catbird
发音
How to pronounce catbird in British English:
英 [ˈkætbɜːd]
How to pronounce catbird in American English:
美 [ ˈkætbɜːrd]
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- Noun:
- any of various birds of the Australian region whose males build ornamented structures resembling bowers in order to attract females
- North American songbird whose call resembles a cat's mewing
单词词源
- catbird (n.)
- 1731, common name for the North American thrush (Dumetella Carolinensis), so called from its warning cry, which resembles that of a cat; from cat (n.) + bird (n.1). Catbird seat is a 19c. Dixieism, popularized by Brooklyn Dodgers baseball announcer Red Barber and by author James Thurber (1942)."She must be a Dodger fan," he had said. "Red Barber announces the Dodger games over the radio and he uses those expressions--picked 'em up down South." Joey had gone on to explain one or two. "Tearing up the pea patch" meant going on a rampage; "sitting in the catbird seat" means sitting pretty, like a batter with three balls and no strikes on him. [James Thurber, "The Catbird Seat," "The New Yorker," Nov. 14, 1942]
双语例句
- 1. Joe enjoys sitting in the catbird seat .
- 2. The board of directors decided to put him in the catbird seat .
- 3. Claud 's appointment as acting dean put him in the catbird seat .
- 4. A catbird , the northern mocker , lit in a tree over tom 's head , and trilled out her imitations of her neighbors in a rapture of enjoyment .