| 释义 |
barley-corn|ˈbɑːlɪˌkɔːn|
[See corn.]
1. a. = barley (the plant or grain).
1382Wyclif 2 Sam. xiv. 30 The feelde of Ioab biside my feelde hauynge barli corn [1388 ripe barli]. c1440Promp. Parv. 25/1 Barly corne, ordeum. 1836Thirlwall Greece II. xiv. 196 The juice of the vine or the barleycorn.
b. Personified as John Barleycorn: esp. as the grain from which malt liquor is made.
c1620(title) in Pepysian Library, A pleasant new ballad..of the bloody murther of Sir John Barleycorn. 17..John Barleycorn in Percy Reliques, John Barleycorn has got a beard Like any other man. 1786Burns Scotch Drink iii, John Barleycorn, Thou king o' grain.
2. A grain of barley.
1588Greene Perimedes 15 Preferre not a Barly-corne before a precious Iewell. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 25 A full barley corne will well serve, or a good wheat corne. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 83 A bantam-cock..turning so scornfully from the barley⁓corns which Annie is flinging towards him.
3. The length of a grain of barley taken as a measure, 1/3 of an inch; formerly also 1/4 of an inch.
1607Recorde Gr. Arts 326 It is ordained that 3 Barly Cornes dry and round, shall make vp the measure of an inch. 1611Cotgr., Grain..a Barlie-corne, or the fourth part of an ynch. 1688Holme Armory iii. iii. 136 Barly Corn, is the length of 4 Poppy seeds, and 3 Corns make an Inch. 1729G. Shelvocke Artillery i. 76 The Barley-corn (the fourth part of an Inch) is subdivided into 5 Poppy Seeds. 1873R. Broughton Nancy I. 21 If father..move his head one barley-corn, we are all dead men.
4. Building. ‘A little cavity between the mouldings of joiners' work..made with a kind of plane of the same name.’ Chambers Cycl. Supp. 1753.
5. A gun-sight shaped like an inverted V.
1896W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. (ed. 6) xxxi. 736 Military Match Rifles..The fore-sight must be the simple reversed V, or barley-corn military pattern. 1901Kynoch Jrnl. Apr.–May 76/2 In our opinion the best sights for target purposes are the barleycorn foresight and tangent backsight. 1904Daily Chron. 10 Dec. 7/6 The Small Arms Committee..were of opinion that the barley-corn should be adhered to pending further trials with the other patterns of foresight. |