| 释义 |
ˈegg-shell
Also eggshell.
[f. egg n. + shell.]
a. The shell or external calcareous covering of an egg; often as a type of worthlessness or of fragility.
c1300K. Alis 577 He fondith to creope..Ageyn into the ay-schelle. 1471Ripley Compl. Alch. viii. in Ashm. (1652) 171 Fro Eggshells calcynyd. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 36, I gat not so muche..As..a poore egshell. 1599H. Buttes Diet's Dry Din. To Rdr., I haue put into a by-dish (like Eg-shelles in a Saucer) what worthily may breed offence. a1618Raleigh Prerog. Parl. 57 Without the Kings acceptation, both the publicke and priuate aduices be but as emptie Egg-shels. 1799Hatchett in Phil. Trans. LXXXIX. 328 The carbonate of lime exceeds in quantity the phosphate..in the egg shells of birds. 1859Todd Cycl. Anat. V. 63/1 The pores of the egg-shell may be easily stopped by any..oily matter. 1859Tennyson Enid 1213 He..babbled..How Enid never..cared a broken egg-shell for her lord.
b. attrib., chiefly similative. egg-shell china: a porcelain ware of extreme thinness and delicacy.
1835Willis Pencillings II. xlv. 52 We..stepping into an egg-shell caique, crossed the Golden Horn. 1860Emerson Cond. Life vii. Wks. (Bohn) II. 424 We come out of our egg-shell existence. 1861C. P. Hodgson Resid. Japan 31 Fragile and sweetly pretty little egg-shell porcelain cups. 1887Times 11 Aug. 13/2 The egg-shell sides of the Mercury.
c. Used attrib. or as adj. as a term of colour or of a paint finish intermediate between flat and glossy, e.g. eggshell enamel, egg-shell finish, egg-shell glaze. (See also quot. 1929).
1894F. B. Gardner Painters' Encycl. 119 Egg-shell gloss, a term frequently used by painters. 1898Westm. Gaz. 3 June 8/3 A costume of egg-shell blue cheque silk. 1908Daily Chron. 12 Mar. 3/3 The sun is reflected by its front of dull white terra-cotta stone with egg-shell glaze. 1909Westm. Gaz. 27 Apr. 5/2 People argue of paints, and enamels, and varnishes, and..whether the true ‘egg-shell gloss’ has been obtained or not. 1909Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Sept. 684/1 That beautiful, characteristic, velvety, egg-shell enamel is highly artistic. 1925Arts & Decoration Mar. 82/2 The egg-shell finish of the freshly laid egg..is the dull finish the decorators now prefer. 1929A. E. Owen-Jones Retail Stationer's Handbk. 193 Eggshell Finish, a finish imparted to notepapers by omitting the calendering; the surface is dull, and is covered with pin-point pores. 1936C. Day Lewis Friendly Tree vii. 96 A sky of egg-shell blue. 1943W. Wilcox in 55 Short Stories from N. Yorker (1949) 139 She was wearing dark blue..and a neat little eggshell blouse. 1953Gloss. Paint Terms (B.S.I.) 27 The following stages in increasing order of gloss are normally recognized:—Flat (or matt)... Eggshell flat. Eggshell gloss. 1955E. Bowen World of Love v. 88 Electric candelabra..round all the eggshell walls. 1958Woman 22 Feb 2/1 Gloss, matt, flat, eggshell paints go over themselves or each other.
Hence eggshell-ful, as a measure of quantity.
1460–70Bk. Quintessence 29 An eye-schelle ful of good brennynge water. 1579Langham Gard. Health (1633) 73 Drink an egshelfull of the iuice of Betony. 1746Berkeley Sec. Let. Tar-water §14 An egg-shell full of tar. 1758J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 247, I found about an Egg-Shell full of purulent Serosity.
▸ to walk on eggshells and variants: to be extremely cautious in one's actions or words, esp. so as to avoid offending or angering others. Cf. to tread upon eggs at egg n. 4a(b).
1860W. Collins Woman in White (new ed.) II. ix. 213 With that woman for my enemy,..I walk, in your English phrase, upon egg-shells! 1913E. Rhys Lyric Poetry iv. 36 To speak of these things is to walk on egg-shells. 1969R. Salerno & J. S. Tompkins Crime Confederation 137 During this time we sensed that the men on both sides were walking on eggshells, everyone very careful and circumspect. 1999Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) June 54/3 Danger sign 4. He suffers from mood swings—you tread on eggshells because there's no knowing what will set him off. |