| 释义 |
▪ I. compost, n.1|ˈkɒmpəst|
Also (sense 3) 6 compest.
[a. OF. compost, cumpost:—L. compositum (later compostum) neuter of pa. pple.: see compost pa. pple.]
1. A composition, combination, compound.
a1640Jackson Creed xi. viii. Wks. X. 134 To know what malice is..what villainy or treachery is, for Satan is but a compost of these. 1656Earl of Monmouth Adv. fr. Parnass. 7 The skilful do..clearly discern in this Front..all the rules of Dorick, Ionick, Corinthian Architecture, and of Composts which are, and yet appear not. 1825Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 236 This is no compost, collectorium or inventory of single duties. 1863Gladstone Financ. Statem. 159 Some new composts are brought forward and delivered to a discerning public.
b. A literary composition, compendium.
1837Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 359 A sort of jack-daw compilateur who has inflated his compost to a forty shilling volume.
†2. Cookery. = compote. Obs.
a. A stew of various ingredients.
c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 18 For to make a compost [with chickens, herbs, spices, etc.].
b. spec. A preparation of fruit or spice preserved in wine, sugar, vinegar, or the like.
c1430Two Cookery-bks. (1888) 59 Le ij cours, Compost, Brode canelle, Potage. c1450Ibid. 87 Peris in compost, take pere Wardones..pare hem, and seth hem..and cast hem to the Syryppe..And then pare clene rasinges of ginger..and caste hem to the peres in composte. 1513Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 268 Loke your composte be fayre and clene. 1601Holland Pliny II. 159 White oliues..before they be put vp in their compost or pickle.
3. A mixture of various ingredients for fertilizing or enriching land, a prepared manure or mould.
Also † composs, compass n.2.
[1258Charter St. Albans Abbey in M. Paris (Rolls) V. 668 Cum composto..ad prædictum manerium meliorandum.] 1587Harrison England iii. viii. (1878) ii. 54 That ground will serve well, and without compest for barleie. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxv. (Arb.) 309 The good gardiner seasons his soyle by sundrie sorts of compost: as mucke or marle, clay or sande..bloud, or lees of oyle or wine. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 151 Do not spred the Compost o[e]r the Weedes, To make them ranke. 1626Bacon Sylva §597. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. Gloss., Compost, is rich made Mold, compounded with choice Mold, rotten Dung, and other enriching ingredients. 1784Cowper Task iii. 637 Turn the clod, and wheel the compost home. 1813Bingley Anim. Biog. (ed. 4) III. 70 The neighbouring farmers made them [herrings] up into composts, and manured their ground with them. 1861Delamer Fl. Gard. 30 The soil for hyacinths is a compost..consisting of light loam, leaf-mould, river-sand, and well-rotted dung.
fig.1639Fuller Holy War iii. xix. (1840) 148 Martyrs ashes are the best compost to manure the church. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. iii, Mind, which grows, not..by having its roots littered with etymological compost. 1858Froude Hist. Eng. III. 24/2 note, Stories like those..in Sanders grow like mushrooms in the compost of hatred.
4. attrib. compost-heap (sense 3).
1780Burke Sp. Econ. Ref. Wks. I. 249 A new accession to the loaded compost heap of corrupt influence. 1884J. H. Ewing Mary's Meadow (1886) 43 We'll have a compost heap of our own this autumn.
▪ II. † ˈcompost, n.2 Obs.
[a. OF. compost, corrupt form of compot (nom. compoz, compos):—late L. comput-us calculation, f. computā-re to compute, reckon up. The OF. compost (= compost n.1) was reduced in pronunciation and sometimes in spelling to compot, by association with which this word was also spelt compost, and latinized as compostum, as if a ‘collection’ of some kind.]
= computus; esp. a calendar or computation of astronomical and ecclesiastical data.
1535[see compot, quot. 1398]. 1560(title), A Compound manuell, or Compost of the hand, wherby you may easilie finde out by the arte of the hand, all things pertayning to the vse of common Almanacks..Printed by Tho. Marsh. 8vo. 1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xiv, The compost, for knowing the age of the Moon, the seasons of the year, and tides of the sea. 1656Sheph. Kalender i, This present book is named the Compost, for it comprehendeth fully all the compost and more, for the days, hours, and moments, and the new moons, and the eclipse of the Sun and Moon. 1844S. R. Maitland Dark Ages 21.
▪ III. † comˈpost, pa. pple. and ppl. a. Obs.
[a. OF. compost (= It. composto):—L. compost-us, composit-us: see composite.]
Composed, compounded; composite, compound.
1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., The compost membres..be they that maye be deuyded in other kyndes. 1562Phaër æneid. viii. Y j, Wynes they skinke with cakes compost. 1649Hammond Serm. Wks. 1684 IV. 534 A sad γλυκυπικρον, compost of more bitter than sweet.
▪ IV. compost, v.|ˈkɒmpəst|
Also 6 compest, -pesse.
[a. OF. composter to manure, to dung, f. compost n. In med.L. compostāre. Cf. compass v.2 and compester.]
1. To treat with compost, to manure or dung.
[1388Charter Priory of Newenham in Dugdale Monast. Angl. (1661) II. 243 Dictas terras excolendas et compostandas sive per carectam sive per ovile.] 1499Promp. Parv. 89 Compostyn or dungyn, stercoro. 1552Huloet Dungen, compesse, or mucke, stercoro. 1577Harrison England iii. x. (1878) ii. 69 The inhabitors doo compest their soile. 1641Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 53 Fields..drencht with blood, and composted with carcasses.
fig.1639Fuller Holy War v. xxx. (1647) 285 The plouwman..will be soon out of heart, if not maintained and (as I may say) composted with hopes to receive benefit by his labours.
2. To make into compost.
1829J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Nat. 6 Our farmers..use considerable quantities, composted with earth, for their different crops. 1864Reader No. 101. 711/2 The rotten leaves are composted by the pressure of the atmosphere.
Hence composting vbl. n., manuring.
1481Caxton Tulle of Old Age, By which dongyng and compostyng the feldes gladeth. 1576Newton Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 216. 1587 Harrison Descr. Brit. i. xviii. in Holinshed, It shall not need of anie further compesting. |