| 释义 |
seven sistersn. Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: seven adj., sister n. Etymology: < seven adj. + the plural of sister n. With sense 1 compare earlier seven stars n. and Pleiad n.Notes on forms. As modifier in form seven sister with alteration after the singular form of the second element. With the α. forms (showing postpositive use of seven adj.) compare β. forms at seven stars n. and discussion at that entry. Place-name evidence. From the late 16th cent. onwards, Seven Sisters also occurs as the proper name of various geographical or topographical features comprising seven similar elements, including the springs at the source of the River Yeo in Somerset (1587 or earlier), a series of chalk cliffs in East Sussex on the south coast of England (1837 or earlier), a chain of peaks in County Donegal, Ireland (Irish Na Seacht Deirfiúracha), and a distinctive clump of elm trees from which a district in North London took its name (1732). the world > the universe > constellation > star-cluster > [noun] > Pleiades c1425 J. Lydgate (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 3334 (MED) Sche allone among þe susters seuene Schroudeth to vs schamfastly hir chere. a1619 W. Cowper Serm. in D. Calderwood (1636) 240 There is non, saith Job, can restraine the influence of the Pleiades, it is but a constellation of the seven starres, which we commonly call the seven sisters; yet do they bring with them the spring of the year. a1771 T. Gray Imit. Propertius in (1814) II. 86 Whence the Seven-Sisters' congregated fires. 1854 H. Mayhew xiii. 387 There are the Seven Sisters, sparkling away like a knot of little glow-worms in the dark. 1999 T. Van Holt 66 The bull's eye can be found midway along the line running from Orion's belt to the Seven Sisters. 2014 @MagicksMusic 6 Sept. in twitter.com (accessed 8 Jan. 2020) Saw the seven sisters in the sky last night. society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > piece of artillery > [noun] > other pieces of ordnance a1529 J. Skelton Agaynst Scottes in (?1545) sig. B.ii Your seuen systers, that Gun so gay. a1600 R. Lindsay (1899) I. 259 Sewin cannonis that he tuik fourtht of the castell of Edinburgh, quhilk was callit the sewin sisteris. 1808 W. Scott iv. xxvii. 215 Borthwick's Sisters Seven. 2013 G. Goodwin (Amer. ed. 1) xx. 199 As for the Scottish guns, including the Seven Sisters, they were found to be undamaged the next day. 3. the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > rose and allied flowers > rose > types of rose flower or bush 1830 16 §1372 The Chinese call it the Seven Sisters' Rose, because about seven flowers open at the same time, each varying from the other from a pale rose-colour, through several gradations, to a deep rich crimson. 1853 C. M. Yonge I. xii. 203 ‘The Seven Sisters’. There, fair sisterhood, grow and thrive, till I come to transplant you in the autumn. 1864 S. Hibberd 105 Grevillea, or the Seven Sisters rose, is the best known of this class. 1906 3 Aug. 10/1 The seven-sister rose Blossoms about the gabled close. 1934 M. Allingham xii. 137 She paused for a moment..to break off a dead rose hip left over from the autumn on the rather straggly seven-sister tree which grew over the porch. 2019 (Nexis) 12 Jan. (Lifestyle section) 21 A maypole near the kitchen window sports ‘Seven Sisters’ roses. the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Euphorbiaceae (spurges and allies) > [noun] 1879 H. Allingham xv. 132 Sun spurge (euphorbia helioscopia), locally known as ‘the seven sisters’, and a cure for warts, is common. 1886 J. Britten & R. Holland Seven Sisters. Euphorbia Helioscopia and E. Peplus, in allusion to the seven branches of the stem. Co. Donegal, Ireland. 1986 C. McGlinchey et al. x. 85 I heard a lots of cures for warts:..; the juice of a jaggy plant that grows in sandy places called the seven brothers or the seven sisters. the world > animals > birds > unspecified and miscellaneous birds > [noun] > miscellaneous the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > [noun] > subfamily Timaliinae > genus Turdoides 1873 P. Robinson (ed. 2) 19 The Seven Sisters pretend to feed on insects, but that is only when they cannot get peas. 1901 R. Kipling 90 The chattering, gray-backed Seven Sisters. 1997 E. Hoagland in (2000) 165 Red-wattled lapwings, the ‘policemen of the forest’, kept noisy watch over our progress, along with several ‘babblers’, the ‘seven sisters’ birds, so called because they always move in a group. society > education > place of education > college or university > [noun] > college > other colleges 1927 10 Jan. 3 The ‘Seven Sisters’ of the College World..Last fall the ‘five college conference’, consisting of Wellesley, Byrn [sic] Mawr, Smith, Mount Holyoke and Vassar, met with Barnard and Radcliffe, to discuss plans. 1962 Apr. 37/2 The most difficult women's colleges to get into are the so-called ‘Seven Sisters’—Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley. 1979 17 May 43/2 (advt.) Yale grad..would like to meet a ‘seven sisters’ graduate. 2010 (Nexis) 20 Dec. Smith College, a private, liberal arts college in Massachusetts, USA is the largest of the prestigious Seven Sisters. society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > [noun] > companies involved in specific business 1962 29 Oct. 11/2 Mattei..liked to take the view that the ‘Seven sisters’—as he called the majors—were making excessive profits out of both Governments and consumers. 1966 J. Aldridge xviii. 137 Was this..a challenge to the Seven Sisters of the oil world? 1976 15 Apr. 20/1 The group of international oil companies often referred to as ‘the Seven Sisters’—Exxon, Mobil, Gulf, Standard Oil of California, Texaco, British Petroleum, and Royal Dutch Shell. 2019 (Nexis) 23 Sept. The commodity boom shifted the balance of market power from a cartel of oil companies (the ‘Seven Sisters’), which had held prices artificially low, to a cartel of nations. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  n.c1425 |
