| 释义 |
ˈunderbrush, n.
[under-1 5 c.]
a. Shrubs and small trees forming the undergrowth in a forest.
Originally and chiefly U.S.; common from c 1845.
1775J. Jeffrey Jrnl. 3 Apr. in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1914) L. 107 The fire ran among the leaves & dry underbrush for upwards of a mile. a1813A. Wilson Foresters Poet. Wks. (1846) 256 Here piles of logs like furnaces appear, The rows of underbrush rage far and near. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xix, The next thing was to clear away the underbrush, and have fair play at the trees. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow vi, It was a tall grove of oaks, firm under foot and clear of underbrush.
b. fig.
1888Kansas State Hist. Soc. Trans. (1890) IV. 274 The underbrush of forgetfulness has so grown that but few in Kansas know that Joel K. Goodin ever lived. 1927Bulletin (Glasgow) 6 Apr. 16/1 Taking up a tarnished knife and fork, he pushed aside the underbrush of onions and came face to face with his steak. 1938[see pretrial n.]. 1968Med. World News 20 Sept. 86/2 It drags the reader through dense verbal underbrush.
Hence ˈunderbrush v. trans., to clear of underwood; ˈunderbrushing vbl. n.; also fig.
1824Canad. Mag. III. 246 Every year we..have a quantity of wood land under-brushed. 1838Six Years in Bush 80 Underbrushing consists in cutting and removing all the young trees and brushwood. 1863Under-brushing [see line n.2 26 e]. 1865P. B. St. John Snow Ship vi, A thorough good chopper, after the land is underbrushed, will, in eight days, on an average, fell the trees. 1896Home Missionary (N.Y.) Jan. 461 The minister..begins to underbrush and cut down the giant sins that have grown on such fat soil. 1933D. G. Cameron Twigs from Oak 124 That process..called ‘underbrushing’, was continued over a space about twenty yards wide. 1964E. C. Guillet Pioneer Days Upper Canada (ed. 2) 122 After underbrushing the piece of land the workers proceeded with logging. |