| 释义 |
▪ I. camel, n.|ˈkæməl|
Forms: 1 camel, -ell, 3 kamel, 4–5 camele, kamell(e, 4–7 camell, 5 camelle, -ylle, 6 cammell, 6–7 cammel, 3– camel. Also β. 3 camayl(e, 4–5 camail(e, 5 cameile, cameylle, camayll(e, (camely); γ. 4–5 chamel, 4–7 chamell(e; δ. 4–5 chameyl(e, 5 chamayle, chamoil.
[Late OE. camel, camell, ad. L. camēl-us (-ellus), a. Gr. κάµηλ-ος, adopted from Semitic: Heb. and Phœn. gāmāl; if of native Semitic origin, perh. f. vb. *gāmal, Arab. jamala to bear (Gesenius). In ME. affected by the OF. forms (see below).
The early Teutonic name for the camel was app. in some way identical (or rather, perhaps ultimately derived from a common source) with the Gr. ἐλέϕας, ἐλέϕαντα, L. elephant-us, elephant: viz. Gothic ulbandus (= ulv-), OHG. olbenta, MHG. olbent, OE. olfend, oluend, found in the Ags. Gospels, and coming down as late as Ormin in form olfend, q.v. But the Lindisfarne Gloss already in the 10th c. adopted the L. of the Vulgate as camel, camell-, which after the 12th c., helped by the influence of OF., became the only name. So in the other modern Teut. langs.: Ger. kameel, kamel, Du. kameel. The Romanic langs. follow two Latin types: (1) L. camēlus, whence ONF. cameil, OF. chameil, later camoil, chamoil (like vēla, veile, voile); (2) L. camellus, whence It. cammello, Sp. camello, ONF. camel, OF. chamel, mod.F. chameau (like bellus, bello, bel, beau). All the OF. forms appear in ME. (where cameil regularly became camayl); but the camel of OE. and ONF., being also most like the Latin, is the survivor.]
1. a. A large hornless ruminant quadruped, distinguished by its humped back, long neck, and cushioned feet; it is nowhere found wild, but is domesticated in Western Asia and Northern Africa, in the arid regions of which it is the chief beast of burden.
There are two distinct species, the Arabian or one-humped, and the Bactrian or two-humped; a lighter and fleeter variety of the former is known as the Dromedary.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. iii. 4 Gewede of herum ðæra camella [c 975 Rushw. hræᵹl olbendena herum; c 1000Ags. reaf of olfenda hærum; c 1160Hatton, of oluende hære]. Ibid. Mark i. 6 Mið herum camelles [Rushw. cameles, Ags. oluendes, Hatton, olfendes]. Ibid. Matt. xix. 24 Eaður is camel [Rushw. olbende, Ags. olfende] ðerh ðyril nedles oferfæra. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1398 And fond good grið and good hostel, Him, and hise men, and hise kamel. c1280E.E.P. (1862) 3 As eþe forto bring a camel in to þe neld-is ei. a1300Cursor M. 3304 And þine camels [Gött. chameyles, Trin. camailes] sal drinc þair fill. c1300K. Alis. 6333 They no haveth camayle, no olifaunt. c1382Wyclif Judg. viii. 21 The neckis of kyngis chamels [1388 camels]. ― 1 Chron. xii. 40 Assis, and chamoilis [1388 camelis], and mulis. c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 1140 Syn ye be strong as is a greet Camaille [v.r. camaile, camayle, Harl. MS. chamayle (rime bataille, -aile, aylle)]. c1400Mandeville xxiii. 250 Mylk of mares or of camaylles or of asses. c1400Apol. Loll. 45 Blind foolis, clensing forþ þe knatt, but swelowyng þe camely. c1440Promp. Parv., Camelle, or chamelle, camelus. c1450Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 699 Hic camelus, a camylle. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 164/4 His knees were as harde as the horne of a camel. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. v. 16 It is as hard to come, as for a Camell To thred the posterne of a Needles eye. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 75 The wantonness thereof appeareth by the proverb of a dancing Camel. 1699Dampier's Voy. (1729) III. i. 384 His Neck small, and resembling a Cammels. 1847Carpenter Zool. §278 Well, therefore, has the Camel..been termed ‘the Ship of the Desert’. 1861F. Nightingale Nursing 71 It is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.
b. fig. A great awkward hulking fellow.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. ii. 271 A Dray-man, a Porter, a very Camell. Ibid. ii. i. 58 Do rudenes, do Camell do, do.
c. fig. in allusion to Matthew xxiii. 24: Anything large and difficult to ‘swallow’ or do away with.
[c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 172 Swolwynge þe grete camaile alhool.] 1637Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. ii. v. 23 Christians..mocked & nicknamed Puritans, except they can swallow the Camell of Conformity. 1641Milton Ch. Govt. vi. (1851) 125 Can we believe that your government strains in good earnest at the petty gnats of schisme, when it makes nothing to swallow the Camel heresie of Rome? 1860L. V. Harcourt Diaries G. Rose I. 143 If the former was more than ‘a gnat’, the latter was not less than ‘a camel’ of immorality.
d. The characteristic colour of a camel, a shade of fawn.
1881C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork i. 50 Camel color is the most recent variety of écru shades, coming to us from England. 1922Daily Mail 11 Dec. 14 Brushed Wool Scarf-wrap..Can be supplied..in plain colours—White,..Camel, Beige, Grey. 1923Ibid. 26 Feb. 1 In good shades of Grey, Camel, Fawn. 1924Tourist Winter Sports No. 20 Sports hats..of camel check Tweed with scarves to match.
2. techn. A machine for imparting additional buoyancy to vessels, and thus enabling them to cross bars, shoals, etc., otherwise impassable; also for raising sunken ships, removing rocks, etc.
It consists generally of two or more huge water-tight chests provided with plugs and pumps. Water is admitted in order to sink the chests into position, and they are then fitted and braced to the sides of the vessel, which they are sometimes shaped to fit. On pumping out the water the camels rise, bearing up the vessel along with them.
1716Perry State of Russ. 168 His Majesty..sent a Person with me to shew me all the Camels (which are flat Vessels made to be fix'd to the bottom of Ships, and to come up like a Chest on each side). 1799in Naval Chron. II. 283 Men of war..lifted over the bar by means of camels. 1805Ibid. XIV. 227. 1847 A. C. Key Recov. H.M.S. Gorgon 76 The construction of camels to be secured to the ship's bilge.
†3. (See quot.) Obs.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Camel is also a denomination given to a kind of pit-coal, otherwise called canel.
4. attrib. and Comb., as camel-back, camel-battery, camel-cart, camel-corps, camel-driver, camel-dung (also camel's dung), camel-guide, camel-gulper (see 1 c), camel-hide, camel-keeper, camel-load, camel-man, camel-path, camel-skin, camel-trunk; also camel-backed, camel-faced, camel-haired, camel-like, camel-shaped adjs.
1860R. Noel Vacat. Tour 464 For ladies to ride ten, twelve, and twenty-four hours on *camel back at a stretch.
1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 477 Crooked, crump-shouldred, or *Camell-backed. 1639Fuller Holy War iv. xxvi. (1840) 227 Not that he was crookshouldered, or camel⁓backed.
1884J. Macdonald in 19th Cent. June 987 The blue-jackets of the..*camel-battery poured a well-directed fire at..the redoubt.
1884Gilmour Mongols 112 The *camel caravan usually does a good part of its travelling at night.
1900Daily News 25 Sept. 3/4 Our caravan..included..six *camel carts for the ladies and children. 1907Westm. Gaz. 25 Nov. 2/1 The most striking..conveyance is a camel-cart.
1884Times 22 Nov., The *Camel Corps which marched from Assouan.
1818Keats Endym. iii. 473 To slake My greedy thirst with nectarous *camel-draughts.
1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xxix. 125 The trifling conduct of the carriers and *camel-drivers.
1903W. C. Russell Overdue vi, Recollection reeks of the flavour of the *camel-dung cigarettes of Alexandria.
1886R. F. Burton Arab. Nts. X. 193 ‘Take care of the glass-phials!’ cried the Prophet to a *camel-guide.
1829Southey Sir T. More II. 27 Father Cressy, the *Camel-gulper.
1807Med. Jrnl. XVII. 179 *Camel-faced boys and girls, and *camel-haired children.
a1300Cursor M. 2250 Þai þam hide Bath wit hors and *camel-hide.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Camelero, a *Camel keeper.
a1603T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 500 Knees..*Camell-like in the curtesie which you giue unto his name. 1761Chron. in Ann. Reg. 59/2 A large camel-like protuberance of fat on the top of their shoulders.
1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xxx. 129 *Camel-loads of cloth.
1613Purchas Pilgr. (1864) 68 Indian Merchants, with their..ten Camels, and fiue *Camel-men. 1883E. Arnold Pearls of Faith xxii. 79 Amru the camel-man lay dead.
1884Daily News 27 Sept. 5/3 Two *camel messengers..came in to-day to ask for food and arms.
1824Edin. Rev. XLI. 45 Beaten *camel-paths.
1827Every Night Book 87 We strongly recommend you..to illumine the butt-end of your cigar with *camel's dung. 1879W. J. Loftie Ride in Egypt xii. 261 There is an all-pervading smell..caused..by the use of camel's dung for fuel.
a1425in M.E.D., *Camel skyn. c1450J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. 38 Ȝe haue girdilis lich knytys; and þei with þongis of chamel skynnys, as Hely and Ion, go girt in her lendes. 1497Bp. Alcock Mons Perfeccionis E i b/1 Clothed in a camell skynne. 1903Month Aug. 165 St. John in his camel-skin robe.
1660–3J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 394, I think it hard to find a Faith that can swallow any such *Camel-stories.
1854Thackeray Newcomes II. 294 A *camel trunk or two which have accompanied him on many an Indian march.
5. Special comb.: camel-back orig. U.S., an inferior or synthetic rubber used to retread tyres; camel-bird, name applied to the Ostrich; camel-brown, an artificial fly used in angling; camel-engine, = sense 2; camel-gun, a gun, as a machine gun, made light and short so as to be transportable by camels; camel-gut, the dried gut or intestines of a camel used to furnish strings for musical instruments; camel's-hay, a sweet-scented grass or rush growing in the East (Andropogon Schœnanthus); camel-insect, a name given to members of the genus Mantis, from their elongated thorax; camel-kneed a., having hard or callous knees like those of a camel, caused by much kneeling; camel-locust = camel-insect; camel's-meat = camel's-hay; camel's-straw, an old name for the Common Rush (Juncus conglomeratus and effusus); camel('s)-thorn, (a) a leguminous plant (Alhagi camelorum); (b) S. Afr., the tree Acacia giraffæ or A. hirtella; camel-tree; camel-swallower, -swallowing (see sense 1 c); camel-tree, Acacia giraffæ; camel-trot, camel-walk, a ball-room dance resembling the walk of a camel. Also camel's-hair.
1942in Amer. Speech (1943) XVIII. 302/2 The term ‘*camelback’, broadly used, refers to the uncured rubber applied to the worn tire to make the new tread. 1959Times 27 Apr. (Suppl. Rubber Ind.) p. vii/6 A general-purpose cold rubber for tyre stocks, camelbacks.
1771T. Scott Job, note, The Ostrich is called by the Persians the *Camel-Bird.
1787Best Angling 107 September..2 *Camel brown..2 Dubbed with the hair pulled out of the lime of an old wall.
186.Athenæum No. 1999. 240/3 A huge powerful *camel-engine.
1880L. Wallace Ben-Hur 7 Languishing acacias and tufts of *camel-grass.
1891Kipling Light that Failed ii. 29 Aren't the *camel-guns ever going to begin?
1879Stainer Music of Bible 12 The Kinnor had, according to Fetis, nine strings of *camel-gut.
1597Gerard Herbal i. xxix. §1. 40 *Camels haie hath leaues very like vnto Cyperus. 1718Quincy Compl. Disp. 81 Camels-Hay is also frequently call'd the sweet Rush.
1801Southey Thalaba v. xxxvi, Some *camel-kneed prayer-monger.
1598Florio, Squinance, squinanth, *cammels meate, or sweet rush, which is very medicinable.
1578Lyte Dodoens iv. lii. 511 The first kinde [of Rushes] is called in English, the Rush candle, or Candle rushe: *Camels strawe.
1802C. Wilmot Let. 15 Nov. in T. U. Sadleir Irish Peer (1920) 114 The Friar..was a delightful sketch of a wholesale *camel swallower. He believed in the most extravagent miracles. 1840C. H. Townshend Facts in Mesmerism 332 The gnat-strainers and *camel-swallowers may be content to accept this story. 1858Dickens Lett. (1879) II. 82 All manner of *camel-swallowing and of gnat-straining.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 74 There is a certain herb, which hath a seed like a myrtle-seed..and this seed is food for Camels..It is therefore called *Camel-thorn. 1824W. J. Burchell Trav. S. Afr. II. 292 Some scattered trees of Camel-thorn, or Mokaala. 1850Layard Nineveh xii. 306 Without a blade of vegetation, except a scanty tuft of camel-thorn. 1896H. A. Bryden Tales S. Afr. 75 The camel-thorn trees [f.n. giraffe acacias] grew pretty thickly all around. 1947L. Hastings Dragons are Extra i. 14 Among the scrub and camelthorn trees. 1961L. van der Post Heart of Hunter i. 21 Camel-thorn trees in leaf..growing in a part of the desert which was not typical camel-thorn country at all.
1923Weekly Dispatch 8 Apr. 8 They call the modern dances *camel-trots.
1921Frontier May 16 The morbid minded may read them as openly as they danced the shimmy and the *camel-walk a year ago. 1969New York 15 Feb. 29/3 Rubbery-legged dances, like the Camel Walk.
▪ II. ˈcamel, v. nonce-wd.
[f. prec. n.]
to camel it: to ride or perform a journey on camel-back.
1865E. C. Clayton Cruel Fort. II. 144 He had..camelled it through the deserts. 1885L'pool Daily Post 9 Jan. 6/2 To day I have heard ‘fueled’ for taking in wood, and ‘cameled’ for using that ungainly beast in travelling. |