| 释义 |
mesquite, mesquit2|ˈmɛskiːt, mɛˈskiːt|
Also mezquit(e, mezkeet, mesketis, muskeet, masketo, moscheto, musqueto, mus-, mesquito; musquet, -quit, -kit; muskeete.
[a. Mexican Sp. mezquite.]
1. a. Either of two leguminous trees growing in S.W. North America, Prosopis juliflora (honey mesquite), and P. pubescens (screw-pod mesquite).
1759tr. Venegas's Nat. & Civil Hist. Calif. I. 100 Their most usual device was to hold up in their hands some little tablets of wood made with great labour, for want of iron tools of mesquite. 1806M. Lewis in Deb. Congress U.S. (1852) 9th Congress 2 Sess., App. 1083 A bean that grows in great plenty on a small tree resembling a willow called masketo. 1838‘Texian’ Mexico v. Texas 70 Even where a tree appears it is sure to be a mesquite (Mimosa nilotica). 1838C. Newell Hist. Revolution Texas 147 Live oak,..black walnut, cypress, and musquit prevail. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. i. 14 Here and there are trees of acacia and mezquite, the denizens of the desert land. 1854Bartlett Mex. Boundary I. iv. 75 The mezquit..belongs to the same natural family as our locust. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 121 The Mesquite or Muskeet (Algarobia glandulosa), a bastard-locust. 1909‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny viii. 129 Near the store, scattered among the mesquite and elms, stood the saddled horses of the customers. 1948Reader's Digest Jan. 70/1 Anywhere in America has its particular hearth perfume—..mesquite floating out of desert chimneys in the Southwest. 1969T. H. Everett Living Trees of World 201/1 The mesquite..[is] a native of the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America and the West Indies.
b. A thicket of mesquite trees.
1834A. Pike Prose Sk. & Poems 63 We emerged from the broken hills into the mesquito. 1910W. M. Raine Bucky O'Connor 224 The Irishman..kept his party in the mesquit till the headlight of an approaching train was visible. 1945New Yorker 25 Aug. 26 A railroad bull came walking along the tops of the cars and kicked me into the mesquite. 1974Sci. Amer. Apr. 104/i The particular dung beetles concerned would colonize only pads dropped in open pastures, however, and not those dropped in the dense growth of mesquite, where the cattle sought shelter from the heat of the day.
2. In full mesquite-grass: A general name for grasses growing in the neighbourhood of the mesquite tree, esp. the genera Bouteloua and Buchloe.
1823W. B. Dewees Lett. from Early Settler Texas (1852) 35 The musquit grass grows very thick and about three feet high, and looks very much like a blue grass pasture. 1831M. Holley Texas (1833) vi. 69 The pasturage here..called Muskit grass, (pronounced Muskeet) bears a strong resemblance to the blue grass. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxvi. 187 A desert country, covered with wild sage and mezquite. 1857Olmsted Journ. Texas 135 A great change occurred here in the prairie grass—we had reached the mesquit grass. 1904Blackw. Mag. Nov. 649/2 A shimmering prairie of mesquite.
3. attrib. and Comb., as mesquite bush, mesquite flour, mesquite leaf, mesquite tree, mesquite wood; mesquite bean, the pod of the mesquite tree; mesquite grass (see 2).
1869in Daily News Sept. (1892) 6/7 He ate a few green pods and leaves of a mezquit bush... A few *mezquit beans.
1806M. Lewis in Deb. Congress U.S. (1852) 9th Congress 2 Sess., App. 1103 Some small cultivated fields, fenced round with small cedar and *moscheto brush.
1834A. Pike Prose Sk. & Poems 56 The valley was..full of small hills interspersed with *mezquito bushes. 1887F. Francis Jun. Saddle & Mocassin 73 Wave after wave of rolling country sparsely covered with mesketis-bush.
1854Bartlett Explor. Texas, etc. II. 217 The *mezquit flour, which is ground very fine, has a sickish sweetness.
1867A. D. Richardson Beyond Mississippi xix. 226 Another waiting coach was soon rolling us forward among *mesquite groves.
1859Marcy Prairie Trav. 291 There is but little grass here, but in the season the *mesquite leaves are a good substitute.
1905A. Adams Outlet 16 The horses had run idle during the winter in a large *mesquit pasture.
1957J. Kerouac On Road (1958) 166 Tucson is situated in beautiful *mesquite riverbed country.
1831J. O. Pattie Personal Narr. 59 We found the river skirted with very wide bottoms, thick set with the *musquito trees. 1860Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 212 A few..mesquit trees are now and then met with.
1831J. O. Pattie Personal Narr. 83 There is here little timber, beside *musqueto wood, which stands thick. 1846J. A. Quitman Diary 13 Aug. in J. F. H. Claiborne Life & Corr. J. A. Quitman (1860) I. 239 The steamer purchases muskeet-wood at $2.50 per cord for dry, $2.25 green. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 149, I used to hitch up a team and go out on the prairie and pick up mesquite wood. |