| 释义 |
ral, n. Newfoundland dial. Now rare.|ræl|
Also Ral, Rall.
[Of uncertain origin; prob. f. Ir. Gael. raille trickster, profligate.]
A rogue or ruffian; a trouble-maker; spec. in allusive phr. winter of the Rals (see quot. 1846).
1846P. Tocque Wandering Thoughts 137 Numbers of the inhabitants [of St. John's], rendered desperate by want, began to break open the stores... This winter [1817] is universally designated by the old inhabitants of Conception Bay as the ‘Winter of the Rals’. 1858R. Lowell New Priest in Conception Bay I. 123 The schoolmaster, who had been in the island for a good many years, said that the [tumultuous] scene ‘reminded him of the ‘Ralls’ they had years ago’. 1895D. W. Prowse Hist. Newfoundland 406 Many more incidents could be related about the winter of the ‘Rals’, or ‘Rowdies’. 1924G. A. England Vikings of Ice 236 ‘Ah, gi' lang, ye ral!’ another retorted. 1955L. E. F. English Historic Newfoundland 34 Ral [means] a disorderly fellow. 1969in Halpert & Story Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland 28 The word ‘ral’ (an Irishism) entered the Newfoundland vocabulary to distinguish a volatile element of the populace which, for several generations to come, was to play its part in history. |