| 释义 |
rookery|ˈrʊkərɪ|
[f. rook n.1 + -ery.]
1. a. A collection of rooks' nests in a clump of trees; a colony of rooks.
1725Fam. Dict. s.v., They are commonly Groves and tall Trees near Gentlemens Houses in the Country that make your Rookeries. 1772T. Simpson Vermin-Killer 21 Gentle⁓men keep rookeries for the sake of hearing a continual noise. 1822Scott Nigel xvi, Like crows upon a falcon that strays into their rookery. 1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 68 The many-winter'd crow that leads the clanging rookery home. 1883Congregational Year Book 58 To many, Church questions seem as trivial as the politics of a rookery.
b. The realm of rooks. rare—1.
1738Gentl. Mag. VIII. 301/2 This seemed to be no Breach of the Laws of Rookery, and was, I saw, practised by every one of the Rest.
2. A breeding-place, common resort, or large colony:
a. Of sea-birds, esp. penguins.
1832A. Earle Narr. of Residence on Tristan d'Acunha 357 We visited what they call a ‘penguin rookery’. 1838Poe Narr. A. Gordon Pym Wks. 1896 I. 441 Navigators have agreed in calling an assemblage of such encampments [of albatross] a rookery. 1840Penny Cycl. XVII. 410/2 The towns, camps, and rookeries, as they have been called, of these birds [penguins]. 1897Westm. Gaz. 20 Aug. 2/1 Further on..we found a rookery of many thousands of the superb red-tailed tropic bird (Phaeton phœnicurus).
b. Of seals or other marine mammals.
1832B. Morrell Four Voyages p. xxiv, The word rookery..has been applied by all our South Sea navigators to the breeding encampments of various oceanic animals, such as seal, penguins, &c. 1846McLean Papers 22 Dec. 42 (typescript), A boat goes out in search of a ‘rookery’ as they term the collected seals on any spot. 1847Sir J. Ross Voy. Antarctic Reg. I. 47 Some of their [sc. seals'] haunts, or as the sealers term them ‘rookeries’. 1860Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 208 The sea-elephants..are gregarious, and..will often congregate in ‘rookeries’ of hundreds. 1881Nature XXV. 205 The ‘rookery’ of the sea-bears still found in abundance on St. Paul's Island. 1932S. Zuckerman Social Life Monkeys & Apes v. 69 Bull seals fight each other..for territory in the rookery or mating ground. 1972L. Hancock There's a Seal in my Sleeping Bag vii. 145 The rocky shores of Triangle Island itself are used by the Steller sea-lions as hauling-out grounds, while those of the large islets immediately off the main island are breeding grounds and rookeries.
3. a. A cluster of mean tenements densely populated by people of the lowest class. Also attrib.
1792G. Galloway Poems on Various Subjects 74 Then I begin my follies to repent, With naked elbows and a coat thread bare... So for to hide my gold I need no bags, While like to rookry dogs I'm cloth'd with rags. 1829Farmer's Jrnl. 14 Sept. 294 This court is known by the name of the ‘Rookery’, (from there being a humble family in each room). 1851H. Mayhew Lond. Labour (1862) II. 331 We visited Market Street,..a well known rookery of prostitutes. 1883Good Words Aug. 542/1 A ‘rookery’ district in the great metropolis. 1887Jessopp Arcady Introd. p. xiii, A dozen families are..in a rookery which grew up on the edge of a piece of waste. 1971Daily Tel. 2 Dec. 6/4 The artisans, a potent radical force, were very different from the a-political desperate starvelings of the London rookeries. 1973N.Y. Law Jrnl. 4 Sept. 5/3 Look at the city's unrepairable slums housing miserably over a million people... These rookeries are beyond repair. 1976M. Butterworth Festival! vii. 106 Arnold..lay in a crude shelter..in the heart of a close-packed slum of some of the worst habitations at the festival; a rookery so vile that it had been totally rejected by all the rest.
b. (See quot.)
1860Slang Dict. (ed. 2) 201 Rookery, in Military slang, that part of the barracks occupied by subalterns, often by no means a pattern of good order.
c. transf. in various applications.
1864Herschel Fam. Lect. Sci. 34 Java itself I should observe is one rookery of volcanoes. 1892Nation LV. 480/1 The Inns of Court and of Chancery..have been..an immemorial rookery for authors. 1899Somerville & Ross Irish R.M. 252 Dr. Fahy's basement storey, with the rookery of paying guests asleep above.
4. dial. or slang. A row, disturbance.
c1820Oh, What a Row! (song) People toiling, roasting, boiling, bless us! such a rookery. 1824Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825) 416 At this moment there was a terrible rookery and noise outside the court. 1838Holloway Prov. Dict. s.v., ‘To make a rookery’ is to make a great stir about anything. 1925Dialect Notes V. 340 Rookery, confusion, ruckus. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §5/1 Disorder n.,..riz-raz, rookery, [etc.]. |