English Collection

日頃目に付いた覚えたい英単語、慣用句などの表現についてのメモです。

wall

2010年03月02日 | 英語学習
O. Henryの短編 He Also Serves の一節です。
High Jack grabs my arm and walls his eyes at me. Just then he looked more like his eminent co-Indian murderer.
動詞の "wall" は知らないので辞書を見ます。ところが上の文に合う意味を示しているオンラインの英英辞書は次の辞書だけでした。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to roll (one's eyes) in a dramatic manner
ただもう一つの辞書に気になる次ぎの記述がありました。
・1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica
The word "wall eye" or "wall-eyed" is applied to a condition of the eye, particularly of a horse, in which there is a large amount of white showing or there is absence of colour in the iris, or there is leucoma of the cornea. It is also applied to the white staring eyes of certain fishes. The word has no connexion with "wall" as above, but is from the Icelandic vagleygr, vagl, a beam, sty in the eye, and eygr, eyed.
この意味の "wall eye" or "wall-eyed" はほとんどの辞書に説明があります。
・Dictionary.comで "wall-eyed" を見ると:
1.having eyes in which there is an abnormal amount of the white showing, because of divergent strabismus.
2.having large, staring eyes, as some fishes.
3.marked by excited or agitated staring of the eyes, as in fear, rage, frenzy, or the like: He stood there in walleyed astonishment.
4.having an eye or the eyes presenting little or no color, as the result of a light-colored or white iris or of white opacityof the cornea.
この3番目の意味はO. Henryの短編で使われた "wall one's eyes" 、あるいはMerriam-Websterに記述の意味と関係がありそうです。
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