| 释义 |
▪ I. dell1|dɛl|
[ME. delle, corresp. to MDu. and MLG. delle, mod.Du. del, MHG. and mod.G. telle:—WGer. *daljâ- or *deljôn- fem., deriv. of *dalo-, OLG. dal, dale; root meaning ‘deep or low place.’ Cf. also Goth. ibdalja, and OE. æfdæl, descent. (Dell bears nearly the same etymological relation to dale, that den does to dean.)]
†1. A deep hole, a pit. Obs.
1531Elyot Gov. ii. ix, Curtius..enforsed his horse to lepe in to the dell or pitte. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 51 Thilke same..Ewe..Fell headlong into a dell [gloss, a hole in the ground]. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) II. 889/1 He met with dells or other deep holes. 1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) 1, A dell, fossa.
2. A deep natural hollow or vale of no great extent, the sides usually clothed with trees or foliage.
c1220Bestiary 5 Bi wilc weie so he [ðe leun] wile To dele niðer wenden. c1420Anturs of Arth. i, On a day thay hom dyȝt into the depe dellus. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 17 The deip durandlie draif in mony deip dell. 1610Fletcher Faithf. Shepherdess ii. ii, Yon same dell, O'ertopp'd with mourning cypress and sad yew Shall be my cabin. 1634Milton Comus 312 Every alley green, Dingle, or bushy dell. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxviii, Disputing..on the situation of a dell where they meant to form an ambuscade. 1798Coleridge Fear in Solitude, A green and silent spot, amid the hills, A small and silent dell! 1845Baroness Bunsen in Hare Life II. iii. 86 Miss Gurney's cottage is in a sheltered dell, with woods on each side.
transf.1812Southey in Omniana I. 54 Young ladies would do well to remember, that if laughter displays dimples, it creates dells.
▪ II. dell2 Rogues' Cant. arch.|dɛl|
A young girl (of the vagrant class); a wench.
1567Harman Caveat 75 A Dell is a yonge wenche, able for generation, and not yet knowen..by the vpright man. 1621B. Jonson Gipsies Metamorph. Wks. (Rtldg.) 624/1 Sweet doxies and dells, My Roses and Nells, Scarce out of your shells. 1630Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 112/1 She's a Priests Lemman, and a Tinkers Pad, Or Dell, or Doxy, (though the names be bad). 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. iii. §68 Dells, trulls, dirty Drabs. 1834H. Ainsworth Rookwood iii. v, ‘Sharp as needles’, said a dark-eyed dell.
▪ III. dell(e
obs. form of deal. |