| 释义 |
▪ I. scythe, n.|saɪð|
Forms: α. 1 siᵹdi, siðe, 3–6 syþe, 4–7 sith, 5 cithe, (sythy), 5–6 cythe, 6 syith, 6–7 syth, sieth, 7 siethe, seith, sight, syeth, 3–9 sythe, 4–9 sithe; β. 5 seth, 7 saith; γ. 7 scith, scithe, 7– scythe.
[OE. síðe masc., earlier *siᵹði (written siᵹdi in Epinal Gl.) = LG. seged, seid, sicht, ON. sigð-r (mod.Icel. sigð fem., Norw. sigd, sigde, sidde masc.):—OTeut. *segiþjo-z, f. root *seg- to cut, whence the synonymous OS. segisna (MLG., MDu. seisene, Du. zeisen, zeis), OHG. segansa (MHG. segense, seinse, G. sense).
The etymologically correct spelling sithe was preferred by Johnson, but his authority has not prevailed against the currency of the spelling with sc, due to erroneous association with L. scindere to cut. Cf. scissors.]
1. An agricultural implement for mowing grass or other crops, having a long thin curving blade fastened at an angle with the handle and wielded with both hands with a long sweeping stroke.
αc725Corpus Gloss. 834 Falcis: wudubil, siðe, riftras. c825Epinal Gloss. 62 Falces, uudubil, sigdi, riftr. c1000ælfric Hom. II. 162 Befeoll an siðe of ðam snæde into anum deopan seaðe. 13..Coer de L. 6788 They slowen Sarezynes al soo swythe, As gres fallyth fro the sythe. 1382Wyclif Isa. ii. 4 Thei shul bete togidere their swerdes in to shares and ther speres in to sithes. 1404Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 396 Item..1 fot ax, 1 cithe, 1 hamer. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §23 Take hede that thy mower mow clene and holde downe the hynder hand of his sith. 1580–3Greene Mamillia i. 12 The grasse looketh better being vncut, then that which withereth with the sieth. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. xvi. 48 Thou sawest great-burthen'd Ships through these thy valleys pass, Where now the sharp⁓edg'd Sithe sheeres vp the spyring grasse. 1632Milton L'Allegro 66 And the Mower whets his sithe. 1766Ann. Reg. 62 Samples of home-made sithes. 1822T. Taylor Apuleius vi. 120 There, likewise, were sithes, and all the instruments of harvest. 1828–32Webster, Sythe.
β14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 728/40 Hec falx, a sykyl, or a seth. 1625Althorp MS. p. lxi, To Gibson one daie waiting on my lo. of Southampton in the parke with the saith yor lop bid him call for 00 01 00.
γ1602J. Bruen in Hinde Life (1641) 147 My son..took up a scith to see how he could mow, and the scith entered in at his stocking. 1716–8Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxviii. 151 He was..followed by..several reapers..with scythes in their hands, seeming to mow. 1863Macdonald D. Elginbrod i. x. (1871) 47 The day arrived when the sickle must be put into the barley, soon to be followed by the scythe in the oats. 1875J. Wilson in Encycl. Brit. I. 362/1 The common scythe..is very extensively used for reaping grain in all parts of the kingdom.
2. transf. and fig., esp. as the attribute of Time or Death.
1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. Prol. 99 Sithen al the grettest clerkes..with their sharpe sythes of conning al mowen and mad therof grete rekes and noble. 1506Kal. Sheph. (Sommer) 90 They fyght and cose on eche other wonder with the sythe of deuyls dredabyll. c1600Shakes. Sonn. xii, And nothing gainst Times sieth can make defence Saue [etc.]. 1659T. Pecke Parnassi Puerp. 112 Time devours Things; His Sithe our Legs will hit. a1711Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 185 See how Death preys on humane Race; Out with his Scythe the Tyrant goes, Great Multitudes at once he mows. 1809Byron Bards & Rev. 632 Whet not your scythe, suppressors of our vice! Reforming saints! 1854Brewster More Worlds i. 16 The swarm of human life..has never been perceptibly reduced by the scythe of famine, of pestilence, or of war. 1883O. W. Holmes Loving-cup Song 29 Old Time his rusty scythe may whet.
3. A weapon having a long curving blade resembling a reaping hook. Obs. exc. Hist. with reference to scythed chariots (see scythed a.).
αa1300Havelok 2553 Hand-ax, syþe, gisarm, or spere. a1400–50Alexander 3058 For-þi þe chariots in þe chace choppid þaim to deth, Þe cartis þat I carpid of with þe kene sithis [v.r. sythez]. c1500Melusine 302 But the geaunt stert vp lyghtly, in grete yre, & as geffray passed by, he smote hys hors behynd with hys sythe of fyn stele. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 30 They use axeltrees armed at both ends with hookes and sithes.
4. attrib. and Comb.:
a. Simple attrib., as scythe-blade, scythe-handle, scythe-smith, scythe-stick, scythe-stroke (also fig.), scythe-sweep, scythe-work; scythe-like adj.
a1400–50Alexander 3023 Chariotis..sett aþire side full of *sythe-bladis, Kene keruand as knyfes. 1829Scott Rob Roy Introd. 2nd half, He supplied the want of guns and swords with scythe-blades set straight upon their handles.
1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 51 It is also good for Rake and *Scythe-handles.
c1835Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XXIII. 464/2 Giving the edge of the fin a *scythe-like shape.
1633J. Clarke Two-fold Praxis 24 In the street next above, bee shoesmiths, *sythesmiths, bladesmiths, cutlers. 1890Amphlett Hist. Clent 119 Philip Cix, also a scythesmith.
1831Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1857) §7799 *Scythe-sticks and stones for sharpening scythes, hay-knives.
1913D. H. Lawrence Mowers in Smart Set Nov. 12 There's four men mowing down by the river; I can hear the sound of the *scythe strokes, four Sharp breaths swishing. 1940W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 216 This armoured scythe-stroke almost reached Dunkirk—almost but not quite.
1856Allingham Mowers 7 A *scythe-sweep, and a scythe-sweep, We mow the grass together.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iii. Colonies 713 Their flowry Fleece Affords us *Sithe⁓work yearly twice or thrice. 1904E. Rickert Reaper 183 He was stiff with scythe-work.
b. objective, as scythe-grinder, scythe-maker, scythe whetting; scythe-bearing adj.
1633Drummond of Hawthornden Poems (1656) 165 The old Lucadian *Syth-bearing Sire..for thee feeles flames of sweet desire.
1619Canterb. Marr. Licences (MS.), Robert Brooke of Goudhurst, *sightgrinder.
Ibid., Edward Male of Goudhurst, *sightmaker. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 55 Hay and straw knives are manufactured by the scythe-makers.
1857FitzGerald Let. to Cowell 27 June, One wakes to the tune of the Mower's *Scythe-whetting.
c. similative, as † scythe-billed, scythe-shaped, † scythe-tusked adjs.
1668Charleton Onomast. 103 Falcinellus..the *Scyth-bill'd Heron.
1815S. Brookes Introd. Conchol. 80 The animal of Anomia tridentata has two flat arms somewhat *scythe-shaped.
1612Two Noble K. i. i. 79 Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain The *scythe-tusk'd boar.
d. instrumental, as scythe-armed adj.
1811Scott Don Roderick ii. xxv, The scythe-arm'd Giant turn'd his fatal glass. 1838Thirlwall Greece xxxiii. IV. 304 Scythe-armed chariots.
5. Special combinations, as † scythe-bill, a suggested name (after mod.L. Falcinellus) for the Glossy Ibis; scythe-chariot Hist. = scythed chariot (see scythed a.); scythe-cradle, a framework of wood fastened to a scythe for carrying the mowings clean into the swath; scythe-hook, -sickle, a reaping-hook with a smooth cutting blade as contrasted with one in which the edge is cut into teeth; † scythe-land (see quot.); † scythe-sand (see quot.); scythe-snathe, -sned dial., the curved handle to which the blade of the scythe is attached; scythe-stone, a whetstone for scythes; also in Comb.
1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. 295 The Falcinellus of Gesner and Aldrovand, which we may English, The *Sithe-Bill.
1695J. Edwards Author. O. & N. Test. III. 215 With these *sithe-chariots they mowed men down.
1695Kennett Par. Antiq. s.v. Carecta, In Kent a *Sithe-cradle, or rack of wood fastened to a sithe for carrying the mow'd barley clean into the swath.
1884Century Mag. Jan. 447/1 Grain was reaped with sickles, though ‘*scythe-cradles’ were not unknown.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1079 The smooth-edged sickle, or *scythe-hook.
1597Skene De Verb. Sign. s.v. Husbandland, Hvsbandland conteinis commonly 6. aikers of sok & *syith land: That is of sik land as may be tilled with ane pleuch, or may be mawed with ane syith.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 154 An excellent sand to whet their Sithes, whence it has the denomination of *Sithe-Sand.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1055 The *scythe sickle is so called, because of its being provided with a cutting edge.
1845S. Judd Margaret ii. i. (1871) 184 His bare head pillowed on a *scythe-snath.
1907‘J. Halsham’ Lonewood Corner xix. 212 Ne'er he nor his father afore him ever bought a *scythe-sned.
1688Lond. Gaz. No. 2413/4 Who hath formerly been an Apprentice to a *Scythe-Stone Cutter near Darby. 1879Rutley Study of Rocks xiv. 278 The Rotherham stone is worked for building purposes and for grindstones, and that at Hart Hill for scythe-stones.
▪ II. scythe, v.|saɪð|
[f. scythe n.]
†1. intr. To use a scythe. Obs. rare—1.
1573–80Baret Alv. M 541 He that sietheth with a bill, or he that vseth a sieth or hooke, a mower, falcarius. [After Elyot's (and Cooper's) rendering of Falcarius: ‘He that fighteth with a bill’.]
2. a. trans. To cut or mow with a scythe.
1597Shakes. Lover's Compl. 12 Time had not sithed all that youth begun. 1892Henley Song of Sword 9 Where the tall grain is ripe Thrust in your sickles:..Scything and binding The full sheaves of sovranty.
b. fig. To cut down swiftly and drastically.
1970Daily Tel. 12 Mar. 22/3 Net attributable profits are scythed from {pstlg}602,000 to {pstlg}210,000.
3. intr. To move with a sweeping motion as of one mowing with a scythe.
1897Kipling Capt. Cour. v. 111 The foresail scythed back and forth against the blue sky. 1946J. W. Day Harvest Adventure vii. 107 ‘Pleu-eu! Pleu-eu! Pleu!’ and whimbrel went scything off low across the water, putting up a mixed lot of sandpipers. 1955E. Pound Classic Anthol. ii. 94 Feckless Huns town'd in Tsiao, seized Huo, lacking provisions, Scythed into Hao up to its border. 1966Gillman & Haston Eiger Direct v. 107 John scythed up on his skis and stopped in a spray of snow. 1978Antiques & Art Monitor 28 Oct. 23/3 High⁓rise aerial perspectives of a motorway scything through a city. |