| 释义 |
▪ I. pismire Obs. exc. dial.|ˈpɪsmaɪə(r)|
Forms: α. 4–5 pissemyre, 5 pysmire, pyse-myer, (spissemire), 5–6 pysmyre, 6 pismyr, pissemyer, 6–7 pismier, 5– pismire. β. 5–6 pysse-, pysmere, 6 pismeere, -mer, pyse-, pyssemer, pysse-, pissemare, pysmar, -marie, 7 pisimer, pismere. γ. 5 pismoure, pyssmowre.
[ME. pissemyre, pissemire, etc., f. piss + mire2 ant; from the urinous smell of an anthill. So early mod.Du. pismiere ant (Kilian). In the β forms the second element is obscured; in the γ forms it is a different word, ME. maur ant, from Norse.]
An ant.
(Cf. the similar names for the ant, Fris. pis-imme, pis-emme, LG. miegemke, Norw. migemaur (LG. miegen, Norw. miga = L. mingĕre), early mod.Du. mierseycke (seycke urine), Fin. kusiainen (kusi urine). Cf. also piss-ant.)
αc1386Chaucer Sompn. T. 118 He is as angry as a pissemyre, Though þat he haue al that he kan desire. 1388Wyclif Prov. vi. 6 O! thou slowe man, go to the amte [gloss ether pissemyre, v.rr. spissemire, pismire]. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiii. 149 In þis ile..er grete hilles of gold, þe whilk pissemyres kepez bisily and pures þe gold... Þase pissemyres er als grete as hundes er here. 1560Bible (Genev.) Prov. vi. 6 Goe to the pismire, o sluggard. 1575Turberv. Venerie 173 These pissemyers..will driue them out. 1617R. Fenton Treat. Ch. Rome 100 Sent..by Solomon to the Conies and Pismiers for wisedome and prouidence. 1676Hale Contempl. i. 468, I have seen a Republick of Pismires with great circumspection choosing the seat of their Residence, and every one carrying his Egg and Provisions to their common Store-house. 1827Hood Mids. Fairies lv, The pismire's care to garner up his wheat. 1903Eng. Dial. Dict. (dial. forms), Pishmire, pissimire, pushmire.
βc1440Promp. Parv. 402/1 Pysmere, formica. c1440Gesta Rom. liii. 372 (Add. MS.) Pissemers in somere are besy, and rennyn faste aboute. 1547Boorde Brev. Health clxi. 58 Amytes, or Pysmars, or Antes. 1555Eden Decades 139 Pyssemares swarmynge owte of an ante hyll. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden 52 Cyphers or round oos, lyke pismeeres egges. 1623in C. Butler Fem. Mon. Ad Authorem 17 That the Pismere and these Hony-flies Instruct us better to Philosophize. 1634–5Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 73 Eggs..hatched under an hen, fed with pisimers. 1903Eng. Dial. Dict. (dial. forms), Pishamer, pishemeer, pis(s)imer, pissamer, pissmare, -mere.
γa1400Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 21 Mare vs availes till oure ensampill..þe werkes of þe pyssmowre þan dose þe strenghe of þe lyone. 1483Cath. Angl. 281/2 A Pismoure, formica. 1903Eng. Dial. Dict., Pissamoor, pisamoor, pissymoor, pishmoor, pissemyore, pissy-, pismyour (all north. and n.w.).
b. fig. Applied contemptuously to a person.
1569J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 13 b, The pismers of Mirmidones. 1653J. Hall Paradoxes 50 Wee poore pismires that crawle upon this hill. 1790Gibbon Decl. & F. lxv. XII. 18 Thou art no more than a pismire. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, To rid the land of the swarm of Arminian caterpillars, Socinian pismires, and deistical Miss Katies, that have ascended out of the bottomless pit.
c. attrib. and Comb., as pismire-eater, pismire-egg, pismire-fly, pismire-hill (= ant-eater, -egg, -fly, -hill). In quot. 1668 = resembling the crawling motion of ants.
c1440Promp. Parv. 402/1 Pysmeryshylle, formicarium. 1483Cath. Angl. 281/2 A Pismoure hylle, formicecarium. 1527Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters B ij b, A flatte..botell of glas..ful of roses or other floures, or pyssemer eggys. 1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. 369 That..the pulse of the arteries is caused by the Impulse of Blood, the waving, creeping, pismire pulses seem to show. 1704tr. Nieuhof's Brazil in Churchill Voy. II. 19 The pismire⁓eater is thus called because he feeds upon..pismires. 1799G. Smith Laboratory II. 311 The Pismire-fly. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 203 Where the pismire hills abound.
▪ II. † pismire
obs. (illit.) f. bismar, a steelyard.
1701Brand Descr. Orkney 28 They not useing Peck and Firlot, but in stead thereof, weigh their Corns on Pismires or Pundlers. |