standard 26 Sept. 2/2 A near ally of the mussel, the Mediterranean Noah's Ark shell.
4. A cloud-formation having some resemblance to the outline of a ship's hull.
1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 145 Small black fragments of clouds like smoke, flying underneath, which some call messengers, and other Noah's Ark. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 27 As oft from ‘Noah's Ark’ great floods descend. 1866Blackmore Cradock Nowell xxxi, Daubed with lumps of vapour which mariners call ‘Noah's arks’. 1889Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 279 Halos, ‘Noah's Arks’ and unusual clearness of sky are all good signs of rain.
5. U.S. An orchid of the genus Cypripedium, esp. the pink C. acaule and the yellow C. calceolus var. pubescens.
1826W. Darlington Florula Cestrica 95 C[ypripedium] pubescens... Noah's Ark. Yellow Mocasin [sic] flower. 1898C. A. Creevey Flowers of Field 296 Stemless Lady's Slipper. Noah's Ark. Moccasin-flower. Cypripedium acaule. 1949E. L. Palmer Fieldbk. Nat. Hist. 148/2 It bears a number of common names such as Noah's ark, squirrel's shoes, camel's foot, nerveroot, old goose, Indian moccasin, and two lips.
6. Rhyming slang.
a. A police informer.
b. Austral. A shark. (See also quots. 1941, 1960.)
1898Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Dec. (Red Page), An informer or mar-plot is a nark or a Jonah or a Noah's Ark. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 49 A Noah's ark, a dull, witless fellow. A rhyme on ‘nark’. 1941‘V. Davis’ Phenomena in Crime xix. 254 A stoolie, Noah's Ark, a grasshopper, a nark or informer. 1952Chambers's Shorter Eng. Dict. 800/1 Noah's ark (slang), a shark. 1960J. Franklyn Dict. Rhyming Slang 101/1 Noah's ark, (1) nark (an informer), (2) park. (1) has been in use in England since the first decade of the 20 C. It is also used in the form of a Spoonerism 'oah's Nark, the first word having the inference, ‘whore's’ and when thus inverted it is the supreme expression of contempt.
7. (See quot. 1968.)
1945Archit. Rev. XCVII. 59/3 In the 1920's an import from Germany, simpler in erection, faster and thus more thrilling, threatened the supremacy of the switch⁓back... This new machine—the Noah's Ark..had decorative features which continued the tradition of coarse splendour. 1965Observer (Colour Suppl.) 29 Aug. 10/2 The showmen are setting up their stalls and heavy riding machines: Dodgems, Noah's Arks, Waltzers, Shows, and Hurricane Jets. 1968D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. 153/2 The term ‘Noah's Ark’ referred to a circular ride having an undulating track..and a variety of fixed animals carried on segmental platforms, all contained within a static enclosure.
Also Noah's Dove, a constellation in the Southern hemisphere.
1594Blundevil Exerc. iv. xix. (1636) 473 Other Images towards the South Pole, as the Crosse or Crosier, the South Triangle, Noahs Dove or Pigeon. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 33 The Antartique constellations, some of which we took special notice of towards the Pole;..Noah's Dove, Polophylax. |