释义 |
▪ I. alder, n.1|ˈɔːldə(r)| Forms: 1 alor, -aer, -er, 1–2 alr, 3 olr, 4–8 aller, 7–8 allar; 4–5 aldir, aldyr, 4– alder. By-forms: 5 ellyr, 7– eller, owler, ouller. [With OE. alor, aler, cf. ON. ölr, elrir, OHG. elira, erila, mod.G. erle, eller. The d was a phonetic development, as in alder-best (see all D 3), and the dialectal celder = cellar, etc. The historical form aller survived till 18th c. in literature, and is still general in the dialects. Owler (= aüler, or olr) used by Cotton, etc., survives in Lancashire, etc.] 1. A tree (Alnus glutinosa) related to the Birch, common in wet places over the northern hemisphere, from Europe to N.W. America and Japan, the wood of which resists decay for an indefinite time under water.
c700Epinal Gloss (Sweet 38) Alnus: alaer Erf. aler. 882Chart. ælfred in Cod. Dipl. V. 124 Norð úpp of ðǽre ie úpp on ðone ibihttan alr; of ðám ibihtan alre on scortan díc. c940Sax. Leechd. II. 32 Oxan slyppan..& alor rinde. a1300in Wright Voc. 91 Alnus, olr. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2063 The names how the trees highte, As ook, fir, birch, asp, aldir [v.r. alder -yr]. 1483Cath. Angl., An ellyrtre: alnus. 1502Arnold Chron. (1811) 164 Graf it in a stoke of elme or aller. 1567J. Maplet Greene Forest 30 The Alder tree (which by corrupt and accustomed kinde of speaking they commonly call the Elder). 1578Lyte Dodoens 756 The blowinges of Alder are long tagglets. 1601Holland Pliny (1634) I. 493 Pines, Pitch trees, and Allar, are very good for to make..pipes to conuey water. 1616Surflet Country Farme 504 The Aller or Alder-tree..doth serue..to lay the foundations of buildings vpon, which are laid in the riuers, fens, or other standing waters, because it neuer rotteth in the vvater, but lasteth as it vvere for euer. 1635Brereton Trav. (1844) 149 Cleared of the oullers and under⁓wood. 1676Cotton Angler ii. (1863) 240 Plant willows or owlers about it. 1727Pope, etc. Art of Sinking 109 And to the sighing alders, alders sigh. 1791T. Newte Tour Eng. & Sc. 240 The oak, aller, birch, and ash, shoot up from the old stock. 1794Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxviii. 434 Alder is of the same genus with the Birch. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 206 Willows, allers, and other brush-wood are grubbed up. 1870Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 172 Amid rushes tall Down in the bottom alders grew. 2. black alder, berry-bearing alder, or, with modern botanists, alder buckthorn (Rhamnus Frangula), a European shrub, formerly thought to be allied to the preceding tree.
1579Langham Gard. Health (1633) 10 The iuice of blacke Allder..is yellow. 1597Gerard, Alnus nigra, Blacke Aller. 1794Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xvi. 206 Berry-bearing Alder..grows in woods, is a black looking shrub. 1861Pratt Flower. Plants II, Alder Buckthorn..Plant perennial..its bark affords a good dye. 3. Pop. extended to various other shrubs or trees, as Black Alder (N. Amer.), Prinos verticillatus; White Alder (N. Amer.), Clethra alnifolia; (S. Afr.) Platylophus trifoliatus; Red Alder (S. Afr.), Cunonia capensis. 4. Comb.: a. instrumental, as alder-fringed, alder-skirted, etc.
1845Hirst Poems 48 Adown the alder-margined lane The throstle sings. 1858H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 164 The dark hills and alder-skirted river of Strathcarron. b. attrib., as alder-branch, alder-brake, alder-pile, alder-tree, alder-wood; alder-buckthorn (see 2); alder-carr, a piece of wet ground where alders grow; alder-fly (also ellipt. alder) = orl-fly.
1850Mrs. Browning Poems I. 344 Near the alder-brake We sigh. 1440Promp. Parv. Aldyr-kyr (alder⁓kerre, alderkar). Alnetum, locus ubi alni et tales arbores crescunt. 1828H. Davy Salmonia 24 The fly you see is called by fishermen the alder fly, and is generally in large quantities before the May fly. 1859C. Kingsley Glaucus (ed. 4) 195 The water-crickets..change into..the dark chocolate ‘Alder’ (Sialis lutaria). 1875[see orl-fly s.v. orl-]. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXV. 447/2 Among the flies which are general favourites with dry-fly fishers are the..alder..and the May-fly. 1928Daily Express 11 Aug. 4/2 On Dartmoor streams..I found a small alder and a black gnat as effective as anything. 1862Coleman Woodl. Heaths 62 Alder-wood, if kept constantly under water, is almost imperishable..It is said that on Alder-piles the beautiful arch of the famous Rialto of Venice is supported. ▪ II. † ˈalder, n.2 Obs. Forms: 1 aldor, -ur, 1–2 (late WS. ealdor), 2–4 alder, ælder, (ældere, eldere). [f. ald old + -or suffix forming ns.; cf. OFris. alder parent. The pl. aldras, WS. ealdras, ‘ancestors,’ is to be distinguished from ęldran (WS. ieldran, yldran) ‘elders,’ compar. of ald old, used in same sense. In Layamon the two words are confused.] 1. Parent, ancestor, elder (chiefly in pl.). [In this sense only in OE.; superseded by the compar. of the adj. ald (eald), ęldran: see elder.]
a800Cædmon Gen. (Grein) 1578 Ða com ærest Cam..þær his aldor læᵹ. c885K. ælfred Bæda i. xxvii, Ure ealdras þa ǽrestan menn. [― Oros. i. i. 1 Ure yldran.] 2. The head of a family or clan; a patriarch, chief, prince, or ruler. (Used to translate L. titles, as senior, princeps, dominus, dux.)
c600Beowulf 697 Beowulf is min nama: wille ic asecgan..min ǽrende aldre þinum. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 1 [Vulg. Omnes principes sacerdotum et seniores populi]..Alle aldor sacerda & ældro ðæs folces. c975Rushw. G. Ealle aldur sacerdæs & ældre þæs folces. c1000Ags. G. Ealle þæra sacerda ealdras..and þæs folces ealdras. c1160Hatton G., Ealle þare sacerda ealdres..and þas folkes ealdres. c1175Cotton Hom. 219 Hare alder þat he mihte beon. 1205Layam. 16562 Þu scalt beon alder [1250 louerd]. Ibid. 23436 Frolle, þe ælder wes of France [1250 king]. Ibid. 3122 Aganippes wes ihaten? hæleðen he wes ældere [1250 eldere]. c1340Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 95 A vncouþe tale..Of alderes, of armes, of oþer auenturus. ▪ III. † ˈalder, a. Obs. or dial. [f. ald old + -er3. In OE. the compar. properly took umlaut ęldra for aldira, whence mod. elder; but a north. and midl. form alder, without umlaut, appears in 12th c., whence by usual change of long or lengthened a to o the mod. older. Alder, aulder continues to be the form in Sc. and north. dialects; and occurs as an affected archaism in other writers c 1600.] = elder a., older a.
1205Layam. 3750 Of þan aldre sustren. Ibid. 8199 Þe king nom þreo aldere men [1250 holde men]. c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 620 And ay the ofter, þe alder þay were. 1581J. Studley tr. Seneca's Medea 134 b, The wood in alder-time..Did spread his shade on gladsome soyle; no shade remayneth now. 1610Holland tr. Camden's Brit. i. 806 Those that liv'd in alder time [Mod. Sc. aulder, Northumb. auder]. |