| 释义 |
▪ I. truffle|ˈtrʌf(ə)l, ˈtrʊf(ə)l|
Also 7–8 trufle, treuffle, 8 troufle.
[app. a derivative of Fr. trufe, truffe (1370 in Hatz.-Darm.), Comask. treufol, Genev. trufola, in same sense; of unsettled etymology. According to Diez and Hatz.-Darm., prob. repr. L. tūber-, supposed to have been altered at an early date to *tūfer-, whence *tūfre, trūfe, tuffe. The change of gender has been accounted for by supposing the neuter pl. tūbera to have been treated as a fem. sing. (cf. Bible, arms); according to Graff tūbera appears as a fem. sing. in some Ger. glossaries of the 9th c. A form without r is found in Swiss Romand and Languedoc tufelle, tufeda. Cf. also the Eng. contraction trub.
But this derivation is by no means certain; a longer form appears in It. tartuffo, Milanese tartuffel, Ven. tartuf, tartufola, Piemont tartifla, Rheto-Rumansch tartufe, Languedoc tartifle, Berry tartrufle. These mean ‘potato’, and have been explained by Miège as = terræ tuber; whence Ger. kartoffel, dial. tartoffel, Icel. tartuflur pl. potatoes. See the word in Diez, Scheler, and Littré.]
1. a. Any one of various underground fungi of the family Tuberaceæ; spec. an edible fungus of the genus Tuber, a native of Central and Southern Europe, esteemed as a delicacy; esp. T. æstivum or cibarium, the Common (English) Truffle, and T. melanosporum, the French Truffle, which have a black, warty exterior, and vary in size between that of a walnut and that of a large potato, which they more or less resemble in shape.
1591Sparry tr. Cattan's Geomancie B ij, The Topas and the Truffle haue power of Chastity, and to subdue the flesh. 1644Evelyn Diary 30 Sept., Here we supped.., having amongst other dainties, a dish of trufles, an earth nut found by an hogg train'd to it. 1691Ray Creation ii. (1692) 99 By tying a Cord to the hind-leg of a Pig, and driving him before them..observing where he stops and begins to root,..they are sure to find a Trufle. 1726Arbuthnot It cannot rain, etc. 10 A Dog is an Ass to him [Peter the Wild Boy] for finding Troufles. 1742Pope Dunc. iv. 558 Thy Truffles, Perigord! thy Hams, Bayonne! 1847Thackeray Mrs. Perkins's Ball ⁋17 Such a quantity of goose-liver and truffles. 1866Treas. Bot. s.v., Applied generally, the name Truffle (or Trubs) comprises all the Fungi which belong to the natural orders Hypogæi and Tuberacei.
fig.1897Literature 20 Nov. 155/1 A thin, ancient-looking octavo,..rooted up with other literary truffles.
b. attrib. and Comb., as truffle-bed, truffle-grower, truffle-hunter, truffle-hunting, etc.; truffle-like, truffle-stuffed adjs.; truffle-beetle, a beetle whose subterranean larvæ feed on the truffle; truffle-dog, -pig, a dog or pig trained to discover truffles; also fig.; truffle hound = truffle dog; truffle-worm, the larva of an insect infesting the truffle: see quots.
1726Bradley Gardening App. 38 No Herb or plant is ever seen to grow upon a Trufflery or *Truffle bed. 1885F. Whymper in Girl's Own Paper Jan. 169/1 A trained hog, when it has discovered a truffle bed, is immovable.
1899Sharp in Cambr. Nat. Hist. VI. v. 222 The larvae of the group Anisotomides are believed to be chiefly subterranean in habits; that of A. cinnamomea feeds on the truffle, and the beetle is known as the *truffle-beetle.
1855S. Whiting Heliondé ii. 47 ‘If they should see you digging into the surface of the Sun’ (he might have added ‘like a *truffle dog’) ‘they will certainly think you are demented.’ 1874L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. iv. 114 As a truffle-dog noses out the dainty objects of his search. 1899Hale Lowell & Friends xiv. 254 The reader is not necessarily an authority in language. He is a scout or truffle-dog who brings the result of his exploration to the authorities.
1898Gard. Mag. 3 Sept. 572/2 The Agricultural Society of the Department of the Lot awards prizes at its shows to *truffle growers.
1975J. Grigson Mushroom Feast 134 There is the whole business of truffle pigs and *truffle hounds.
a1793G. White Observ. Veg. in Selborne, etc. (1837) 487 A *truffle-hunter called on us, having in his pocket several large truffles found in this neighbourhood.
1885F. Whymper in Girl's Own Paper Jan. 169/1 In Upper Provence a hog trained to *truffle-hunting is worth the equivalent of eight pounds sterling.
1898P. Manson Trop. Diseases xxxvii. 573 Moulded into *truffle-like masses.
1915N.E.D., *Truffle-pig. 1975[see truffle-hound].
1841Thackeray Mem. Gormandising Wks. 1900 XIII. 589 Fat *truffle-stuffed partridges.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Truffle-worms,..a species of fly-worm which is found in Truffles. 1888Cassell's Encycl. Dict. s.v., A species of Leiodes deposits its ova in it, which in the pupa state feed upon the substance of the truffle; in this state they are called truffle-worms.
2. A type of confectionery made of a mixture of chocolate and cream, freq. flavoured with rum, shaped into a ball and covered with powdered chocolate.
1926–7Army & Navy Stores Catal. 54/2 Chocolates..Truffles—lb. 4/3. c1938Fortnum & Mason Price List 8/1 Truffles, with fresh cream (perishable)..Truffles, Rum Flavoured. 1944D. Welch In Youth is Pleasure iv. 61 He imagined the aromatic acrid dust..sticking to [the heart] and coating it..as bright-coloured bitter cocoa powder clings to the rich dark truffle. 1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 407/1 (heading) Chocolate truffles. Ibid. 675/1 Turkish delight and marshmallows, chocolates and truffles. 1974J. Stubbs Painted Face xiii. 168 [His] only acquaintance with truffles had been the chocolate variety.
Hence truffled |ˈtrʌf(ə)ld| a., cooked, garnished, or stuffed with truffles; † ˈtrufflery, a truffle-bed; truffˈlesque a. (nonce-wd.), resembling that of truffles; ˈtruffling vbl. n., gathering truffles.
1837M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 131 The liver and thighs of geese,..made into pies, and properly truffled,..are reckoned a most delicate article. 1902E. Glyn Refl. Ambrosine ii. viii, Truffled partridge in aspic.
1726*Trufflery [see truffle-bed above].
1841Thackeray Mem. Gormandising Wks. 1900 XIII. 583 A *trufflesque odour was left in the room. Ibid. 588 Some faint trufflesque savour. 1859Times 14 Feb. 5/5 Many of these..people [poor labourers in Wiltshire] live by truffling and poaching, in the absence of farmer's employment.
Add: ˈtruffle v. intr., to hunt or root about for truffles; freq. fig.
1958Observer 4 May 2/11 In New York truffling for forgotten ephemera, my quest took me to vaults in Manhattan. 1981Times 23 July 12/8 This book is worth reading... You can truffle happily among the errors and the fantasy. 1984Times 14 Jan. 11/1 Pannage to let their pigs into the wood to truffle for acorns or beechmast on the ground but without the right to shake down any more from the trees. 1991Observer 4 Aug. 17/6 Swedes almost truffle for grief and inevitably find it.
▪ II. truffle, trufle, truful
obs. forms of trifle. |