| 释义 |
ˈsweet-ˌbrier, -ˌbriar
(Also as two words.) Forms: see sweet a. and brier n.1
A species of rose, the Eglantine, Rosa rubiginosa (and some other species, as R. micracantha), having strong hooked prickles, pink single flowers, and small aromatic leaves; freq. cultivated in gardens.
1538Turner Libellus, Cynorrhodos..swete brere aut Eglentyne. 1548― Names Herbes 33 Cynorrhodus named of the latines Rosa canina, is called in englishe a swete brere or an Eglentyne. 1625Bacon Ess., Gardens (Arb.) 562 Some Thickets, made onely of Sweet-Briar, and Honny⁓suckle, and some Wilde Vine amongst. a1631Donne Epicedes, Elegie on the L.C. 9 If a sweet briar, climbe up by a tree. 1774G. White Selborne, To Pennant 2 Sept., The fly-catcher..builds in a vine, or a sweet-brier. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 467 In the Garden Sweet-briar the leaves [are] beset above with very short hairs, oval-eggshaped. 1802Bloomfield Rur. Tales, Dolly 45 The sweet-brier op'd its pink-ey'd rose, And gave its fragrance to the gale.
allusively.1599Massinger, etc. Old Law ii. ii, 2 Court. O sweet precious bud of beauty! Troth, she smells over all the house, methinks. 1 Court. The sweetbriar's but a counterfeit to her—It does exceed you only in the prickle.., lady. 1638Ford Fancies ii. ii, Bill, pigeon, do; thou'st be my cat-a-mountain, and I thy sweet-briar, honey.
attrib.1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 467 Rosa..eglanteria... Sweet-briar Rose. 1857G. Bird's Urin. Deposits (ed. 5) 236 The sweet-briar odour was frequently present. 1884Miller Plant-n., Bedeguar, or Sweet Briar Sponge, a gall found on the Sweet Briar and other Roses. 1900H. Sutcliffe Shameless Wayne xiii. (1905) 179 The sweetbriar hedges.
Hence sweet-briery a., full of sweet-brier.
1828Moore ‘We may roam through this world’ ii, The wild sweet-briery fence. |