| 释义 |
vernal, a. (and n.)|ˈvɜːnəl|
Also 6–7 vernall.
[ad. L. vernāl-is (rare), f. vernus pertaining to spring, f. vēr spring, ver n.1 So OF. and F., Prov., Sp., Pg. vernal, It. vernale.]
1. Coming, appearing, happening, occurring, etc., in spring.
a. vernal equinox (or † vernal equinoctial): see equinox 1 and 2.
1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1308/1 The xiiii. daye after theyr vernall Equinoctiall in the euenynge. 1594Blundevil Exerc. i. xvi. (1597) 151 The beginning of Aries, which is called the vernal Equinoxe. 1607Topsell Hist. Four-f. Beasts 299 From the vernall æquinoctiall to the summer solstice. 1696Whiston The. Earth i. (1722) 39 At this time, the Vernal Equinox is on the 9th of March. 1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 316 You will have the Longitude sought from the Vernal Equinox. 1796H. Hunter St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 155 The tides at our vernal Equinox, in March, rise higher than those of September. 1837Brewster Magnet. 216 During the three months between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. §171 The days and nights are equal all over the world on the 22d of March and the 22d of September, which dates are called the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.
b. In general use.
1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 4 Such time as the Sunne is vernall, [the Island of Ferro] becomes exceeding hot and scalding. 1660Sharrock Vegetables 52 Which are generall rules for vernall and autumnall settings. 1709T. Robinson Vind. Mosaick Syst. 69 These Worms are..ordained for the Food of the Vernal Birds, such as the Cuckow. 1769Gray Installation Ode 61 Sweet is the breath of vernal shower. 1787Winter Syst. Husb. 54 The vernal heat of the sun. 1820Combe Syntax, Consol. i. (Chandos Cl.) 139 'Twas as a vernal evening clos'd. 1842J. Wilson Chr. North I. 244 The whole building is..as fresh as if just washed by a vernal shower. 1872Yeats Growth Comm. 24 The Babylonian plain was subject to vernal floods.
c. Med. Of affections or diseases.
1822–7Good Stud. Med. (1829) II. 134 The vernal agues generally disappear with the advance of summer. 1843Sir T. Watson Lect. Princ. & Pract. Physic I. xl. 710 You will hear and read a good deal of vernal intermittents, and autumnal intermittents.
2. Of, pertaining or belonging to, the springtime; appropriate to the spring; spring-like:
a. Of weather, scenery, etc.
1611Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. i. ii, We must have none here But vernal blasts, and gentle winds appear. 1634T. Johnson tr. Parey's Chirurg. i. xiii. (1678) 18 Such an Air,..if it have a vernal temper, is good against all diseases. 1646Crashaw Sosp. d'Herode xiv, He saw a vernall smile sweetly disfigure Winters sad face. 1720Prior Truth & Falsehood 8 The purling stream, the margin green, With flowers bedeck'd, a vernal scene. 1778Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry II. 51 We fondly anticipate a long continuance of gentle gales and vernal serenity. But winter returns with redoubled horrors. 1822W. Irving Braceb. Hall xix, It was a beautiful morning, of that soft vernal temperature, that seems to thaw all the frost out of one's blood. 1847L. Hunt Jar Honey ii. (1848) 23 Both heaven and hell are in it—the freshest vernal airs, with the depths of Tartarus. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. i. i. 6 The Alpine meadows sloping, vernal, A newer beam descends.
transf.1869Lowell Under the Willows 39 By vernal Chaucer, whose fresh woods Throb thick with merle and mavis all the year.
b. vernal season, the season of spring.
1644Milton Educat. 7 In these vernal seasons of the yeer, when the air is calm and pleasant. 1687Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, The Vernal Season, or the Spring, le Printems. 1806Med. Jrnl. XV. 120 In the vernal season. 1864A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock 296 In the vernal season of the year.
c. In miscellaneous uses.
1725Fam. Dict. s.v. Sallet, They also make an excellent Vernal Pottage. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 118 Whatever sweets salute the northern sky With vernal lives, that blossom but to die. 1817Wordsw. (title), Vernal Ode. Beneath the concave of an April sky [etc.]. 1838J. L. Stephens Trav. Russia 67/1 Moscow seemed basking in the mild climate of Southern Asia, rioting in its brief period of vernal existence. 1885Pater Marius I. vi. 112 A kind of mystic hymn to the vernal principle of life in things.
d. fig. Suggestive of spring; having the mildness or freshness of spring; early, youthful.
1790Coleridge Monody Death Chatterton viii, Ah! where are fled the charms of vernal grace, And joy's wild gleams, light-flashing o'er thy face? 1805Foster Ess. i. i. 11 What is become of all those vernal fancies, which had so much power to touch the heart? 1827Southey Funeral Song Princess Charlotte 17 Late in beauty's vernal bloom. 1844Mrs. Browning Catarina to Camoens ii, When I heard you sing that burden In my vernal days and bowers. 1898T. Hardy Wessex Poems 100 Captain and Colonel, Sere Generals, Ensigns vernal, Were there.
3. Of flowers, plants, etc.: Appearing, coming up, or blooming in spring-time.
1695Ld. Preston Boeth. iii. 121 Fading sooner than a vernal Flower! 1728Pope Dunc. iii. 33 As thick as bees o'er vernal blossoms fly. 1742Collins Ode to Liberty 4 The youths,..Like vernal hyacinths in sullen hue, At once the breath of fear and virtue shedding. 1799Med. Jrnl. II. 491 A Journal kept in Spring 1798, to record the time of flowering of several vernal plants. 1812H. & J. Smith Horace in Lond. 65 The wood nymphs crown'd with vernal flow'rs.
b. In specific or popular names of flowers, plants, or grasses, as vernal crocus, vernal cyclamen, vernal gentian, vernal sandwort, vernal sedge, vernal squill, etc. (see quots. and cf. spring n.1 7 c (a)).
1778Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) III. 2311 The varieties of the *vernal crocus are, the small and large [etc.]. 1882Garden 18 Mar. 188/3 The common Vernal Crocus..is so predominant among spring flowers.
1725Fam. Dict. s.v. Cyclamen, Our Botanists reckon upon several Sorts of this Plant..as the *Vernal one;..another white Vernal single, and the small Purple Cyclamen.
1728R. Bradley Dict. Bot., Gentianella minor Verna, the smaller *Vernal Gentian. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 282, I thought it possible that the vernal dwarf Gentian..might be our plant. 1882Garden 18 Nov. 442/3 The lovely Vernal Gentian.
1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Orobus, The *vernal, wood orobus, with a pale red flower.
1731Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Orobus, *Vernal Purple-Wood Bitter-Vetch.
1848Johns Week at Lizard 303 Arenaria verna, variety Gerardi, *Vernal Sandwort, is a small plant with numerous needle-like leaves, and star-like flowers of the most dazzling white.
1859Miss Pratt Brit. Grasses 39 Order. Cyperaceæ... *Vernal Sedge... A humble plant from 3–8 inches high.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 13 Veronica verna... *Vernal Speedwell. 1855Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 102 Vernal Speedwell... This very rare Speedwell..has..pale blue flowers.
1796Withering Brit. Pl. II. 338 Scilla verna... *Vernal Squill. [Grows in] meadows and pastures. 1832Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. 10 It was..believed that the vernal squill was peculiar to the western coasts of England.
1796Withering Brit. Pl. II. 5 Callitriche verna... *Vernal Stargrass. Water Starwort. Water Fennel.
1855Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 296 Callitriche verna. *Vernal Water Starwort.
c. vernal grass, one of the grasses commonly cultivated for hay.
1762B. Stillingfleet Misc. Tracts (1791) 382, I saw this spring a meadow not far from Hampstead..with some of the vernal grass and the corn brome grass. 1765Museum Rust. IV. 428 The vernal, or spring grass, we find in the class Diandria Digynia. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 208 The meadow fescue..and the sweet scented vernal grass (anthoxanthum odoratum). 1802Med. Jrnl. VIII. 477 The vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum, L.) which is frequently met with in hay. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 489 This substance [i.e. coumarin] is found..in the sweet scented vernal grass, to which much of the fragrance of hay is owing.
d. Sown in the spring.
1792A. Young Trav. France 331 They sow here a vernal rye, which is a true spring corn, that will not succeed if sown in autumn.
4. Comb., as vernal-bearded, vernal-seeming, vernal-tinctured adjs.
1744Akenside Pleas. Imag. ii. 104 The melting rain⁓bow's vernal-tinctured hues. 1857Whittier Last Walk Autumn iv, And that the vernal-seeming breeze Mocked faded grass and leafless trees. 1874L. Morris Old Maytide iii, Here be stalwart youths and lissome, honest-eyed and vernal bearded.
5. ellipt. or as n.
†a. The vernal season; the spring. Obs.—1.
1654E. Johnson Wonder-work. Provid. 106 The vernall of the yeare 1637. being now in his prime.
b. = vernal grass (see 3 c above).
1771Young Farmer's Tour East Eng. II. 256 The grass has consisted chiefly of the holchus,..a little meadow fox tail, and great poa:..it is remarkable that no vernal has appeared. 1834Brit. Husb. I. 514 Anthoxanthum odoratum, or sweet-scented vernal, is one of the earliest of our grasses. 1908Animal Managem. 114 The aroma of good hay is due to the aromatic grasses contained in it, Sweet Vernal being the variety which is mainly responsible.
c. pl. Seeds of vernal grass. rare—1.
1784Trans. Soc. Arts II. 60 Mix the Vernals and Hay seeds together.
Hence ˈvernally adv. rare.
1727Bailey (vol. II), Vernally, according to or in the Spring of the Year. 1888Ainger Let. in Sichel Life (1906) xiii. 235 He thinks the Tweens are also vernally cleaning themselves. |