| 释义 |
Argonaut|ˈɑːgənɔːt|
[ad. L. Argonauta, ad. Gr. ἀργοναύτης a sailor in the ship Argo.]
1. a. One of the legendary heroes who accompanied Jason in the Argo in his quest of the Golden Fleece.
1596Spenser F.Q. iv. i. 23 The dreadfull discord, which did drive The noble Argonauts to outrage fell. 1846Grote Greece i. xiii. (1869) I. 231 The Argonauts again owed their safety to the stratagem of Medea.
b. transf. Also with small initial.
1807W. Irving Salmagundi 20 Mar. 109 A celebrated Roman knight..who..became a great favourite of prince Madoc, and accompanied that famous Argonaut in the voyage which ended in the discovery of this continent. 1893K. A. Sanborn S. California 1 The fin-de-siècle Argonaut, in Pullman train, flees the cold and grip.
c. An adventurer who went to California in search of gold soon after its discovery there in 1848. U.S. Obs. exc. Hist.
1848in C. C. Cutler Greyhounds of the Sea (1930) xiv. 134 The ship will be commanded by a man of experience, and if the adventurers of the Trescott do not bring home their full share of the golden fleece, we have overestimated the qualities of the Argonautes. 1948P. Johnston Lost & Living Cities of California Gold Rush 28/1 How those argonauts who first beheld this contorted country must have labored to penetrate it with pack mules and ox-drawn wagons!
2. Name of a genus of cephalopod molluscs of the octopod type, esp. of the species which, from the delicacy and whiteness of its shell, is also known as the ‘paper nautilus,’ and was formerly believed to sail on the surface of the sea.
1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. I. x. 306 The Argonaut, or paper nautilus. 1847Carpenter Zool. §891 By the action of the arms, the Argonaut can swim backwards in the same manner as other Octopi. |