| 释义 |
peeweep, peweep, piewipe local.|ˈpiːwiːp, ˈpaɪwaɪp|
[Echoic, from the bird's cry.]
a. A lapwing: = pewit 1.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Pie-wipe, the pewit or common lapwing. 1888Fenn Dick o' the Fens 87 I'll show you where there's more piewipes' eggs. 1892Stewart Shetland Tales vi. 65 Listening to the murmuring waves and the faint cry of the ‘peeweep’.
b. transf. (See quot. 1966.) rare.
a1902S. Butler Way of all Flesh (1903) xl. 179 Looking for a watch and purse on Battersby piewipes was very like looking for a needle in a bundle of hay. 1966S. H. Burton in Ibid. (new ed.) 391 ‘Piewipes’ is a dialect word for lapwings—birds that are noted for building nests so well camouflaged that they are very difficult to see. The sense seems to be that the Battersby ‘piewipes’ are moorlands; barren featureless land affording natural camouflage. |