| 释义 |
wormwood|ˈwɜːmwʊd|
Forms: 5 wyrmwode, 5–6 worm(e)wod(e, 6 wormwodd, worme-, woormewoodde, wourmewodde, 6–7 -wood(e, 6– wormwood.
[Altered f. wermod, as if f. worm n. + wood n.1]
1. The plant Artemisia Absinthium, proverbial for its bitter taste. The leaves and tops are used in medicine as a tonic and vermifuge, and for making vermouth and absinthe; formerly also to protect clothes and bedding from moths and fleas, and in brewing ale. It yields a dark green oil.
a1400–50Stockh. Med. MS. 11 For to makyn surripe of violet; it. of wormwode. c1440Promp. Parv. 530/1 Wyrmwode, herbe, absinthium. 1486Bk. St. Albans, Hawking c v, A medecyne for an hawke that hath mites. Take the Iuce of wormewode and put it ther thay be and thei shall dye. 1573in Gage Hengrave (1822) 201 For wormewoode to lay amongst the bedding at Coleman Streete, xij d. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 123 Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood is strowne, no flea for his life dare abide to be knowne. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iii. 30 When it did tast the Worme-wood on the nipple of my Dugge, and felt it bitter. 1610Beaum. & Fl. Faithf. Shepherdess ii. ii. D 1 b, These for frenzy be A speedy and a soueraigne remedie, The bitter Wormewood, Sage and Marigold. 1626Middleton Anything for Quiet Life ii. i, He burnt wormwood in't, to kill the fleas i' the rushes. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. i. 628 And Artemisia grows, where Wormwood grew. 1855Delamer Kitchen Garden (1861) 140 Wormwood gives its flavour to the ‘purl’ of the English workman. 1899Bridges Idle Flowers xv, Ragwort and stiff Wormwood And straggling Mignonette.
b. With qualifying word, designating species of Artemisia and some similar plants; as
† French wormwood, A. gallica or A. Santonica; † holy w., A. Santonica; Pontic, Roman w., A. pontica or A. Absinthium; sea w., A. maritima; tree w., A. arborescens of the Mediterranean. Also Roman w., Ambrosia artemisiæfolia; wild w., Parthenium Hysterophorus.
1548Turner Names of Herbes 7 Wormwod pontike..in englishe maye be also called wormwod gentle. Ibid. 8 Absinthium santonicum..may be called in englishe frenche wormwod. Ibid., Frenche wormwod is weaker then Sea wormwod is. 1551–Herbal i. A iiij, Ponticum absinthium..maye be named in english, wormwode gentle or wormwode Romane, Wormwode pontyke. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. ii. 5 The second kinde of Wormwood is called..in Latine Seriphium, and Absynthium Marinum... In English Sea wormwood. Ibid. 6 Santoni wormwood, or French wormwood. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. ccccxxxiii. 940 It is called in English small leafed Wormwood, Romaine Wormwood, garden or Cypres Wormwood, and French Wormwood. Ibid. ii. ccccxxxv. 941 Holie Wormwood..called Sementina and Semen sanctum..beareth that seede which we haue in vse, called Wormseede. Ibid. ii. ccccxxxvi. 943 Absinthium arborescens. Tree Wormwood. 1696Sloane Catal. Plant. Jamaica 127 Artemisia humilior flore majore albo... Wild Wormwood. 1721Queen's Closet 10 To make Syrup of Wormwood. Take Roman Wormwood, or Pontick Wormwood, half a Pound. 1731Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Absinthium, The Roman and Sea Wormwoods are great Creepers at the Root... The Tree Wormwood rises to be a Shrub five or six Foot high. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 332 Wormwood, Wild, Parthenium. 1854Thoreau Walden xiv. (1886) 261 It was overrun with Roman wormwood and beggar-ticks. 1864Grisebach Flora W. Ind. Isl. 789 Wormwood, wild, Parthenium Hysterophorus.
allusively.1672R. Wild Poet. Licent. 27 This bitter Cup hath Roman Wormwood in 't.
c. salt of wormwood, an impure carbonate of potash, obtained from the ashes of wormwood.
1617Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1639) 209 The salt of wormwood is esteemed hot and dry like the hearb. 1666Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 95 Salt of wormwood and juyce of lemmon. 1756F. Home Exper. Bleaching 277 To four pints of lime-water..I added 20 gr. of salt of wormwood. 1789Buchan Dom. Med. xiv. (1790) 153 An ounce of the bark..with an equal quantity of salt of wormwood. 1866Treas. Bot. 95/1.
2. fig. An emblem or type of what is bitter and grievous to the soul.
1535Coverdale Deut. xxix. 18 Lest there be amonge you some rote, that beareth gall & wormwodd. ― Amos v. 7 Ye turne the lawe to wormwod. Ibid. vi. 12 Ye haue turned true iudgment in to bytternesse, and the frute of rightuousnesse in to wormwod. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 90 But..amonge his soo many prosperous, pleasaunte, and luckye affayres, fortune mengeled sume seedes of wormewoodde, and corrupted his pure corne with the malicious weedes of coccle. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 857 To weed this Wormewood from your fruitfull braine. 1593G. Harvey New Let. Notable Cont. Wks. (Grosart) I. 285 Conuerting the wormewood of iust offence into the angelica of pure attonement. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. F 4 Too much gall dyd that wormwood of Gibeline wittes put in his inke. 1617J. Taylor (Water P.) London to Hamburgh C 4 b, All his sugred sweet promises, were in the proofe but Gall and wormwood in the performance. 1622Bacon Hen. VII 209 These two Persons..turned Law and Iustice into Woorme-wood and Rapine. 1628Ford Lover's Mel. ii. ii. (1629) 33 Mel. Ha, ha, ha. Rhe. There's wormewood in that laughter. 1632Lithgow Trav. iii. 107 Venemous also is the Wormewood of his braine. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Repentance iv, Sweeten at length this bitter bowl, Which thou hast pour'd into my soul; Thy wormwood turn to health. 1641Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 232 It had beene happy for this land, if your priests had beene but onely wooden; all England knowes they have been to this Iland not wood, but wormewood. 1691Hartcliffe Virtues 239 Thus Judgment is turned into Wormwood: for it is embittered by injustice, and delays make it sour. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. iii. 13 My life is bitter as wormwood.
b. to be wormwood (or gall and wormwood): to be acutely mortifying or vexing (to a person).
1809Malkin Gil Blas xii. x. (Rtldg.) 435 The accounts her ladyship brought from Madrid were wormwood to the duke. 1821Scott Kenilw. xl, His presence and his communications were gall and wormwood to his once partial mistress. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. viii. iv. 51 It was wormwood to the proud spirit of Agrippa to be treated as a mere astrologer. 1898F. T. Bullen Cruise Cachalot 339 The sight of other people's good fortune is gall and wormwood to a vast number of people.
3. Used as a name or specific epithet for certain moths.
1832J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 91 The Wormwood (Cucullia Absinthii, Ochsenheimer). Ibid. 134 The Wormwood Pug (Eupithecia Absinthiata, Stephens). Ibid. 169 The Wormwood Eyelet (Semasia pupillana, Stephens). 1869E. Newman Brit. Moths 136, 434.
4. Short for wormwood ale (see 5).
a1843Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. IV. 425 Oxford, All Souls... Their silver cups..are called ox-eyes, and an ox-eye of wormwood was a favourite draught there. Beer with an infusion of wormwood was to be had nowhere else.
5. attrib. and Comb., as wormwood-bush, † wormwood-cake, wormwood-diet, wormwood-draught, wormwood-drink; wormwood-coloured adj.; wormwood-ale, -beer, ale or beer in which wormwood is infused; wormwood coal (see quot.); wormwood water, wine, a cordial prepared (like absinthe or vermouth) from wormwood; also fig.
1603*wormewoode ale [see w. beer]. 1665in Maitland Club Miscell. (1840) II. 528 For wormewood aill and other aill in the morneing 000 03 00.
1603F. Herring Cert. Rules B 1 b, You may vse a good draught of *wormewoode beare or ale. 1718Poor Robin May A 8 b, Scurvy-grass Ale, clarified Whey, And Wormwood Beer are good they say. 1858Lady Wilkinson Weeds & Wild Flowers 418 Purl, or wormwood-beer.
1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. v. 38, I came opposite to a small clump of *wormwood bushes.
1658W. M. Queens Closet Opened (ed. 4) 15 *Wormwood Cakes good for a cold Stomach, and to help Digestion.
1858Lady Wilkinson Weeds & Wild Flowers 353 An old belief continues to be connected with the circumstance of the dead roots of wormwood being black, and somewhat hard, and remaining for a long period undecayed beneath the living plant. They are then called ‘*wormwood coal’; and if placed under a lover's pillow they are believed to produce a dream of the person he loves.
1816Beckford's Vathek (ed. Garnett) 72 He awoke..stung to the quick by *wormwood-coloured [1786 wormwood-colour] flies.
1655Vaughan Silex Scint. ii. Providence 46 Gladly will I, like Pontick sheep, Unto their *wormwood-diet keep.
1750Lady Luxborough Lett. to Shenstone 9 Sept., I have a return of my fever to-day; and take *wormwood-draughts.
1658in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 6 [Let it] be celebrated with cow⁓heeles, and tripes, the keenest mustard, and the bitterest *wormewood drinke.
1612Webster White Devil v. vi. 5 Vit. Ha, are you drunke? Flam. Yes, yes, with *wormewood water; you shall tast Some of it presently. 1620Venner Via Recta ii. 45, I aduise them to take two or three parts of wormwood-water, and one of Aqua vitæ. 1725G. Smith Distilling 46 Wormwood-water is in good demand in the Country. 1832G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 168, I was..attacked with a violent pain in my stomach, which yielded only to a strong dram of wormwood water (Eau d' Absinthe).
1565Cooper Thesaurus, Absynthites..*wormewoodde wyne. 1587Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) 150 Artificiall stuffe, as ypocras and wormewood wine. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 81 In upper Germany the first draught commonly is of wormewood wine. 1692in Earthquake at Lima (1748) App. 328 This Gentleman..engaged me to take a Glass of Wormwood Wine with him, as a Whet before Dinner. 1806J. Pinkerton Recoll. Paris II. xv. 208 A decanter of Jamaica rum, Wormwood wine, or that of Vermouth. 1844J. C. Mangan Love & Madness Poems (1903) 323 Why must Medjnims evermore Drink their tears as wormwood wine?
b. fig. Attrib., passing into adj. = bitter, tart, unpleasant to experience. So also † wormwood lecture, a scolding or ‘talking to’.
1593Shakes. Lucr. 893 Thy secret pleasure turnes to open shame,..Thy sugred tongue to bitter wormwood tast. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster i. ii, An honest decayed commander, cannot skelder, cheat, nor be seene in a bawdie house, but he shall be straight in one of their wormewood comœdies. 1608Day Law Trickes ii. C 2 b, Trust me, loue hath kild That worme-wood humor. 1640Womens Sharpe Revenge 5 And now lately one or two of the sonnes of Ignorance have pen'd three severall..ill-favoured Pamphlets..called Lectures, as the Juniper Lecture, the Crabtree Lecture, and the Wormwood Lecture, wherein they have laid most false aspersions upon all women generally. 1678Dryden Kind Keeper ii. i. (1680) 14, I shall read him a Worm-wood Lecture, when I see him. 1682M. Parker (title) A brief sum of certain wormwood lectures: Which women used to sing and say Unto their husbands every day. 1871F. T. Palgrave Lyr. Poems 24 Clouding with wormwood drops the wine of life. 1895G. P. Lathrop in Month (B.C.) Jan. 6 Notwithstanding the wormwood memories of wrongs in the past. 1897Hardy Poems of Pilgrimage, Lausanne, Still rule those minds on earth At whom sage Milton's wormwood words were hurled. |