| 释义 |
▪ I. cony, coney, n.|ˈkəʊnɪ, ˈkʌnɪ|
Pl. conies (coneys). Forms: α. 2 cunin, 3 konyng, 4–5 conyng(e, 5 conninge, -ynge, konyne, 5–6 cunning, cunyng, -ing; β. 2 cunig, 4 conig, 5 connyg; γ. 6–7 conie, conye, connie, -ye, conny, conney, cunnie, cunney, 6–8 cunny, 4– cony, 6– coney.
[c gray][The current form represents OF. conil, connil, cogn. w. Pr. conil, Sp. conejo, Pg. coelho, It. coneglio:—L. cunīcul-us rabbit (also burrow, underground passage, military mine), according to ancient authors a word of Spanish origin. The OF. pl. (with l suppressed) coniz, later conis, gave an Eng. pl. conys, conies, and this a singular cony, conie. The ME. cunin, konyne, conyng was a. OF. conin, connin, Anglo-Fr. coning, a parallel form to conil, which gave also MDu. conijn, Du. konijn, and, with a for o, LG. kanîn, whence mod.G. dim. kaninchen. In Eng. the form cunyng, cunning came down to the 16th c.; but from the 12th c. onward it varied also with cunig, conig, connyg. The historical pronunciation is with (ʌ[/c]); common spellings from 16th to 18th c. were cunnie, cunney, cunny, and the word regularly rimed with honey, money, as indicated also by the spelling coney; but during the 19th c. the pronunciation with long ō has gradually crept in.
This pronunciation is largely due to the obsolescence of the word in general use, while it occurred in the Bible, and esp. in the Psalms, as the name of a foreign animal (sense 3); the oral tradition being broken, readers guessed at the word from the spelling. It is possible, however, that the desire to avoid certain vulgar associations with the word in the cunny form, may have contributed to the preference for a different pronunciation in reading the Scriptures. Walker knew only the cunny pronunciation; Smart (1836) says ‘it is familiarly pronounced cunny’, but cōny is ‘proper for solemn reading’. The obsolescence of the word is also a cause of the unfixed spelling; the Bible of 1611 has conie, cony, conies, modern editions coney, conies (cf. money, monies), an irregularity retained in the Revision of 1885.
The rabbit is evidently of late introduction into Britain and Northern Europe: it has no native name in Celtic or Teutonic, and there is no mention of it in England before the Norman period; in the quotations the fur, perhaps imported, appears before the animal. The Welsh cwning, cwningen, is from ME.; the Irish coinnín, and Gaelic coinean, coinein from ME. or AFr.]
1. a. A rabbit: formerly the proper and ordinary name, but now superseded in general use by rabbit, which was originally a name for the young only. b. Still retained in the Statutes, and in more or less familiar use with game-keepers, poachers, game-dealers and cooks: in market reports, now usually meaning a wild rabbit. c. It is also the name in Heraldry. d. dial. In some districts applied to a young rabbit, but elsewhere more properly to an old one.
α, β [1292Britton i. xxii. §1 De veneysoun et de pessoun et des coniys [v.r. conys, coninz, conyns]. ]c1302in Pol. Songs (Camden) 191 We shule flo the Conyng, ant make roste is loyne. c1350Will. Palerne 182 Y-charged wiþ conyng & hares. 1352Minot Poems viii. 75 Haue we nowþer conig ne cat. a1400Morte Arth. 197 Connygez in cretoyne colourede fulle faire. c1400Rom. Rose 7046 With conynges, or with fyne vitaille [Fr. connis lardés en paste]. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 209 Of Capounis and Cunningis they had plentie. 1587Sc. Acts Jas. VI, §59 The slayers and schutters of Hart, Hinde, Da, Rae, Haires, Cunninges, & vthers beasts. 1597Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 18, I saw the cunning and the cat, Quhais downis with the dew was wat.
γ1292[see α, β]. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 15750 Ffond þey neuere hert ne hynde..Ne hare, cony [v.r. conyng], ffowen, no ro. c1381Chaucer Parl. Foules 193 The litel conyes to her pley gunne hye. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (1495) 742 Conees and hares and other suche. c1440Promp. Parv. 421 Rabet, yonge conye, cunicellus. 1575Turberv. Venerie lxiii. 178 The Conie beareth her Rabettes xxx dayes. 1611Cotgr., Counilleau, a young Rabbet, little young Connie. 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 157 The Romans, who fattened young Hares in Clappers, as we do Cunnies. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 173 Besides the wilde, which are very profitable in Warrens, tame Coneys may be kept..either in Hutches, or in Pits. 1779–81Johnson L.P., Drake Wks. IV. 432 Holes like those of coneys. 1848Lytton Harold xii. i, You might see..the hares and conies stealing forth to sport or to feed. 1885R. Buchanan Annan Water viii, Conies, like elfin things, gambolled in the grass before her.
b.c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 447 Þe cony, ley hym on þe bak in þe disch, if he haue grece. 1466Mann. & Househ. Exp. 435 Item, for a shulder of motone, a brest, and a cony, viij.d. 1598Stow Surv. xxx. (1603) 265 A signe of three Conies hanging ouer a Poulters stall. 1785South Cave Inclos. Act. 33 No person shall turn out or stock with conies or rabbits any part of the lands. 1789Bath Jrnl. 22 June, Mr. Welbore Ellis brought in a Bill for the better preservation of Conies. a1839Praed Poems (1864) I. 133 And filled her kitchen every day With leverets and conies. 1867Wigan Observer 23 Feb., On Monday, at Southport..two young men..were charged with trespassing in search of coneys. 1883Standard 28 July 6/7 Leverets 2/6d. to 3/6d., conies 8d. to 10d. [1890Salesman in Oxford Market, ‘Wild rabbits we call conies.’]
c.1610J. Guillim Heraldry 148 He beareth Argent, three Conies, Sable. 1641Yorke Union Hon. Suppl. 18, 3 Conies currant argent. 1882Cussans Heraldry 89 A Hare or Rabbit (heraldically termed Coney).
d.1688R. Holme Armoury ii. vii. 132 A conie, 1 a Rabett, and after an old Cony. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Old-Coney, after the first Year. 1876Mid-Yorksh. Gloss., Coney, usually applied to a young rabbit.
e. (without pl.). The flesh of the rabbit.
1538Bale Thre Lawes 487 They wyll durty puddynges eate, For wante of befe and conye [rime-wds. monye, honye, sunny]. 1586Cogan Haven Health cxxxv. (1636) 136 Conie..so plentifull a meate in this land.
2. a. The skin or fur of the rabbit. (The earliest recorded use in Eng.) Obs. or dial.
a1200Moral Ode 361 Ne scal þer beo fou ne grei ne cunig [v.r. cunin, konyng] ne ermine. 1413Will of Morys (Somerset Ho.), j pylche de conynge. 1514Fitzherb. Just. Peas (1538) 122 None of the clergye..weare any maner furrs, other than the blacke cony, bogy, gray cony, etc. c1524Churchw. Acc. St. Mary Hill, London (Nichols 1797) 124 A rosset old gowne with old blak conney. a1625Fletcher Noble Gent. v. i, A quiver of your grace's linde with Cunney. c1640J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) I. 305 All of them of cloth, and furred with Coney. 1877Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss., Conies, rabbit-skins.
b. A hat made of rabbit-fur (in place of beaver). U.S.
1855Barnum Life 99 If a ‘pedler’ wanted to trade with us for a box of beaver hats,..he was sure to obtain a box of ‘coneys’.
3. In O.T. used to translate Hebrew shāphān, a small pachyderm (Hyrax Syriacus), living in caves and clefts of the rocks in Palestine.
14..Wyclif Lev. xi. 5 (MS. N. c1420) A cirogrille, ether a conyng [v.r. or a cony]. 1535Coverdale Ps. ciii. [civ.] 18 The hilles are a refuge for the wylde goates, and so are the stony rockes for y⊇ conyes. 1568Bible (Bishops') Prov. xxx. 26 The conies are but a feeble folke, yet make their boroughes among the rocks. 1611― Deut. xiv. 7 The camel, and the hare, and the cony [mod. edd. coney]. 1863Kingsley Water-bab. ii. (1886) 81 The beast..is first cousin to the little hairy coney of Scripture. 1873Dawson Earth & Man 248 The Modern Damans or Conies. 1885Bible (Revised) Lev. xi. 7 The Coney [marg. The Hyrax Syriacus or rock-badger.]
4. Applied also locally to the Cape Hyrax or Das (Hyrax Capensis), and to the Pika or Calling Hare (Lagomys princeps) of the Rocky Mountains; also with qualifications to other small quadrupeds.
1555Eden Decades 134 In the citie of Dominica..connies (whiche they caule Vtias beynge no bygger then myse). Ibid. 135 This messenger deuoured three of the counnies. 1710Brit. Apollo III. No. 70. 2/1 A Guinea Pig..in Johnston's Natural History goes by the Name of a Spanish Coney. 1796Stedman Surinam II. xxii. 153 The long-nosed Cavy..or Indian Coney. In Surinam..there is still another species of the Agouti, called the Indian Rat-Coney, on account of its having a long tail. 1834Pringle Afr. Sk. vi. 204 Rocky ravines inhabited by..the das or coney. 1865Livingstone Zambesi vii. 162 Afterwards brought us..a roasted coney. 1891Daily News 9 Nov. 5/5 Among the novelties lately added to the collection of living animals in the Regent's Park is a coney or hyrax belonging to a different species.
†5.
a. A term of endearment for a woman. Obs.
a1528Skelton El. Rummyng 225 He calleth me his whytyng, His nobbes and his conny. a1553Udall Royster D. (Arb.) 27 Ah sweete lambe and coney. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 181 Iane thou sellest sweete conies in this pultry shoppe: But none so sweete as thy selfe, sweete conye moppe. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burn. Pestle Induct., Wife..Husband, Husband. Cit. What sayst thou Conie?
b. Also indecently.
1591Troub. Raigne K. John (1611) 52 Now for your ransome my cloyster-bred conney. 1622Massinger Virg. Mart. ii. i, A pox on your Christian cockatrices! They cry, like poulterers' wives, ‘No money, no coney’. 1631Dekker Match me i. Wks. 1873 IV. 137. 1719 D'Urfey Pills VI. 198.
†6. A dupe, a gull; the victim of the ‘cony-catcher’. Obs.
1592Greene Art Conny-Catch. 13 In Coni-catching law He that is coosned [is called] the Connie. 1592― Def. Conny-Catch. (1859) 18 An old Cony catcher..that could lurtch a poor Conny of so many thousands at one time. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Cony, a silly Fellow. 1730–6Bailey (folio) s.v. Cony, Tom-Cony (with the Vulgar), a very silly fellow.
7. a. Some kind of shell-fish; ? a cone. b. A name for the Nigger-fish (Epinephelus punctatus) of the West Indies.
1782P. H. Bruce Mem. xii. 424 Their shell-fish are conques, perriwinkles, coneys, etc. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 412 The Coney, Epinephelus apua, of Key West, the Hind of Bermuda, is an important food-fish which occurs throughout the West Indies.
8. attrib. and Comb., as cony-coop, cony-fur, cony-kind, cony-skin, cony-stealer, cony-white; † cony-cheaping, a rabbit-market; † cony-clapper (see clapper n.2); † cony-close, a cony-warren; † cony-dog (slang), a person who assists in ‘cony-catching’; † cony-gat, a rabbit burrow; † cony-ground, a cony-warren; † cony-man, ? a rabbit-catcher; † cony-pear (see quot.); † cony-vaulted a., having a winding cavity, like a cony-burrow; † cony-yard = cony-garth.
1421in Liber Cust. (Rolls) 344 De Paternosterlane usque *Conichepynge [in the neighbourhood of St. Paul's].
1530Palsgr. 208/1 Cony hole or *clapar, taisniere. 1572T. Wilson Usury, The poore gentleman is caught in the cony clapper.
a1449Paston Lett. No. 58. I. 71 Yt happyd hym..in the *Konyneclosse.
a1643W. Cartwright Lady Errant v. ii, We must carry..Bird cages..And *Cony-coopes.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Tumbler..a *Coney Dog.
1708J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. i. iv. (1743) 32 England produceth..wax, tallow, *coney-furs, etc.
1591Peele Sp. Q. Eliz., Gardener's Sp., This weasel-monger, who is no better than a cat in a house, or a ferret in a *cony-gat.
1617Minsheu Duct., Conie-catcher..taken from those that vse to robbe Warrens and *Conie grounds.
1878Browning Poets Croisic 42 Classed Once more among the *cony-kind.
1590Parish Reg. H. Trin., Hull, John Blagbrowgh, *Conneyman.
1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 417 Tender or delicate pear, such as the little *Conie peare.
1664Pepys Diary (1879) III. 61, I find that a *coney skin in my breeches preserves me perfectly from galling.
1677Plot Oxfordsh. 209 The very *Cony-stealers that were abroad that night..for hast..left their Ferret in the Cony-boroughs behind them.
1575Banister Chyrurg. iii. (1585) 493 Deepe *cunniuaulted, or cavernous ulcers..make many turnings and fouldinges, out of sight.
1599Massinger, etc. Old Law iii. ii, Oh! this same *coney-white takes an excellent black.
1647Haward Crown Rev. 41 For keeping the *Cony-Yard, Fee: 18l. 5s. 0d.
▪ II. † ˈcony, coney, v. Obs. rare.
[f. the n.]
intr. To act the rabbit.
1611Florio, Coniglieggiare, to cunnie, to play the cunnie, to bee fearefull and lurke in holes. |