river horse

英語

其他形式

• river-horse, riverhorse

詞源

仿譯自古希臘語 ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos)，等價於 river +‎ horse。對照中古英語 water hors (“河馬”)。

名詞

river horse (複數 river horses)

1. (過時) 河馬
   • 1808, Thomas Shaw, Travels Or Observations:

     The river-horse feeds upon the herbage of the Nile, and the behemoth is said to eat grass like an ox.

     河馬以尼羅河的草本植物為食，據說這頭龐然大物像牛一樣吃草。

   • 1849, Currer Bell [筆名; Charlotte Brontë], “The Winding-Up”, 出自 Shirley. A Tale. […], 第 III 卷, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC，第 303 頁:

     Liverpool started and snorted like a river-horse roused amongst his reeds by thunder.

     利物浦嚇了一跳，噴著鼻息，就像一頭河馬在蘆葦叢中被雷聲驚醒。

   • Template:RQ:Melville Moby-Dick
   • 1909, George Meredith, The Palace of Aklis:

     Here, before a feast that would prick the dead with appetite, were shapes of beasts with heads of men, asses, elephants, bulls, horses, swine, foxes, riverhorses, dromedaries; […]

     在這裡，在一場會讓死者胃口大開的盛宴之前，有一些動物的形狀，有人頭、驢頭、大象、公牛、馬、豬、狐狸、河馬、單峰駱駝； […]