| 释义 |
snowdrop|ˈsnəʊdrɒp|
Also snow-drop.
[f. snow n.1 Cf. G. schneetropfen, -tröpfchen, -tröpflein, Sw. snödroppe; also G. schneeglocke, Du. sneeuwklokje, Da. sneklokke, Sw. snöklocka ‘snow-bell’.]
1. a. An early-flowering bulbous plant (Galanthus nivalis), having a white pendent flower; also, a flower, bulb, or single plant of this.
1664Boyle Colours 264 Those purely White Flowers that appear about the end of Winter, and are commonly call'd Snow drops. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. 81 December... Flowers in Prime,..Snow flowers or drops, Yucca, &c. 1728–46Thomson Spring 529 Fair-handed Spring..Throws out the snowdrop, and the crocus first. 1763–5Churchill Gotham i. Poems 1767 II. 12 The Snow-drop, who, in habit white and plain Comes on the Herald of fair Flora's train. 1796Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) I. 21 The Snow-drop, though not frequent in a wild state, is to be found in almost every Garden. 1820Shelley Sensit. Pl. i. 13 The snowdrop, and then the violet, Arose from the ground with warm rain wet. 1856Delamer Fl. Garden (1861) 42 There are single and double snowdrops. 1872Tennyson Last Tourn. 220 The snowdrop only, flowering thro' the year, Would make the world as blank as winter-tide.
attrib.1811W. R. Spencer Poems 66 The snow-drop paths of innocence. 1865Allingham 50 Mod. Poems, Vernal Voluntary, Snowdrop-flow'r, and crocus. 1894Daily News 1 June 8/1 The cold and rather trying purity of snowdrop white.
b. transf. Applied to a girl.
1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. vii, Our little snow-drop, as I call her, is the cause. 1884Milnor (Dakota) Teller 27 June, A photograph gallery where the boys will gather with their little Dakota snowdrops.
2. With distinctive terms, or attrib. (see quots.).
1731Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Narcisso-Leucojum, Lesser Bulbous-violet or Snow-drop. Ibid., Greater Snow-drop or Bulbous-violet. 1822Hortus Anglicus II. 50 Anemone sylvestris, Large white flowered or Snow Drop Anemone. 1848Craig II. s.v. Snow, The placid snowdrop is the Galanthis plicatus, a native of the Crimea. 1891Cent. Dict. s.v. Royena, R. lucida, known as African snowdrop, or African bladder-nut, is a pretty greenhouse species.
3. Used as a name for a variety of wheat or potato.
1844C. Hillyard Pract. Farm. & Grazing (ed. 4) 89 The Whittington, and my snowdrop white wheat. 1900Daily News 23 July 2/5 Potatoes: Early Puritans,..Snowdrops.
4. slang. An American military policeman; hence, any military policeman.
1944N.Y. Times 9 Apr. iv. 1/7 ‘Snowdrops’—the London nickname for white-helmeted American military police—were patroling the sidewalks. 1946H. Nicolson Diary 30 Apr. (1968) 59 Schacht sits in the witness box..flanked by two young Americans in white helmets. Every hour, two other snowdrops..take over from their comrades the white batons of office. 1967‘A. Cordell’ Bright Cantonese ix. 100 Where are you goin'?.. Running to the first Snowdrop you can find? 1978D. Kyle Black Camelot xvii. 270 Special detachments of military police ‘snowdrops’ went from house to house. |