| 释义 |
conch|kɒŋk, kɒnʃ|
[ad. L. concha bivalve shell, a. Gr. κόγχη mussel or cockle, shell-like cavity, etc. Cf. It. conca, Pr. conca, concha, Sp. and Pg. concha, F. conque (16th c.), formerly also conche. The earlier Eng. form was perh. conche, pl. conches, from Fr.: many pronounce (kɒnʃ, ˈkɒnʃɪz). In L. the name was extended to other shells, as a whelk, a snail-shell, the shell-shaped Triton's trumpet, etc., and these senses passed into the modern langs.]
1. A shell-fish: originally a bivalve such as the mussel or oyster; in later times more frequently a large gastropod, esp. Strombus gigas.
[1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxvi. (1495) 464 Al that fysshe wyth the shelles ben callyd Conche and Conchillia.] c1520Andrew Noble Lyfe in Babees Bk. 232 As the mone growth or waneth, so be the conches or muscles fulle or nat full, but smale, & there be many sortes of conches or musclys, but the best be they that haue the perles in. 1707Sloane Jamaica I. p. xvii, Turtle feed on conches or shell fish. 1750G. Hughes Barbadoes 275 The conchs are often seen to feed upon them. 1782P. H. Bruce Mem. xii. 424 Their shell-fish are conques, perriwinkles, etc. 1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. I. ix. 296 Helmets, Rock-shells, Strombs, and other conchs.
2. The shell of a mollusc; esp. the spiral shell of any of the larger gastropods.
1774J. Bryant Mythol. I. 405 The conchs of the sea, which every strand afforded. 1775White in Phil. Trans. LXV. 263 The owner..furnished the bringer with a large shell or conch. a1844Campbell Poems, View fr. St. Leonard's 94 The coral-groves—the shores of conch and pearl. 1863Wynter Subtle Brains, The domicile he [the hermit crab] generally prefers is the spiral conch of some defunct whelk.
3. Such a shell used as an instrument of call, as in Hindu temples and West Indian plantations. esp. That with which Roman Mythology provided the Tritons as a trumpet.
1764J. Grainger Sugar Cane iv. 163 What time the conch or bell resounds. 1784Cook's Voy. (1790) VI. 1991 We heard conchs blowing in various parts of the coast. 1791E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 83 Emerging Tritons..Sound their loud conchs. 1828W. Irving Columbus (1849) III. 72 They brandished their weapons, sounded their conchs, and prepared to make battle. 1870G. W. Dasent Annals I. 63 It was a mingling of tom-toms and conches, huge shells, etc. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets x. 336 Tritons..sounding a marriage song on their long-winding conchs.
4. An ancient Roman vessel [L. concha], used for oil, salt, etc. Also fig.
1839Landor Giovanna Wks. 1846 II. 348 To fill the conch Of song up to the brim. 1860T. Martin Horace 75 Let rich ointments flow From amplest conchs.
5. Archit. The domed roof of a semicircular apse; also, the apse as a whole.
1849Freeman Archit. 176 There are no smaller cupolas or conchs. 1855Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) IX. xiv. viii. 278 The space between the end of the Nave and the conch or apse. 1861A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. v. 154 The conch of the apse displayed the gigantic..effigy of the Saviour in judgment. 1864in Webster.
6. Anat. The external ear; = concha 4 a.
1836Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 598/2 In most of the insectivorous Bats the conch of the ear is enormously large. 1847Youatt Horse vi. 122 This cartilage, the conch or shell, is attached to the head by ligaments.
7. a. Bahamas slang. A West Indian. b. U.S. local. A ‘poor white’ of the Florida Keys or North Carolina, esp. one of Bahamian origin. (Also written conk, etc.)
1833Blackw. Mag. Feb. 173 Mr. Gelid, a conch, or native of the Bahamas, was the same yawning, drawling, long-legged Creole, as ever. 1861N.Y. Tribune 27 Nov. (Bartlett 1877), A Negro on this Key..is a more successful cultivator of the soil than all the rebel concks together. 1875Circular No. 8, War Dept. 1 May 144 The white Americans form a comparatively small proportion of the population of Key West, the remainder being Bahama negroes, Cuban refugees, and white natives of the Bahamas and their descendants, classified here under the general title of Conchs. 1877Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 4), Konck or Conks, wreckers are so called, familiarly at Key West; and the place they inhabit is called Koncktown. 1888Powles Land of Pink Pearl 115 If it wasn't for the soldiers, we would cut the throats of every white Conch in Nassau. 1936Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) vii. iv. 378 The inhabitants [at Key West] have invented the usual opprobrious terms for one another, e.g., conch (a West Indian). 1937Hemingway To have & have Not i. i. 32 How some of that gang that hangs around the dock would be pleased... It certainly would make some Conchs happy. 1962S. J. Flynn Florida iii. 85 Keys natives are nicknamed ‘Conchs’.
8. Comb. conch-shell = sense 2, 3; also conch-trumpet; conch-like adj., etc.
1697W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. vii. 168 They [hogs] feed in the woods in the day time, and at night come in at the sounding of a Conch-shell. 1707Sloane Jamaica I. p. xvii, The swine come home every evening..on the third sound of a conch shell. 1802M. Edgeworth Grateful Negro Wks. (1832) 240 The conch-shell sounded to call the negroes to work. 1878J. Buller 40 Years in New Zeal. i. viii. 61 The large conch shell, which was their war trumpet. 1885A. Brassey The Trades 303 They gave me some fine ‘king’, ‘queen’, and ‘common’ conch shells.
1864Engel Mus. Anc. Nat. 78 The conch-trumpet, called in Hindoostan sankh—an instrument..of high antiquity. 1865Ecclesiologist Feb. 9 The apse with its conch-like roof.
9. A shell-shaped part of a concher-machine, used in making chocolate.
1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §448. |