释义 |
whitethorn|ˈhwaɪtθɔːn| Also with hyphen, or (now rarely) as two words. [white a. and thorn n., after L. alba spina (whence F. aubépine); so MHG. wîȥdorn (G. weissdorn).] The common hawthorn, Cratægus Oxyacantha: so called from the lighter colour of its bark as compared with that of the blackthorn. In U.S. applied to C. coccinea, a species or variety with scarlet fruit.
c1265Voc. Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 559/25 Bedagrage, i. spina alba, i. witþorn. 1382Wyclif Baruch vi. 70 A whijt thorn, vpon whiche eche bridde sittith. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxvi. (Bodl. MS.), Þese treen..haue prickes as a white þorne. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §124 Gette thy quyckesettes in the woode-countreye, and let theym be of whyte-thorne and crabtree. 1637Milton Lycidas 48 When first the White thorn blows. 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 150 To be more sure of a strong Fence, White-thorn may be made every second Plant. 1870Morris Earthly Par. iii. II. 168 While round about the white-thorn shed Sweet fragrance. 1870Kingsley At Last v, The Bauhinias, like tall and ancient white-thorns, which shade the road. attrib.1562Turner Herbal ii. 73 Matthiolus holdeth yt our haw tre or whyte thorne tre is Oxyacantha. 1733Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xvi. 243 White-Thorns will not prosper set in the Gaps of a White-Thorn Hedge. 1813Ann. Reg., Chron. 74 He struck her so violently with a white-thorn stick..that she fell to the ground. 1827Clare Sheph. Cal. 45 Or short note of the changing thrush Above him in the white-thorn bush. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 105 The caterpillars of the white-thorn butterfly (Papilio cratægi)..had..stripped all the hedges. 1885Pater Marius I. xiv. 248 The torch of white-thorn-wood. |