| 释义 |
▪ I. snipe, n.|snaɪp|
Forms: 4–6 snype, 4, 6 snyppe (7 snippe), 6 sknipe, 7– snipe.
[Of doubtful origin: the ME. type snīpe corresponds to a Scand. snīpa recorded in Icel. mýrisnípa, Norw. myr-, strandsnipa. It is not clear how this is related to MDu. snippe (Du. and WFris. snip), MLG. and LG. (also older Da.) snippe, G. dial. schnippe, and MDu. sneppe (Du. snep), MLG. and LG. sneppe (hence Da. sneppe, Sw. snäppa), OHG. snepha (snepfa) and snepho (G. schnepfe, obs. or dial. schneppe).]
1. a. One or other of the limicoline birds of the genus Gallinago (formerly included in the Linnæan genus Scolopax), characterized by having a long straight bill, and by frequenting marshy places; esp. G. cœlestis or media, the common English species.
c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 166 Un oysel ke est dist becaz, a snype (snyte). c1350Wynnere & Wastoure 349 Barnakes and buturs and many billed snyppes. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 35 To wodcok, snype, curlue also, The betore in fere with hom schalle goo. c1440Promp. Parv. 461/2 Snype, or snyte, byrde, ibex. 1530Palsgr. 272/1 Snyppe, a byrde, cigoigne. 1551Sc. Acts, Mary (1814) II. 484/1 Item the snype and qualȝie,..ij d. 1565Cooper, Gallinago, a wodcocke or a snype. Ibid., Rusticula minor, a sknipe. 1611Cotgr., Beccassine,..a Snite, or Snipe. 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 179 Where they perceive a Worm's Hole, as I have seen Snipes to do, there they thrust in their Bill. 1758Johnson Idler No. 33 ⁋16 Went to the common-room, and supped on the snipes with Dr. Dry. 1794T. Gisborne Walks in Forest vi. (1796) 104 The snipe flies screaming from the marshy verge. 1827D. Johnson Ind. Field Sports 36 The Calcutta market is well supplied with..snipes. 1865Tennyson On a Mourner ii, Nature..greens The swamp, where humm'd the dropping snipe.
b. With adjs., denoting species of this bird.
See also double snipe, gutter-, half-, jack-, mire-, wood-snipe.
a1705Ray Syn. (1713) 193 Gallinago Maderspatana,..the Partridge-Snipe. 1785Pennant Arct. Zool. II. 471 Finmark Snipe, Scolopax Gallinaria. 1813Bingley Anim. Biogr. (ed. 4) II. 302 It is stated, that the Common Snipes never frequent woods. 1839Audubon Ornith. Biogr. V. 583 Common American Snipe, Scolopax Wilsoni. 1843Yarrell Brit. Birds II. 621 Scolopax grisea, Brown Snipe. 1866Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 788/1 The Great Snipe, or Solitary Snipe (Scolopax or Gallinago major),..abounds in the extensive marshes of continental Europe.
c. Applied to various species of birds resembling the snipe. Chiefly with distinguishing epithets.
See also duck-snipe, jack-snipe, painted, red-breasted, robin snipe, sea-snipe, stone-, summer-snipe.
1785Latham Gen. Synop. Birds III. i. 154 *Brown Snipe... The head, neck, and scapulars, of a fine uniform cinereous brown. 1866Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 788/1 The Red-breasted Snipe, or Brown Snipe (Macrorhamphus griseus) of North America has been occasionally seen in Britain.
1785Latham Gen. Synop. Birds III. i. 155 *Dusky snipe.
1829Griffith tr. Cuvier VIII. 387 Red-shank, or *Gambet Snipe, Tringa Gambetta.
1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 200 The so-called *Pin-tailed Snipe Gallinago stenura.
1785Pennant Arct. Zool. II. 469 *Semi-palmated snipe, with a bill two inches long. 1839Audubon Ornith. Biogr. V. 585 Semipalmated Snipe or Willet, Totanus semipalmatus.
1785Latham Gen. Synop. Birds III. i. 148 *Spotted Snipe.
d. Without article, in collective sense.
1842S. Lover Handy Andy l, The delighted pointer would..dash forward to the well-known ‘bottoms’ in eager expectancy of ducks and snipe. 1845J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific iii. 29, I have often seen flocks of snipe crossing the bay. 1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 249 In woodcock and true snipe the ear appears below and not behind the eye.
2.
†a. The Egyptian ibis. Obs.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 323 Bryddes callede snypes, odious to serpentes and amiable to men.
b. As a moth-name (see quot.).
1832J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 66 The Snipe (Xylophasia scolopacina, Haworth) appears in June.
3. As an opprobrious or abusive term.
1604Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 391 For I mine owne gain'd knowledge should prophane, If I would time expend with such [a] Snipe. 1730Swift Panegyric on the Dean Misc. 1735 V. 133 Sir A―r, since you set the Pattern, No longer calls me Snipe and Slattern. 1896Crockett Grey Man xii. 84 The Earl had set a little snipe of a raggetty loon to stir her up.
4. slang.
a. pl. A pair of scissors.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Snipes, scissors. 1834Ainsworth Rookwood iii. v. (1878) 200 No slour'd hoxter my snipes could stay.
b. (See quot.)
1864Slang Dict. 238 Snipe, a long bill or account; also a term for attorneys—a race remarkable for their propensity to long bills.
c. U.S. The discarded stub of a cigar or cigarette.
1891H. Campbell Darkness & Daylight iv. 124 The ‘Snipe-Shooter’ was guilty of smoking cigar-stubs picked out of the gutter, a habit known among the boys as ‘snipe-shooting’. 1899‘J. Flynt’ Tramping ii. iv. 274 This ‘snipe’ chewing and smoking is the most popular use of tobacco in trampdom. 1914‘High Jinks, Jr.’ Choice Slang 18 Snipe, a cigar or a cigarette stub. 1939J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath x. 129 Winfield was..an inveterate collector and smoker of snipes.
d. One of a group of workers, esp. on board ship (see quots.). U.S.
1918L. E. Ruggles Navy Explained 139 Snipe—Firemen in the ‘black gang’ always refer to each other as ‘snipes’. In a gang of snipes below there is generally one dude who is known as the ‘king snipe’. He is considered the leading snipe of the watch. 1932Santa Fé Mag. XXVI. ii. 34/1 A foreman of a section gang is a Jerry or a king; a section laborer is a snipe. 1951H. Wouk Caine Mutiny xxvi. 289 A big sloppy chowhound named Wagner, a snipe, had made himself a wax impression of the cook's key. 1953M. Dibner Deep Six xv. 169 A snipe chief wearing a blue shirt and an oil-soiled khaki cap stood legs apart, drinking coffee.
e. Logging. A sloping surface or bevel cut on the fore end of a log to facilitate dragging.
1958W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 172 Snipe, a bevel hewed on the ride side of the end of a log, making it easier to pull over the skids. 1975Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 2 Mar. 13/1 He took out the long, beautiful 155-foot timbers, 18 inches at the butt and tapered with a four-foot snipe to a four-inch square point.
5. ellipt. = snipe-bill 1.
1873Iron 1 Feb. 78/2 Planes... Side snipe, per pair, 7/-.
6. Also Snipe. A type of sloop-rigged sailing boat approximately 15½ ft. long and used for racing; also, the name of this class of boat.
1931Rudder (U.S.) July 46 Snipe... Designed especially for the Rudder by William F. Crosby. Ibid. 47/1 Snipe is a design for a small racing sloop. 1941Sun (Baltimore) 20 Aug. 13/6 For the small-boat sailors races have been arranged in the following classes: Snipe, moth, penguin, winabout, Hampton, 20-foot roundbottom, 20-foot (and under) chine built knockabout. 1942E. African Ann. 1941–2 57/1 There is always some fine sailing to be had..some craft beating out into the bay or later in the evening some homeward bound ‘Snipe’ coming in before the wind. 1969H. Horwood Newfoundland xix. 149 Holyrood has a small harbour at the mouth of a brook, and a junior sailing club with instructors and racing snipes.
7. A long-range shot or attack from a sharp-shooter; the sound of a sniper's bullet. Also fig.
1969G. Macbeth War Quartet 72 The return snipe struck His mouth below the helmet. 1973E. Bullins Theme is Blackness 6 For paeans of Blackness were videoed throughout Black America, between the stoccado snipe of the assassin's slug. 1977Rolling Stone 13 Jan. 10/1 Rod Stewart..has transcended two years of snipes for his romance with actress Britt Ekland. 1977Sunday Times 3 July 17/5 The difficulty of organising a ‘snipe’ (assassination by a single gunman) in the tight security of Belfast.
8. attrib. and Comb.
a. as snipe-bog, snipe-dust, snipe-shooter, snipe-shooting, snipe-shot, etc.; also snipe-eel, (a) a species of fish belonging to the deep-sea family Nemichthyidæ; (b) the sea-pike or garfish, Belone vulgaris; snipe-fly (see quot.); snipe's-head (see quots.); † snipe-knave, a half-snipe, jack-snipe; snipe-shell (see quot. and cf. snipe-bill 2).
1844J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. xi, The road across the marshes and *snipe-bogs. 1851Kingsley Yeast viii, Those five miles of heather and snipe-bog.
1861Times 12 July, A creature who carries a smaller charge of *snipe dust in his head.
1882Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 365 Nemichthyidæ. (The *Snipe-Eels.) 1887‘J. Bickerdyke’ Angling in Salt Water 99 The Garfish,..Snipe Eel, or Sea Needle, is a long, slender fish [etc.].
1890Science-Gossip XXVI. 6 One of the larger *snipe-flies, the Empis tesselata. Notwithstanding the long snipe-like tongue or proboscis of the highly predatory Empis [etc.].
1887W. Rye Norfolk Broads 13 The finest *snipe ground in England.
1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 54/2 Species with a very long tube and without spines... Example, Murex Haustellum (*Snipe's or Woodcock's head of collectors). [Cf. snipe-bill 2.] 1889Cent. Dict., Caput gallinaginis, the snipe's head; the crista urethræ.
1590Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 60 Fourtene snypes and five *snype kneves xjd. Ibid. 61 Seventene snype kneves and foure snypes ixd. 1611Cotgr., Deux pour vn, a Snipe-knaue; so called, because two of them are worth but one Snipe.
1889Loudon's Nat. Hist. 532 The *Snipe Shell (Murex haustellus, or cornutus), so called on account of the length of the prominency coming out of the shell.
1833W. H. Maxwell Field Book 494/2 When these birds are very plenty, the *snipe-shooters never make use of a dog. 1860All Year Round No. 53. 66 The Analogist had the opportunity of studying the snipe-shooter of Albion.
1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 7 Are not such lies themselves..equal to *snipe⁓shooting? 1848Thackeray Van. Fair iii, A fine, lonely, marshy, jungly district, famous for snipe-shooting.
1822Sporting Mag. IX. 174 The best *snipe-shot complained that he had not killed more than sixty of these birds. 1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. ii. (ed. 3) 23 A gun loaded with a quantity of sand, equal in weight to a charge of snipe-shot, kicks still more. 1854Baker Rifle & Hound in Ceylon vi, I had been firing snipe shot at him.
1805Bingley Anim. Biogr. (ed. 3) II. 471 The *Snipe Tribe.
b. Forming adjs., as snipe-beaked, snipe-faced, snipe-nosed; snipe-like (also as adv.).
1812Pennant's Brit. Zool. III. 190 Trumpet Fish..[marg.] Snipe nosed. 1850James Old Oak Chest III. 45 A little snipe-faced man. 1857J. Miller Alcohol (1858) 55 He who lives thus snipelike by suction. 1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 252 A very snipe-like bird. 1895Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. IV. 494 Snipe-beaked sandpipers. 1968M. Woodhouse Rock Baby xvi. 157, I took the Allen Keys and a small pair of snipe-nosed pliers. 1969Gloss. Terms Dentistry (B.S.I.) 48 Snipe-nosed pliers, pliers with square nosed flat beaks... Used for bending wire.
▪ II. snipe, v.|snaɪp|
[f. snipe n. 1.]
1. trans. To shoot or fire at (men, etc.), one at a time, usu. from cover and at long range; to pick off (a person) in this manner. Also fig.
1782G. Selwyn Let. in 15th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. VI. 621 Now people have been shot by platoons and in corps, the individual will be popped at or sniped, as they call it, from time to time. 1895Edin. Rev. Jan. 14 The Indian soldier has been called on to be ‘sniped’ by fugitive dacoits. 1900Daily News 30 Apr. 5/4 The other positions were sniped.
2. a. intr. To fire as in snipe-shooting; to shoot at an enemy in this manner (cf. prec.). Also with at and away.
1832Oriental Sporting Mag. May (1882) II. 291/2 They were all found among high cliffs, and we generally sniped at them from a considerable height. 1844tr. Mir Hussain Ali's Life Tipu xiv. 179 The Kuzzaks..remained all night attacking, or sniping and throwing rockets into the English camp. 1897Daily News 4 Sept. 5/4 The enemy sniped away all day without effect. 1901Scotsman 6 Apr. 9/5 Three hundred Boers hung on the rearguard, sniping but refusing battle.
b. fig. To assault with harsh sly criticism; to rebuke or censure sharply; to make a carping attack at (someone).
1892[implied at sniping vbl. n. 1 b]. 1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. xvi. 343 Although adult factions may have made peace with each other, their children on the way to school may continue sniping at each other for generations. 1979‘A. Hailey’ Overload i. xiv. 79 The press representatives had eaten and imbibed with gusto, then in published reports, some had sniped at GSP & L for extravagant entertaining at a time of rising utility bills.
3. trans. Logging. To cut a snipe or bevel on (a log) to ease dragging.
1870Overland Monthly 5 July 56/1 The fourth man is the ‘hook-tender’, whose duties are to wait on the team and ‘snipe the logs’. 1902N.Z. Illustr. Mag. V. 375 If the weather is favourable, the log is ‘sniped’ or rounded at one end, an iron grip driven into it, and to this the team is fastened. 1958W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 173 Snipe,..to hew a snipe on the end of a log. Snipe for the ride, to put the snipe on the side of the log which would ride on the bottom, saving the work of sniping a bevel around the entire end of the log.
4. trans. and intr. To pilfer, steal; to pick up or obtain (from the roadside, etc.); spec. to prospect for gold, as in old diggings. Cf. sniper 3. slang (chiefly N. Amer.).
1909R. W. Service Ballads of Cheechako 122, I panned and I panned in the shiny sand, and I sniped on the river bar; But I know, I know, that it's down below that the golden treasures are. 1923J. Manchon Le Slang 280 Snipe, escamoter [sc. to steal, filch]. 1932J. T. Farrell Young Lonigan iv. 169 He walked down to Fifty-seventh St, furtively looked round to see if anyone saw him, and when the coast was clear, he sniped a butt from the street. 1974F. W. Ludditt Campfire Sketches of Cariboo vi. 27 They..made small amounts of money sniping for gold. 1977New Yorker 20 June 81/1 He ‘sniped’ a lot of his gold—just took it from likely spots without settling down to the formalities of a claim. |