| 释义 |
† parmaˈcety Obs.
Forms: 6 parmacete, -citie, -sitie, 6–7 -cetie, 7 -cety, -city, 7–8 -sity, 7–9 -cetty, -citty; 7 permacetty, -ceti.
1. A popular corruption of spermaceti.
1545Rates of Customs c iij, Parmacete the pounde iiis. iiiid. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1259/2 The oile being boiled out of the head was parmasitie. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 58 The Soveraign'st thing on earth Was Parmacity, for an inward bruise. 1624Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons App. 56 Metridate, Dies cordin, and permacetty of every one of them a little. c1720W. Gibson Farrier's Dispens. ii. i. (1734) 34 Parmasity, or Sperma Ceti. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Parmacitty, Sperma-ceti..now considered vulgar or antiquated.
b. poor man's parmacety: a name for the plant Shepherd's Purse (Capsella Bursa-pastoris).
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. xxiii. §2. 215 Shepheardes purse or Scrip: of some..poore mans Parmacetie. 1657Coles Adam in Eden xxxv. 71 Shepherds pouch and poor mans Parmacety, it being in some sort effectual for the same things that Parmacety is.
2. In full parmacety whale: The Cachalot, or Sperm whale.
1730S. Dale S. Taylor's Hist. & Antiq. Harwich 413 The Parmacitty-Whale, or Pot-Wall-fish. 1851H. Melville Whale xvi. 80 Chewed up, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever chipped a boat. |