| 释义 |
▪ I. leaf, n.1|liːf|
Pl. leaves |liːvz|. Forms: α. sing. 1 léaf, 2–4 lef, 3 (6) leif, (3 lief, lieif, 4 lyeave), 3–6 lefe, (3 leve), 4–5 leyf, leff, (4 lyf), 4–6 leef, (4, 6 leof), 6 leaffe, leefe, (leave, laif), 6–7 leafe, 3– leaf. β. pl. 1 léaf, Northumb. léofo, hléofa, léofa, 3–4 levis, 3–6 leves, (4 leeves), 4 lewes, Sc. leivis, lewis, 5 lewys, 4–5 levys, (5 leevys), 6 Sc. levis, 5 le(e)fes, 6 leaffes, 7–8 leafs, 8 leafes, 6– leaves.
[OE. léaf str. neut. (pl. léaf) = OFris. lâf, OS. lôf, lôƀ (Du. loof), OHG. loup masc. and neut. (MHG. loup, loub-, mod.G. laub neut.), ON. lauf neut. (Sw. löf, Da. löv), Goth. lauf-s (pl. laubôs) masc.:—OTeut. *lauƀo-. By some scholars regarded as cogn. w. Lith. lùpti, OSl. lupiti to peel, strip off.]
I. The organ of the plant, etc.
1. a. An expanded organ of a plant, produced laterally from a stem or branch, or springing from its root; one of the parts of a plant which collectively constitute its foliage.
It is usually green, and in its most complete form consists of a blade, footstalk, and stipules; in popular lang. the word leaf denotes the blade alone. Some mod. botanists use the word in an extended sense, including all those structures which are regarded as ‘modified leaves’, such as stamens, carpels, floral envelopes, bracts, etc.
c825Vesp. Psalter xxxvi. 2 Forðon swe swe heᵹ hreðlice adruᵹiað & swe swe leaf wyrta hreðe fallað. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 19 And ᵹesæh ðone fic-beom enne..& næniht infand in ðær..buta leofo anum. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 177 To-ȝanes wintre þenne alle leues fallen. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 7/204 A treo with bowes brode and lere, Ake þare nas opon noþur lief ne rinde. a1300Cursor M. 804 Þai cled þam..wit leues brad bath o figer. 1375Barbour Bruce xvi. 67 Quhen..lewis on the branchis spredis. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 239 He sholde rube his gomes with lewys of trenne. 1485Caxton Chas. Gt. 210 Eche man took his owne, and cutte of the bowes & leues. 1562Turner Herbal ii. 162 They differ also in the color of the leaue. 1640Howell Dodona's Gr. To Prince 12 They soon will cast their leafs. 1667Milton P.L. v. 480 So from the root Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves More aerie. 1722Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 205 Like leaves one generation drops, and another springs up. 1830Tennyson Arab. Nts. viii, A sudden splendour from behind Flush'd all the leaves with rich gold-green. 1889Geddes & Thomson Evol. of Sex vi. §1 In most phanerogams..male and female organs occur on different leaves (stamens and carpels) of each flower.
fig.1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 138 On limitoures and listres lesynges I ymped, Tyl thei bere leues of low speche lordes to plese. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋41 Ne by þe braunches ne the leuys of confession. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 353 This is the state of Man; to day he puts forth The tender Leaues of hopes, to morrow Blossomes. 1860Reade Cloister & H. lv. (1896) 163 Yet our love hath lost no leaf, thank God. 1882J. L. Watson Life R. S. Candlish xiv. 148 How the leaves fall when the autumn of one's friendship has begun.
Phrase.1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) i. xv. 11, I tremble as doth a leef vpon a tree. [See also aspen a. 1.]
b. with qualifying adjs., as compound, fleshy, lyrate, etc. q.v.; also cold leaf, hollow leaf (see quots.).
1831G. Don Gard. Dict. i. xvii, Hollow-leaf, form of a cowl, concave above. 1897Willis Flower. Pl. I. 192 Most of them [Alpine plants] have more or less inrolled leaves, which perhaps..act as a protection against the cold... Such leaves are termed by Jungner cold-leaves.
c. walking leaf: see walking ppl. a.
2. Popularly used for: A petal; esp. in rose-leaf.
1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Vnguis, Vnguis rosæ..the thicke white parte of a rose leafe nexte the stalke. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. i. 92 This Fellow..Vpbraided me about the Rose I weare, Saying, the sanguine colour of the Leaues Did represent my Masters blushing cheekes. c1600Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 80 Take the leaues of Blew violetes. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. (1765) 2 The Corolla, Foliation, vulgarly called the Leaves of the Flower. 1820Shelley Sensit. Plant iii. vii, The rose leaves, like flakes of crimson snow, Paved the turf. 1847Tennyson Princ. v. 189 Pure as lines of green that streak the white Of the first snowdrop's inner leaves.
3. collect.
a. The foliage of a plant or tree; leafage, leaves. Chiefly in phr. fall of the leaf. in (full) leaf: covered with leaves or foliage.
1537in Lett. Roy. & Illustr. Ladies (1846) II. 363, I am sick at the fall of the leaf and at the spring of the year. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 48 Spring tyme, Somer, faule of the leafe, and winter. 1625Bacon Ess., Gardening (Arb.) 556 The White-Thorne in Leafe. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 362 The year began in March with the coming of the leaf. 1789G. White Selborne xvi. (1853) 68 When the leaf is out. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 19 All in full leaf and beauty.
fig.1605Shakes. Macb. v. iii. 23, I haue liu'd long enough, my way of life Is falne into the Seare, the yellow Leafe. 1811W. R. Spencer Poems 44 Ere yet the green leaf of her days was come.
†b. Used for ‘season’, ‘year’, in the description of wine. Obs. [Cf. F. vin de deux feuilles.]
1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 71 Wine of nine or ten leaues (as they terme it) which is so many yeares olde. 1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5385/9 Hermitage Claret, deep, bright, strong..and of the true Leaf. 1720Ibid. No. 5832/4.
4. spec. The leaves of a plant cultivated for commercial purposes:
a. of the tobacco-plant, or of other plants used for smoking; in the leaf, in leaves, i.e. unstemmed and uncut.
a1618Sylvester Tobacco Battered 781 Impose so deep a Taxe On all these Ball, Leafe, Cane, and Pudding-packs. 1641French Distill. ii. (1651) 49 Of Tobacco in the leafe three ounces. 1853Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 866 Virginia leaf costs in bond 3½d. per lb...Ditto strips 5½d. 1898Tit-Bits 7 May 105/3 Tobacco..in the Navy..is usually served out in the leaf. 1972Guardian 29 Jan. 9/2 Mr Williams had three previous convictions for possession of cannabis... ‘A man..let me have some leaf for five shillings.’
b. of the tea-plant (see quot.).
1883Times 2 Apr. 4 A factory in which the ‘leaf’, as the green leaves gathered from the tea bushes are technically termed, is manufactured into tea.
5. A disease incident to sheep and lambs. (Cf. leaf-sickness in 18.) ? Obs.
1726Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), Leaf, a Distemper incident to Lambs of 10 or 14 Days old. 1749W. Ellis Syst. Improv. Sheep 320 Some call it [the disease] wood evil, and others the leaf. Some suppose they get it by feeding upon wood, or some leaf upon the ground.
6. a. A representation of a leaf; an ornament in the form of a leaf; esp. in Arch. (see quot. 1842–59).
1459in Paston Lett. I. 478, j. close bedde of palle grene and whyte, with levys of golde. 1664Evelyn tr. Freart's Archit. xxix. 70 The Chapter had this in particular, that its stalks and flexures of the leaves were made in the form of Ramms horns. 1707J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. iii. iii. (ed. 22) 274 His [an Earl's] Coronet hath the Pearls raised upon Points, and Leaves low between. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Leaves, in architecture, are an ornament of the Corinthian capital, and thence borrowed into the Composite. 1842–59Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Leaves, ornaments imitated from natural leaves, whereof the ancients used two sorts, natural and imaginary.
†b. Geom. A leaf-shaped figure. (Cf. foliate a. 2 b, and quot. 1796 there.) Obs.
1715A. de Moivre in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 330 Whereas the Foliate is exactly quadrable, the whole Leaf thereof being but one third of the Square of AB.
II. Similative uses.
7. a. One of the folds of a folded sheet of paper, parchment, etc.; esp. one of a number of folds (each containing two pages) which compose a book or manuscript, a folio; hence, the matter printed or written thereon.
c900tr. Bæda's Hist. i. i. (1890) 31 Man scof þara boca leaf, þe of Hibernia coman. c1205Lay. 46 Laȝamon leide þeos boc & þa leaf wende. a1225St. Marher. 1 Ich..habbe ired ant araht moni mislich leaf. 1340Ayenb. Pref., And ine huyche half of þe lyeaue be tuaye lettres of þe abece. Þet is to wytene .A. and .b. .A. betocneþ þe uerste half of þe leave .b. þe oþerhalf. c1386Chaucer Miller's Prol. 69 Who so list it nat yheere, Turne ouer the leef, and chese another tale. 1490Caxton Eneydos Prol. 2, [I] toke a penne & ynke, and wrote a leef or tweyne. 1535Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 15 Read the xvj. lyne the fyrste syde of the xij. leif. 1595Spenser Sonn. i. 1 Happy, ye leaves ! when as those lilly hands..Shall handle you. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. 202 It will be fit to have a Book in Folio, that a sheet of Paper makes but two Leafs. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. vii. 131, I..began the other Page in the same manner, and so turned over the Leaf. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 389 None of these [newspapers]..exceeded in size a single small leaf.
fig.1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 117 [They] Are not within the Leafe of pitty writ.
b. Phrases. to take a leaf out of (a person's) book: see book n. 16. † to turn down a leaf: to cease for a time. † to turn (over) the (next) leaf (obs.), to turn over a new leaf, etc.: to adopt a different (now always a better) line of conduct.
1577–87Holinshed Chron. I. 21/2 He must turne the leafe, and take out a new lesson, by changing his former trade of liuing into better. 1581Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. (1887) 148 The state is now altered,..the preferment that way hath turned a new leafe. 1597Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1631) 92 But as soone as he was exalted to honor, he turned ouer a new leafe, and began..furiously to afflict..the..faithfull seruants of Christ. 1601Imp. Consid. Sec. Priests (1675) 90 Let us all turn over the leaf, and take another course. a1659Osborn Characters, etc. Wks. (1673) 647 It is time to give over, at least, to turn down a Leaf. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. ii. (Rtldg.) 12, I took a leaf out of their book. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xlii. (1889) 411, I will turn over a new leaf, and write to you.
†8. A lobe (of the lungs). (Cf. F. fueille de poulmon Cotgr.) Obs. rare—1.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxiii. (1495) 130 Thenne to shape y⊇ voys thayre is receyued in y⊇ leues of y⊇ lounges.
9. The layer of fat round the kidneys of a pig; also applied to the inside fat of other animals.
14..Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 425 Take the lefe of porke sethen..and grynde hit smalle. 1552Huloet, Leaffe or fat of a swyne, vnctum. 1563Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) 1835 I. 207 Leaves of ij swyne iiijd. 1630J. Taylor Gt. Eater Kent 8 What say you to a leafe or flecke of a brawn new kild? 1697W. Dampier Voy. 106, I heard of a Monstrous Green Turtle... The leaves of Fat afforded 8 Gallons of Oyl. 1753Scots Mag. Jan. 48/2 The fore chine weighed 64, and the leaves 75 pounds. 1854Thoreau Walden xvii. (1886) 304 A thick moist lobe, a word especially applicable to the liver and lungs and the leaves of fat. 1876Whitby Gloss., Leeaf, or Leaf, the inside layer of fat in a pig or a goose. ‘Geease-leeaf.’ 1886in S.W. Linc. Gloss. 1886Harper's Mag. July 206/2 Lard, ‘made from hog round, say head, gut, leaf, and trimming’, is..in demand. 1904L. L. Lamborn Cottonseed Products 166 Neutral lard is composed of the fat derived from the leaf of the slaughtered animal. 1911Encycl. Brit. XVI. 214/2 The finest quality [of lard], used for making oleomargarine, is got from the leaf. 1934F. Allen in Meat Trade II. iv. 100 The following parts [of a pig] are removed: the back bone, the blade bone,..and the flair or leaf. Ibid. 113 The leaf, or flair, of the pig is generally regarded as producing the best lard. 1955W. G. R. Francillon Good Cookery iii. 53 The leaf or caul (a lining of fat taken from the inside of the animal)..should be placed over the joint before baking.
10. a. A very thin sheet of metal, esp. gold or silver. (See also Dutch, Florence leaf, gold leaf, silver leaf.)
14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 580/3 Electum, a lefe of goolde. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 10 Vpon a Stith with a Mallet it [gold] is brought into most thin leafe or plate. 1580Frampton Monardes' Dial. Iron 166 Vessels of Copper, or of the leafe of Milan... The leafe of Milan is made of Iron. 1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 344 Put it into several Leafs of the finest Gold. a1800Cowper Flatting Mill vi, He must beat it as thin and as fine As the leaf that infolds what an invalid swallows. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 1236 Gold and silver beaten into leaves, for gilding.
b. A thin sheet or layer of other material produced either by beating out or by splitting; a lamina (of horn, marble, wood, etc.). Also, a thin piece of soap or other detergent (larger than a ‘flake’). lantern leaves (see lantern n. 9).
1601Holland Pliny II. 571 The first who couered all the walls..with leaues of marble. 1640in Entick London II. 175 Horns of lanthorn, the 1000 leaves. 1668Phil. Trans. III. 783 Very many vasa lacrymalia of Glass, which by length of time were become laminated into divers leaves. 1772Nugent tr. Hist. Friar Gerund iv. ix. 199 The modern buildings at Rome..appear to be all porphyry, marble..when, in reality, they have no more of these stones than a thin superficial leaf. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. iii. (1859) 38 The bones, or rather, slabs of whalebone, radiate in leaves that lie edgewise to the mouth. 1880Chambers's Encycl. (U.S. ed.) s.v. Deals, When a deal is sawed into twelve or more thin planks, they are called ‘leaves’. 1925G. Martin Mod. Soap & Detergent Industry II. i. ii. 35 Soap Leaves are prepared by passing continuous paper sheets over rollers through a hot solution of soap, the excess of soap attached to the surface being scraped off. The paper is then passed over drying cylinders and from thence to a cutting machine. 1959Which? Nov. 152/2 There were differences between these shampoos and some of the powder or leaf varieties. Ibid. 154 Packet of 6 leaves.
c. One of the metal strips of a leaf spring.
1905R. T. Sloss Bk. Automobile vi. 124 The friction of the leaves decreases with the tension of the spring. 1936F. Clune Roaming round Darling ix. 78 We left the car to have a couple of extra leaves inserted in the springs. 1971B. Scharf Engin. & its Lang. xii. 147 The individual leaves are free to slide along each other and adequate grease lubrication must be provided to minimise friction.
†11. The sheet of leather into which the teeth of a wool-card were inserted. Obs.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 92/1 The Leaf, the Leather to set the Teeth in. Pricking the Leaf, is making holes in the Leather, into which the teeth are put.
12. a. A hinged part or one of a series of parts connected at one side or end by a hinge; a flap. Now rare or obs. exc. spec. as in b, c, d, e.
1420E.E. Wills (1882) 46 A beme þat y weye þer-with, and ij leuys. c1524Churchw. Acc. St. Maryhill, Lond. (Nichols 1797) 118 A Spear with 2 leues. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 236 He..wrote them in a payre of tables of stone, whiche tables had two leaues or two bredes. 1572Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) II. 205 One mucke weyne wth leaves.
b. One of two or more parts of a door, gate, or shutter turning upon hinges.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 1327 Þe wyndowes wern y-mad of iaspre..þe leues were masalyne. 1382Wyclif Judg. xvi. 3 And thens rysynge he [Sampson] took both leeues of the ȝate. 1581Lambarde Eiren. ii. vii. (1588) 265 Puttyng backe the leafe of a window with his dagger. 1611Bible Ezek. xli. 24 And the doores had two leaues a piece, two turning leaues. 1723Chambers Le Clerc's Treat. Archit. I. 102 Coach-Gates..are usually made with two Leaves or Folding-doors. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xli, Two..personages in black flung open each a leaf of the door as the carriage pulled up. 1870Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 106 The chanted prayer..Thrilled through the brazen leaves of the great door. 1887Times 25 Aug. 4/5 One leaf of each pair of gates.
c. A hinged flap at the side of a table to be raised when required for use. Hence applied gen. to any movable addition to the top of a table.
1558Bury Wills (Camden) 151 One plaine table wth one leafe. 1577Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) I. 414 A table withe two leves vjs. viijd. 1665Pepys Diary 28 May, Here I saw one pretty piece of household stuff:—as the company increaseth, to put a larger leaf upon an ovall table. 1797M. Edgeworth Early Lessons (1827) I. 50, I will hold up this part of the table which is called the leaf. 1830Marryat King's Own xli, He has finished the spare-leaf of the dining-table. 1883Harper's Mag. Oct. 652/2 The table was cleared off, and the leaves taken out.
d. The part of a draw-bridge or bascule-bridge which is raised upon a hinge.
1653Boston Rec. (1877) II. 117 Liberty..to alter the drawe bridge, whereas it is made [to] rise in one Leafe, and..to make it to rise in two leaves. 1791Selby Bridge Act 34 The leaf or leaves of the said bridge. 1894Westm. Gaz. 30 June 5/2 The ponderous bascules or leaves of the [Tower] bridge were seen to rise steadily into the air.
e. A hinged sight on the barrel of a rifle.
1875in Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Leaf-sight. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 16 Sept. 3/1 Half the company with the leaf of the sight raised and half with it down. 1900Daily News 2 Feb. 7/1 The sighting leaf.
13. One of the teeth of a pinion. (See also quot. 1805.)
1706in Phillips (ed. Kersey). 1729Desaguliers in Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 195 An Iron Wheel,..to be carried round by a Pinion, u, of a few Leaves. 1805Brewster in Ferguson's Lect. I. 82 note, When the small wheel is solid and oblong, and it's teeth longer than their distance from the axis,..its teeth are named leaves. 1812–16J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 358 The tooth of the wheel acts upon the leaf of the pinion.
14. The brim of a hat. Chiefly Anglo-Irish.
1767H. Brooke Fool of Qual. IV. 210 Harry let down the leaf of his hat, and drew it over his eyes to conceal his emotions. 1841H. Ainsworth Guy Fawkes xi, His hat was..somewhat broader in the leaf than was ordinarily worn. 1842Lever J. Hinton xxi. 146 A hat..the leaf jagged and broken. 1893P. W. Joyce Short Hist. Irel. 118 The barread or hat was cone-shaped and without a leaf.
15. Weaving. leaf of heddles (see quot. 1839). twill of three, four, etc. leaves: twill woven upon three, four, etc. leaves of heddles; hence attrib., as eight-leaf twill.
1831G. R. Porter Silk Manuf. 238 All varieties of twilling depend upon the..working of the different leaves of heddles. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 1230 The heddles being stretched between two shafts of wood, all the heddles connected by the same shafts are called a leaf. Ibid. 1231 The draught of the eight-leaf tweel differs in nothing..excepting in the number of leaves. 1888J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 464/2 Regular twills of from four to eight leaves are woven in the same manner.
16. The external portion of the ear of a mammal or the nasal appendage of a leaf-nosed bat.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick II. xxxii. 225 The ear [of a whale] has no external leaf whatever; and into the hole itself you can hardly insert a quill. 1955Times 16 July 12/1 (caption) A forest-living bat, with a very large nose leaf..caught by members of the expedition to British Guiana.
III. attrib. and Comb.
17. a. Simple attrib., chiefly Bot. and Vegetable Phys., as leaf-axil, leaf-base, leaf-blade, leaf-cell, leaf-disease, leaf-lobe, leaf-point, leaf-rib, leaf-shadow, leaf-shape, leaf-shoot, leaf-stalk (= petiole1), leaf-vein.
1870Hooker Stud. Flora 322 Flowers fascicled in the upper *leaf-axils.
1865P. H. Gosse Land & Sea 26 This plant [sc. a grass] grows in large stools or tussocks formed of the densely-matted *leaf-bases of successive seasons. 1894Pop. Sci. Monthly XLIV. 488 The huge leaf-bases [of the banana tree]..tightly inclose each other. 1965Bell & Coombe tr. Strasburger's Textbk. Bot. 158 In many leaves..the leaf base is not specially developed.
1870Hooker Stud. Flora 367 *Leaf-blade flat.
1875Huxley & Martin Course Elem. Biol. 49 The terminal *leaf-cell soon attaining its full size and not dividing. 1974A. Huxley Plant & Planet vii. 57 In which vein the xylem and phloem fit together, so that the sugars from the leaf cells can be passed into the remainder of the plant.
1869Rep. Comm. U.S. Agric. 218 Mildew and other *leaf diseases.
1870Hooker Stud. Flora 15 *Leaf-lobes longer.
1871C. Kingsley At Last II. x. 71 The curving *leaf-points toss in the breeze. 1895Kipling 2nd Jungle Bk. 141 The lighting shows each littlest *leaf-rib clear.
1863Longfellow Wayside Inn i. Falcon of Ser Federigo 50 In the *leaf-shadows of the trellises.
1909Groom & Balfour tr. Warming's Oecol. Plants. III. xxviii. 99 The properties of water bring forth *leaf-shapes entirely different from those of land-plants. 1946Nature 13 July 64/1 When a leaf-shape is transferred from a late to an early flowering species the action of the gene is accelerated. 1946F. E. Zeuner Dating Past xii. 381 If one compares this example of an aromorph with the evolution, for instance, of a highly specialized protective character, such as the leaf-shape of a leaf-insect.., one realizes the difference between an aromorph and an ordinary adaptational character.
1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. vii. 187 A pointed flexible *leaf-shoot of wild plantain.
1776Withering Brit. Plants Gloss. 799 *Leaf-stalk, the foot-stalk of a leaf. 1839Lindley Introd. Bot. (ed. 3) 138 The petiole, or leafstalk. 1895Daily News 27 Dec. 7/1 Both evergreens and deciduous plants are subject to this process of separation at the bottom of the leaf stalk. 1970Robertson & Gooding Bot. for Caribbean (ed. 2) iii. 27 The petiole or leaf-stalk varies somewhat in length and shape.
1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark xvii. 193 Distinguishable by the deep red of the *leaf-veins.
b. objective, as leaf-eater, leaf-shedding; leaf-bearing, leaf-boring, leaf-eating, leaf-forming, leaf-shedding adjs. See also leaf-miner, -mining (sense 18); leaf-cutter; leaf-cutting ppl. a.
1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 131 Leaves and *Leaf-bearing Axes.
a1887R. Jefferies Field & Hedgerow (1889) 115 The coils and turns upon this leaf..are the work of a *leaf-boring larva.
1852T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (1862) 117 *Leaf-eaters.
Ibid. 121 The tortoise-beetles..are *leaf-eating insects.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 63 *Leaf-forming plants.
1837Wheelwright tr. Aristophanes I. 107 Smelling of bind-weed and *leaf-shedding poplar. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 316 The leaf-shedding season being now at its height.
c. instrumental, as leaf-crowned, leaf-encumbered, leaf-entangled, leaf-fringed, leaf-hid, leaf-hung, leaf-laden, leaf-latticed, leaf-lined, leaf-roofed, leaf-shadowed, leaf-sheltered, leaf-strewn, leaf-strown, leaf-whelmed.
1891W. B. Yeats Countess Kathleen (1892) 125 And no one any *leaf-crowned dancer miss. 1925V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 21 That *leaf-encumbered forest, the soul.
1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. i. 258 The emerald light of *leaf-entangled beams.
1820Keats Ode Grecian Urn 5 What *leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape..?
1869J. R. Lowell Under Willows 52 Our *leaf-hid Sybaris. 1895W. B. Yeats Poems 16 Down in a leaf-hid, hollow place. 1919V. Woolf Night & Day xi. 145 They swept together among the *leaf-hung trees of an unknown world. 1921W. de la Mare The Veil 7 The listening, leaf-hung creek.
1842Faber Styrian Lake, etc. 122 *Leaf-laden waters.
1863Longfellow Wayside Inn i. Birds Killingworth 122 The dim, *leaf-latticed windows of the grove.
1895Outing XXVI. 394/2, I filled one of our *leaf-lined pails with berries.
1839Bailey Festus xx. (1848) 238 Old orchards' *leaf roofed aisles. 1844J. Tomlin Missionary Jrnls. v. 120 The capital of Siam is a large, but not very magnificent city..consisting mainly of leaf-roofed wooden cottages. 1906Westm. Gaz. 10 Sept. 2/3 Where the much-loved birds in their leaf-roofed halls Will herald my morning in.
1845E. Cook Poems 2nd Ser. 187 The *leaf-shadow'd thicket. 1868J. R. Lowell Under Willows (1869) 22 So they in their leaf-shadowed microcosm Image the larger world.
1769G. White Selborne (1789) 69 To yonder bench *leaf-sheltered let us stray.
1876T. Hardy Ethelberta 384 The *leaf-strewn path.
1730–46Thomson Autumn 955 These now the lonesome muse..lead into their *leaf-strown walks.
a1889G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 89 We are *leafwhelmed somewhere with the hood Of some branchy bunchy bushybowered wood.
d. parasynthetic and similative, as leaf-bladed, leaf-dark, leaf-dry, leaf-eyed, leaf-legged, leaf-light, leaf-pointed, leaf-shaped adjs.; also leaf-like adj.
1883Daily News 21 Sept. 5/7 A small *leaf-bladed sheathed dagger.
1936E. Sitwell Victoria of Eng. xix. 227 Their *leaf-dark hair smoothed into the Chinese style. 1946W. de la Mare Traveller 20 He caught but *leaf-dry whisper of what they said. 1949S. Spender Edge of Being 20 Behind the hedge of *leaf-eyed lovers. 1971B. Patten Irrelevant Song 51 Into myth she faded, Leaf-eyed.
c1879G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 44 Low-latched in *leaf-light housel his too huge godhead. 1921V. Woolf Monday or Tuesday 37 Flaunted, leaf-light, drifting at corners, blown across the wheels.
1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. cii, Of her consuming cheek the autumnal *leaf-like red. 1845Lindley Sch. Bot. (1862) 168 The stem..leaf-like (foliaceus). 1865Lubbock Preh. Times 17 The swords of the Bronze age..are always more or less leaf-like in shape.
1870Hooker Stud. Flora 111 Rubus fruticosus..Sepals ascending often *leaf-pointed.
1851D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) II. iii. i. 8 The ancient bronze *leaf-shaped sword. 1872J. Evans Anc. Stone Implements Gt. Brit. xvi. 333 Of leaf-shaped arrow-heads..there are several minor varieties. 1923C. Fox Archaeol. Cambr. Region i. 4 Both the leaf-shaped and the tanged types [of arrowhead] commonly occur in the district. 1940C. F. C. Hawkes Prehist. Found. Europe iii. 78 Hollow-based and leaf-shaped arrowheads..appear in the flint industry.
18. Special comb.: leaf-arrowhead, an arrowhead shaped like a leaf, usu. of the Neolithic period and made of flint (cf. leaf-shaped adj. in sense 17 d above); leaf-bearing a., having a leaf-like appendage; applied spec. to worms of the family Phyllodocidæ, which have gills in the form of leaves; † leaf-beaten a., beaten to a thin plate or foil; leaf-bed, a layer of leaves sometimes found in the upper stratum of the earth's surface; leaf-beetle, a beetle of the family Chrysomelidæ (see quot.); leaf-birth [after childbirth], a bringing forth of leaves; leaf blight, one of several plant diseases causing the death of foliage; leaf blister, (a) a disease of certain fruit trees caused by a parasitic mite; (b) a plant disease caused by a fungus of the genus Taphrina; leaf blotch, one of several plant diseases indicated by discoloured patches on foliage, esp. = black spot 1; leaf-brass, brass foil; leaf-bridge, a bridge constructed with a leaf or leaves (sense 12 d); leaf brown, the colour of (dead) leaves; leaf-bud, a bud from which leaves are produced (opposed to flower-bud); leaf-bug U.S., a heteropterous insect of the family Tingitidæ (Cent. Dict.); leaf-bundle, the bundle of fibres running from the stem into the leaf of a plant; leaf-butterfly, one of the genus Kallima; leaf-canopy (see quot.); leaf cast = larch needle cast (larch 3); leaf-climber (see quot. 1880); so leaf-climbing a.; leaf-crumpler (see quot.); leaf-cup, † (a) ? a cup shaped like a leaf; (b) the plant Polymnia Uvedalia (Treas. Bot. 1866); (c) a leaf folded and used as a cup; leaf curl, one of several plant diseases characterized by curling leaves, esp. (a) = leaf-roll; (b) a disease of peach, almond, and nectarine trees caused by the fungus Taphrina deformans; (c) a virus disease of cotton; leaf-cutting, a leaf used as a cutting in the propagation of certain plants; leaf-cycle Bot. (see quot.); leaf-door, a flap- or folding-door (in quots. transf. and fig.); leaf-drift, a place where fallen leaves have been blown together by the wind; leaf-eared, a corrupt form of lave-eared (see lave a.); leaf-fall, (a) poet., the fall of the leaf, autumn; (b) Bot., the shedding of leaves by a plant; leaf-fat, the fat round a pig's kidneys; leaf-feeder, an insect that feeds upon plant-leaves; leaf-finch U.S., the common bullfinch, Pyrrhula vulgaris (Cent. Dict.); leaf-flea, an insect of the family Psyllidæ which lives on plants (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1888); leaf-folder, a moth whose larvæ fold leaves together to form a protective covering; leaf-footed a., having leaf-like feet; leaf-frog, a frog of the genus Phyllomedusa (Webster, 1897); leaf-gap Veg. Phys., a division in the fibre of a plant, caused by the protrusion of a leaf-bud; † leaf-gate, a gate with folding leaves or flaps; leaf gelatine, gelatine manufactured in sheet form for cooking purposes; leaf-gilding vbl. n., gilding with leaf-gold; leaf-green a., of the colour of green leaves; also quasi-n.; n. = chlorophyll; leaf-hopper (see quot.); leaf-house, -hut, a house or hut made of entwined leaves; leaf-insect, a name for insects of the family Phasmidæ, esp. the genus Phyllium, in which the wings and sometimes the legs resemble leaves in shape and colour; leaf-joy nonce-wd., leaf-lard (see quots.); leaf-lichen, a lichen of the genus Parmelia or family Parmeliaceæ; leaf-louse, one of the aphides which infest the leaves of plants; a plant-louse; leaf-mass, a thick growth of leaves; leafmeal [-meal] adv. (nonce-wd.), with leaves fallen one by one; leaf-metal, metal beaten out to a thin leaf or foil; leaf-miner, a small caterpillar of a tineid moth which eats its way between the cuticles of leaves; so leaf-mining caterpillar; leaf-monkey, a monkey found in south or south-east Asia belonging to one of several species of the genus Presbytis; = langur; leaf-mould, (a) mould having a large proportion of decayed leaves mixed with it; (b) a disease of tomatoes caused by the fungus Cladosporium fulvum; leaf-netting (see quot.); leaf-nosed a., having a leaf-like appendage on the snout; spec. applied to the phyllostomoid and rhinolophoid bats; leaf-opposed a. Bot., having opposite leaves; leaf-plant, a plant cultivated for its foliage; in quot. attrib.; leaf-plate, -platter, a leaf or leaves used as a plate or dish for food; leaf protein, protein, or a protein, present in leaves, esp. when extracted for use as a possible dietary supplement; leaf-red = erythrophyll (Syd. Soc. Lex.); leaf-roll, a virus disease of potatoes shown by curled-up leaves; leaf-roller, the caterpillar of certain (tortricid) moths, which rolls up the leaves of plants which it infests; so leaf-rolling adj.; leaf-rosette Veg. Phys., a cluster of leaves resembling a rosette; leaf-rust, a mould which attacks trees, producing the appearance of rusty spots on the leaves; leaf scald, (a) = leaf scorch; (b) a disease of sugar-cane caused by the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas albilineans; leaf-scale, a scale on a plant-stem which develops into a leaf; leaf-scar, the cicatrix left on the bark by the separation of the leaf-stalk of a fallen leaf; leaf scorch, a plant disease caused by a deficiency of potassium, causing leaves to shrivel and turn brown; also, a virus disease causing similar effects; leaf-sheath, an expansion at the axil of a leaf in some plants, which embraces the stem and petiole; also, a covering to the leaf-bearing shoots of some grasses, e.g. the Equisetaceæ; leaf-shedding, (a) a disease of pine trees caused by the fungus Hendersonia acicola; pine needle cast; (b) = leaf-fall (b); leaf shelter, a shelter made of leaves; † leaf-sickness (see quot. and cf. sense 5 above); leaf-sight (see 12 e); leaf-silver, silver leaf or foil; hence leaf-silvering vbl. n., the process of covering with leaf-silver (Cent. Dict.); leaf-skin, (a) the membrane enclosing the leaf-fat; (b) the epidermis of a leaf; leaf-soil = leaf-mould; leaf-spine (see quot. 1882); leaf-spot, one of a large number of plant diseases caused by various fungi which mark the foliage; also attrib.; leaf spring, a spring consisting of a number of strips of metal curved slightly upwards and clamped together one above the other, each strip being longer than the one beneath; so leaf springing, leaf-sprung adj.; leaf-table, a table with a leaf or flap; leaf-tailed a., having the tail shaped like a leaf, applied to geckos of the genus Phyllurus (Cent. Dict.); leaf-teeth (see quot.); leaf-tendril, a leaf, the midrib of which grows beyond the blade in the form of a tendril; leaf-thorn = leaf-spine (Syd. Soc. Lex.); † leaf-tin, tin-foil; leaf-tobacco (see quot. 1851); leaf-trace Veg. Phys. (see quot. 1875); leaf-turner, † (a) jocular, a reader of a book; (b) a device for turning over the leaves of a book (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); leaf-valve, ‘a valve of a pumping-engine hinged or pivoted on one side, a flap-valve’ (Knight); leaf warbler, a small green or yellow bird of the genus Phylloscopus, living in bushes or trees; leaf-wasp, ‘a saw-fly’ (Webster, 1897); leaf-work, ornamental work consisting of leaf-forms; † leaf-worm, a caterpillar that devours leaves.
1954S. Piggott Neolithic Cultures iii. 99 *Leaf-arrowheads are a common feature in Belgium. 1963L. F. Chitty in Foster & Alcock Culture & Environment vii. 188 Flints found range from a microlith and a leaf-arrowhead to a gun-flint.
1882Cassell's Nat. Hist. VI. 232 The family of *Leaf-bearing Worms, the Phyllodocidæ, contains very beautiful Worms.
1660Hexham Dutch Dict., Klater-goudt,..*leafe-beaten gold.
1873Archæologia XLIV. 278 The upper surface of the *leaf-bed was well marked and level, as was also..the upper surface of the moss. 1894Nature 26 July 295/1 If we could only meet with some fairly representative leaf-beds, such as abound in newer formations, the Wealden would yield a flora, both varied, and of enormous interest. 1954S. Piggott Neolithic Cultures x. 295 ‘Leaf bed’ with no large vegetable remains, 3–4 ft. thick.
1852T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (1862) 117 Beetles..which, as they derive their nourishment..from leaves alone, may be called *leaf-beetles.
1887Bowen Virg. Eclog. iii. 56 Now each meadow is teeming, in *leafbirth every tree.
1850Rep. Comm. Patents 1849 (U.S.) 440 During the last summer our seedling pears were for the first time badly affected with ‘*leaf-blight’. 1920P. J. Fryer Insect Pests & Fungus Dis. Fruit & Hops 709 Cherry and Plum Leaf Blight..appears to be slightly on the increase. 1926[see frog eye]. 1960C. Westcott Plant Dis. Handbk. (ed. 2) 125 Mystrosporium adustum. Leaf Blight, Ink Spot of bulbous iris.
1914F. C. Sears Productive Orcharding xi. 159 *Leaf Blister Mite.—Another pest which is frequently troublesome on both pears and apples is the blister mite. 1960C. Westcott Plant Dis. Handbk. (ed. 2) 194 A single genus, Taphrina, is responsible for most of the hyperplastic (over-growth) deformities known as leaf blister, leaf curl, or, occasionally, as pockets.
1906M. C. Cooke Fungoid Pests Cultivated Plants 75 Iris *Leaf-blotch. 1925Gardeners' Chron. 31 Oct. 353/3 (heading) A leaf blotch of the Shasta daisy. 1928Daily Express 7 July 4/2 See that none of your favourites [sc. roses] is attacked by leaf blotch. 1971Country Life 18 Feb. 389/2 The diseases of mildew, rust and leaf blotch are prevalent throughout Britain.
1708Phil. Trans. XXVI. 90 The Rosin, while warm, would attract *Leaf-Brass.
1841S. C. Brees Gloss. Civ. Engin., *Leaf-Bridge, or Hoist-Bridge.
1923Daily Mail 19 Feb. 1 (Advt.), French Model Jumper made of..Crepe de Chine,..Jade..*Leaf Brown, Navy and Black. 1932W. Faulkner Light in August xx. 444 Patches of Confederate grey weathered leafbrown now.
1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. Jan. (1706) 4 Learn..to..distinguish the Bearing and Fruit-buds from the *Leaf-buds. 1839Lindley Introd. Bot. (ed. 3) 74 The usual, or normal, situation of leaf-buds is in the axil of leaves. 1906Westm. Gaz. 14 Apr. 8/1 The lilac and elder-bushes..are beginning to unfold their leaf-buds. 1971Country Life 10 June 1440/2 The ash..never makes the mistake of opening its leaf buds before the last night frost.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 256 All..are, according to Wigand, ‘true *leaf-bundles, since they traverse only one internode and then run into the leaf-organs.
1882Cassell's Nat. Hist. VI. 232 *Leaf-butterfly of India (Kallima inachis). 1885C. F. Holder Marvels Anim. Life 147 Java, the home of the beautiful leaf-butterfly.
1889Land Agents' Rec. 9 Feb. 126 A forest is said to form a ‘*leaf-canopy’ when the crowns of the trees touch each other.
1933Oxford Forestry Mem. XV. 7 Meria laricis Vuillemin, the *leaf cast disease of larch, which was first described by Mer in 1895..is probably the most important fungal disease of European larch in nurseries in this country. 1952E. Ramsden tr. Gram & Weber's Plant Dis. iv. 482/1 Leaf cast is the worst disease of young larch trees.
1880Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §3 (ed. 6) 52 *Leaf-Climbers are those in which support is gained by the action, not of the stem itself, but of the leaves it bears.
1880C. & F. Darwin Movem. Pl. 139 A *leaf-climbing plant.
1884–5Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) II. 444 The *leaf-crumpler, Phycis indiginella, of North America... The caterpillars draw together and crumple the leaves on which they feed.
1716Lond. Gaz. No. 5409/3 A *Leaf Cup without a Cover. 1890G. M. Gould New Med. Dict., Bear's-foot, leaf cup. A popular remedy for enlargement of the spleen, or the ‘ague-cake’ of malarious regions. 1901Kipling Kim x. 263 He bought sweetmeats in a leaf-cup from a Hindu trader.
1899G. Massee Text-bk. Plant Dis. 82 The disease [of peaches], which is very widespread, is popularly known as ‘*leaf curl’, or simply as ‘curl’, owing to the fact that the diseased leaves become much curled, distorted, and thickened. Ibid. 323 The well-known disease of the foliage of potatoes known as ‘leaf curl’ attacks the stem..and gradually creeps up. 1926W. H. Johnson Cotton viii. 259 Upland cotton appeared to be less affected by a peculiar leaf-curl disease. 1951Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) III. 1654/2 The most common and probably the most serious [virus disease of potatoes] is Leaf Curl (Leaf Roll). 1965Ripper & George Cotton Pests Sudan i. 7 Leafcurl is transmitted from ratoon cotton and wild host plants to cotton by whitefly. 1967Punch 18 Jan. 96/3 It [sc. Burgundy mixture] is a good fungicide to use on leafless trees and bushes, particularly against leafcurl in the peach family.
1882Garden 4 Feb. 74/1, I have been successful with *leaf cuttings of..Bertolonias.
1877Bennett tr. Thomé's Bot. 87 If a spiral is drawn round the stem connecting the points of attachment of the [alternate or scattered] leaves... The course of the spiral from any one leaf to the next leaf which stands exactly vertically above or beneath it is therefore termed the *leaf-cycle.
1600J. Lane Tom Tel-troth 113 The two *leafe-dores of quondam honestie, Which on foure vertues Cardinall were turned. 1615Crooke Body of Man 108 Nature hath ordained & scituated a certain value, leaf-doore, or floud-gate, at the beginning of this Colon.
1905E. Phillpotts Secret Woman i. i. 6 While death, not unlovely, appeared in *leaf-drift and touch-wood, in acorn cups..and hollow hazel-nuts. 1958C. Tomlinson Seeing is Believing (1960) 60 And it continues Falling flaking into the leaf-drift.
1840Browning Sordello iii. 95 *Leaf-fall and grass-spring for the year. 1914M. Drummond tr. Haberlandt's Physiol. Plant Anat. iii. 143 The arrangements [for peeling bark scales] resemble those which occur in leaf-bases in connection with the autumnal leaf-fall. 1947G. F. Wilson Detection & Control Garden Pests vi. 107 Premature leaf-fall is associated with several factors other than pest attack. 1971Homes & Gardens Sept. 128/2 Most of the cornus family colour richly before leaf-fall.
1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Sausages, *Leaf-Fat out of the Hogs-belly. 1845J. J. Hooper Some Adventures Simon Suggs v. 65 They've knocked the leaf fat outen him tonight, in wads as big as mattock handles. 1904L. L. Lamborn Cottonseed Products 166 In the packing plants the leaf fat is taken from the animal immediately after killing.
1853Zoologist XI. 4025 The seed-feeders..not betraying themselves by the discoloured blotches as the *leaf-feeders do.
1869Rep. Comm. U.S. Agric. 217 Illinois: The *leaf folder, thrips, borer, and curculio are occasionally found in vineyards.
1863Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 633 The Phyllopoda, or *Leaf-footed Entomostraca.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 243 Narrow reticulated tracheides at the edges bordering the *leaf-gap.
1615Crooke Body of Man 236 The torne Membranes..do somtimes hang downe on either hand in the sides by the cleft like vnto values..or *leafe-gates.
1956C. Spry Cookery Bk. xxx. 957 The incorporation of gelatine with various liquids is much easier now that powdered or very fine *leaf gelatine is sold. 1957E. Craig Collins Family Cookery 606 Ten perfect sheets of French leaf gelatine equals 1 oz.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 613 *Leaf gilding..is done by giving..a coat of gum water or fine size, applying the gold leaf ere the surfaces be hard dry.
1853Ibid. (ed. 4) II. 867 Chlorophyle (*leaf-green). 1891Daily News 19 Sept. 2/1 The hat..is in leaf green felt. 1899Ibid. 27 Feb. 6/6 Laburnum-yellows, leaf-greens.
1852T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (1862) 220 Some of the insects..are..called..frog-hoppers, and to others [Tettigoniadæ] may be applied the name of *leaf-hoppers, because they live mostly on the leaves of plants.
1953A. Moorehead Rum Jungle vii. 107 Green-ants that stitch their *leaf-houses together by holding their babies in their arms and drawing out of the babies' mouths a sticky thread. 1958Listener 14 Aug. 237/1 Johnny and Silas were my two servants and lived in a leaf house near mine.
1910W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars i. 8 He taught them..to build *leaf-huts and huddles against heat or rain. 1949M. Mead Male & Female x. 220 A leaky leaf-hut on the side of a mountain.
1861Tennent Nat. Hist. Ceylon 408 *Leaf-insects. 1863Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 486 Leaf insect, Phyllium scythë.
1638Rawley tr. Bacon's Life & Death (1650) 34 Hope is as a *Leafe-Ioy [orig. tanquam gaudium foliatum]; Which may be beaten out, to a great Extention, like Gold.
1848Rep. Comm. Patents 1847 (U.S.) 538 The articles thus referred to are put up in these establishments, from the hams..*leaf lard [etc.]. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Leaf-lard, lard from the flaky animal fat of the hog. 1885W. L. Carpenter Treat. Manuf. Soap ii. 25 The fat immediately surrounding the kidneys yields the best and purest lard. This, and that which is obtained in flaky layers between the flesh and the skin.., is known as ‘leaf’ lard. 1888W. T. Brannt Pract. Treat. Animal & Veg. Fats & Oils ix. 344 The leaf lard is..kept separate from the rest.
1879Rossiter Dict. Sci. Terms, *Leaf lichens, Parmeliaceæ.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) III. 212 The animal which some have called the *Leaf Louse, is of the size of a flea, and of a bright green, or bluish-green colour.
1908G. Jekyll Colour in Flower Garden vii. 60 We gradually return to the grey-blues, whites and pale yellows, with..the splendid *leaf-mass of a wide and high plant of Euphorbia Wulfenii, which..rises to a height far above my head. 1958C. Tomlinson Seeing is Believing (1960) 20 Light, swept perpendicular Into the leaf-mass Flickers out.
c1880G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 51 Though worlds of wanwood *leafmeal lie.
1812J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 155 *Leaf Metal (except of Gold) the packet to contain 250 leaves.
1830J. Rennie Insect Archit. xii. 239 Most of the solitary *leaf-miners either cannot or will not construct a new mine, if ejected by an experimenter from the old. 1883Wood in Gd. Words Dec. 763/2 Leaf-miners—tiny caterpillars which pass their lives between the inner and outer layer of leaves.
1830J. Rennie Insect Archit. xii. 233 *Leaf-mining Caterpillars.
1888W. T. Blanford Fauna Brit. India: Mammalia I. 41 Phayre's *Leaf-Monkey is found in dense high forests. 1928Jrnl. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. XXXII. 472 (title) The langurs or leaf-monkeys of British India. 1966R. & D. Morris Men & Apes viii. 236 Various species of leaf monkeys..frequent salt licks and saline mineral springs in Borneo.
1845Florist's Jrnl. 53 A compost of *leaf-mould, loam, and sand, well mixed together. 1913M. T. Cook Dis. Trop. Plants vii. 217 Leaf Mould..spreads rapidly. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Sept. 734/4 Leaf-mould (Cladosporium) is a source of much loss to growers of the tomato. 1971T. F. Preece in J. H. Western Dis. Crop Plants ii. 12 Cladosporium fulvum. Tomato leaf mould.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needle-work 360 *Leaf Netting, also known as Puff Netting, and worked so as to raise some of the loops of a row above the others.
1843List Mammalia Brit. Mus. 21 Redman's *Leaf-nosed Bat. 1850A. White Pop. Hist. Mammalia 47 The bats are arranged by Mr. Gray in two great divisions—the Leaf-nosed bats and the Simple-nosed bats. 1879Wright Anim. Life 64 The Phyllostomidæ. This family contains the simple Leaf-nosed Bats. 1960G. Durrell Zoo in Luggage ii. 61 A handful of leaf-nosed bats with extraordinary gargoyle-like faces. 1965R. & D. Morris Men & Snakes viii. 178 (caption) The leaf-nosed snake, showing an unusual form of serpentine camouflage.
1870Hooker Stud. Flora 5 Ranunculus..Batrachium..Peduncles usually *leaf-opposed.
1896Howells Impressions & Exp. 214 The *leaf-plant beds before the hotel.
a1843Southey Commonplace Bk. (1849) 2nd Ser. 422/1 *Leaf-plates. ‘Their plates and dishes are generally formed from the leaf of the plaintain tree or the nymphæa lotos... These are never used a second time.’ 1962B. Harrisson Orang-Utan ii. 57 You bend slightly over and down for mouth and fingers to meet above your leaf-plate.
1901Kipling Kim xi. 281 ‘And we,’ said Kim, turning his back and heaping a *leaf-platter for the lama, ‘are beyond all castes.’ 1937Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1937 459 Man also eats leaves to some extent,..and these leaves are quite high in protein. In this case there has been no selection of the *leaf proteins by animal or plant, and it is probable that this leaf protein is intermediate in value to man between animal and other vegetable protein. 1953Jrnl. Agric. Sci. XLIII. 136/1 Work on laboratory-extracted leaf protein suggests that such material might provide valuable protein feed as it contains many of the amino-acids essential for poultry nutrition. 1971N. W. Pirie Leaf Protein xvi. 157 People habituated to leaf protein accept its flavour so that a larger proportion can be added to a food. Ibid., Freshly made slabs of leaf protein disperse in water to give a smooth paste but slabs stored in deep-freeze gradually become gritty and have to be passed through a mill. 1972Goodwin & Mercer Introd. Plant Biochem. ix. 236 The major part of the leaf protein is in the chloroplast.
1926Sci. Proc. R. Dublin Soc. XVIII. 177 Twenty-nine halves or thirds of tubers..were infested with aphides from diseased sprouts... Only two..became infected (with *leaf-roll, the aphides being Myzus pseudosolani). 1946Nature 14 Dec. 885/2 Bismark is resistant to leafroll. 1960Times 29 July 12/6 The telltale curl..shows a potato plant has leafroll.
1830J. Rennie Insect Archit. viii. 158 The caterpillars which are familiarly termed *leaf-rollers, are perfect hermits. Ibid. 163 The leaf-rolling caterpillars.
1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 169 The *leaf-rosettes of Crassulaceæ.
1865Cooke Rust, Smut, etc. 111 A rare species in Britain is the oak-*leaf rust (Uredo Quercus).
1899G. Massee Textbk. Plant Dis. 276 (heading) *Leaf scald. 1924Phytopathology XIV. 587 (title) Java gum disease of sugar cane identical to leaf scald of Australia. 1965G. C. Stevenson Genetics & Breeding Sugar Cane v. 147 Resistance of sugar cane species and hybrids to leaf scald disease..is very much complicated by the presence, in various countries, of several different strains of the parasite.
1776–96Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 490 Leaves floating, long, grass-like, blunt, from *leaf-scales.
1835Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 239 We do not..usually find any buds in the axils of the *leaf-scars. 1897J. C. Willis Man. Flowering Plants I. iii. 167 This [sc. the absciss layer] splits down the middle and leaves one half upon the stem, where it forms the leaf scar covering the wound. 1965Bell & Coombe tr. Strasburger's Textbk. Bot. 167 In almost all woody plants the leaves..are sooner or later shed, leaving leaf scars on the stem showing their former positions.
1921Ann. Rep. Agric. & Hort. Res. Station Univ. Bristol 121 The correlation which has been noted between the amount of potash supply, root growth and the degree of *leaf scorch, points very definitely towards the liberal application of potash manures as a remedial measure. 1929Misc. Publ. Ministry Agric. & Fisheries no. 70. 27 Leaf Scorch..was common on Mangolds in Devon and Cornwall in 1927, and on Sugar Beet in the East Midland and Eastern Provinces in the same year. 1933Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. LVIII. 253 Leaf scorch of apples is a deficiency disease. 1943Bull. Ministry Agric. & Fisheries no. 126. 30 Leaf Scorch..was formerly attributed to Sporidesmium putrefaciens Fuckel but is now regarded..as a later and secondary symptom of Yellows. 1952E. Ramsden tr. Gram & Weber's Plant Dis. iii. 342/2 Leaf Scorch (Potassium Deficiency). Potatoes that lack potassium produce a low-growing, rather dark, open haulm. 1961Amat. Gardening 21 Oct. Suppl. 31/2 Leaf scorch. A common disorder of grapevines under glass, in which the leaves take on a shrivelled appearance.
1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. p. xlvii, *Leafsheaths entire..Leafsheaths slit. 1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 370 [Equisetum Telmateia and E. arvense] After they have formed several foliar girdles and their apex is covered by a firm envelope of leaf-sheaths, they break through the base of the parent leaf-sheaths.
1891W. Schlich Man. Forestry II. 302 In many cases a fungus (Hysterium pinastre) is present, and may occasion the disease, which is called ‘*leaf-shedding’. 1895Daily News 27 Dec. 7/1 With most evergreens the process of leaf-shedding is exactly the same as in the case of deciduous trees.
1937Discovery Sept. 274/2 Two dilapidated *leaf shelters.
1614Markham Cheap. Husb. iii. xxvi. (1668) 93 The staggers, or *leaf-sickness..is ingendered in sheep by surfeiting on Oak-leaves..or such like..it is cold corrupt blood, or flegm, gathered together about the brain.
1614Camden Rem. 204 Eleauen ounces two pence ferling [in the lb. of coin] ought to be of so pure siluer, as is called *leafe siluer. 1712Cooke Voy. S. Sea 87 Salvers, Spoons,..&c. cover'd with Leaf Silver and Gold.
1816‘A. Singleton’ Lett. (1824) 75 (Th.), Being born smokers, [the Negroes] make pouches of the inner *leafskin of a swine, peeled thin, which is soft, transparent, and tough. 1974A. Huxley Plant & Planet xxv. 281 Alpine rhododendrons..have very thick leaf⁓skins reinforced with silica.
1872Jrnl. Horticulture 21 Mar. 262/1 *Leaf soil decays with age, and finally becomes vegetable soil. 1894Robinson Cottage Gardening IV. 12/2.
1877Bennett tr. Thomé's Bot. 109 *Leaf-spines as in the holly. 1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 215 Leaf-spines are leaves which have developed into long, conical, pointed, woody bodies.
1901H. M. Ward Dis. in Plants xii. 114 If the fungus becomes epidemic and myriads of *leaf-spots are formed, the destruction of foliar tissue..may end in rapid defoliation. 1908Jrnl. South-Eastern Agric. College, Wye XVII. 316 (title) Leaf-spot diseases of the apple. 1933Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. LVIII. 280 Infected seed as a source of the celery leaf-spot is discussed. 1951New Biol. XI. 78 The leaf-spot disease of bananas.. was not recorded in the western tropics until 1934. 1972Arable Farmer Feb. 55/1 Latest list of approved products..includes: Benlate (systemic fungicide from Du Pont for control of Botrytis in green beans and leaf spot in celery).
1893Funk's Stand. Dict., *Leaf-spring. 1896R. Grimshaw Shop Kinks 123 In finishing leaf-springs by grinding care should be taken that the grinding-marks run lengthwise. 1905R. T. Sloss Bk. Automobile vi. 123 Leaf-springs seem to give the best results in automobile construction. 1935Times 22 Oct. 9/2 In applying independent front wheel suspension some designers use coil springs and others leaf springs. 1967Autocar 5 Oct. 73/3 He built the car without dampers, having read somewhere that inter-leaf friction in leaf springs might be sufficient damping. It wasn't.
1958Times 26 Sept. 6/4 Air suspension is confined mostly to passenger-carrying vehicles, for the normal *leaf springing is considered satisfactory for goods vehicles. 1973Times 4 Oct. 43/3 All the cars have a leaf sprung back axle.
1649Bury Wills (Camden) 220 A *leafe table, a forme, a great kettle.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 374 The *leaf-teeth of Drosera... The leaf of species of Drosera..has at its edge and on its entire upper surface numerous filiform teeth with broadened ends.
1877Bennett tr. Thomé's Bot. 109 Accordingly as they belong to the stem as in the vine, or to the leaf as in the tare, they are called stem- or *leaf-tendrils.
1611Cotgr., Orpel,..a kind of *leafe-tinne.
1600Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood vi. 77 Out upon Cane and *leafe Tabacco smell. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 204 Tobacco..the raw material, as imported with the stalk on it, known as ‘leaf’, or ‘unstemmed’, tobacco.
1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 431 We have here ‘common’ bundles [of Phanerogams], each of which has one arm that ascends and bends out into the leaf, and another which descends and runs down into the stem; the latter is called by Hanstein the ‘inner *leaf-trace’. 1877Bennett tr. Thomé's Bot. 360 Leaf-traces.
1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 212 Where then were all your *Leaf-turners?
1926T. A. Coward Birds Brit. Isles 122 (heading) The *Leaf-Warblers. 1929W. E. Glegg Hist. Birds Essex 71 The Willow-Warbler is a very common summer resident, increasing, and the most numerous of the Leaf-Warblers. 1953B. Campbell Finding Nests vii. 96 The off-nest call [of the wood-warbler]..is easier to pick up than similar notes of the other leaf-warblers. 1974Lady 2 May 622/3 Linnaeus did not distinguish all three common leaf-warblers.
1611Cotgr., Fueillure,..*leafe-worke, or a leauie flourishing. 1841Longfellow Childr. Lord's Supper 33 Bright-curling tresses of angels Peeped..from out of the shadowy leaf-work. 1880J. L. Warren Guide to Study of Book-Plates ii. 10 Outside the inscription is some rather fine leaf-work. 1937Burlington Mag. Aug. 69/1 Decorated with the famous leafwork.
c1000Ags. Ps. lxxvii. 51 (Spelman) He sealde *leaf-wyrme [MS. C. treowyrme, Vulg. ærugini] wæstm heora. a1300E.E. Psalter lxxvii. 46 And to lefe-worme þar fruit gafe he. 1496Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 25 The water docke leyf worme and the hornet worme.
Senses 17, 18 in Dict. become 18, 19. Add: [II.] [10.] d. Building. A continuous upright structure forming one layer of a cavity wall (or a well in its own right).
1938R. Fitzmaurice Princ. Mod. Building I. iii. 160 The weakness of cavity construction lies in the possibility that carelessness or accident may result in material being dropped into the cavity which may form a bridge across which water is transmitted to the inner leaf. 1949D. Nield Walls & Wall Facings ii. iii. 145 Cavity walls..are being increasingly built with hollow blocks or other material in place of bricks for the internal leaf. 1958House & Garden Feb. 69/1 The cavity walls have an outer leaf of yellow-buff bricks. 1983J. S. Foster Structure & Fabric (rev. ed.) I. iii. 86/2 Without bridging of any kind capable of transferring moisture to the inner leaf. 1986Do It Yourself June 22/1 The walls are built with two 4in. solid concrete block leaves, 6in. apart, and the cavity is filled with 1:2:4 concrete. 1991New Civil Engineer 3 Oct. 68/3 (Advt.), Single leaf wall with vertical and lateral load.
17. Math. and Computing. = *leaf node, sense 19 below.
1968D. E. Knuth Art of Computer Programming I. ii. 305 A node of degree zero is called a terminal node or sometimes a ‘leaf’. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xxii. 359 Our decision tree..has four branches... At the third level, each branch splits in two, and at the fourth level, where the ‘leaves’ are, there is no ramification at all. 1973C. W. Gear Introd. Computer Sci. vii. 282 The pointers from one node to another are called branches, while the nodes with no pointers leaving them are called terminal nodes (or leaves). 1979Page & Wilson Introd. Computational Combinatorics vi. 133 In a general problem there could be different numbers of branches emerging from each node as well as different numbers of levels before the terminal nodes (the ‘leaves’) are reached which correspond to the possible complete vectors. 1992Dr. Dobb's Jrnl. Jan. 44/1 Unlike a binary tree, a B-tree is a balanced tree structure. Every leaf is at the same distance from the root.
[III.] [18.] [a.] leaf-area.
1966Proc. 16th Alaska Sci. Conf., 1965 26 (heading) A photoelectric device for measuring *leaf area. 1981Southern Horticulture (N.Z.) Spring 26/1 Root number and leaf number, and root length and leaf area, are related. 1991New Scientist 21 Sept. 42/1 A rainforest's leaf area index—the total area of leaves above each square metre of forest floor—can reach 8.
leaf-wrapping.
[1918J. London Red One 10 A roasted pig that steamed its essence deliciously through its green-leaf wrappings.] 1954J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring ii. viii. 386 The cakes will keep sweet..if they are..left in their *leaf-wrappings. 1992M. Margetts Classic Crafts 110/1 There is Banon from Provence, a festive-looking cheese, with its sweet-chestnut leaf wrapping and tie.
[c.] leaf-wrapped.
1972K. Lo Chinese Food i. 59 In China in the summer..Lotus *Leaf-wrapped Rice is a popular snack everywhere. 1985N.Y. Times 14 Apr. x. 17/2 Fortified by a snack of crackers and queso de oja—leaf-wrapped mild, white cheese—the group walks toward the central plaza.
[19.] leaf beet Hort., any of several varieties of beet cultivated for their leaves, esp. the spinach-beet.
1842J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 658 The spinach beet, *leaf beet, or white beet, Bèta cìcla,..a native of the sea-shores of Spain and Portugal. 1890Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. XII. 97 Of these Leaf Beets..the Chilian is a very ornamental plant, producing broad fleshy leaf stalks... The Green, or Spinach Beet is quite a different plant. 1985Gardening from ‘Which?’ Dec. 401/4 Members found..leaf beet (perpetual spinach) easiest to grow.
leaf freak U.S. colloq., an enthusiastic ‘leaf peeper’ (see below).
1974Time 11 Nov. 92/1 The traffic is so bad along the Mohawk Trail that they had to bring out Indians to entertain all the *leaf freaks sitting in their cars with nothing to do. 1980N.Y. Times 2 Nov. xxi. 22/3 Travel agencies have, no doubt, established tours to Craftsbury Common, Vt., [etc.]..to help those citybound ‘leaf freaks’ find their ultimate dream.
leaf-hopper, substitute for def.: any insect of the family Cicadellidae, which comprises small leaping homopterous insects that suck liquid from leaves and often spread plant diseases.
1841T. W. Harris Rep. Insects of Mass. Injurious to Vegetation 183 The Tettigonians, or leaf-hoppers, have the head and thorax somewhat like those of frog-hoppers, but their bodies are, in general, proportionately longer. 1920Edin. Rev. Oct. 338 The homopterous hosts are leaf-hoppers and other small insects (allied to cicads). 1972Swan & Papp Common Insects N. Amer. xiii. 137 The Cicadellidae, or leafhoppers, comprise a large family of small, slender insects with short bristle-like antennae, and usually two ocelli. 1989Antenna XIII. 134/2 Biological control now faces a new wave of challenges—western flower thrips, serpentine leaf-miner, and insecticide-resistant strains of aphids, leaf-hoppers and mealybug. 1989Sun (Brisbane) 6 Jan. 27/4 The disease is spread by a small leafhopper.
leaf-litter Bot. and Hort., litter (*litter n. 4 b) consisting primarily of leaf fragments.
1870A. Mongredien Trees & Shrubs Eng. Plantations viii. 316 Some leaf-litter or strawy manure placed over the stool of the plant will easily maintain its vitality during frosty weather. 1987Jrnl. Environmental Managem. July 67/1 With its characteristically high tree density and possibly its relatively high foliage cover in its first 5–15 years, a high production of leaf litter is encouraged. 1989Landscape Design June 27/1 Tons of leaf litter and road sweepings..are delivered each Autumn.
leaf node Math. and Computing, a node or vertex of a tree which has only one connection to another node; a terminal node.
1980Information Processing Lett. XI. 126/1 Now p must lie in the interior of a six-dimensional convex region defined by some *leaf node of the linear decision tree. 1986D. Deutsch in T. C. Bartee Digital Communications v. 215 The object to be named is represented by a leaf node. 1990Wall & Schwartz Programming Perl ii. 55 Note that a recursive subroutine must have some means of distinguishing when it has reached a so-called ‘leaf-node’.
leaf peeper U.S. colloq., a person, esp. a tourist, who indulges in ‘leaf peeping’.
1979United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 576 It's also popular with hikers, ‘leaf peepers’ hooked on the fall foliage. 1987Economist 3 Oct. 43/1 Each autumn, northern New England draws thousands of ‘leaf-peepers’ to gape at the ravishing colours of the changing trees. 1991Sunday Times 8 Sept. iii. 7/2 Active leaf peepers could follow the fall all the way from Maine to Georgia.
leaf peeping U.S. colloq., the popular activity of observing the spectacular colours of autumn foliage, esp. that of New England.
1979United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 632 The four weeks from mid-September to mid-October are leaf-peeping season, a magic time to be here. 1987Los Angeles Times 9 Oct. i. 32/1 ‘Leaf peeping’ season is about over in northern New Hampshire, and the mountains' spectacular palette of red, yellow and orange has begun to fade.
leaf shutter Photogr., a shutter in which the exposure is controlled by an iris (iris n. 4 c).
1962G. G. Bates 35 mm. Cameras i. 14/1 The leaf or diaphragm shutter, consisting of a number of wafer-thin leaves or blades which overlap to form an opaque barrier to the rays of light. 1979Amat. Photographer 10 Jan. 61/1 The leaf shutter is incorporated into the camera because of requests from professional photographers who wanted flash sync at all speeds. 1991Photo Answers Aug. 67/3 Leaf shutters..are mounted between the lens elements and consist of a series of overlapping blades which open and close like an aperture.
▸ leaf blower n. a machine used to blow fallen leaves and other garden debris into piles for disposal.
1962Chron.-Tel. (Elyria, Ohio) (Electronic text) 26 Apr. For some reason, a lot of householders did not get all their leaves raked up last fall, when the city's *leaf-blower was in operation. 2005Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 7 Aug. 12/2 About 20 Californian cities have banned leaf blowers. They are declared a public nuisance in Hollywood.
▪ II. leaf, n.2 Services' slang.|liːf|
Also leef.
[Var. leave n. 1 e.]
Leave of absence, furlough; = leave n. 1 e.
1846Punch 3 Jan. 10/2 The shabby Capting (who seames to git leaf from his ridgmint whenhever he likes). 1904Kipling in Windsor Mag. Dec. 4/1 What a lot of 'ard work one misses on leaf! 1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin viii. 124 Wot's the good o' seven days' leaf ter a bloke wot ain't got no money? 1919Athenæum 8 Aug. 729/1 The soldier going on short leave speaks usually of ‘going on pass’; sometimes, however, of ‘going on leaf’. Why in this phrase (nowhere else) the voiceless f is substituted for voiced v in ‘leave’ is a mystery to me. 1929Papers Mich. Acad. Sci., Arts & Lett. X. 306 Leef, leave, pass, furlough. 1946J. Irving Royal Navalese 107 Leaf, a corruption of Leave—leave of absence... A sailor goes ‘on leaf’ and never on furlough.
▪ III. leaf, v.|liːf|
See also leave v.2
[f. leaf n.1]
1. intr. To put forth leaves or foliage. Also to leaf out (U.S.).
1611Cotgr., Fueiller, to leafe; or leaue; to beare, or bring forth leaues. 1695Evelyn Diary 21 Apr., The Spring begins to appeare, yet the trees hardly leaf'd. 1759B. Stillingfl. Cal. Flora Pref., Misc. Tracts (1762) 233, I marked the day of the month on which certain trees leafed. 1837Lowell Lett. (1894) I. i. 19 The gooseberry bushes are beginning to leaf out. 1855Singleton Virgil I. 19 Now leaf the woods. 1861Delamer Fl. Gard. 24 By making the bulbs leaf in a reserved ground. 1872O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. xi. (1885) 286 There it stood..leafing out hopefully in April.
2. a. trans. To cover with foliage. poet. rare.
1849Tait's Mag. XVI. 670 The wood that leafs the hill⁓side.
b. To shade (a plant) with leafage.
1846Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VII. ii. 592 The requisites [of the pea] are early ripening, short and delicate bine, which will not leaf or house the turnips too much.
3. a. To go through (a book or papers) by turning the leaves, usu. in a casual manner; also fig. Also (now U.S.), to turn or turn over (the leaves of a book). Also used intr.
1663Sir G. Mackenzie Relig. Stoic xvi. (1685) 147 Children who love to leaf over talidouce pictures. 1888Advance (Chicago) 9 Aug., This man in front of me who is leafing the hymn-book. 1929Publishers' Weekly 19 Oct. 1928/2 There are..plenty of people who..like to leaf through a book before buying. 1936J. G. Cozzens Men & Brethren II. 175 Ernest..leafed over the remaining letters. 1936L. C. Douglas White Banners xi. 245 He found the book, opened it on the table and leafed to the pictures he had found most amusing. 1953Encounter Nov. 34/1 So it is possible to leaf through the Essays, reading a few pages and turning away at pleasure, as Montaigne himself read. 1960‘R. East’ Kingston Black x. 98 She went on leafing through the transcript. 1960‘S. Harvester’ Chinese Hammer i. 16 [He] leafed through an old issue of the New Yorker. 1973W. M. Duncan Big Timer xxi. 141 He..picked up a paper and leafed through it idly.
b. To number (a leaf of a book).
1875F. J. Furnivall in Thynne's Animadv. p. xlii, Q q iii is leaft or folio'd Fo. CC. xix.
Hence ˈleafing vbl. n., (a) the putting forth of leaves; (b) leaf-painting, leafage (rare); ˈleafing ppl. a., that puts forth leaves.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. vii. (1611) 104 A liuely power of growing, budding, leafing, blossoming and fructifying. 1759B. Stillingfl. Cal. Flora Pref., Misc. Tracts (1762) 233 The leafing, flowering, &c. of..plants. 1815L. Simond Tour Gt. Brit. (1817) II. 190 Glover is a very good paysagiste, but his leafing is too spotty. a1851Moir Child's Burial in Spring ii. Poet. Wks. 1852 I. 117 The birds sang forth from many a leafing tree. 1868Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. x. 354 The periods of leafing and flowering differ. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 412 Carex aquatilis..sheaths all leafing, not filamentous. |