| 释义 |
racoon, raccoon, n.|rəˈkuːn, ræˈkuːn|
Forms: 7 (see etym. note; also) racoone, -oune, -owne, 7–8 rackoon, (7 rack-, rockoone), 7– raccoon, 8– racoon. See also coon n. and rattoon.
[Powhatan (Virginia) dialect of Algonquian. The following quots. show more precise reproductions of the native word:
1608Capt. Smith True Relat. Wks. (Arb.) 19 Couered with a great Couering of Rahaugcums. Ibid. 23 Presents of Deare, bread, Raugroughcums. c1610W. Strachey Virginia (1849) i. x. 122 There is a beast they call arocoune, much like a badger. Ibid. 183 Dict. Ind. Lang., Arathkone, a beast like a fox. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 27 There is a beast they call Aroughcun, much like a badger. Ibid. iii. ii. 48 A great robe, made of Rarowcun skinnes.]
a. An American nocturnal carnivore of the genus Procyon. The common N. American species is P. lotor, a grayish-brown furry animal with bushy tail and sharp snout.
1619Middleton Love & Antiq. 19 Minck, Stote, Miniuer, Racoone, Moashye, Woluerine. 1632T. Morton New Eng. Canaan v. (1838) 54 The Racowne is a beast as bigg..as a Foxe, with a Bushtayle. 1672J. Josselyn New Eng. Rarities 17 The Raccoon liveth in hollow trees. 1712E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 326 Of wild Creatures, there are Raccoons, Hares, Rabbits, &c. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 333 The racoon, which some authors have called the Jamaica rat, is about the size of a small badger. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 204 They were gallant bush-whackers and hunters of racoons by moonlight. 1856Bryant Winter Piece 52 The lighter track Of fox, and the racoon's broad path, were there. 1895Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 434/2 The American raccoon..is practically a bear.
b. The skin or fur of the racoon.
1815C. Wilt Let. in J. C. Luttig Jrnl. Expedition Upper Missouri (1920) 130 Raccoon from your country will not bring 62½c in Kentucky. 1901–2T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall & Winter 42/1 Alaska Sable... Black Persian Lamb... Raccoon. 1976‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Nanny Bird ii. 28 Hefty young men clad in Timberwolf, Raccoon, Scimmia, Tibetan Yak and Natural Unplucked Nutria.
c. attrib. and Comb., as racoon-hunt, racoon-hunting, racoon-skin; racoon-berry U.S., the May-apple or mandrake (Miller, 1884); racoon-bridge (see quot. 1791); racoon-cap U.S., a cap made from the dressed skin of the racoon; racoon dog, a mammal about the size of a fox, Nyctereutes procyonoides, belonging to the family Canidæ, native to eastern Asia, and distinguished by thick greyish-brown fur and black, racoon-like markings on its head; so racoon-like dog (in same sense); racoon oyster U.S., a small, brown-shelled oyster, Ostrea frons, found in clusters off the shores of south-eastern North America.
1791W. Bartram Carolina 445 No other bridge than a sapling felled across it, which is called a *raccoon bridge.
1840Knickerbocker XVI. 163 He then made me a rakish *raccoon-cap, with a flaunting tail to it. 1848in H. Howe Hist. Coll. Ohio 151 For..several years after the war, raccoon-caps, with fur outside..were almost universally worn.
[1833J. E. Gray Illustr. Indian Zool. II. plate 1 (caption) Racoon-faced Dog.] 1868Proc. Zool. Soc. 522 *Raccoon Dog. Tail short, bushy. 1876A. R. Wallace Geogr. Distrib. Anim. I. x. 226 The quadruped figured is the curious racoon dog. 1959Times 23 Feb. 10/5 Two of the strangest members of the dog family arrived recently at the Regent's Park Zoo. They are the maned wolf..and the raccoon-dog from Siberia. 1974L. E. Bueler Wild Dogs of World 217 In Japan..the raccoon dog was once common to all the principal islands.
1864C. Geikie Life in Woods xix. (1874) 317, I remember one *racoon hunt.
1809A. Henry Trav. 131 *Racoon-hunting was my..daily employ.
1890St. G. Mivart Dogs, Jackals, Wolves, & Foxes: Monogr. Canidæ 135 The *Raccoon-like Dog is an inhabitant of Japan, the valley of the Amoor, and China. 1931Proc. Zool. Soc. 174 A female Raccoon-like Dog..lived..5 years. 1964L. S. Crandall Managem. Wild Mammals in Captivity 280 The raccoon-like dog..is a small grayish animal,..with a black facial mask which is the basis for its name.
1834J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. II. 504 Shrimps..have been detained at low water on the banks of *racoon oysters, a kind of shell-fish so named under the idea that they are eaten by that quadruped. 1854W. G. Simms Southward Ho! iii. 28 They procure the ordinary ‘racoon oyster’—the meanest of the tribe. 1883Simmonds Useful Animals, Raccoon Oysters, a variety of American oysters from Appalichicola Bay, Florida. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Usef. Aquatic Anim. 752 From..overcrowding the shells of the individual Oysters become very narrow and greatly elongated; the peculiar forms which result are known to oystermen as ‘Raccoon Oysters’ or ‘Cats-tongues’. 1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 219/1 When the mangrove grows on the outer edge of the water-line, and drops its aerial roots,..the spat of the raccoon oyster finds a lodgement.
1624*Racoon skin [see etym. note]. 1670D. Denton Descr. New York (1845) 2 Bevers, Otter, Raccoon skins, with other Furrs.
Hence raˈcoon v. intr., to walk about at night, like a racoon. nonce-wd.
1855Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xiii, She heard him pacing about (racooning, as she and Edith used to call it)..long after she began to listen as she lay in bed. |