| 释义 |
▪ I. peeper1|ˈpiːpə(r)|
[f. peep v.1 + -er1.]
1. One who or that which peeps or cheeps.
1611Cotgr., Pepieur, a peeper, cheeper; puler.
2. spec.
a. A young chicken or pigeon.
1591Lyly Endym. v. ii, I preferre..an ancient henne before a younge chicken peeper. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, cclvii, But nobly cover with a Wing wide Spread; Feathers above 'em to Surround them All, Amated peepers. 1733Bramston Man of Taste 14 Snails the first course, and Peepers crown the meal. 1755Johnson, Peeper, a young chicken just breaking the shell.
b. A small tree-frog of the genus Hyla, esp. H. crucifer, found in eastern North America. U.S.
1857S. H. Hammond Wild Northern Scenes 30 All is still now, save the piping notes of the little peeper along the shore. 1884Roe Nat. Ser. Story vi, He said they were peepers. 1889G. H. Ellwanger Garden's Story i. 19 The chorus of the Hylodes, or peepers,..that piercing treble..that nothing—even the katydid—can equal in strident intensity. 1906M. C. Dickerson Frog Bk. 139 There are few people in the eastern United States who do not know the voices of the Spring Peepers... The Peepers have spring in their hearts. 1938J. W. Lippincott Animal Neighbours (1940) xx. 192 The ridiculously small spring frog or peeper, an inch and a quarter long, comes first, sometime in March. 1961D. M. Cochran Living Amphibians of World 113/1 The spring peeper, Hyla crucifer, is one of the earliest of the frogs to appear in spring. 1976Yankee Apr. 78/2 Nearly every Easterner..has heard the spring peeper's song.
▪ II. peeper2|ˈpiːpə(r)|
[f. peep v.2 + -er1.]
1. a. One who peeps or peers; esp. one who looks or pries furtively, a prier, a ‘Paul Pry’.
1652Gaule Magastrom. 375 He..had his eyes put out; an apt punishment for all peepers and star-gazers. 1663Killigrew Parson's Wed. v. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley XIV. 519 What would not I give for a peeper's place at the meeting? 1711Steele Spectator No. 53 ⁋8, I doubt not but you will think a Peeper as much more pernicious than a Starer. 1795Wolcott (P. Pindar) Convention Bill Wks. 1812 III. 380 Then let the bullet..Dismiss the saucy Peeper to the dead.
b. A private detective or investigator; occas., a policeman.
1940R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xxiii. 177 Peeper, huh, pally? From the big bad burg, huh? 1943― Lady in Lake (1944) xxxv. 185 Don't bother to call your house-peeper... I'm allergic to house-peepers. 1968R. Clapperton No News on Monday iii. 25 Police protection for a peeper. What kind of advertisement is that? 1968E. McGirr Lead-Lined Coffin ii. 64 He..flipped the wallet open. ‘A peeper,’ he said. 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard ii. 54 ‘I have an arrangement with the peeper across the road. He's had a lean time lately.’ His voice was level. Moving towards him, Angie said: ‘Policemen are different.’ 1975R. L. Simon Wild Turkey xxii. 160 What kind of bullshit are you throwing around, peeper? You want me to slap you in the can?
2. slang. An eye. Chiefly pl.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Peepers, Eyes. 1755J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) II. 181 An understanding as much distorted and awry as his two peepers. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Peepers, eyes; single peeper, a one eyed man. 1819Sporting Mag. V. 6 A slight cut on the right peeper. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xiv, A secret..invisible..to the stupid peepers of that young whiskered prig. 1858A. Mayhew Paved with Gold ii. xii. 191 They went to work slogging, Jack delivering a ‘head-acher’..and Ned one not to be worked at on the ‘peepers’. 1901‘H. McHugh’ John Henry 93, I hate to have a girl plant her pleading peepers on me. 1908A. M. N. Lyons Arthur's i. ii. 10, I jerked me peeper round, an' there was a girl squattin' on a tar barrel. 1928E. Wallace Double xiii. 204 Unless your poor old peepers are going wrong you would have seen them. 1937G. Frankau More of Us iv. 42 She winked one peeper; But Innocent's eyes, downcast, still withheld her man Glances he craved. 1968A. Diment Bang Bang Birds vii. 108 There was a leer in his rheumy peepers as he gave Marianne a mental strip. 1978J. Symons Blackheath Poisonings iii. 153 He had lost an eye long ago in the Ashanti campaign... ‘I'm lucky to be alive, but I lost one of my peepers.’
3. Cant.
a. A looking-glass; also (quot. 1785) a spyglass; pl. a pair of spectacles.
b. A small window (nonce-use).
1694Ladies Dict. 380 Peeper, a Looking-glass. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Queere-peepers, c. old fashion'd, ord'nary, black-framed, or common Looking glasses. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Peeper, a spying glass; and also a looking glass, (cant). 1825Jamieson, Peepers,..a cant term for spectacles, Roxb. 1899Baring-Gould Bk. of West I. ii. 30 The windows..are small, and the brown thatch is lifted above these peepers.
4. As a local name of animals and plants:
a. A species of Tub-fish, Trigla cuculus (Cornwall) (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
b. A local name of the Pimpernel (Lees Flora W. Yorksh. (1888) 795). |