| 释义 |
▪ I. delf1 Now only local.|dɛlf|
Forms: 5–7 delfe, 6 delff, 7–9 delft, 5– delf, 6– delph; pl. 4– delves, 6–7 delfes, 7– delfs, 8– delphs.
[ME. delf, late OE. dælf for delf, trench, ditch, quarry, occurring in a 12th c. copy of a charter, inserted in the Peterborough OE. Chron. (Laud MS.) anno 963; app. aphetic f. OE. ᵹedelf digging, a digging, ditch, trench, quarry, mine (stánᵹedelf, léadᵹedelf), f. delfan to delve, dig.]
1. That which is delved or dug:
a. A hole or cavity dug in the earth, e.g. for irrigation or drainage; a pit; a trench, ditch; spec. applied to the drainage canals in the fen districts of the eastern counties.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iv. 40 In forowe, in delf, in pastyne. 1502Arnolde Chron. 168 Make a delf ther aboute..til thou com to the gret rote. 1557Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 179 Daungerous delph, depe dungeon of disdaine. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. iii. xiii, Some lesser delfs [later ed. delfts] the fountains bottome sounding. 1661Morgan Sph. Gentry ii. vii. 78 Extracting him out of that Delf or Pit which Reuben put him in. 1675Evelyn Terra (1776) 3 In marshes and fenny Delves. 1713Lond. Gaz. No. 5143/4, 44 Acres of Pasture Ground in the Delphs in..Haddenham in the County of Cambridge. 1851Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. ii. 304 The fens are divided by embanked upland rivulets or ‘delphs’. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Delf, Delft, a drain that has been delved..a pond, a clay-pit. a railway cutting, or any other large hole that has been delved out.
b. An excavation in or under the earth, where stone, coal, or other mineral is dug; a quarry; a mine. The ordinary name for a quarry in the northern counties.
1388Wyclif 2 Chron. xxxiv. 11 To bie stoonys hewid out of the delues, ether quarreris. 14..Vocab. Harl. MS. 1002 in Promp. Parv. 118 note2, Aurifedella, a gold delfe. 1588–9Act 31 Eliz. c. 7 §4 Quarries or Delfes of Stone or Slate. 1598J. Manwood Lawes Forest xxiv. §5 (1615) 242/1 Any Mine, Delph of Coale, Stone, Clay, Marle, Turfe, Iron, or any other Mine. 1692Ray Dissol. World 78 In Coal Delfs and other Mines..the Miners are many times drowned out. 1732in L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 156 The quarry or delf att Brownlow Hill sho'd be cut thorow. 1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 390 Limestone..is dug from a quarry, or ‘delph’, some 30 to 50 ft. beneath the surface. 1888Sheffield Gloss., Delf, a stone quarry. 1891Labour Commission Gloss., Delphs, terms used to denote the working places in Yorkshire ironstone quarries.
†c. A grave. Obs.
c1425Wyntoun Cron. vi. iv. 39 The Grafe, quhare þis dede Pypyne lay, Ðai rypyd..Ðat Delf þai stoppyd hastyly And away sped þame rycht spedyly. c1460Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 230 He rasyd Lazare out of his delfe. a1548Thrie Priests Peblis 37 (Jam.), The first freind, quhil he was laid in delf, He lufit ay far better than himself.
†2. A bed or stratum of any earth or mineral that is or may be dug into.
1601Holland Pliny II. 409 Obserue the change of euery coat..of the earth as they dig, to wit from the black delfe, vntil they meet..the veins aforesaid. Ibid. II. 415 Under the delfe of sand they met with salt. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Delf of Coal, Coal lying in Veins under ground, before it is digged up.
3. Sc. A sod or cut turf.
1812Souter Agric. Surv. Banffs. App. 42 If a delph be cast up in a field that hath lien for the space of five or six years, wild oats will spring up of their own accord. 1825–80Jamieson, Delf, a sod. In this sense the term delf is used, Lanarks. and Banffs.
†b. Her. A square bearing supposed to represent a square-cut sod of turf, used as an abatement. Obs.
c1500Sc. Poem Heraldry 165 in Q. Eliz. Acad. (1869) 100 Ȝit in armes, pictes and delphes espy. 1562Leigh Armorie (1597) 73 He beareth Argent, a delff Geules. To him that revoketh his own challeng, as commonly we cal it eating his worde, this is giuen in token thereof. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry i. viii. (1660) 43 A Delfe for revocation of Challenge. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 343/2 Some term..a Tile a Delfe because of its squareness, but in a Delfe there is nothing of a thickness.
†4. An act of delving; a thrust of the spade.
1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 501 You must cut the vpper face and crust of the earth in Aprill, with a shallow delfe. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 115/1 Delfe, or Spade⁓graft..a digging into the earth as deep as a spade can go at once.
5. attrib. and Comb.
1792Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts X. 105 Making a delf⁓ditch, twelve feet wide. 1885Law Times Rep. LI. 589/1 Certain land called delph land, beyond which were sand⁓hills, protecting the property from the sea.
▪ II. delf2, delft|dɛlf, dɛlft|
Also delph.
[a. Du. Delf, now Delft, a town of Holland, named from the delf, delve ‘ditch’, by which name the chief canal of the town is still known: see prec. Since the paragogic t was added to the name of the town in mod.Du., it has been extended also to the English word, probably with the notion that delf was a corruption.]
1. A kind of glazed earthenware made at Delf or Delft in Holland; originally called Delf ware.
1714Fr. Bk. of Rates 121 Certain Goods, called Delph-Ware, and counterfeit China, coming from Holland and other Parts. 1743Lond. & Country Brew. ii. Advt., Potters-Work or Delft-Ware. 1859Smiles Self-Help 40 Large quantities of the commoner sort of ware were imported..from Delft in Holland, whence it was usually known by the name of Delft ware.
1723Swift Poems, Stella at Woodpark, A supper worthy of herself, Five nothings in five plates of delf. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xv, A corner cupboard with their little stock of crockery and delf. 1880Howells Undisc. Country xvi. 261 From tall standing clocks to the coarsest cracked blue delft.
2. attrib. and Comb.
1756Connoisseur 103 ⁋6, I am never allowed to eat from any thing better than a Delft plate. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 166 Glass works..delf-houses and paper mills. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. iii. iii. (1849) 161 A majestic delft tea-pot. 1884May Crommelin Brown-Eyes iv. 33 Rows of blue china and coarser but valuable old delf pottery.
▪ III. delf
obs. form of delve v., to dig. |