| 释义 |
hassock, n.|ˈhæsək|
[OE. hassuc, of uncertain etymology. Some have conjectured derivation from Welsh hesg sedges. It is doubtful whether sense 4 is the same word.]
I.
1. A firm tuft or clump of matted vegetation; esp. of coarse grass or sedge, such as occurs in boggy ground; a ‘tussock’, Sometimes applied to an insulated clump of bushes or low trees.
986Charter of æthelred in Kemble Cod. Dipl. No. 655 III. 223 Of ðam weᵹe on ðone hassuc upp an hrofan hricge. [1147Found. Charter Sawtrey Abbey in Dugdale Mon. Angl. (1682) I. 853 Pastores..nostri super exteriores hassocos versus Walton inter pratum & mariscum debent stare.] c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iii. vi. (1869) 139 And thanne the olde made me gon vp on a gret hassock. c1440Promp. Parv. 228/2 Hassok, ulphus. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. xxi. §5. 209 Leaues, spread vpon the grounde in manner of a turffe or hassocke. 1662Dugdale Hist. Imbanking Pref., The stink of smoaky hassocks. 1769De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. III. 332 Moss..lay above the Ground, in little Heaps..called Hassocks, which were full of Holes, like an Honeycomb. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) I. 444 Great tufts of rushes &c. called hassocks. 1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 286 With much difficulty I could step from one hassock to another, in laying out the drains. 1814Miss Mitford In L'Estrange Life (1870) I. 270 The down is entirely spotted with small islets (the country people call them hassocks) of low trees and luxuriant underwood. 1843Whittier Pr Wks. (1889) I. 321, I was stumbling over the rough hassocks, and sinking knee-deep in the black mire. 1871J. R. Nichols Fireside Sc. 111 After digging out the hassocks and burning them.
b. transf. A ‘shock’ of hair.
1785Jrnl. fr. Lond. to Portsmouth in Poems in Buchan Dial. 7 (Jam.) Wi' a great hassick o'hair hingin..about her haffats. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxxiv, His tatty pow, that ne'er had a better covering than his ain shaggy hassock of hair! [a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Hassock-head, a shock head; a bushy and entangled growth of coarse hair.]
2. A thick firm cushion or bass, often stuffed with rushes or straw, used to rest the feet on, and esp. in places of worship to kneel upon.
According to Forby s.v. ‘hassocks in bogs were formerly taken up..shaped, trimmed, and dressed..to make kneeling much easier than on the pavement of the church.’ Hassocks of turf or peat, formerly used in the church, are still (1897) preserved at Lower Gravenhurst in Bedfordshire.
1516in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 564/3, 20 hassocks for pews. 1625Fletcher & Shirley Nt. Walker v. i, Buy a mat for your bed, buy a mat! A hassock for your feet. 1667Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 202 For a hassock and a matt for our Minister, 6 d. 1711Addison Spect. No. 112 ⁋2 To make them kneel..he gave every one of them a Hassock and a Common-prayer Book. 1784Cowper Task i. 748 Knees and hassocks are well-nigh divorc'd. 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fl. i. viii, A stately pew with red serge seats and hassocks. 1887M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike iii, They made her comfortable upon the sofa, with a hassock for her feet.
†3. A rush basket: cf. hask n. Obs.
1573–80Baret Alv. H 209 A hassocke, a baskette made of twigges or rushes, scripiculum.
II.
4. The soft calcareous sandstone which separates the beds of ragstone in Kent.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Hassock, soft Sand-stone. 1765Univ. Mag. XXXVII. 58/2 Mortar..made..of chalk, sand, or hassock. 1851Dict. Archit. s.v., The sandstone that separates the beds of the Kentish rag is known by the name of hassock and hassock stone, the latter..when the sand is agglutinated enough to allow its being raised in block. 1879Rutley Stud. Rocks xiv. 281 The calcareous sandstones in the Hythe beds in Kent are locally termed hassock.
III. 5. Comb., as hassock-grass, hassock-plough; hassock-filler, a device for stuffing hassocks; hassock-knife, an implement for chopping off hassocks.
1699Post Boy 24–6 Jan. in N. & Q. 7th Ser. XI. 168 They were all arm'd, some with Guns, some with..Hassock⁓knives. 1797A. Young Agric. Suffolk 161 The plough made on purpose, and called a hassock plough, cut laterally much beyond the line of its draught. 1863Kingsley Water Bab. i. 34 The hassock-grass and sedges tumbled him over. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Hassock-filler, a device consisting of a curb and a charging cylinder, whereby the stuffing is packed into the cover.
Hence ˈhassock v. trans., to furnish with hassocks (sense 2).
1842Barham Ingol. Leg., Sir Rupert, He..resolves to..new-cushion and hassock the family pew. |