| 释义 |
petaurist|pɪˈtɔːrɪst|
[ad. Gr. πεταυριστής a performer on the πέταυρον or spring-board.]
†1. An acrobat, tumbler, rope-dancer. rare—0.
1656Blount Glossogr., Petaurist, a Dancer on the Ropes, a Tumbler, a runner upon Lines. 1658in Phillips.
2. Zool. Any marsupial of the genus Petaurista or subfamily Petaurinæ (= the old genus Petaurus), most of which have a patagium or parachute by which they are enabled to take flying leaps; a flying phalanger, Australian flying-squirrel, flying-opossum, or opossum-mouse.
1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. xvii. 159 The petaurists, or flying squirrels. 1839–47Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 262/2. 1868 Owen Anat. Vertebr. III. 416 In the Koala, which is, perhaps, a more strictly vegetable feeder than the Petaurists or Phalangers, the cæcum..is more than three times the length of the animal.
Hence petauˈristic a.: see quot.; petauˈristine a. and n. = petaurine; so also peˈtaurite a.
1656Blount Glossogr., Petauristick, tumbling, vaulting, running upon ropes. 1890Cent. Dict., Petauristine, Petaurite. |