| 释义 |
▪ I. wether|ˈwɛðə(r)|
Forms: α. 1, 3 weðer, 3–4 weþer, 4–5 wethur, -ir, 5 wethyr, -ire, 6 wethar, 6–9 weather, 4– wether; 4–5 whethir, -ur, 4–6 whether, 5 whetther. β. 4, 6 weder, wedir, 5 wedyr, wedor; 5–9 wedder (5 -ur, -yr); Sc. 5–6 vedder, weddir, 6 wadder, wodder, weadder.
[Common Teutonic: OE. weðer = OFris. *wether (NFris. wether, WFris. weer), OLFrank. wither (MDu. weder, Du. weer), OS. withar, -er (MLG. weder, wêr, LG. weer), OHG. widar, -er, -ir (MHG. wider, G. widder), ON. and Icel. veðr (Norw. veder, ver; MSw. väþur, wädhur, etc., Sw. vädur, Da. væder), Goth. wiþrus (= lamb), prob. related to L. vitulus calf.]
1. A male sheep, a ram; esp. a castrated ram. See also bell-wether.
αc890Wærferth tr. Gregory's Dial. 34 He breac on þam hælftre for bridelse & weþera fella for sadole. c1000ælfric Hom. II. 576 His biᵹleofa wæs ælce dæᵹ..hundteontiᵹ weðera. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3998 On ilc alter fier alðerneðer, And ðoron an calf and a weðer. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1210 Vourti þousend of ruþeren he let quelle þer to, & of fatte weþeren an hondred þousend al so. a1300Cursor M. 11649 Wolf and weþer, leon and ox, Sal comen samen, and lamb and fox. 1382Wyclif Gen. xxx. 35 And he seuerde that day the she geyt, and the sheep, and the hyeȝ geyt, and the wetheres. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P. R. viii. x. (1495) 310 As a whetther in lyenge vpon oo syde tornyth and chaungyth by egall tymes. c1450Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.) 81 Ysaac..was delyvred fro dede And a wethire cleving in breres sacrified in his stede. 1533in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 2 John Horley oon whether,..ii yewes. 1588Lambarde Eiren., Precedents (1591) Y y j b, Tres oues castratas (anglicè vocatas Weathers). a1589L. Mascall Cattle, Sheep (1596) 236 In some places they doe..point the wethers, the yeaws, and the lambes ech by themselues. 1599Shakes. etc. Pass. Pilgr. 272 My weathers bell rings dolefull knell. 1616W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iv. 95 The Weathers bell that leads our flocke around. 1671Milton Samson 538 Who shore me Like a tame Weather, all my precious fleece. 1676Lond. Gaz. No. 1122/4 Lost or stolen..45 Sheep, called Western Weathers. 1727–46Thomson Summer 409 Some mingling stir the melted tar..; Others the unwilling wether drag along. 1747Smollett Reproof 71 All senior members of the horned race.—The weather, goat, ram, elk and ox were there. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 343 Two pigs, a cow, and wethers half a score, Increased his stock. 1861Times 7 Oct., For wethers the average prices obtained were 38s. to 56s. 1870Bryant Iliad xii. 541 As when a shepherd carries home with ease A wether's fleece.
βa1340Hampole Psalter lxiv. 14 Cled ere wedirs of shepe. 1375Barbour Bruce vii. 115 And ane of thame apon his hals A mekill bundyn weddir bare. Ibid. 152 Thai slew the veddir at thai bar. 1387Trevisa Hidgen III. 127 Daniel seiȝ þe fifte siȝt and visioun of þe weder þat hadde hornes nouȝt al i-liche. c1425Non-Cycle Mystery Plays (1909) 33 Turn þe & take þat wedyr there, & sacrifye hym on þat awtere. c1440Alphabet of Tales 290 At ans he wolde ete a quarter of a weddur, or ij hennys, or a guse. 1479Bury Wills (Camden) 53 And also the same Edmund haue cccc weders in my flokke of Ryngmer. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §53 It is than best tyme to..seuer theym in dyuers sortes,..the lambes by theym-selfe, wedders and the rammes by them-self. 1552Lyndesay Monarche 5443 Quhat holynes is thare within Ane wolf cled in ane Wodderis skin? a1585Montgomerie Flyting 205 Fore store of lambes and lang-tailde wedders. c1610Sir J. Melville Mem. (Bannatyne Club) 382 Bot some yearly nomber of wethers wilbe easely granted, be them that possess presently the saidis stoir rowmes. 1681S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 85 Two three beggars,..Who stealing public geese and wedders, Were freed, by rendering skin and feathers. 1796W. Marshall West Eng. I. 263 The wedders, of the best sort, fat perfectly well, at two years old. 1830Cumb. Farm. Rep. 55 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Sheep generally fed off by turnips are the best description of Cheviot wedders. 1861Times 16 Oct., Wedders commonly clip 7½lb. of wool. 1888J. Inglis Tent Life Tigerland 96 What might be the price of wedders now in Australy?
b. transf. of a man; spec. a eunuch.
1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII (1550) 187 b, So the great wether which is of late fallen..so craftely, so scabedly, ye & so vntruly iuggled wyth the kynge, that [etc.]. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 114, I am a tainted Weather of the flocke, Meetest for death. 1724Gay Captives Epil. 19 But the soft voice of an Italian weather, Makes them all languish three whole hours together.
†2. Occasional uses.
a. A battering ram.
b. The zodiacal sign of the Ram.
14..MS. Digby 233 lf. 182/1 As þe instrument þat hatte þe wether smyteþ þe walles of a cyte þat is byseged. 1565Googe tr. Palingenius' Zodiac xi. PP vij, The other by the Balance runnes, and by the Wethers face.
3. grey wethers: boulders of hard sandstone found lying on the surface of the Downs in Wiltshire and Devon.
1661J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 49 Upon the Downs between Marleborough and Aubury..are to be found abundance of great stones, commonly called by the Country thereabout, the Gray Weathers. 1681Grew Musæum iii. 291 A course sort of Jasper Stones, knockt off from those in Wilts-shire near Marleborough, called The Grey-Weathers. 1743Stukeley Abury 48 An infinite quantity of immense stones, or sarsens, or gray-weathers. 1801H. Skrine Rivers Gt. Brit. 331 Those vast stones called ‘The Grey Withers [sic]’, are scattered irregularly about the country. 1835–95[see grey a. 8].
4. Comm. The fleece obtained from the second or any subsequent shearing of a sheep.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 260/1 (Wool) To good, healthy, sound fleeces more than one year old the term ‘wethers’ is given. 1895Agric. Gaz. 17 June 538/3 Super-super wethers, 9½d.;..selected Yorkshire wethers, 73/4d.; deep wethers, 9d.
5. attrib. and Comb., as wether fleece, wether-flock, wether haggis, wether-mutton, wether-skin; wedderbouk Sc., the carcass of a wether; wether-gammon, a leg of mutton; † wether gang Sc., a pasture or right of pasturage for wethers (see gang n.1 4 c); wether-getter, a ram kept for breeding wethers; † wether goat, a castrated goat; wether head, a sheep's head; fig. a stupid person; wether hog, a male sheep (castrated or not) before its first shearing; also wether hog sheep (cf. hog n.1 4); chiefly Sc. and north.; wether lamb, a male lamb; † wether-silver Sc., money in lieu of a wether paid as a customary rent or tax; wether teg = wether hog. Also wether sheep.
15..Aberd. Reg. (Jam.), ijs. Scottis for half ane *wedder⁓bouk.
1422Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (1898) 163 Pelleus..Sende..Iason..into the Ile of Calcos to wyn the *wethyr fleis of golde.
a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 321 In favour rather of keeping a *weather-flock than an ewe-flock on the hill-country. 1886C. Scott Sheep-farming 31 Wedder flocks are generally kept on the highest hirsel of the farm. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xi, The wether flock which had been lost.
a1774Fergusson Poems, Drink Eclogue 84 Wi' skelps like this fock sit but seenil down To *wether-gammon.
1561in Dunfermline Reg. (Bannatyne Club) 427 Item the bouplaces and *wedder gangis within the parrochin of Dunfermling, lxxxxvj. li. 1609in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1610, 154/1 Cum pastura super Pidmidle et lie Weddergang earundem.
1790W. Marshall Midland Co. I. 422 The characteristic difference between what is called a ‘ramgetter’, and a ‘*weddergetter’ or a ‘good grazier's sheep’.
1671T. Hunt Abeced. Scholast. 52 Caper, a *Weather-Goat. 1772Nugent Hist. Friar Gerund I. 35 To drub this Signior Barbi-castron, this false-bearded wether-goat.
1789Burns ‘Ken ye ought’ 8 Is he slain by Highlan' bodies?.. And eaten like a *wether haggis?
a1796― Grace bef. Dinner, And send us from thy bounteous store A tup or *weather head! 1869Le Fanu Wyvern Myst. II. 102 Why didn't ye tell me, ye d―d wetherhead?
1537N.C. Wills (Surtees 1908) 103, I geve unto..John half a hundreth of share *wedder hogges. 1541in Gage Hengrave (1822) 118 Item, lix wether hogg shepe at xiiijd. the pece. 1614,1794[see hog n.1 4 b]. 1776Compl. Grazier (ed. 4) 149 So of the male sheep, we may reckon them wedder or wedder hogs, after they are..of a year's growth. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 38 [In Scotland] a female is called a ewe-hogg, a male a tup-hogg, and a castrated male a wether-hogg.
c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 758/12 Hic agnus, a *wedyrlombe. 1595Nottingham Rec. IV. 62 Unus agniculus (Anglice ‘a wether lambe’). 1801Farmer's Mag. Aug. 360 Wedder lambs..are selling from 10s. to 12s. and 13s. per head. 1815Sporting Mag. XLV. 227 She..gave me a detail of their management in buying their wether lambs and fattening their wethers. 1886C. Scott Sheep-farming 115 The best ewe lambs..are retained, and all the wether and the second ewe lambs are sent to the market.
1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 171 She never dress'd *Weather-Mutton, when she could get Ewe or Goat. 1824in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825) 281 Does Mr. Giblet, the butcher, reserve his..weather-mutton for better customers? 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 100 Wether-mutton is the meat in perfection.
1557in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1598, 223/1 Custum-mert-sylver, custum-*wadder-silver.
c1560A. Scott Poems ii. 128 Bettir we bath wer byand hyddis And *weddir skynnis at hame. 1917Blackw. Mag. Nov. 676/2 [temp. 1750–90] Wood and wedder-skins and grain packed for export to the South.
1550in Phillipps Wills (c 1830) 180 Forty *Wether Teggs. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 39 In England..sheep bear the name of lamb until 8 months old, after which they are called ewe and wether teggs until once clipped.
▪ II. wether
obs. f. weather, whether, whither. |