| 释义 |
panda|ˈpændə|
[Said to be one of the names in Nepal.]
1. A racoon-like animal (ælurus fulgens) of the south-eastern Himalayas, about the size of a large cat, having reddish-brown fur and a long bushy ring-marked tail; the red bear-cat.
[1824F. Cuvier Hist. des Mammifères livrais. 50 Panda.] 1835Swainson Nat. Hist. Quadrupeds 107 The panda..has been discovered only of late years, in the mountains of India. It has been termed the most beautiful of all known quadrupeds. 1861J. G. Wood Nat. Hist. I. 420 This beautiful creature is a native of Nepal, where it is known under the different names of Panda, Chitwa, and Wah. 1901C. J. Cornish Living Anim. 126 The bear Cat or Panda.
2. a. A large, black and white, bear-like mammal, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, native to limited, mountainous areas of forest in China, where the first scientific description of it was made by the French missionary, Armand David (1826–1900), in 1869; formerly known as the parti-coloured bear, until its zoological relationship to the red panda was established in 1901.
1901E. R. Lankester in Trans. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) VIII. 165 æluropus must be removed from association with the Bears..and is no longer to be spoken of as ‘the Parti-coloured Bear’, but as ‘the Great Panda’. 1928Proc. Zool. Soc. 975 The systematic position of the Giant Panda..is a question about which there has been much disagreement amongst zoologists. 1933Discovery Mar. 91/1 In outward appearance there is considerable difference between these two animals, the giant panda..being very bear-like, while the little panda is about the size and somewhat the shape of a cat. 1939Daily Mail 12 Apr. 8/4 This sickly sentimental panda plague has infected far more people than can ever hope to eye it in the flesh... Would-be fashionable young women are carrying panda mascots. 1940N. Mitford Pigeon Pie ix. 140 Ming, the panda, would soon eat no food until one of them was played to her. 1943Jrnl. Mammalogy XXIV. 267 The New York Zoological Society has recently acquired a pair of giant pandas... The principal natural diet of the panda is bamboo. 1966R. & D. Morris Men & Pandas vi. 105 There were panda postcards.., panda toys (almost obliterating the teddy bear for a brief period), panda novelties, panda strip-cartoons, panda brooches, and panda hats. 1973Times 2 May 9/8 Children [in Peking] played a multitude of games including ‘feed the panda’, a variation on ‘pin the tail on the donkey’. 1976Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Feb. 231/5 It is rumoured that China has sited her nuclear testing grounds not far away from Panda country.
b. Used attrib. to designate a type of pedestrian crossing (see quot. 19621). Also absol.
1962Daily Tel. 7 Mar. 15/7 ‘Panda’ pedestrian crossings are to be introduced..to supplement zebra crossings. Their warning lights will be operated by push-buttons and they will be given a 12-month trial. Ibid., Differences in appearance between the ‘Pandas’ and the zebras are that the black-and-white carriageway markings at the ‘Pandas’ will be altered in shape from rectangles to blunted chevrons. 1962Times 3 Apr. 12/6 Panda crossings, introduced yesterday, held up Croydon's evening traffic. 1963Times 24 May 17/4 The amber lights system used on panda crossings was so complex and ambiguous that the ordinary driver could not understand it. 1965A. Christie At Bertram's Hotel xi. 106 On the whole, the Canon was not what we would call accident prone... Whilst taking no care or thought, they could still survive even a Panda crossing.
c. A police patrol car, so named from the resemblance of a broad white stripe on the car to the markings of the giant panda. Also attrib. colloq.
1966Guardian 13 Sept. 8/4 Special one-man patrol cars—painted blue with a broad white stripe and known as ‘Pandas’. 1969J. Wainwright Take-Over Men i. 13 What about your Panda Patrols? Your closed-circuit television? 1970Times 17 Mar. 2 Five children, who..helped catch two thieves, are to be given a ride in a police panda car. 1971Daily Tel. 10 May 2/2 It was felt that panda drivers should be warned that the vehicles were not meant to be pursuit cars. 1974‘A. Gilbert’ Nice Little Killing vi. 82 He got out his old second-hand car—the village bobby didn't rate a panda. |