| 释义 |
mahogany|məˈhɒgənɪ|
Also 7 mohogeney, 8 mohog(g)ony, mahogena, mahogon(e)y.
[Written mohogeney in 1671; of unknown origin. The Eng. word was adopted into botanical Latin by Linnæus (1762) as mahagoni, and is prob. the source of the continental forms: F. mahagoni, mohogon (rare), It. mogano (mogogane, mogogon, etc.), Pg. mogno, G. mahagoni, Du. mahonie, Sw. mahogny, Da. mahogni.
The statement that the word is Carib is founded on a misreading by Von Martius: see J. Platt, Jr. in N. & Q. 9th Ser. VIII. 201. The only known name in the Carib language is caoba, which has been adopted in Sp.]
1. a. The wood of Swietenia Mahagoni (family Cedrelaceæ), a tree indigenous to the tropical parts of America, esp. Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. It varies in colour from yellow to a rich red brown, is remarkably hard and fine-grained, and takes a high polish. Also with qualification denoting the special variety or place of origin, as baywood mahogany, Cuba mahogany, Honduras mahogany, Jamaica mahogany, Spanish mahogany.
1671Ogilby America 338 Here [in Jamaica] are..the most curious and rich sorts of Woods, as Cedar, Mohogeney, Lignum-vitæ, Ebony [etc.]. 1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3891/3 On Wednesday.., will be..exposed to Publick Sale.., the Cargo of the Galeon called the Tauro.., consisting of..Cocoa,..Brazelletto, Mohogony. 1733Bramston Man of Taste 15 Say thou that do'st thy father's table praise, Was there Mahogena in former days? a1746T. Warton Poems (1748) 109 Odious! upon a walnut-plank to dine! No—the red-vein'd Mohoggony be mine! 1817Byron Beppo lxx, He was a Turk, the colour of mahogany. 1842Gwilt Archit. (1859) 487 The variety called Spanish Mahogany, and imported from Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and other West India islands [etc.]. Ibid. 996 The Jamaica mahogany is the hardest and most beautiful. 1860J. C. Jeaffreson Bk. about Drs. I. 185 He [Gibbons] brought into domestic use the mahogany with which one has so many pleasant associations. 1875Carpentry & Join. 15 Oak, teak, and mahogany should find a place in the workshop more often than they do, the mahogany being what is often called cedar, to distinguish it from the very hard Spanish wood. The softer and more common kind is from Honduras. 1892Mod. Trade Circular, Mahogany, Mexican, 5d to 6d. per foot, superficial. Do., Tobasco, 5½d. to 7d. per foot, superficial.
b. The tree itself.
1759Miller Gard. Dict. (ed. 7) s.v. Cedrus. The second Sort is the Mahogony, whose Wood is now well known in England. 1846Lindley Veg. Kingd. 462 The bark..of Mahogany (Swietenia Mahagoni) is also accounted febrifugal.
2. transf. Applied, chiefly with qualification, to various woods resembling mahogany, and to the trees producing them. In Australia mainly used for various species of Eucalyptus, esp. the Jarrah (E. marginata), and for Tristania conferta (family Myrtaceæ): see Morris Austral Eng. (1898) 278–9.
African mahogany, Khaya Senegalensis; bastard mahogany, Matayba (Ratonia) apetala; also Eucalyptus botryoides and E. marginata; East India mahogany, Soymida febrifuga; forest mahogany, Eucalyptus resinifera and E. microcorys; Indian mahogany, Cedrela Toona; Madeira mahogany, Persea indica (see Madeira1 1); mountain mahogany, Betula lenta and Cerco-carpus ledifolius; red mahogany, Eucalyptus resinifera; swamp mahogany, Eucalyptus robusta and E. botryoides; white mahogany, (in Jamaica) Stenostomum bifurcatum; (in Australia) Eucalyptus robusta; also E. pilularis. (See Treas. Bot. 1866.)
1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 404/2 S[wietenia] Senegalensis has also been formed into a new genus, Khaya, and is the tree yielding African mahogany. 1846Stokes Discov. Australia II. iv. 132 Mahogany—Jarrail—Eucalyptus—grows on white sandy land. 1884Pall Mall G. 22 Aug. 3/1 The main saloon is finished in white mahogany throughout.
3. colloq.
a. A table, esp. a dining-table.
1840Dickens Old C. Shop lxvi, I had hoped..to have seen you three gentlemen..with your legs under the mahogany in my humble parlour. 1846Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxxi, Other families did not welcome us to their mahogany. 1848― Van. Fair xiii, George was going..to bring the supply question on the mahogany. 1850Florists' Jrnl. 149 Nearly forty gathered round Mr. Lidgard's mahogany after the exhibition. 1891L. B. Walford Mischief of Monica III. 90, I could have put my feet under his mahogany..with the very greatest satisfaction.
b. = bar n.1 28.
1936N. Collins Trinity Town i. 18 From the moment Mr. Primrose appeared behind his own mahogany and superseded the barmaid, he dominated everything. 1955Punch 4 May 557/1 Every interval sees twenty orchestral players with their elbows on the mahogany and off-duty singers in full fig on high stools being selectively sweet about their rivals.
4. slang and dial.
a. A Cornish beverage compounded of gin and treacle.
b. A strong mixture of brandy and water.
1791Boswell Johnson an. 1781, 30 Mar., They [the Cornish fishermen] call it Mahogany; and it is made of two parts gin and one part treacle well beaten together. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master ii. 54 note, It is believed that drinking mahogany (a strong description of brandy pauny) is the best preventive against the sun's heat. The remedy is in general repute in Bombay. 1823T. Bond Hist. E. & W. Looe 82 note, At a trial at the Cornish Assizes some years ago, a witness..puzzled his lordship and the council, by telling them he was..‘eating Fair maids and drinking Mahogany’. 1852C. J. Mathews Little Toddlekins 20 Capt. Littlepop. I've been obliged to..diet myself on stiff brandy and water. Brownsmith. Mahogany? I have got some,..black as coffee, strong as mustard.
5. A kind of moth, Noctua tetra.
1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 370 Noctua tetra, the Mahogany.
6. attrib. and quasi-adj.
a. Made of mahogany.
1730W. Warren Collectanea in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 225 Mohogany window Seats: A Marble Table for y⊇ Side-board on a Mohogany Stand. 1763Museum Rusticum (ed. 2) I. 179 The world of England has been, for some years past, running mad after mahogany furniture. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv, Then there's a mahogany table. 1864Sala Quite Alone I. v. 75 In a recess were three handsome mahogany desks. 1885R. Buchanan Annan Water ix, At one side of the room stood a large mahogany bed.
b. Of the colour of polished mahogany, reddish-brown. Also absol.
1737W. Salmon Country Builder's Estim. (ed. 2) 101 Chocolate-Colour, Mahogony-Colour, Cedar and Walnut-tree-Colour. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. II. lxix, Their natural colour..degenerated into a mahogany tint. 1761Brit. Mag. II. 44/2 To stain Wood of a Mahogony Colour. 1823Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825) 292 Molly Lowe, suffused with mahogany blushes. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 384/1 His testy temper and mahogany complexion obtained him credit for being an American. 1839tr. Lamartine's Trav. East 103/1 Their legs and hands were..painted a mahogany colour. 1855Dickens Dorrit i. xxiv, Travelling people usually get more or less mahogany. 1893Stevenson Catriona 359 We saw he was a big fellow with a mahogany face.
7. attrib. and Comb.: simple attrib., as mahogany-dust, mahogany-plank, mahogany-trade, mahogany-wood; mahogany-brown, mahogany-red adjs.; parasynthetic, as mahogany-coloured, mahogany-faced adjs. Also mahogany birch U.S., Betula lenta; mahogany cutter, a workman employed in felling and trimming mahogany; mahogany flat slang, a bed-bug; mahogany gum, Australian, the jarrah; mahogany scrub, Australian, a tract thickly covered with ‘mahogany’ or jarrah trees; mahogany tree, (a) the Swietenia Mahagoni, or any of the trees to which the name is transferred (see 2); (b) jocularly, a dining table.
1813H. Muhlenberg Catal. Plant. 88 Betula lenta..soft birch,..black birch,..sweet birch,..or *mahogany birch. 1908N. L. Britton N. Amer. Trees 256 The cherry birch, or Black birch,..is also called Sweet birch and Mahogany birch.
1850Chaloner & Fleming Mahogany Tree 42, 1st of April, when the *Mahogany Cutters' harvest may be said to commence.
1875Carpentry & Join. 79 By *mahogany dust and glue a nail hole may be partially hidden.
1864Hotten Slang Dict. 176 *Mahogany flat, a bug. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang § 120/60 Bedbugs,..flats, mahogany flats. 1952New Biol. XIII. 86 The abdomen [of the bed-bug] when empty is flat (hence the name ‘mahogany flat’). 1959Southwood & Leston Land & Water Bugs 188 Bedbug. Also known as ‘wall lice’, ‘mahogany flats’ and ‘crimson ramblers’ these insects have been carried all round the world. 1967B. J. Banfill Pioneer Nurse v. 61 Until two months ago we had only a log shanty. Somehow the Mahogany Flats took over and we had to burn it.
1739Will in Payne Eng. Cath. (1889) 53 My coffin to be of *mahogany plank.
1843Portlock Geol. 513 The paste,..is of a dark red, frequently *mahogany-red, felspar.
1846Stokes Discov. Australia II. vi. 231 Part of our road lay through a thick *mahogany scrub.
1850Chaloner & Fleming Mahogany Tree Pref., The promotion of the interests of the *Mahogany trade.
1747Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 599 He begins this Set with the *Mahogony-Tree. 1847Thackeray Mahogany Tree i, Little we fear Weather without, Sheltered about The Mahogany Tree. 1875T. Laslett Timber & Timber Trees 189 The Jarrah or Mahogany tree..is also found in Western Australia.
1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3891/3 On Wednesday.., will be exposed to Publick Sale Goods..consisting of..Nicaragua and *Mohogony Wood,..&c. |