| 释义 |
▪ I. fleece, n.|fliːs|
Forms: 1 fléos, flíes, flýs, 3 fleos, 4–6 flies, flyes, 4–6 flees, fles(e, (4 flus, 5 fleese, fleys, flesse, 6 fleise), 5–6 Sc. fleis(s, 6 flece, Sc. flesche, 7 fliece, Sc. fleesh, 6– fleece.
[Com. WGer. OE. fléos neut., corresponds to Du. vlies, MHG. vlies (Ger. fliesz, vliesz); there is also a form with umlaut, OE. flíes, flýs = MHG. vlius (Ger. fleusz, flüsz); the two types represent WGer. *fleusoz-, fliusiz-; an ablaut variant *flûso-z appears in MLG. and MHG. vlûs sheepskin, mod.Ger. flaus masc. woollen coat. Connexion with the root of L. plūma feather, plume, is probable.]
1. a. The woolly covering of a sheep or similar animal.
a1000Laws Ina c. 69 Sceap sceal gongan mid his fliese oð midne sumor. c1000Ags. Ps. lxxii. 6 And [he] astaᵹ swe swe regn in fleos. a1225Ancr. R. 66 Monie cumeð to ou ischrud mid lombes fleose, & beoð wode wulues. a1300E.E. Psalter lxxii. 6 He sal com down als rain in flees soft. 1382Wyclif Gen. xxx. 35 Al the flok of o colour, that is, of whyet or of blak flese. c1450Holland Howlat 753 Thow joyuss fleiss of Gedion. 1501Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. xxxvi, To win the fleis of gold. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 423 Cled in cair weid, As foxe in a lambis fleise fenȝe I my cheir. 1563Winzet tr. Vincent. Lirin. xxxi. Wks. 1890 II. 65 Maid as certane fleisis of wow. 1637T. Morton New Eng. Canaan ii. x. 98 These beasts are of the bignesse of a Cowe..their fleeces very usefull, being a kinde of wolle. 1725Pope Odyss. i. 557 Stretch'd on the downy fleece, no rest he knows. 1804J. Grahame Sabbath 456 Where lambs of whitest fleece sport on the hills. 1877Simmonds Anim. Products 66 Its [the Alpaca's] fleece is superior to that of the sheep in length and softness.
b. Her. The figure of a sheepskin with its wool suspended by a ring.
c. Order of the Golden Fleece: an order of knighthood instituted at Bruges in 1430 by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy.
The right of investiture in the order of the Golden Fleece belonged (after 1700) to the sovereigns of Austria and Spain.
1525Two Proph. Eng. in Furniv., Ballads from MSS. I. 306 A king to were a flemyshe flece, all Sacksons shall hyt Rewe. 1539Inv. Habiliments, etc., Jas. V. Scot. (1815) 49 Item the ordoure of the Empriour with the goldin fleis. 1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 213 The kyng ware the golden Flees, and the duke ware the Garter. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 69 Knight of the Noble Order of S. George, Worthy S. Michael, and the Golden Fleece. 1842Longfellow Belfry Bruges 22 Knights who bore the Fleece of Gold. 1849Disraeli Corr. w. Sister 11 Mar. (1886) 220 He [Guizot] had his red ribbon on and also his golden fleece.
2. a. The quantity of wool shorn from a sheep at one time.
c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xii. (1885) 140 The ixth fflese off thair wolles, and also the ixth Shef off þer graynes. 1672Petty Pol. Anat. (1691) 54 A Fleece of Wool in Ireland is about 2 l. weight. 1782Burns Poor Mailie's Elegy vi, A bonier fleesh ne'er cross'd the clips. 1829Scott Anne of G. vi, Thou shalt have a necklace of jet at next shearing-feast, if our fleeces bear any price in the market. 1868Rogers Pol. Econ. xii. (1876) 11 The average weight of a fleece was not more than two pounds.
†b. fig. A share of booty. Obs.
In quot. 1703 fleece is apprehended as ‘act of fleecing’.
1601Holland Livy vi. xv. (1609) 226 Thy selfe wouldest have a fliece with them [in parte prædæ sis]. 1603Breton Packet Lett. ii. xxxix (Grosart) II. 43 When their wits goe a wool-gathering among shrewes that haue had fleeces. 1703S. Centlivre Beau's Duel ii. ii, There's scarce a Match-maker in the whole Town, but has had a Fleece at his Purse.
3. In various transferred uses.
†a. A coating periodically shed or removed.
1603Owen Pembrokeshire (1891) 74 The stonne Marle..beinge cast on the lande, casteth yerely a ffleece of sande.
b. A crop of vegetation; also fig.
1513Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 80 So thik the plantis sprang in euery pece, The feyldis ferleis of thar fructuus flece. 1793Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts (ed. 2) V. 86 The land..will produce little else but a fleece of weeds. 1793Ann. Agric., Suff. XIX. 214 There was a very fine fleece of marl grass. 1831Scott Jrnl. 5 May, A fleece of letters, which must be answered, I suppose. 1855Browning Two in Campagna v, The champaign with its endless fleece Of feathery grasses everywhere.
c. A ‘head’ or mass of hair.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 175 b, Others [Bees] cary water with their mouths, and droppes in their little fleeses. 1600S. Nicholson Acolastus E ij b, Witnesse this snow-white fleece vpon my head. c1600Shakes. Sonn. lxviii, Ere beauties dead fleece made another gay. 1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4841/4 Stolen..a Mare..with a white Fleece down the Face. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. v, The Aboriginal Savage, glaring fiercely from under his fleece of hair. 1859Tennyson Vivien 839 The..many-winter'd fleece of throat and chin. 1865Swinburne Poems & Ball., Faustine 3 Back to the shoulder with its fleece Of locks.
d. Applied to anything resembling a sheep's fleece either in appearance or consistence; a white cloud, etc.; a quantity of falling snow, or of some light substance, as air, vapour, etc.
1671R. Bohun Wind 40 Superincumbent Air; which I suppose to ly in severall fleeces or storys one above another. 1685Goad Celest. Bodies i. ii. 4 Whenever it snows..the greater is the Fleece, the warmer is the Air. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 7 Certain thin fleeces of Atoms, that flow incessantly from the surfaces of Bodies. 1715–20Pope Iliad iii. 284 Soft as the fleeces of descending snows. 1728― Dunc. ii. 362 Till show'rs of Sermons, Characters, Essays, In circling fleeces whiten all the ways. 1746–7Hervey Medit. (1818) 83 Abundance of ruddy streaks tinge the fleeces of the firmament. 1834H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xi. (1857) 167 A deep fleece of vapour rose from the surface. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxix. (1856) 246 The mackerel fleeces and mare's tails of our summer skies. 1865Masson Rec. Brit. Philos. iii. 229 Beads or fleeces of oily substance hung in some gauze-work.
e. spec. The thin sheet of cotton or wool fibre that is taken from the breaking-card. Also, a textile fabric with a soft silky pile used for lining, etc.: cf. fleece-lined in 6.
1853Ure Dict. Arts I. 510 One [card], called a breaker, which turns off the cotton in a broad fleece of extreme thinness. 1878I. Watts in Encycl. Brit. VI. 493 The cotton is taken from the doffer in a very light fleece by means of a vibrating comb. 1957M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 133/1 Fleece, heavy erect-pile coat fabric of all wool or wool and hair of llama, alpaca, camel, vicuna or cashmere goat. 1964McCall's Sewing iv. 57/1 Fleece, a heavy-weight woollen with very long nap used for coats. It is inclined to be bulky, and may be difficult to sew.
4. Used for a sheep, or collect. sheep.
1798Wolcott (P. Pind.) Tales of Hoy Wks. 1812 IV. 427 And all the tribe of fleeces follow. a1800Wowing of Jock & Jenny viii, in Pinkerton Sel. Scot. Ball. (1783) II. 73 Fyve hundirth fleis now in a flok. 1855Browning Love among Ruins ix, All our many-tinkling fleece.
5. U.S. The meat taken from the sides of the hump of the American bison.
1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. liv. 181 The fleece (hump) of a fat cow, was the luxury of luxuries. 1891Army & Navy Jrnl. (N.Y.) 5 Sept. 30/1 The fleece [of a buffalo] is the meat lying on each side of the hump ribs and resting on the outside of the side ribs.
6. Comb., as fleece-encumbered, fleece-like, fleece-lined adjs. Also † fleece-feeder, one who makes his profit out of fleeces (in quot. fig.); fleece-merchant, a dealer in wool; fleece-picker N.Z., one who picks up fleeces in a shearing-shed; fleece-wool, that obtained from the living animal at the annual shearings.
1814Wordsw. Excursion vii. 613 The *fleece-encumbered flock.
1549Latimer 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 136 There are to many suche *flese feders.
a1729Congreve Impossible Thing 128 That *fleece-like flow'r of fairy land. 1820Shelley Cloud 47 The moon, Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor.
1894Daily News 26 Mar. 5/7 With the exception of *fleece-lined underwear.
a1774Fergusson Iron Kirk Bell Poems (1845) 43 *Fleece-merchants may look bauld.
1861H. W. Harper Lett. fr. N.Z. 1857–1911 (1914) 20 July 54 Shearing, it happens, is in full swing, so there are a number of extra men, besides the shepherds of the station, shearers, *fleece-pickers, wool sorters, and ‘rouse-abouts’. 1892W. E. Swanton Notes on N.Z. ii. 96 There are the boys to pick up the fleeces, one fleece picker to every four or five shearers. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. iii. 63 Woolshed workers include the fleece-picker or fleecy. 1954E. C. Studholme Te Waimate (ed. 2) xv. 130 Fleece-pickers received 15s. a week, wool-rollers 25s. to 30s. [in 1882].
1495Nottingham Rec. III. 42 Centum stones de *flesse wolle. 1552Act 5–6 Edw. VI c. 6. §1 Mingling Fell-wool and Lambs-wool..with Fleece-wool. 1769De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. I. 94 Fleece Wool, out of Lincolnshire. 1891R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxix. 385 The years 1880, 1881, and 1882 were good years, when unsorted wool ranged between about 11d. and 1s. o½d. per lb., and fleece wool rose to close upon 1s. 6d. per lb. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 8 Oct. 15/2 The cost of putting an extremely good value in fleece wools has made it difficult for the puller to operate. 1951L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 378 Fleece..The main part of a sheep's wool, which is picked up in one, skirted, and rolled. This is sold as fleece wool, as opposed to locks, bellies, and pieces.
▸ A jacket or pullover made from or lined with fleece, esp. synthetic fleece.
1992Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 14 May Now that the sun has come out you can get a deal on sweat shirts and fleeces in the America's Cup International Village. 1993Ski Surv. Feb.–Mar. 21/3 You don't see smart $1,000 skisuits here. The punks wear faded old fleeces and ski the bumps on teles or snowboards. 1997Daily Tel. 28 Nov. 23/3 The shop has been selling an average of 100 fleeces a week since the beginning of the season.
▪ II. fleece, v.|fliːs|
Also 6–7 fleese, (6 flece, fliese).
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To strip (a sheep) of the fleece; to clip off or strip the wool from; lit. and fig.
1628Wither Brit. Rememb. viii. 1442 A Clergy, that shall more desire to fleece, Then feed the flock. 1652Season. Exp. Netherl. 15 What signified the bleating of such of your Countreymen as they daily fleec'd? 1708Ozell tr. Boileau's Lutrin v. 87 For Thee his Flocks are fleec'd. 1885Pall Mall G. 6 Nov. 1/1 The impulsive eagerness of some owners to fleece their sheep rather more often than is good for them.
b. transf.
1667Waterhouse Fire Lond. 171 Thrifty Oaks, though fleeced of under boughs, yet if not headed, may thrive.
2. To pluck or shear (the wool) from a sheep. Hence fig. to obtain by unjust or unfair means. Also, to take toll of, take pickings from. Now rare.
1537Hen. VIII. in State Papers II. 423 To flece, from tyme to tyme, all that you may catche from Us. 1576Turberv. Venerie 198 Men which fliese a fee From euerie widowes flocke: a capon or a chicke. 1593Nashe Four Lett. Confut. Wks. (Grosart) II. 242 Many lockes fleec'd from Tullie. 1605Verstegan Dec. Intell. v. (1628) 115 By fleesing from each of these two countrys a parte. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage v. xiv. (1614) 519 Their wealth and substance being euery where so fleeced that [etc.] 1840Carlyle Heroes iv. (1858) 293 To divide what they fleeced from these poor drudges.
absol.1593Nashe Christ's T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 158 Much lesse are they to fleece or pluck from their Maister or Sheepheard. 1642Rogers Naaman 317 Fleece not from God.
3. To strip (a person, city, country, etc.) of money, property, etc., as a sheep is stripped of its fleece; to make (any one) pay to the uttermost; to exact money from, or make exacting charges upon; to plunder, rob heartlessly; to victimize. Also with of.
1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 855/2 The cardinall knowing he was well prouided of monie, sought occasion to fleece him of part thereof. 1601F. Godwin Bps. of Eng. 359 Alfred..determined at his departure [from York] to fleece it. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle vi. 2717 Many a gallant of his gold they fleece. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 584 His father..fleec'd the Church of Hereford to leave him an estate. 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) V. 99 When..Lawyers forget a rich Client to fleece. 1772Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. Wks. (Globe) 650/2 In bad inns you are fleeced and starved. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 444 In this manner had Tanjore been humbled and fleeced. 1854Hawthorne Eng. Note-bks. (1883) I. 463 A begging subscriptionist..has just fleeced me to that amount. 1866R. M. Ballantyne Shift. Winds xxvii. (1881) 310 A place..where [seamen]..were soon fleeced of all their hardly-earned money.
absol.c1572Gascoigne Fruites Warre xcv. 1, I haue..fleest in Flaunders eke among the rest.
4. a. To overspread as with a fleece. b. To dapple or fleck with fleece-like masses.
1730–46Thomson Autumn 958 Meantime, light-shadowing all, a sober calm Fleeces unbounded ether. 1748― Cast. Indol. i. 394 Not Titian's pencil e'er could so array, So fleece with clouds, the pure etherial space. 1799Wordsw. Nutting, One of those green stones That fleeced with moss, under the shady trees, Lay round me. 1855Beecher Star Papers xxxii. (1873) 349 The trees are dressed with snow..The bucket, the well-curb are fleeced over. 1888Shairp in Knight Shairp & Friends 87 The sky was bright blue, fleeced with the whitest clouds.
Hence fleeced ppl. a.1
a1800Cowper tr. Andreini's Adam Wks. 1835–7 X. 327 The lifeless skins Of fleeced animals. 1864H. Spencer Illust. Univ. Progr. 99 The ill-educated children, the fleeced relatives, who have to suffer from it. |