| 释义 |
▪ I. autumn|ˈɔːtəm|
Forms: 4–6 autumpne, 6 authum, 6–7 autumne, 7 autome, 7– autumn.
[a. OF. autompne (mod. automne), ad. L. autumnus (also written auctumnus), of doubtful etymology. See Lewis and Short.]
1. a. The third season of the year, or that between summer and winter, reckoned astronomically from the descending equinox to the winter solstice; i.e. in the northern hemisphere, from September 21 to December 21. Popularly, it comprises, in Great Britain, August, September, and October (J.); in North America, September, October, and November (Webster); in France ‘from the end of August to the first fortnight of November’ (Littré); in the southern hemisphere it corresponds in time to the northern spring.
The astronomic reckoning retains the Roman computation; the antiquity of the popular English usage is seen in the name Midsummer Day, given to the first day of the Astronomical Summer, and in the OE. midsumormónað ‘June,’ midwinter ‘winter-solstice, Christmas.’
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. vii. 144 Autumpne comeþ aȝeyne heuy of apples. 1526Tindale Jude 8 Trees rotten in authum. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 96 Though she chide as loud As thunder, when the clouds in Autumne cracke. 1653Walton Angler 204 In Autome, when the weeds begin to..rot. 1795Southey Joan of Arc i. 292 When the leaves Fell in the autumn. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 610 Autumn's mock sunshine of the faded woods.
b. poet. The fruits of autumn; ‘harvest.’
1667Milton P.L. v. 394 Rais'd of grassie terf Thir Table was..And on her ample square, from side to side, All Autumn pil'd. a1749Philips (J.) The starving brood, Void of sufficient sustenance, will yield A slender autumn.
2. fig. A season of maturity, or of incipient decay.
1624Donne Serm. ii. (1640) 13 In heaven it is always Autumn; his mercies are ever in their maturity. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 219/2 The very autumn of a form once fine Retains its beauties.
3. Comb.
a. attrib., as autumn fruit, autumn leaf, autumn tide;
b. instrumental, as autumn-brown, autumn-tinted;
c. locative (of time), as autumn-flowering, autumn-sown. autumn-bells, English name of Gentiana pneumonanthe; autumn-fly (see quot.); autumn-spring, a spring in autumn.
1597Gerard Herball ii. ciii. 355 Calathian Violet..is called..in English *Autumne bell flowers.
1866Whittier Snow-Bound 21 Hill-sides *autumn-brown.
1896T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening 86 [Crocus] Plant..*autumn-flowering species in Aug. & Sept.
1861Hulme Moquin-Tandon ii. iv. i. 234 The *Autumn Fly (Conops Calcitrans, Linn.)..bites the legs, especially on the approach of rain.
1620Venner Via Recta vii. 116 Lesse hurtfull then other *Autumne fruites.
1713C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 4 *Autumn-Leaves, which every Wind can chace.
1765Museum Rusticum IV. l. 227 The winter frosts will have broke down the clods on to the roots of the *autumn-sown rye. 1883Daily News 25 June 5/8 The autumn-sown wheat needed rain. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 2 Feb. 115/1 Grazing autumn-sown wheat the following spring reduces the subsequent yield of grain.
1639Fuller Holy War iii. xi. (1840) 133 This short prosperity, like an *autumn-spring, came too late..to bring any fruit to maturity.
1870Morris Earthly Par. I. ii. 485 The changing year came round to *autumn-tide.
1884J. Hatton in Harper's Mag. Feb. 346/1 *Autumn-tinted branches.
1795Southey Joan of Arc iii. 380 Wither'd leaves which *autumn winds Had drifted in.
Add:[3.] [c.] autumn crocus, (a) Bot. an autumn-flowering crocus of south-west Europe, Crocus nudiflorus, with flowers appearing before the leaves, which is naturalized locally in England; (b) any of various crocus-like autumn-flowering plants of the genus Colchicum, of the lily family; esp. meadow saffron, C. autumnale.
1822J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening iii. 954 Many botanists..consider that there is only two species, the C. vernus, or spring-blowing crocus; and the C. sativus, the saffron, or *autumn crocus. 1854S. Thomson Wanderings among Wild Flowers iii. 261 We..turn to..the pretty autumn crocus, or meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale). 1899Halifax Naturalist IV. 21 The Autumn Crocus..ought to be of exceptional interest to anyone studying our local flora... It has been..confused with..the meadow saffron, Colchicum autumnale, and the saffron crocus, C. sativus. 1956Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) (ed. 2) II. 522/2 The similarity of the flowers and the habit of several species of producing them in autumn has gained the name of Autumn Crocuses for several [colchicums], and our own native C. autumnale has..been called Meadow Saffron. 1960Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 162/1 Autumn Crocus (Crocus nudiflorus, family Iridaceae). Like Meadow Saffron, this species also flowers in the autumn after the leaves have died down. 1963R. C. L. & B. M. Howitt Flora Notts. 11 The Spring and Autumn Crocuses..are now nearly extinct. 1985Gardening from ‘Which?’ Aug. 270/2 Colchicums (often wrongly called autumn crocus) produce large crocus-like blooms between September and November.
▪ II. autumn, v.|ɔːtəm|
[ad. L. autumn-āre to bring on autumn, (in late L.) to ripen; cf. august v.]
a. trans. To bring to maturity.
b. intr. To come to maturity, ripen.
1771Muse in Miniature 31 That life's fair spring may autumn into age. |