释义 |
ˈsea-dog [Cf. Du. zeehond, G. seehund.] 1. The common or harbour seal, Calocephalus vitulinus; ‘also (in California), one of the eared seals, Zalophus californianus’ (Cent. Dict. 1891).
1598W. Phillip tr. Linschoten's Voy. 415/2 Wee found great store of Sea wolues, which wee call Sea dogges. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 132 A large Seal or Sea-Dog. 1808Scott Marm. ii. ii, The sea-dog..His round black head..Rear'd o'er the foaming spray. 1879G. B. Goode Catal. Anim. Resources U.S. 5 Zalophus Gillespiei... The Sea Dog. Pacific Coast. 2. A dog-fish or small shark. ? Obs.
1601Holland Pliny ix. xxxv. I. 255 If they [sc. mother-of-pearl shell-fish] be in the deepe, accompanied lightly they are with curst Sea-dogs [orig. marinis canibus]. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage 401 In which [place] are many fishes called Sea-dogges. They which are weary of this world.. cast in themselues here to be deuoured of these fishes. 1725Pope Odyss. xii. 118 The Sea-dog and the Dolphin are her food. 1802Pinkerton Mod. Geog., Europe I. 11 The chief fisheries [of the Mediterranean] are those of the tunny, of the sword fish, and of the sea dog, a species of shark. 3. Her. (See quot. 1780.)
[1758J. Kennedy Curios. Wilton Ho. 50 A Figure recumbent, leaning on a Sea-Dog, and representing the River Meander.] 1780Edmondson Heraldry II. Gloss., Sea-dogs, are drawn in shape like the talbot, but with a tail like that of the beaver; a scalloped fin continued down the back, from the head to the tail; the whole body, legs, and tail, scaled, and the feet webbed. 1871Burke Pecrage s.v. Stourton, Supporters.—Two sea-dogs, sa., scaled and finned, erm. 4. A privateer or pirate, esp. of the time of Queen Elizabeth I.
1659Pell Impr. Sea Proem B 3, They hunt the Pirat..and sometimes they find..a Dunkirk Hare, squatted down very closely..and then is there brave gain, when our Sea-dogs follow after her. 1788Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 387 A regard to the safety and liberty of our seamen..forbids us to give such prices for those in captivity as will draw on our vessels peculiarly the pursuit of those sea-dogs. 1877Dowden Stud. Lit. (1889) 1 The galleons of the Spanish Armada were pulled down by the sea-dogs of Drake. 5. A sailor, usually one long used to the sea, chiefly with the epithet old.
1823J. F. Cooper Pilot II. xi. 187 Ahead, heave ahead, sea-dogs! 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxiii, The carpenter..was an old sea-dog. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! iii, Sniffing the keen salt air like a young sea-dog. 1887Besant World went xxix, Other Captains..are no whit behind the most old-fashioned sea-dog in courage. 6. A luminous appearance near the horizon, regarded by mariners as a prognostic of bad weather.
1825–80Jamieson, Dog, Sea-dog, a name given by mariners to a meteor seen, immediately above the horizon [see dog n.1 10]. Ibid., The term, although used as synon. with Weather-gaw, properly denotes a luminous appearance of a different kind. For while the weather-gaw seems a detached section of a rainbow, the dog has no variety of colours, but is of a dusky white. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sea-dogg, the meteor called also stubb. 7. dial. A rough wave in the mouth of a river.
1863R. F. Burton Wand. W. Africa I. 1 White sea-dogs coursed and worried one another over Father Mersey's breadth of mud. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Sea-dogs, Sea-hosses, rough waves in the Humber and Trent. Hence ˈsea-doggery, behaviour or practice characteristic of a sea-dog or sea-dogs (sense 5); sailors collectively.
1928Daily Express 9 Oct. 3/3 A little grey Dover full of small, sturdy ships..and a general air—assisted by a strong smell of oil, pea soup and roasting mutton—of waggish sea doggery. 1961John o' London's 20 July 111/3 A background of adventure and sea-doggery. |