| 释义 |
banana|bəˈnɑːnə|
Also 7 bonana, bonano.
[a. Pg. or Sp. banana (the fruit), banano (the tree), given by De Orta (1563) and Pigafetta, as the native name in Guinea (Congo).]
1. A tree (Musa sapientum) cultivated largely in tropical and subtropical climates, especially in the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific; it grows to a height of 20 feet, and has its stem marked with purple spots and streaks.
1697W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 316 The Bonano Tree is exactly like the Plantain. 1810Southey Kehama xvi. v, That, like the broad banana growing, Raised their long wrinkled leaves of purple hue. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 270 The young shoots of the Banana are eaten as a delicate vegetable.
2. a. The fruit of this tree, growing in clusters of angular, finger-like berries, containing within their rind a luscious and highly nutritious pulp.
[1563Garcia de Orta Simples e Drogues 93 b, Tambem ha estes figos em Guiné, chamam lhe bananas.] 1597Hartwell Pigafetta's Congo in Coll. Trav. (1745) II. 553 Other fruits there are, termed Banana, which we verily think to be the Muses of Egypt and Soria. 1613Purchas Pilgr. I. v. xvi. 452 Amboyna bringeth forth..Coquos, Bonana's..and other fruits. 1796Stedman Surinam I. ix. 205 Refreshed with..plaintains, bananas, oranges. 1823Byron Island iv. viii, The ripe banana from the mellow hill.
b. The yellow colour of a ripe banana. Also banan (= F. banane).
1923Daily Mail 3 Apr. 10 In shades of..Banana and Cream. Ibid. 7 May 1 In Pale Jade, Banan, Tuscan.
3. pl. Crazy, mad, wild (with excitement, anger, frustration, etc.), esp. in phr. to go bananas (also banana drive) bananas. colloq.
[1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 53/1 He's bananas, he's sexually perverted; a degenerate.] 1968–70Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III.–IV. 6 Bananas, adj., excited and upset; ‘wild’.—College students, both sexes, Kentucky.—I'd say it, but everyone would just go bananas. 1970Times 9 Mar. 43 Liza [Minnelli] moved into the sheltered regimented Barbizon Hotel for Women. Liza says: ‘I went bananas!’ 1974Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 3 Feb. 38/3 He just went bananas. My husband tried to take the bottle from him and he wouldn't let go... He jumped onto the television and then onto the china cabinet. 1974TV Times (Brisbane) 28 Sept. 17/1 ‘I admit I'm half-bananas—not completely bananas,’ he said, ‘and the part I play in Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry is a lot like me. Larry is a stock-car racer who goes ape behind the wheel.’ 1974K. Millet Flying (1975) ii. 194 It was driving me bananas, with my sainted mother at the wheel. 1976Observer 11 Jan. 3/5 She says with her usual verve: ‘The Government have gone bananas over a woman tortured in Chile.’ 1978J. Krantz Scruples xiv. 412 Jesus, thought Lester, his first movie star and she turns out to be a bit bananas. 1980Times 1 Oct. 4/1 When the left wing of the Labour Party looks as if it is going to lose, it is described as bananas. 1985Sunday Times 13 Jan. 5/2 Before we all go bananas about electric cars let me remind you that this is nothing new.
4. attrib., as in banana-leaf, banana-tree (see sense 1); banana-skin (also fig.) (sense 2); banana bird, a gregarious West Indian bird (Xanthornus icterus), belonging to the Starling family; also, a name applied to certain South American and West Indian species now included in the genus Icterus; also = banana quit; banana boat, a boat carrying bananas; also Mil. slang (see quot. 1945); banana flour, a flour made from dried bananas; banana fly (see quot.); banana liquid (see quot.); banana-oil, (a) = banana liquid; (b) slang, nonsense; insincere or insane talk or behaviour; cf. apple-sauce; banana quit: see quit n.1; banana republic, colloq. applied to a small state, esp. in central America, whose economy is almost entirely dependent on its fruit-exporting trade; banana solution, a solution, having the odour of bananas, used as a vehicle in applying bronze pigments; banana split (orig. U.S.), a popular concoction of ice-cream and a split banana.
1713Sloane in Ray Synopsis Avium 187 Passer coeruleofuscus. The Bonana Bird..Arbores Bonanas dictas frequentat, unde nomen. 1734E. Albin Nat. Hist. Birds II. 37 The Banana Bird from Jamaica..of the Bigness of our English Starling. 1756P. Browne Jamaica (1789) 477 Icterus major..The large Banana Bird. 1847Gosse & Hill Birds of Jamaica 226 Banana-bird. Icterus leucopteryx... Fruit is his principal diet; a ripe banana, or orange.
1916W. A. Du Puy Uncle Sam 119 The skipper of the banana boat. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 12 Banana boat, an invasion barge. 1945Partridge Dict. R.A.F. Slang 14 Banana boat, an aircraft-carrier, according to the R.A.F. To soldiers it means an invasion barge. 1962Guardian 12 Oct. 15/4 They travel by any convenient method, from..luxury liners to banana boats.
1890Ld. Lugard Diaries 6 Dec. (1959) I. 409 The flour of the country is almost solely banana flour. 1951Gd. Housek. Home Encycl. 345/2 Banana Flour..is ideal for flavoring cakes, buns and biscuits.
1921Conquest Sept. 493/2 The common Banana Fly (Drosophila ampelophila).
1809Shaw Gen. Zool. VII. 431 The under side of a Banana-leaf. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. xviii, It rained very heavily, but the good thatch of banana-leaves kept us dry.
1916L. A. Flemming Practical Tanning (ed. 3) 474 Because of its characteristic odor the amyl acetate solution is frequently called banana liquid.
1927Wodehouse in Sunday Express 16 Oct. 9/5 This is pure banana oil. It is not like you to..gibber. 1934H. Hiler Notes Technique Painting i. 44 The watercolour fixative..is usually known as ‘banana oil’ or ‘banana solution’. 1960Wodehouse Jeeves in Offing ix. 95 The sort of banana oil that passes between statesmen at conferences..before they tear their whiskers off and get down to cases.
1935Esquire July 70/1 We strung along with Major Brown on the inhuman aspects of war in the banana republics. 1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment xiii. 143 The somewhat jerky behaviour displayed by the Central American banana republics.
1907Westm. Gaz. 19 Sept. 2/3 The banana-skin trouble in this direction had seemed to be sufficient of a fresh nuisance. 1934Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves! i. 17 Treading upon Life's banana skins. 1961H. R. Trevor-Roper in Encounter July 96 The love of..laying banana-skins to disconcert the gravity and upset the balance of the orthodox.
1920Ade Hand-made Fables 151, I recall many useful and interesting citizens who would walk around a banana split to get to a rickey. 1931E. Linklater Juan in Amer. ii. ix. 117 Brighter lights and larger jazz-bands and stronger gin and sweeter banana-splits. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. v. 257 They ate poached eggs on haddock and banana splits. |