| 单词 | water baby |
| 释义 | > as lemmaswater baby water baby n. (a) a tiny childlike being who inhabits the water in, or in allusion to, Charles Kingsley's book The Water-babies (1863; serial publication 1862–3); (b) a person who is likened to such a creature, as being happy or adept in or on the water; esp. a person, esp. a child, who loves swimming.In Kingsley's book, Tom, a chimney sweep, and other selected poor or mistreated children are turned into ‘water babies’ by fairies and given a happier existence in the water. ΚΠ 1862 C. Kingsley Water-babies ii, in Macmillan's Mag. Sept. 359/1 The fairies had turned him into a water-baby... You never heard of a water-baby. Perhaps not. That is the very reason why this story was written. 1863 Guardian 21 Sept. 3/7 A water baby might live above ground in this weather. It rains, and rains, and rains again. 1873 Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Oct. 684/1 We admire the bronzed boatman,..his stalwart giants of sons beside him, and a brave curly-headed water-baby of a boy, exhibiting such playful importance as he hauls the heavy heap of nets forward. 1929 Pop. Mech. June 1033 (caption) Bird's-eye view of the completed pool, which is never without its quota of enthusiastic ‘water babies’. 1975 C. N. Manlove Mod. Fantasy (1978) ii. 19 Together with the water-babies he travels to the submarine fairy island of St. Brandan. 2006 Tate Etc. Spring 111/1 Perhaps to appreciate this picture, one has to be a water baby—the type of person happiest when swimming, or soaking in a deep bath. < as lemmas |
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