| 释义 |
▪ I. bleating, vbl. n.|ˈbliːtɪŋ|
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
The crying of a sheep, goat, or calf; also contemptuously said of human utterances.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xlvi. (1495) 807 A kydde..knowyth and sekyth his moder wyth bletyng. 1578Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868) 163 Sing on guk, guk, the blating of zour queir. 1611Bible Judges v. 16 To heare the bleatings of the flocks. 1781Cowper Convers. 588 Known by thy bleating, Ignorance thy name. 1828Scott F.M. Perth III. 343 The brute beasts in their lowing and bleating.
b. attrib. (passing into the ppl. a.)
1773G. White Selborne xxxix, In breeding time the cock⁓snipes make a bleating noise. 1834J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest 429 The voice, having the bleating character strongly marked.
▪ II. bleating, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That bleats; also fig.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 139 Bletyng sheep. 1595Spenser Col. Clout 955 To draw their bleating flocks to rest. 1651Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 157 The queene..and her bleeting preests. 1884Black Jud. Shaks. xxxi, Lambs, with bleating oratory, craved the dams' comfort.
Add: Hence ˈbleatingly adv., in a manner suggestive of bleating.
1934in Webster. 1986Financial Times 11 Mar. i. 23/8 Matthew's function is unclarified... He occasionally bleatingly reminds us that the hero is English. |