| 释义 |
▪ I. primrose, n. (a.)|ˈprɪmrəʊz|
Forms: 5 prymrose, prima rose, 5–6 prymerose, prime rose, 5–7 primerose, 6 pryme rose, (prymer rose, primorose,) Sc. prymross, 7 prim rose, prim-rose, prime-rose, 6– primrose.
[Late ME. primerose (1413: see (c) below; not used by Chaucer or Gower; occurring in several glossaries and vocabularies a 1450, but not in Sinon. Barthol. or Alphita); corresp. in form to early OF. primerose (12–13th c.), and to med.L. prima rosa, lit. ‘first’ or ‘earliest rose’, in Eng.-Lat. vocabularies of 15th c.: the latter in Alphita a synonym of primula veris (see primula), and F. and Eng. primerole; by Palsgr. primerolle is given as Fr. for primorose, and is still so used dialectally in parts of Normandy. In It., Florio 1598 has ‘Prima rosa the flowre called the primrose or cowslip’. Primrose is not in the Great Herbal 1516–29, but is in Turner's Libellus 1538, and Names of Herbs 1548, also in Lyte and later Herbals. See Note below.]
A. n.
1. a. A well-known plant (Primula veris var. acaulis Linn., P. vulgaris Huds., P. acaulis Jacq., P. grandiflora Lam.), bearing pale yellowish flowers in early spring, growing wild in woods and hedges and on banks, esp. on clayey soil, and cultivated in many varieties as a garden plant. Also, the flower of this plant. Sometimes extended to include other species of the genus primula.
(a) in glossaries and vocabularies.
14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 592/41 Ligustrum, a primerose. 14..Nominale ibid. 712/18 Hoc ligustrum, a primerose. [Ibid. 713/11 Hoc ligustrum, a cowslowpe.] c1440Promp. Parv. 413/2 Prymerose, primula, calendula, ligustrum. a1450Stockh. Med. MS. 196 Prymrose, ligustrum. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 786/24 Hoc ligustrum, a prymrose. Hoc ligustrum, a cowyslepe. 1483Cath. Angl. 291/2 A Prymerose, primarosa, primula veris. 1530Palsgr. 56 b/2 Primorose a flour, primerolle. 1538Elyot, Verbascum, an herbe wherof be ii. kindes: of which one is supposed to be Molin or long wort, the other is supposed to be that whiche is callyd primerose. 1573–80Baret Alv. P 715 A Primerose, or cowslip, verbascum, vel verbasculum minus. Primula veris. Dodon.
(b) in herbals, botanical works, etc.
1538Turner Libellus A ij b, Arthritica officinis est primula veris quæ ab anglis dicitur a prymerose. 1548― Names of Herbes G vij, There are .iij. Verbascula... The fyrste is called in barbarus latin Arthritica, and in englishe a Primerose. 1578Lyte Dodoens v. lxxxiii. 122 Of Petie Mulleyn or the kindes of Primeroses... The smaller sorte..we call Primerose, is of diuers kindes, as yellow and greene, single and dubble. Ibid. 123 [Figure of] Verbasculum minus, Prymerose. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. cclx. 637 The common white fielde Primrose needeth no description. 1626Bacon Sylva §512 There is a Greenish Prime-Rose, but it is Pale, and scarce a Greene. 1629Parkinson Paradisus 242, I know, that the name of Primula veris or Primrose, is indifferently conferred vpon those that I distinguish for Paralyses or Cowslips. I doe therefore..call those onely Primroses that carry but one flower vpon a stalke... And those Cowslips, that beare many flowers vpon a stalke together constantly. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 70/1 Primroses are also double of variable colours. 1856Delamer Fl. Gard. (1861) 101 Double Primroses delight in the same soil and situation as Polyanthuses, but are somewhat less robust.
(c) in literature.
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. ii. (1859) 75 One [world] is corowned with faire rede rosys,..and the thyrd with lusty prymerosys and lylyes entermellyd, and graciously arrayed. 1486Bk. St. Albans B vij, Take alisawndre and the Roote of prima rose. 1508Dunbar Flyting 192 Powderit with prymross, sawrand all with clowiss. c1530Crt. of Love 1437 Eke eche at other threw the floures bright, The prymerose, the violet, the gold. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 352 What man..euer sawe the Spring tide without Marche Violettes, Primeroses, and other pleasant floures? 1612Drayton Poly-olb. xv. 150 The Primrose placing first, because that in the Spring It is the first appeares, then onely florishing. 1621Quarles Esther (1638) 117 Now plucks a Vi'let from her purple bed And then a Prim rose (the yeares Maidenhead). 1637Milton Lycidas 142 The rathe Primrose that forsaken dies. 1772Foote Nabob ii. Wks. 1799 II. 303 The poor fellow's face is as pale as a primrose. 1798Wordsw. P. Bell i. xii, A primrose by a river's brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was nothing more. 1899Daily News 19 Apr. 6/4 Blue primroses, that came into vogue a few years ago, were of course not wanting.
b. Formerly applied to the Daisy, Bellis perennis; and now in U.S. to a kind of wild rose (? Rosa setigera).
1585Lupton Thous. Notable Th. v. §94 (1675) 133 The Primroses (which some take to be Dasies). 1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 108 A kind of wild rose (called by the country folk the primrose).
2. With qualifying words, applied to
a. Other species of the genus Primula: as bird's-eye primrose, P. farinosa, a mountain plant, bearing compact umbels of light purple flowers with yellow centres; Chinese primrose, P. sinensis, a Chinese species bearing white or lilac flowers in umbels, familiar as a greenhouse and room plant in winter and early spring; fairy primrose, P. minima, a small plant of Southern Europe, bearing large white or rose flowers (Nicholson 1887); Himalayan primrose, P. sikkimensis; Scotch primrose, P. scotica, a native of the north of Scotland, bearing umbels of purple yellow-eyed flowers; sometimes applied to P. farinosa.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 235 Primula farinosa..*Birds-eye Primrose. Marshes and bogs on mountains in the north. 1867Babington Man. Brit. Bot. (ed. 6) 277 P[rimula] farinosa... North of England and South of Scotland... Bird's-eye Primrose.
1858Hogg Veg. Kingd. 595 The *Chinese Primrose. 1887Nicholson's Dict. Gard. s.v. Primula, Perhaps the best-known Primula is that which is very generally cultivated for greenhouse and room decoration.., namely, the Chinese Primrose (P. sinensis).
b. Some other plants having flowers resembling those of the common primrose; as Cape primrose, a plant of the genus Streptocarpus, of S. Africa, etc., bearing showy pale purple, blue, or red flowers; evening (night, † nightly) primrose, the genus Œnothera: see evening n.1 5 b; peerless primrose = primrose peerless 2; tree primrose = evening primrose.
1884Miller Plant-n. 253/2 Streptocarpus, *Cape Primrose. 1902Westm. Gaz. 28 May 6/3 On entering the first tent, the visitor is face to face with..a wonderful bed of Cape primroses, creamy-white, mauve, and in many shades.
1866Treas. Bot. 927 *Evening or Night Primrose, Œnothera.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 323 *Night Primrose. 1849[see night n. 13 e].
1884Miller Plant-n., Narcissus biflorus, *Peerless Primrose or Primrose Peerless, Two-flowered Daffodil.
1629Parkinson Paradisus 264 The *tree Primrose of Virginia. 1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xix. (1794) 256 Tree Primrose, a Virginian plant... The corolla is a fine yellow, shut during the day, but expanding in the evening; whence some call it Nightly Primrose.
†3. fig.
a. The first or best; the finest, or a fine, example; the ‘flower’, ‘pearl’ (cf. pink of perfection); also, a person in the flower of youth. Obs.
c1425in Leg. Rood 212 My swete sone..þou art þe flour, My primerose, my paramour. c1425Cast. Persev. 2024 in Macro Plays 134 A! Meknesse, Charyte & Pacyens,..prymrose pleyeth parlasent. c1450Cov. Myst. xvi. (Shaks. Soc.) 158 Heyle, perle peerles, prime rose of prise! 1523Skelton Garland of Laurel 912 Ye be, as I deuyne, The praty primrose, The goodly Columbyne. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 66 Two noble Primeroses of Nobilitie, the yong Duke of Suffolke, and Lord H. Matreuers. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 166 Was not I planted of thine owne hand, To be the primrose of all thy land? 1664Cotton Scarron. i. 86 O Dido Primrose of Perfection, Who only grantest kind Protection To wandring Trojans.
†b. Prime; first bloom; first-fruits. Obs.
1611R. Brathwait Golden Fleece ii. Sonn. iv. iii, For she [Rosamond] poore wench did flourish for a while Cropt in the primrose of her wantonnesse. 1647Trapp Comm. Rom. xvi. 5 Gods soul hath desired such first ripe fruits, Mic. 7. 1, such primroses. 1650― Comm. Lev. ii. 14 God should bee served with the first-fruits of our age, the primrose of our childe-hood.
†4. In ancient cookery, A ‘pottage’ in which the flowers of this plant were a principal ingredient.
c1430Two Cookery-bks. 25 Prymerose. Take oþer half⁓pound of Flowre of Rys, .iij. pound of Almaundys, half an vnce of hony & Safroune, & take þe flowre of þe Prymerose, & grynd hem, and temper hem vppe with Mylke of þe Almaundys [etc.].
5. Her. A conventionalized figure of this flower as a charge; in quot. 1562 said to have four petals.
1562Leigh Armorie 64 Quater foyles, otherwise called, prime Roses. 1894Parker's Gloss. Her. 477 Primrose, this flower occurs in some few instances. Though the colour varies, the shape of the natural flower should be retained.
6. a. Elliptical for primrose colour: A pale greenish yellow or lemon colour.
1882Garden 21 Oct. 355/3 Take, for instance..Narcisse, primrose, tipped with white.
b. A commercial soap of a yellowish colour. In full, primrose soap.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 39/2 Soaps (Plain). Pale Primrose (Army & Navy) bar about 3 lb. 0/9. The Royal Primrose (J. Knight's) bar about 3 lb. 0/9½. 1909H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay iii. i. 265 We had added to the original Moggs' Primrose several varieties of scented and super-fatted. c1938Fortnum & Mason Catal. 56/2 Soaps, Household..Primrose Royal..per bar 1/3.
7. attrib. and Comb., as, in sense ‘of primroses’, ‘of the primrose’, primrose bank, primrose bed, primrose breath, primrose bud, primrose chaplet, primrose colour, primrose drop (drop n. 10 g), primrose-peep, primrose-picker, primrose season, primrose star, primrose-tide, primrose yellow; instrumental and parasynthetic, as primrose-coloured, primrose-decked, primrose-haunted, primrose-scented, primrose-spangled, primrose-starred, primrose-sweet, primrose-tinted, primrose-vested adjs.; † primrose cowslip, Parkinson's name for the hybrid oxlip; primrose path, way, a path abounding in primroses; fig. the path of pleasure; primrose soap: see sense 6 b above; primrose-time, fig. the time of early youth; primrose tree = tree primrose: see 2 b.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 151 This *Primrose banke whereon I lie.
1834Mrs. Hemans Sonn., Happy Hour 8 The wandering *primrose-breath of May.
1777Warton Ode Friend leaving Hampsh. 56 His *primrose-chaplet rudely torn.
1629Parkinson Paradisus 244 Of the very same *Primrose colour that the former is of. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 238 Gills primrose-colour.
1788Gazetteer 12 May 2/3 The train was a *primrose coloured goffree'd crape spotted with blue crape in relief. 1830Withering's Brit. Plants (ed. 7) IV. 216 Agaricus Primula (Primrose-coloured Agaric). 1888Times 2 Jan. 7/4 The young..Lady Mansfield in her primrose-coloured dress.
1629Parkinson Paradisus 244 Paralysis altera odorata flore pallido polyanthos. The *Primrose Cowslip.
1625B. Jonson Pan's Anniv., The *primrose drop, the Spring's own spouse!
1835Mrs. Hemans Remembr. Nat. 3 Feeding my thoughts in *primrose-haunted nooks.
1567Golding Ovid xiii. 929 More whyght thou art then *primrose leaf [folio nivei ligustri].
1602Shakes. Ham. i. iii. 50 Doe not as some vngracious Pastors doe, Shew me the steepe and thorny way to Heauen; Whilst like a puft and recklesse Libertine, Himselfe the *Primrose path of dalliance treads. 1820Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 80 To tread the primrose path of pleasure. 1882Froude Carlyle I. xix. 355 Never to sell his soul by travelling the primrose path to wealth and distinction.
1831E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 8 So winter passeth Like a long sleep From falling autumn To *primrose-peep.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 398 Hypopithys..*Primrose scented Birds-nest.
1634Milton Comus 671 Brisk as the April buds in *Primrose-season.
1796M. Edgeworth Parent's Assistant (ed. 2) II. 127 A fresh assortment of..*Primrose Soap.
1648Herrick Hesper., Epitaph upon a Child, Virgins promis'd when I dy'd, That they wo'd each *primrose-tide, Duely morne and ev'ning, come, And with flowers dresse my tomb.
1606Wily Beguiled in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 231 I'll prank myself with flowers of the prime; And thus I'll spend away my *primrose-time.
1741Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 357 Towards the End of this Month, sow Pinks,..Sweet Williams, *Primrose-trees. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 324 Primrose-tree, Oenothera.
1922Joyce Ulysses 195 *Primrosevested he greeted gaily with his doffed Panama as with a bauble.
1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 21 Some of all Professions, that goe the *Primrose way to th' euerlasting Bonfire. 1817Scott Harold v. xiv, Chief they lay Their snares beside the primrose way.
1882Garden 2 Dec. 481/1 A large..flower of a soft *primrose-yellow. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 478/2 Oil Colours..Primrose yellow..Raw sienna. 1954T. S. Eliot Confid. Clerk i. 32, I thought a primrose yellow would be cheerful. 1978Vogue 1 Mar. 128 Shirtdress..primrose yellow with Peter Pan collar.
8. From the association of the flower with the memory of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, who died 19th April, 1881: Primrose Day, the anniversary of that event; Primrose League, a political association formed in 1883, in memory of Lord Beaconsfield and in support of the principles of Conservatism as represented by him; so Primrose Leaguer. Hence, in sense ‘of the Primrose League’, Primrose dame, primrose habitation, primrose knight: see the ns.; so Primrose associate, primrose banner, primrose circle, primrose lady, primrose literature, etc.
1883(title) Primrose League. 1884E. W. Hamilton Diary 21 Mar. (1972) II. 581 Mrs. G...carried a splendid bouquet of primroses,..to show that the ‘Primrose Leaguers’ have no title to appropriate the flower to themselves. Ibid. 19 Apr. 597 ‘Primrose Day’. Were I an admirer of Lord Beaconsfield, I should be furious that his memory should be so ridiculed. 1886Sir A. Borthwick in 19th Cent. July 39 The badges are..an absolute introduction into all Primrose Circles. 1890(title) A Little Primrose Knight, a story of the autumn of 1885, by a Primrose Dame. 1891Pall Mall G. 2 Dec. 6/2 In the accompanying cartoon a Primrose dame is depicted fastening a primrose posy into Mr. Chamberlain's button-hole. 1898Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 8/1 Although Sir George Birdwood has never publicly claimed any credit in that direction, we are, we believe, not very wide of the mark in suggesting that he was the originator of ‘Primrose Day’. 1912Chesterton Manalive ii. ii. 240, I have faced many a political crisis in the old Primrose League days at Herne Bay. 1923J. M. Murry Pencillings 146 Disraeli..was a far more remarkable man than the most enthusiastic Primrose Leaguer has ever imagined. 1959B. & R. North tr. Duverger's Pol. Parties (ed. 2) i. i. 66 The Primrose League, an organization distinct from the party proper, aimed at social mixing. 1975R. Taylor Lord Salisbury viii. 134 He told the Primrose League in a memorable speech: ‘You may roughly divide the nations of the world as the living and the dying.’
B. as adj. Of primrose colour.
1788Gazetteer 12 May 2/3 An immense panache of white, blue and primrose feathers. 1815in R. W. Chapman Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1923) 398 Primrose sandals, and white kid gloves. 1844Willis Lady Jane ii. 366 Serene in faultless boots and primrose glove. 1851G. Meredith Love in Valley xxv, Soft new beech-leaves, up to beamy April Spreading bough on bough a primrose mountain. 1931[see jumper n.2 3 c]. 1976S. Wales Echo 25 Nov. 27/4 (Advt.), Bathroom/w.c., half-tiled in Primrose, matching Primrose suite. [Note. The history of this word and its original application are obscure. The designation ‘first’ or ‘earliest rose’ is not very applicable to the flower, which in no respect resembles a rose in colour, form, or habit of growth. And if ‘rose’ be taken as vaguely synonymous with ‘flower’, the primrose is not manifestly the ‘first flower’ of spring. The same holds good of the F. primevère or cowslip, which flowers still later than the primrose. The L. prīma rosa is not known before c 1450 (in Alphita: see primula), which is later than the Eng. word. The It. prima rosa, in Florio, is of uncertain age. In OF., primerose is cited only from some MSS. of the Geste des Lohérains, and from Perceval, both of 12th c. The meaning is uncertain; though, as other MSS. of the Lohérains have the variant primevoire (mod.F. primevère cowslip), the flower meant may possibly have been the cowslip or the primrose. According to Bouillet Dict. des Sciences 1862–3, and Littré 1863–72, primerose is a synonym of passe-rose, popularly or locally applied to the Hollyhock, and to the Rose Campion (Lychnis Coronaria); but primerose is not recognized as an existing name of any flower in La Flore des Jardins et du Champ of Le Maoulet & Decaisse, 1855. Historical connexion between the OF. and the 15th c. Eng. word is thus uncertain. The original application in Eng. is obscure; the 15th c. vocabularies and glossaries use it to gloss ligustrum, a plant noted in Roman poets for its white flowers (now identified as the privet, but by early glossists taken to be a herb); but as ligustrum is also glossed by cowslepe, cowslope, and one explanation of prymrose in Promp. Parv. is primula (and in Cath. Angl. primula veris), it is fairly certain that by the middle of the 15th c. primrose was applied to one or both species of Primula. By Palsgrave it is, like prima rosa in Alphita, identified with primerole, which in parts of Normandy is now a name of the primrose. In Turner's Libellus and Names of Herbes, primrose is certainly a Primula and prob. the primrose; in Lyte, 1578, it is figured and is there clearly the primrose (though the ‘cowslippe, oxelippe, and prymerose’ are all included as ‘kindes of Primeroses’). See also Note to ] ▪ II. ˈprimrose, v.
[f. prec.: cf. blackberrying vbl. n. and nut v. 1.]
a. intr. To look for, or gather, primroses; esp. in phr. to go (a) primrosing.
b. humorously (see prec. 8), to speak at or take part in Primrose League gatherings.
1830Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) II. 301, I..had gone to a copse primrosing. 1887Pall Mall G. 9 Sept. 4/2 Co-operative farming is a good deal better than ‘primrosing’. 1888Manchester Courier 19 Apr. 5/7 One section of the Unionist party went primrosing with Mr. Smith. 1928Daily Express 10 Mar. 5/3 There are few of the many who enjoy the country who will be able to resist primrosing. 1941E. Bowen Look at Roses 122 This afternoon..we'll go primrosing. 1967‘L. Bruce’ Death of Commuter viii. 82 ‘I'm going to take her primrosing tomorrow,’ he told Carolus. ‘In Langley Wood’. 1973J. Thomson Death Cap vi. 88 To go bird's-nesting, or blackberrying or primrosing. |