| 释义 |
▪ I. nugget, n.|ˈnʌgɪt|
[App. a derivative of south-western dial. nug, a lump, a block, a rough unshapen mass, etc.]
1. a. A rough lump of native gold. Also transf.
1852Mundy Antipodes III. 322 Gold was not so plentiful as was anticipated,..nor were nuggets to be dug up..by the bushel. 1853Ann. Reg., Chron. 86 Crawcour came on board, and asked me for the nuggets of gold. 1871Carlyle in Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 162 Californian nuggets versus jewels of Heaven itself. 1880Sutherland Tales Goldfields 86 When the nugget had been deposited on the floor of the banker's room, it was weighed.
transf.a1859T. De Quincey Coll. Writings (1889) I. 412 The secret truth, that rarest of all ‘nuggets’. 1859Jephson Brittany xx. 344 Here and there a nugget of true poetry glitters among the clay. 1870Lowell Study Wind. 209 His quotations are always nuggets of the purest ore.
b. attrib. and Comb., as nugget-fashion; nugget-hunter, nugget-hunting, nugget-testing.
1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 30 You dig him out as he lies nugget-fashion in the mountain stream. 1880Sutherland Tales Goldfields 80 That [occupation] which gold miners call nugget-hunting... To the nugget-hunter [etc.]. 1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Romance 9 Those fingers of yours are too sticky for nugget-testing in the dark.
2. A lump of anything.
1860Tennent Story Guns (1864) 244 Cast iron was found to crumble into harmless nuggets. 1891Pearce Esther Pentreath iv. i, Casy.., taking out the nugget of cake, held it timidly out to his rivals.
3. A small, compact, stocky animal or person; also, a runt. Austral.
1852Mundy Antipodes III. 322 The word nugget among farmers, signifies a small compact beast or runt. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms 14 We branded the little red heifer calf first—a fine fat six-months-old nugget. 1919W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 36 Nugget, a short soldier. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 50 Nugget, a small, weedy horse or other animal. (2) A small stocky man.
Sense 1 b in Dict. becomes 1 c. Add: [1.] b. Any of a series of four Australian gold bullion coins weighing from 1/10 oz. to 1 oz. introduced in 1986. Also Australian nugget.
1986Times 7 June 7/8 The Perth Mint is to produce gold coins, the Australian Nuggets, to compete with the Krugerrand and Canada's Maple Leaf. Ibid. 23 Aug. 23/3 No details are available as to which financial institutions are to sell us our nuggets. 1988Financial Times 29 Apr. 34/4 More than 871,000 Australian Nugget gold bullion coins worth A $271.5m (about US $202 m)..were sold in the year after they were launched. 1991Highlife (Brit. Airways) May 26/1 Try telling that..to collectors of modern bullion coins who delight in totting up the gold value in their Canadian Maples, US Eagles, Australian Nuggets, [etc.].
▪ II. ˈnugget, v. Austral.
[f. prec.]
trans. To appropriate (an unbranded calf).
1885Mrs. C. Praed Head Station 239 Nobody would go there except after calves to nugget. 1893― Outlaw & Lawmaker II. 19 In the days of their nefarious practices, [they] probably ‘nuggeted’ a good many..calves up here. |