| 释义 |
clapperclaw, v. arch. or dial.|ˈklæpəklɔː|
[app. to claw with a clapper, though in what precise sense, is not clear.]
1. trans. To claw or scratch with the open hand and nails; to beat, thrash, drub. (Jamieson says ‘To fight at arm's length, to strike a blow as a spider at a fly’.)
1590Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. D ij b, You should see me so clapper-claw him. 1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. iii. 67 He will Clapper-claw thee tightly (Bully). 16091st Qo. Shaks. Tr. & Cr. Epist. ⁋2 A new play, neuer stal'd with the Stage, neuer clapper-clawd with the palmes of the vulger. 1690B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Clapperclaw'd, beat soundly, or paid off in earnest. 1805Ann. Rev. III. 622 Representing the Cacodæmons flogging and clapper⁓clawing them. 1855Robinson Whitby Gloss., Clapper⁓claw'd, pawed with the open hand, clawed and belaboured.
2. fig. To revile, abuse.
1692Dennis Poems in Burlesque Ded. 3 Till ev'ry Ship with its great Name, By being Clapperclaw'd became An Irony and Jest of Fame. 1846C. F. Cornwallis Lett. (1864) 292 While we expected to be clapper-clawed, there was courage in braving it and speaking the truth.
Hence clapperclawer, one who clapperclaws, a reviler; clapperclawing vbl. n.
1806Southey in C. Southey Life III. 8 By the Living Jingo..I would give him a most righteous clapper-clawing. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1849) 369 Two furious tom-cats on the point of a clapper-clawing. 1873F. Hall Mod. English Pref. xiv, A wholesale sponsor..of superficial conceits, whose clientry of clapper-clawers, misrepresenting the character of my strictures, etc. 1887Besant The World went xxxvii. 257 The clapperclawings, rubs, and buffets, etc. |