| 释义 |
weeping willow
[See weeping ppl. a. 6. Cf. F. saule pleureur, G. trauer-, thränenweide.]
1. A species of willow, Salix babylonica, a large tree, native of Eastern Asia, having long and slender pendulous branches, cultivated in Europe as an ornamental tree and regarded as symbolical of mourning.
1731Miller Gard. Dict., Salix; orientalis,..The Weeping Willow. 1755Young Centaur iii. Wks. 1757 IV. 171 Their wretched joys flourish, like dismal weeping willows watered by a ditch. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. xvii, Eddying..The weeping willow twig to lave. 1898‘Merriman’ Roden's Corner xxi. 224 A weeping-willow, trimly trained in the accurate Dutch fashion.
2. Rhyming slang for ‘pillow’. Now rare or Obs.
1880D. W. Barrett Life & Work among Navvies (ed. 2) ii. ii. 43, I have been told..that often when a man is ready to retire to rest, he will inform his mates, ‘That he's done his lot for the day, and is goin' to lay his pen'oth o' bread (head) on the weeping-willow (pillow).’ 1944N. Streatfeild Curtain Up x. 123 Time young Holly was in bed... Hannah wants your head on your weeping willow, pillow to you. |