英语词汇portuguese man-of-war的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

Portuguese man-of-war. This is the common name of Physalia pelagica, derisively named the Portuguese man-of-war by the English in the 18th century, when the once powerful Por- tuguese navy had gone into a state of decline. The designation is a strange one, for small as it is, the Portuguese man-of-war can be deadly. Actually not an individual animal but a colony of highly specialized polyps, it has tentacles up to 50 feet long that discharge a toxic substance that has painfully stung, paralyzed, and even killed swimmers coming into contact with them.

词汇	portuguese man-of-war
词源	Portuguese man-of-war. This is the common name of Physalia pelagica, derisively named the Portuguese man-of-war by the English in the 18th century, when the once powerful Por- tuguese navy had gone into a state of decline. The designation is a strange one, for small as it is, the Portuguese man-of-war can be deadly. Actually not an individual animal but a colony of highly specialized polyps, it has tentacles up to 50 feet long that discharge a toxic substance that has painfully stung, paralyzed, and even killed swimmers coming into contact with them.
随便看	as deaf as the mainmast as different as chalk and cheese as drunk as david-s sow as easy as shaking the drops off your john a serpent in one-s bosom as every schoolboy knows a shag on a rock ashes a shrimp short of a barbie asiatic hordes ask a silly question and you’ll get a silly answer ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country a slice off the old ham as long as grass grows and water runs as mad as ajax as maine goes so goes the nation a small cup of tea as much chance as a one-legged man at an ass-kicking contest as one man a son of a bitch-s son of a bitch a sorry sight asparagus aspasia aspen