| 释义 |
▪ I. herb, n.|hɜːb|
Forms: 3–6 erbe, 3–7 herbe, 4 eerbe, 6 earbe, heerb, Sc. hairb, 6–7 hearbe, 6– herb; also 5–6 yerbe, 9 dial. yerb, yarb, yirb.
[In ME. usually erbe, a. OF. erbe (11th c. in Littré), mod.F. herbe (= It. erba, Sp. yerba, Pg. herva):—L. herba grass, green crops, herbage, herb. In OF. and ME. occasionally spelt with h after Lat.; regularly so since c 1475, but the h was mute until the 19th c., and is still so treated by many: see H (the letter).]
1. A plant of which the stem does not become woody and persistent (as in a shrub or a tree), but remains more or less soft and succulent, and dies down to the ground (or entirely) after flowering.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 221/41 Of treon and herbes, þikke..bi-set in eche side. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 109 To speke of gomme or erbe or tre. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 257 Hilles and woodes..habundante in yerbes and pastures and mony wilde bestes. 1526Tindale Matt. xiii. 32 When it is growne it is the greatest amonge yerbes. a1631Donne Epigr. (1652) 92 An Hearb thou [Tobacco] art, but useless. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. iii. §64 Strewing Flowers and Herbs in the ways as they pass'd. 1880Gray Struct. Bot. iii. §3. 50 Herbs are plants in which the stem does not become woody and persistent, but dies annually or after flowering, down to the ground.
2. spec. Applied to plants of which the leaves, or stem and leaves, are used for food or medicine, or in some way for their scent or flavour.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 18/598 A fair herbe, þat men cleopez letuse..In hire mouth heo pulte þarof a lef. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 28 Erbis of vertue þat growen in hem. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 246 And herbes [v.r. erbis] koude I telle eek many oon As Egremoyne Valerian and lunarie And other swiche if that me liste tarie. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xvi. 371 He toke an erbe, and robbed Charlemagnes noose & his lippes wyth it. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 38 b, Flaxe and Hempe..be not to be received in the number of Corne nor Pulse, Fodder nor Hearbes. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Sunday vi, Those Who want herbs for their wound. 1725Watts Logic i. vi. §3 If the leaves are of chief use to us, we call them herbs: as sage, mint, thyme. 1802Med. Jrnl. VIII. 530 Fumigations with aromatic substances, woods, herbs, and resins. 1839E. D. Clarke Trav. Russia 55/1 Broth, made with fish and wild herbs.
3. collect. Herbage. Also fig. (quot. 1677).
1382Wyclif Heb. vi. 7 The erthe drynkynge reyn..and bryngynge forth couenable eerbe. 1535Coverdale Ps. xxxvi[i]. 2 Cut downe like y⊇ grasse, and..wythered euen as y⊇ grene herbe. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 208 Rich men..are deservedly stiled the Herbe of Drones, which they devour. 1725Pope Odyss. v. 597 On the flow'ry herb..he lay. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xcv, Underfoot the herb was dry.
4. a. The leafy part of a (herbaceous) plant; esp. as distinct from the root.
1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 314 The herb and seed of Werme. 1799Med. Jrnl. I. 26 The herb and flowers of the arnica are..most conveniently given in simple infusion.
†b. in the herb: green, not yet ripe. Obs. (Cf. in the blade, in leaf; F. en herbe).
1652Sparke Prim. Devot. (1663) 365 Since our haruest is but in the hearb.
†5. = herba, q.v. Obs.
6. General Combs., as herb-bed, herb-eater, herb-flower, herb-garden, herb-gatherer, herb-juice, herb-locust, herb-lore, herb-market, herb-master, herb-plot, herb-seller, etc.; herb-eating, herb-like adjs.
1858Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 78/2 You get fine healthy young plants..to form a good *herb-bed.
c1515Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy Soc.) 5 Patrycke peuysshe *heerbeter. 1651–3Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year ii. x. (R.), His little garden made for..the feasting of a few Pythagorean herb-eaters. 1726Swift It cannot rain, etc. Wks. 1755 III. i. 135 The new sect of herb-eaters [vegetarians].
1731Arbuthnot Aliments 215 *Herb-eating Animals.
1583Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 40 Senting delicat *herbflowrs.
1535Coverdale 1 Kings xxi. 2 Geue me thy vynyarde, I wyll make me an *herbgarden therof.
1570Levins Manip. 34/11 *Herbe-garth, herbarium, olearium.
1552Huloet, *Herbe gatherer, herbarius. 1885Tuer Old Lond. Cries 32 The simplers, or herb-gatherers..supplied the herb-shops in Covent Garden.
1578Lyte Dodoens iii. xxvi. 351 Flowers..of a greene or *herbelike colour.
1658Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 997 Either the Bruchus, or the little *Herb-locust, Grashopper, or Kricket.
1955J. R. R. Tolkien Return of King 145 A chance of talking *herb-lore with me.
1552Huloet, *Herbe market, lachanopolium. 1715Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 82 The Herb-Market, now called Montanara.
1955J. R. R. Tolkien Return of King 140, I will go and ask of the *herb-master.
1611Florio, Herbaio..an *hearbe-plot where hearbes grow.
1530Palsgr. 230/2 *Herbe sellar.
1782S. Pegge Cur. Misc. 45 At Coronations the ground is strewed with flowers by a person..called the *Herbstrewer.
7. Special Combs.: † herb-bane, name invented by Parkinson for the parasitic genus Orobanche or broom-rape; herb beer, a beverage prepared from herbs; herb-doctor local U.S., one who treats or cures ailments by means of herbs; so herb-doctress; herb-tea, herb-water, a medicinal infusion of herbs. See also herb-man, -wife, -woman.
1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. 1362 Orobanche..Kill herbe or *herbe bane.
1891Daily News 28 Nov. 5/5 The proprietor insists that his *herb beer is..a medicine..In the end ‘herb beer’ was declared to be a refreshment.
1854Thoreau Walden 150 Hygeia, who was the daughter of that old *herb-doctor, Aesculapius. 1881Harper's Mag. July 305/2 The herb-doctor was not so fortunate as another practitioner of his own class who came to England some years ago. 1891Ibid. Jan. 220/1, I would say that Mr. Pettingill has behaved very strangely—sending for a herb doctor.
a1864Hawthorne S. Felton (1871) 113 [Aunt Keziah was] a mixture of an Indian squaw and *herb doctress.
1744Berkeley Siris §75 When..*herb-teas shall be found to have little..effect. 1841Emerson Lect., Conservative Wks. (Bohn) II. 274 Swallowing pills and herb-tea.
1886M. W. Hungerford Lady Branksmere II. xxxiii. 230, I hope..you took the *herb-water I prescribed.
b. In various names of plants, as herb St. Barbara († herb St. Barbe, herb Barbara), a name for Winter-cress, Barbarea; herb carpenter, Prunella vulgaris = Carpenter's herb (carpenter n. 5) (Britten & Holl.); herb of the cross, a name for Vervain, Verbena officinalis (see quot.); † herb fluellin = fluellin; herb frankincense, an aromatic umbelliferous plant, Laserpitium latifolium (Miller Plant-n.); herb of friendship, a species of Stonecrop, Sedum Anacampseros (Miller); herb Gerard, Goutweed, ægopodium Podagraria; herb-Henry [med.L. malus Henricus, Ger. böser Heinrich], Dog's Mercury; † herb impious [tr. L. herba impia], old name of Filago germanica (see quot.); herb-lily, a florist's name for plants of the genus Alstrœmeria (N.O. Amaryllidaceæ), natives of South America; herb-Louisa, the Lemon-scented Verbena, Aloysia citriodora (Miller); herb Margaret, ‘the daisy, Bellis perennis’ (Prior); herb of St. Martin, Sauvagesia erecta, a native of tropical America and the West Indies; herb Mary, St. Mary's herb = costmary; † herb paralysy, an old name for the cowslip; † herb Peter, ‘the cowslip, from its resemblance to St. Peter's badge, a bunch of keys’ (Prior); herb-royal [F. herbe royale] southernwood; herb Sophia, a name for Sisymbrium Sophia; † herb terrible, an old name for the shrub Daphne Tartonraira; † herb of vine, an old name for Squinancywort, Asperula cynanchica; † herb William, a name for Bishop's-weed, Ammi majus; † herb willow, name given by Turner to the Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris); extended by Gerarde to the Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum Salicaria), and various species of Willow-herb (Epilobium). See also herb aloe, h. bennet, h. bifoil, h. Christopher, h. fiveleaf, h. git, h. mastic, h. patience, h. of repentance, h. squinantic, h. trefoil, h. trinity, h. truelove, h. two-pence, under aloe, etc.; also herb-grace, herb Ive, herb John, herb Paris, herb Robert.
1578Lyte Dodoens v. lxi. 626 *Herbe S. Barbe is a good herbe for salade. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. viii. §5. 188 Winter Cresses, or herbe Saint Barbara.
1889Thiselton Dyer Folklore Pl. xix. 259 In Brittany, vervain is popularly termed the ‘*herb of the cross.’
1578Lyte Dodoens i. xvii. 26 Paules Betony, *Herbe Fluellyn, or Speedewell.
1678Littleton Lat. Dict., *Herb-frankincense, Libanotis.
1578Lyte Dodoens ii. cix. 300 Now called Herba Gerardi..that is to say, *Herbe Gerarde. 1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. 943 Wee in English Goutewort or herbe Gerard after the Brabanders, and of some in our Land Aisweede, or Axeweede. 1827T. Forster Encycl. Nat. Phen. 101 Herb Gerard..so called from St. Gerard, who is celebrated April 23d, and who used to be invoked against the gout.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 60 Black Hellebore, Aconitum, or Wolf-bane..*herb Henry, and others.
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. cxcv. §9. 518 Those flowers..that come after growe higher, as children seeking to..ouertop their parents..for which cause it hath beene called Herba Impia, that is, the Wicked Herbe, or *Herbe Impious.
1866Treas. Bot. 1026/1 S[auvagesia] erecta, the *Herb of St. Martin..has been used in Brazil for complaints in the eyes, in Peru for disorders of the bowels, and in the West Indies as a diuretic. 1882J. Smith Dict. Econ. Plants, Herb of St. Martin..Its leaves are..eaten as spinach.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 68 The priest..put thereunto frankincense, *herbmary, and fire.
1516Grete Herball ccxii, *Herbe paralysy that some call artetyke..is principally good for palsy artetyke and gowty folke.
1552Copland Bk. Prop. Herbes, Cristofer female..hath leues lyke *Herbe Peter, but they be nat in all so whyte. 1597Gerarde Herbal (1633) Suppl., Herbe Peter, Cowslip.
1530Palsgr. 230/2 *Herbe royall.
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxxiii. §1. 408 *Herbe terrible is a small shrub two or three cubits high. 1668Wilkins Real Char. 112 Smooth hard dry leaves; bearing a blew flower like that of Scabious..Herb terrible.
1529Grete Herball ccx, *Herbe or grasse of vyne is other⁓wise called herbe squynantyke.
1597Gerarde Herbal (1633) 1037 Of some, *Herbe-William, Bull-wort, and Bishops⁓weed. 1614Markham Cheap Husb. i. Ameos, Comin royal, is a Herb of some called Bulwort, Bishops-weed, or Herb⁓william.
1548Turner Names of Herbes E ij, Lysimachia is of two sortes. The one..hath a yealowe floure..it may be called in englishe..*herbe Wylowe. 1601Holland Pliny II. 268 Herb Willow giueth the hair of the head a yellow colour.
▪ II. herb, v. rare.
[f. prec.]
a. to herb it: to crop herbage, to graze.
b. intr. To gather herbs.
1660Howell Parly of Beasts 113, I [a boar] am going to herb it among that tuft of Trees. 1884Harper's Mag. Oct. 788/2 Been herbin' again?
▸ trans. Chiefly Cookery. To season with herbs, to add herbs to. Usu. in pa. pple.
1922G. Saintsbury Scrap Bk. lii. 196 That admirable variety, the Oxford sausage (much herbed, skinless, and moulded into sausage-shape only just before cooking). 1979Gourmet Sept. 16/3 Both mussels and clams oreganata have been moist and herbed with assurance each time I've tried them. 1996B. Morrison Pendle Witches 45 A steam-bath, herbed with rosemary and lavender. |