| 释义 |
snow-white, a. and n.|ˈsnəʊhwaɪt|
Forms: (see snow n.1 and white a.).
[f. snow n.1 Cf. Fris. sniewit, MDu. sne(e)wit (Du. sneeuwwit), MLG. snewit, MHG. snêwîz (G. schneeweiss), ON. snǽ-, snjóhvítr (Sw. snöhvit, Da. snehvid).]
A. adj.
1. White as snow; pure white.
αc1000ælfric in Assmann Ags. Hom. iv. 186 Ða ᵹesloh hine sona se snawhwita hreofla. a1200St. Marher. 18 The hude snaw hwit swartete as hit snarchte. c1205Lay. 24521 Þreo snau-white culueren. a1225Leg. Kath. 2443 Heo..strahte forð swiftliche þe snawhwite swire. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 29 Oxne and Bules snawquhyte with a mane thick. 1791Burns Tam o' Shanter 154 Snaw-white seventeen hunder linnen!
βc1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 115 Þe engles þe wið þe apostles stoden mid snouwite shrude. a1225Ancr. R. 314 Efter his deaðe, he com one niht.., ine snou hwite cloðes. c1386Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 254 Tuo corunes han we, Snow white and Rose reed, that shynen cleere. 1390Gower Conf. I. 306 That ther he was snow whyt tofore, Evere afterward colblak therfore He was transformed. c1450Godstow Reg. 17 Þat we ben cladde in a snow-whyȝt stole. 1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 87 Heere..fowre fayre steeds snow whit I marcked. c1610Women Saints 39 She thought she brought forth a snow-white doue. a1700Evelyn Diary 14 Feb. 1645, With her statue over it in snow-white marble. 1763Phil. Trans. LIV. 97 It has a body like a gnat, snow-white. 1807Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 277 Camphoric acid thus obtained is in snow-white crystals. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. iii. 30 Above all rose the snow-white cone of the Ortler. 1877Black Green Past. ii, Two snow-white and waxen hyacinths.
Comb.1753Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Linaria, The snow-white flowered creeping toad flax. Ibid. s.v. Plumeria, The snow-white-flowered plumeria, with..pointed leaves.
b. Clad in robes of pure white. rare.
1847Emerson Poems, Each & All, Her beauty's best attire Was woven still by the snow-white choir.
2. In the specific names of fishes, birds, or moths (see quots.).
1804Shaw Gen. Zool. V. i. 73 Snow-white Salmon. 1809Ibid. VII. i. 149 Snow-White Falcon. Ibid. 240 Snow-white Owl spotted with black. 1832J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 224 The Snow White Spot (Incurvaria spuria). Ibid. 230 The Snow-white Plume (Pterophorus niveidactylus).
B. n.
a. Pure white.
b. A kind of wool of this colour.
1890Science-Gossip XXVI. 170 The flowers varied in colour from snow-white to green and white flushed with crimson purple. 1896Daily News 23 Jan. 9/4 Cape and Natal wools meet with good competition, and medium to superior snow-whites..have advanced.
Hence snow-whiteness.
1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. iii. §24. 53 The authority for using snow-whiteness as a type of purity. |