| 释义 |
swanskin|ˈswɒnskɪn|
Also swan's-skin.
[Cf. Sw. svanskinn.]
1. The skin of a swan (with the feathers on); transf. a soft or delicate skin.
1610[see 3]. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 375/2 Cygnus Buccinator,..to which the bulk of the swan-skins imported by the Hudson's Bay Company belong. 1846J. E. Taylor Fairy Ring, Six Swans 66 The swans flew to her,..their swans' skins fell off, and her brothers stood before her in their natural form.
2. A fine thick kind of flannel; also, a woollen blanketing used by printers and engravers as an elastic impression-surface.
1694Motteux Rabelais v. Pantagr. Prognost. x. 246 Furr'd Gowns, Swans-Skins, and other warm Cloths. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Swans-skin, a sort of fine Flannel, so call'd on account of its extraordinary Whiteness. 1844Ladies' Hand-bk. Haberdashery 31 Swanskin is..especially employed by the laundress, as a covering for her tables. 1863Alpine Jrnl. Mar. 27 Very stout and dense scarlet blanketing (of the description known to the trade as swan⁓skin).
3. a. attrib. Made or consisting of swanskin. swanskin flannel = sense 2.
1610B. Jonson Alch. iii. iii, I' the swan-skin couerlid, and cambrick sheets. 1740Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xx. 32, I brought two flannel undercoats; not so good as my swanskin and fine linen ones. c1790J. Imison Sch. Arts II. 49 Directions for laying the Mezzotinto Ground... Laying your plate with a piece of swanskin-flannel under it, upon your table. 1903W. Churchill Crossing i. vi, He wore jauntily a swanskin three-cornered hat.
b. fig. Soft and delicate, smooth like swanskin. (Only found in the work of E. Sitwell.)
1925E. Sitwell Troy Park 38 Once, plumaged like the sea, his swanskin head Had wintry white quills. 1936― Victoria of England xvi. 197 Wild violets beneath their swan-skin leaves. |