| 释义 |
▪ I. ermine, n.|ˈɜːmɪn|
Forms: 3–7 ermin, -yn(e, (4–7 hermin, -yn, 5–7 armin, -yn(e, -yon, 6 ermion, emerine), 3– ermine.
[a. OF. (h)ermine (mod.F. hermine), cogn. with Pr. ermini, Sp. armiño (Minsheu). The remoter etymology is disputed.
Some scholars (including Kluge and Skeat) think that the Romanic word is ad. OHG. harmîn adj., ‘belonging to the ermine’, f. harmo ermine, stoat, weasel, corresp. to the synonymous OE. hearma (glossed ‘megale’ = mygale Wr.-Wülck. 32) and Lith. szermů̃ (OAryan type k'ormōn-, -en-).
A different hypothesis (favoured by Littré, Paul Meyer, and others) is that the Romanic words represent L. Armenius Armenian. The mus Ponticus, ‘Pontic rat’, mentioned by Pliny as a fur-bearing animal, is commonly supposed, though without actual proof, to be the ermine; and as Pontus and Armenia were conterminous, it has been suggested that an alternative name for the animal may have been mus Armenius. That some animal was known by this designation in the second century is rendered probable by a passage in Julius Pollux (c a.d. 180), who (Onomast. vii. 60) gives µυωτός as the name of an Armenian garment, and, amongst other conjectures as to the origin of the word, suggests that this article of dress may have been so named because made of the skins of ‘the mice (or rats) of that country’. The belief that the ermine derived its name from Armenia was common in the 14th c., and the supposition accounts quite satisfactorily for the Romanic forms of the word. If this view be correct, it involves the consequence that the resemblance in sound between ermine and OHG. harmîn was merely accidental; there may however have been an early confusion between two distinct words of similar sound and meaning.]
1. An animal of the weasel tribe (Mustela Erminea), an inhabitant of northern countries, called in England a stoat, whose fur is reddish brown in summer, but in winter (in northern regions) wholly white, except the tip of the tail, which is always black.
a1200Moral Ode in Lamb. Hom. 181 Ne scal þer beo fou ne grei · ne cunig ne ermine. c1450Guy Warw. (C.) 9085 Owt of hys mowþe wente a þynge Also whyte, as any armyne. 1530Palsgr. 217/1 Ermyne, a beest, ermyne. 1555Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 326 marg., The skynnes of sables and Ermynes. 1601Holland Pliny I. 307 The rats and mice in the country of Pontus, namely Hermins, & such like. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. xxv. §4 (1669) 322/1 The Ermine..will dye before she will be got into the dirt to defile her beautiful skin. 1744Thomson Winter 812 Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 354 The weasel may be easily distinguished from the ermine by the tip of the tail, which in the latter is always black. 1835Sir J. Ross N.W. Pass. xv. 228 An ermine came on board, quite starved. 1863C. M. Yonge Chr. Names II. 82 The pretty tale of the spotless ermine, that took refuge under his shield.
2. The fur of the ermine, often having the black tails (formerly pieces of black lamb's-wool) arranged upon it, at regular intervals, for the sake of effect. The whiteness of ermine is often referred to in poetry as an emblem of purity.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 191 Noble men, y cloþed in ermyne echone. c1400St. Alexius (Laud 622) 398 Pelured wiþ Ermyne & wiþ grijs. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 30 Hodes & cotes furred with ermyn. a1500Flower & Leaf xxxv, With cloth of gold, and furred with ermine Were the trappoures of their stedes strong. 1587Holinshed Chron. Irel. an. 1568 (R.) Princelie robes of crimson veluet doubled or lined with ermin. 1628Wither Brit. Rememb. Pref. 159 From the Fox-fur, to the spotted Ermine. 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) I. 13 Her skin by nature, No Ermin better. 1795Macneill Will & Jean iv, Strips thee of thy robes of ermine (Emblems of thy spotless life). 1855Longfellow Hiaw. xi, Shirt of doeskin..fringed with ermine.
b. pl. Trimmings, or garments, made of this fur. † Formerly also used, as in the sing. (see prec.), as a name for the material (cf. sables).
1474Caxton Chesse 16 A mantel aboue furrid with ermynes. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxxv. 151 Robes of scarlet, furred with Armyns. c1530― Arthur (1814) 273 Riche aparayle of emerines lay abrode in euery wyndowe. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Apr. 58 Yclad in Scarlot..And Ermines white. 1639Massinger Unnat. Combat iii. ii, I've charged thro' fire that would have singed your sables, Black fox, and ermines. a1700Dryden (J.), A lady's honour..nice as ermines, will not bear a soil. 1732T. Lediard Sethos II. vii. 32 Having nothing on his body but some ermins. 1756Nugent Gr. Tour, France IV. 81 His habit of ceremony is a violet-coloured gown with a mantle of ermins.
3. fig. With reference to the use of ermine in the official robes of judges and the state robes of peers.
1794Godwin Cal. Williams 261 Reluctant to fix an unnecessary stain upon the ermine of their profession. 1836Lytton Duch. de la Vallière iv. iv, This garb of serge Dares speech that daunts the ermine. 1850Whipple Ess. & Rev. (ed. 3) I. 21 The purity of the critical ermine, like that of the judicial, is often soiled by contact with politics. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocr. Wks. (Bohn) II. 79 Skilful lawyers..were rewarded with ermine.
4. Her. A heraldic fur; white marked with black spots of a particular shape.
1562Leigh Armorie (last page), Ermyn, white poudered wt Black. 1655M. Carter Hon. Rediv. (1660) 99 If..it be white powdred with black, it is Ermin..if white with black, and one red hair, Erminites. 1766–87Porny Heraldry 25 Ermine is a Field Argent, with small points or spots Sable, in the form of little Triangles, which in Heraldry are generally called Powdering. 1864Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. iv. (ed. 3) 20 Ermine, Black spots on a White field.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib. in senses 1–4. † ermine cross: = cross erminee.
c1450Guy Warw. (C.) 8425 Veire and gryce and pylches armyne And clothys of sylke and of satyne. 1486Bk. St. Albans (Her.) D j, Ermyn cros. 1627Drayton Agincourt 15 The men of Rutland..In their rich Ensigne bear an Ermine Ram. 1649Lovelace Poems 63 Grieve not pretty Ermin Cabinet [a Lady's glove]. 1742Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) II. 199 My lady..was in dark green velvet trimmed with ermine, and an ermine petticoat. 1768Pennant Zool. I. 85 Easily distinguished from the other in the ermine state by the tail. 1832G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 50 The ermine mantle wherein the female is robed. 1864Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xxx. 454 The practice of..artists..in representing ermine-spots.
b. quasi-adj. White as ermine.
1610G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. in Farr S.P. (1847) 62 What should I here depaint..her ermine breast. 1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. i. 287 Vapours clothe earth's monarch mountain-tops With kingly, ermine snow.
c. Comb., as ermine-hunter; also ermine white a., white as ermine; ermine moth [cf. Fr. hermine, ‘Bombyx herminea’ (Littré)] (Hyponomeuta padellus), a moth with white wings spotted with black.
1580Sidney Arcadia iii. 399 The Ermion whitest skin, spotted with nought. 1859W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1866) 76 The pretty little Ermine Moth commits great ravages on the leaves of the Apple Tribe. 1865Burritt Walk Land's End 194 Ermine-hunters have always had a harder time of it than even the Honiton lace-workers.
▪ II. ermine, v.|ˈɜːmɪn|
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To clothe as if with ermine; to make white as ermine.
1825New Monthly Mag. XIII. 63 It [snow] ermined all the dark-brown moor. 1870H. Macmillan Bible Teach. xiv. 269 The glistening beach, ermined by the surf. |