| 释义 |
▪ I. caracol, caracole, n.|ˈkærəkɒl, -kəʊl|
Also 7 caragolo, carrocol.
[a. F. caracol, caracole, ad. It. caracollo wheeling of a horse, ad. Sp. (and Pg.) caracol snail, periwinkle, spiral shell, also winding stair; in sense 1 Cat. has caragol, It. also caragollo. Ulterior derivation doubtful: see Diez and Skeat.]
†1. A spiral shell. Obs.
1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 94 Certaine shels, like those of mother of pearles, which are brought out of the East Indies, to make standing cups, called caracoles.
2. Arch. ‘A term sometimes applied to a staircase in the form of a helix or spiral’ (Gwilt).
1721–1800Bailey, Caracol. 1753in Chambers Cycl. Supp. 1823in Crabb Techn. Dict.; and in mod. Dicts.
3. A half-turn or wheel to the right or left executed by a horseman. Littré gives the sense in Fr. as ‘a succession of such wheels to right and left alternately, movement in a zigzag course’, which appears to have been the earlier sense in Eng. also. Many writers have used the word without any clear notion of its meaning: see next.
1614Markham Cheap Husb. i. i. (1668) 21 In the Art of Horsemanship, there are divers and sundry turns..those we call Caragolo. 1643Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 103 Now was Sr Wm Constable crept out of Hull wth their Horse making their Carrocols upon y⊇ woulds. a1679Earl of Orrery Guzman iv, What a Caracole he made, when you fac'd about. 1792Osbaldistone Brit. Sportsm. 94/1 They sometimes ride up in caracols, to perplex the enemy. 1810Encycl. Brit. (ed. 4) V. 171 In the army, the horse always makes a caracol after each discharge, in order to pass the rear of the squadron. 1825Scott Talism. xxviii, The Scottish knight..made his courser carry him in a succession of caracoles to his station. 1863Thornbury True as Steel I. 145 Chargers pacing with curvets and caracoles.
▪ II. ˈcaracol, caracole, v.
[a. F. caracole-r, It. caracollare to caracol, wheel about: see prec.]
1. intr. Of a horseman or horse: To execute a caracol or caracols. Often used loosely for ‘to caper about’. Also transf. of other animals.
1656Blount Glossogr., Caracol, to cast themselvs into a round ring, as souldiers do. 1785Sportsman's Dict., To caracol is to go in the form of half rounds. 1813Scott Trierm. ii. xix, Now caracoled the steeds in air. 1840Thackeray Catherine ii, The Captain on his..steed caracolling majestically. 1861G. Meredith Evan Harr. xli. 466 Once that sound used to set me caracoling before an abject multitude.
2. trans. To make (a horse) caracol.
1835W. Irving Tour Prairies 44 He was fond of caracolling his horse. 1845Saunders Cab. Pict., Chaucer 82 The youthful knight..caracolled his horse along the pavement.
Hence ˈcaracoling, -colling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1857) I. i. vii. vi. 205 Caracoling Bodyguards. 1843Miall Nonconf. III. 209 We crave indulgence for a little caracolling. |