| 释义 |
ˈrainmaker, rain-maker
[f. rain n.1 + maker.]
a. A member of a tribal community believed or claiming to be able to procure rain by the use of magic.
b. One who attempts to cause rainfall by a technique such as seeding. Hence ˈrain-making n. and a.
1775Adair Amer. Ind. 89 The old women were less honest in paying their rain-makers. 1775J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 87 Rain-making, in the Cheerake mountains, is not so dangerous an office, as in the rich level lands of the Chikkasah country, near the Mississippi. 1856Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. i. 25 The poor African, who..seeks the conjurations of the rainmaker. 1889Rider Haggard Allan's Wife 158 This old rain-making savage. 1890J. Frazer Golden Bough I. i. 13 The third, who was called ‘the rain-maker’, had a bunch of twigs with which he sprinkled water from a vessel. 1903Folk-lore Sept. 252 The sorcerers..are capable of rain-making, sun-making, and wind-making. 1930E. R. B. Gribble 40 Yrs. with Aborigines ix. 87 One old fellow was a noted rain⁓maker. 1934V. G. Childe New Light Most Anc. East i. 10 These are ruled by rain-maker magicians or by divine kings who were until recently ritually slain. 1960Times 22 Apr. 9/2 The rainmaker must try to induce artificially the formation of ice crystals. 1971Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 18 July 12/3 Here in Canada, where lawmakers are now eyeing rainmakers suspiciously, I might not have been able to try at all. 1976G. A. Browne Slide (1977) 14 The Air Force had been conducting rain-making manoeuvres above the Mojave and Death Valley. 1978D. Bates in C. Allen Tales from Dark Continent vi. 88 They took chickens or pots of beer to a rain-maker in order to pray for rain. |