| 释义 |
scarab|ˈskærəb|
Also 6 scarabb(e, 6–7 scarabe, 7 scarrab, -ubb.
[ad. F. scarabée, scarabee (= Pr. escaravai, Sp. escarabajo, Pg. escarabeo, scaraveo, also dim. escaravelho, It. scarabeo, also scarafaggio), ad. L. scarabæus, scarabæus. Cf. Gr. κᾱ́ραβος, dim. κᾱράβιον, also κᾱραβίς, horned beetle, stag-beetle, also sea crayfish.]
1. a. In early use, a beetle of any kind (chiefly referred to as supposed to be bred in and to feed upon dung). Now rare exc. (also scarab beetle) as applied to the scarabæid beetle, Ateuchus sacer, reverenced by the ancient Egyptians (cf. sense 2).
1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 19 The Scarabe flies ouer many a sweete flower, and lightes in a cowshard. 1615Markham Pleas. Princ. ii. (1635) 15 A hollow Cane in which he may put them [Maggots, etc.], and Scarrabs. 1681in Phil. Collect. XII. 54 A large Scarabe, I found among Goods brought from the Indies. 1776G. White Selborne, To Barrington 3 Apr., This stomach was..stuffed..with..various insects, such as small scarabs, spiders, and dragonflies. 1845Browning Glove 34 An Arab As glossy and black as a scarab. 1904Budge 3rd & 4th Egypt. Rooms Brit. Mus. 187 A deceased king is said to have entered the boat of the Sun in the form of the scarab.
attrib.1582Lyly To Author in T. Watson's Poems (Arb.) 29 Not vnlike vnto..the Scarab flies, which enter into the roote and neuer touch the rinde. 1921C. A. Ealand Insect Life vi. 179 We do not possess in this country [sc. Great Britain] any of the Scarab Beetles, sacred to the ancient Egyptians. 1958‘W. Henry’ Seven Men at Mimbres Springs vii. 73 Young Sanchez [packed] a cottonwood slingshot and six or eight smooth stones suitable for anything up to bullfrogs or scarab beetles.
†b. transf. and fig. esp. as a term of abuse for a man. Obs.
c1600Distr. Emperor ii. i. in Bullen Old Pl. (1884) III. 195 But be assurd I am no scarabb for a castrells breakfast. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster iv. vii, They are the moths, and scarabes of a state. 1610― Alch. i. i, Fac. You might talke softlier, raskall. Svb. No, you scarabe, I'll thunder you, in peeces. 1676Durfey Madam Fickle ii. i. (1677) 11 Must a Man of honour wait your leisure, you Dog, and miss his necessary diversion, through the negligence of such a Scarab.
2. Antiq. A gem (of carnelian, emerald, obsidian, etc.) cut in the form of a beetle (scarabæus), having on the flat under-side a design in intaglio.
Scarabs were worn either as signet-rings or attached on a chain hung round the neck. They were common among the Egyptians, Etruscans, and the peoples of Western Asia.
1878A. S. Murray in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 640/2 But excepting the form there is singularly little in common between the scarabs of Etruria and of Egypt. 1900Petrie Dendereh 7 From a scarab found in this tomb it is probably of the XIIth Dynasty. |
