| 释义 |
ˈundergrowth
[under-1 5 d, 10 b.]
1. A growth of plants or shrubs under trees or other tall vegetation; brushwood, underwood.
1600Surflet Countrie Farme vi. x. 744 There must good regard be taken euery where, what plants of branches or vndergrowth are dead. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 175 The undergrowth Of shrubs and tangling bushes. 1794Vancouver Agric. Cambridge 117 In this parish is found some very good woodland..; the undergrowth is cut once in fourteen years. 1822Shelley tr. Calderon's Mag. Prodig. i. 3 This intricate wild wilderness of trees..and undergrowth of odorous plants. 1884Queen Victoria More Leaves 308 The tangled undergrowth of fern, &c. is almost like a jungle.
b. The shorter stems of certain cultivated plants.
1765Museum Rust. IV. 457 What is commonly called under-growth [of flax], may be neglected as useless. 1865Pall Mall G. 3 July 5/2 Much of what farmers call the under-growths or under-stems of wheat are not coming into ear at all.
2. A growth of (shorter and finer) hair or wool underlying the outer fur or fleece.
1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 20 Such sheepe as have their wooll thus risen, have, without question, a goode under⁓growth. 1879Encycl. Brit. X. 709/1 This undergrowth [of the Cashmere goat]..is beautifully soft and silky.
3. The condition of being undergrown or undersized; imperfect growth.
1891Lancet 14 Mar. 624/2 Cases of heart disease,..of undergrowth, and underdevelopment. |