| 释义 |
prick-eared, a.|ˈprɪkˌɪəd|
[app. f. prick n. (branch V) + eared: see Note below.]
1. a. Having erect ears: spec. of dogs. Also, of corn or wheat.
c1420? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 328 And at hys feete lay a prykeryd curre. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §77 The .ix. propertyes of a foxe. The fyrste is: to be prycke eared, the seconde to be lytell eared. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. i. 44 Pish for thee, Island dogge: thou prickeard cur of Island. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 285 By this..you may make any lave-ear'd Horse, to be as prick-ear'd and comely, as any other Horse whatsoever. 1637G. Daniel Genius Isle 23 Here the ffawnes And prick-ear'd Satires shall your Groves frequent. a1873S. Wilberforce Ess. (1874) I. 45 Any prick-eared tree-inhabiting monkey. 1877G. Stables Pract. Kennel Guide (ed. 3) vii. §3. 81 Dogs both prick-eared and drooping are often found in the same litter. 1922Blunden Shepherd 81 From the young corn the prick-eared leverets stare At strangers come to spy the land. 1940C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Georgics i. 25 The dangers of showery spring, When the prick-eared harvest already bristles along the plains. 1946L. B. Lyon Rough Walk Home 11 Prick-eared, he lurks To leeward, patiently bold.
†b. Applied opprobriously (with pun) to prick-song. Obs.
1519Interl. Four Elem. (Percy Soc.) 50 For me thynkyth it servyth for no thyng, All suche pevysh prykyeryd song! Pes, man, pryksong may not be dispysyd.
c. fig. Having the ears pricked or erected in attention; hence, attentive, alert.
1550Bale Apol. 141 b, These prycke eared prynces myghte truste those vowers, as hawkes made to theyr handes. 1608Middleton Mad World iii. ii. 181 Jealousy is prick-eared, and will hear the wagging of a hair. 1682H. More Annot. Glanvill's Lux O. 184 The prick-eared Acuteness of that trim and smug saying. 1897S. S. Sprigge T. Wakley I. 500 A prick-eared public official.
2. Of a man: Having the hair cut short and close, so that the ears are prominent; a nickname applied in the 17th century to the Puritans or ‘Roundheads’; whence opprobriously, priggish.
1641in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 482 The said Captain Hide said,..that they were a company of prick eared and cropt eared Rascals, and that he would believe a Papist before a Puritan. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Prickear'd Fellow, a Crop, whose Ears are longer than his Hair. 1707Hearne Collect. 21 Nov. (O.H.S.) II. 74 These Prickear'd, starch, sanctify'd Fellows. 1752Foote Taste ii. Wks. 1799 I. 21, I adore the simplicity of the antients! How unlike the present, priggish, prick ear'd puppets! 1872Geo. Eliot Middlem. xvi, Fred Vincy had called Lydgate a prig, and now Mr. Chicheley was inclined to call him prick-eared.
[Note. Of prick-eared, prick adj., prick-ear(s, pricked or prickt ear(s, to prick the ears, the first is much the earliest, and is app. to be compared with such formations as block-headed, bow-legged, club-footed, club-shaped, and the like, in which the first element is a n., the sense being ‘eared (i.e. having ears) like pricks’, in some early sense of prick n., e.g. 12, 13, or 14. Of the other expressions, prick ear(s is prob. a back formation from prick-eared, on the analogy of club foot, club-footed, and the like, and pricked ears, to prick the ears derived from it.] |