| 释义 |
snow-man
Also snowman.
[f. snow n.1 Cf. Fris. snieman, G. schneeman, Da. snemand.]
1. a. A mass of snow made into the figure of a man. Also transf., a man dressed so as to represent or imitate this.
1827Clare Sheph. Cal. 3 Making rude forms of various names, Snow-men, or aught his fancy frames. 1902Westm. Gaz. 26 Sept. 7/2 Six men, dressed in wadding and representing musical snowmen.
attrib. and Comb.1902Academy 27 Dec. 712/1 The daylight passed in snowman-making on the meadow.
b. Archæol. Used attrib. and absol. to designate a technique of clay-modelling (see quot. 1955) or the figurines so produced.
1908S. A. Cook Relig. Anc. Palestine iii. 31 Small idols..in the clumsy ‘snow-man’ technique. 1955L. Woolley Alalakh viii. 244 The vast majority [of figurines]..were hand⁓modelled more or less in the round in what is called the ‘snow-man’ technique, i.e. the clay is pinched into shape with the fingers and details are added by sticking on small pellets of clay, as well as by incision with a blunt stick or..by dotted lines made with a roulette. 1962D. Harden Phoenicians. ii. 42 The site..has produced remains of the seventh century, including some surprisingly primitive snow-man figurines of clay. 1974J. Chesterman Classical Terracotta Figures ii. 29 A group from Cyprus.., known as ‘snowmen’, was being produced in relative abundance... I think they are jolly little fellows with their peaked caps, pointed beards and stumpy arms.
c. Used attrib. and absol. to designate a type of pottery figure (see quot. 1957).
1931D. MacAlister in William Duesbury's London Account Bk. 1751–53 p. xxv, I have illustrated several figures in white porcelain... Certain figures of the ‘snow⁓man’ type belong to this class. 1933Trans. Eng. Ceramic Circle I. 46 The ‘snow man’ bag-piper... Another ‘snow man’ in white porcelain... He looks like a poilu, but may be meant for a Chinaman. 1957Mankowicz & Haggar Encycl. Eng. Pottery & Porcelain 205/1 ‘Snowman’ figures, porcelain figures heavily glazed with a thick, opaque, glassy glaze, obscuring the modelling,..now known..to be the production of William Littler of Longton Hall, or of Jenkinson at the same works. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia IX. 303/2 Snowman porcelain... Called snowmen because of their thick white enveloping glaze, they include figures of human beings and animals.
2. dial. The snow-bunting.
1893H. T. Cozens-Hardy Broad Norf. 49.
3. Abominable Snowman: see abominable a. 1 c. Also simply snowman.
1931J. Cannan Ithuriel's Hour iv. 131 His gods, to say nothing of hairless Snow Men, and the shades of his ancestors. 1937Times 31 Dec. 8/3 Mr. Smythe says that the snowman superstition is known only to the Tibetan or semi-Tibetan peoples. 1959Times 8 Jan. 13/5 In the case of the famous Himalayan ‘snowman’ the evidence..seems to point to the existence of perhaps two unknown species..of anthropoid ape.
4. U.S. slang. One who snows (snow v. 4 b) someone.
1967P. McGirr Murder is Absurd iii. 44 You're a great snow man, Warren. But I'm not in dreamland yet. 1977Amer. Speech 1975 L. 66 Snowman, male who easily wins the affections of females. |