| 释义 |
▪ I. wisp, n.1|wɪsp|
Forms: 4–5, 8–9 dial. wips, weps (5 wyps), 8–9 dial. whips; 4–5 (6, 8 Sc.) wysp, 4–6 wyspe, 4–7 wispe, (6 wysppe), 5–6 Sc. wosp, wasp, 6–9 whisp, 4– wisp.
[Of uncertain origin; perh. an unrecorded OE. *wips, *wisp:—*wipisa-, f. base wip- in the sense ‘wind or bind round’, for derivatives of which see whip v.
Cf. WFris. wisp wisp, twig, handful of straw. For the forms current in other Germ. langs. see whisk n.1]
1. A handful, bunch, or small bundle (of hay, straw, grass, etc.).
13..in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1875) 91 Þer inne oure ledi him wond and bond him wiþ aliste, And leide him on awisp of hei [v.r. a wips of heye]. c1460Towneley Myst. ii. 438 Yey, gif don, thyne hors, a wisp of hay. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 579 These champions..bringing foorth a speare made of a wrapt vp wisp of hay. 1639J. Clarke Parœm. 215 All's alike at th' latter day, a bag of gold and wispe of hay. 1779G. Keate Sketches fr. Nat. (ed. 2) I. 42 But why do we stop?.. Only to give the horses a pail of water, replies the postillion... Nay, prithee boy, says my friend, add a whisp of hay to it. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. v. viii. (1873) II. 132 As if we were a starved coach-horse, to be quickened along by a wisp of hay put upon the coach-pole close ahead of us always! 1879J. Beerbohm Patagonia iv. 53 Made soft for the young chicks by a few wisps of grass.
b. used to wipe something dry or clean; now chiefly to rub down a horse.
In quot. 1589 with allusion to hanging.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 195 Alle þat herde þe horn heolden heore neose after, And weschte þat hit weore I-wipet with a wesp [v.rr. wips, wysp(e] of Firsen [C. vii. 402 Wips [v.r. weps] of breres]. c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xx, Þenne kembe euery hounde after oþer and wype hem with a gret wyspe of strawe. 14..in Wr.-Wülcker 595/35 Mempirium [= anitergium], a wyps. 1508Dunbar Flyting 64 For wit and wisdome ane wisp fra the may rub. 1589? Lyly Pappe w. Hatchet Lyly's Wks. III. 404 If he driuell so at the mouth and nose, weele haue him wipte [= wiped] with a hempen wispe. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden S j, A maulkin or wispe to wype her shooes with. 1600Surflet Country Farm vii. xxii. 840 For lice..wash them [sc. dogs] and rub them with a wispe. 1611Cotgr., Torche-cul, a wispe for the tayle. 1660C. Bonde Scut. Reg. 214 There you shall burn like wisps, which have done scouring the better vessels. 1725Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Embrocation, Take the Soldiers Ointment,..and anoint the Part affected therewith, being first well rubbed with soft Whisps of Hay. 1864E. Mayhew Horse Managem. 378 The curry-comb is abolished; but the generality of grooms also require to be cautioned concerning the use of the whisp and the brush. 1901Sir F. Fitzwygram Horses & Stables vi.
c. in various special uses, e.g. as an ale-house sign; hung outside a house as a sign of the plague; as a plug, strainer, or wad; (of herbs) as a perfume or deodorant.
1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 335 Ȝit tuk I neuir the wosp clene out of my wyde throte, Quhill I oucht wantit of my will. 1508― Test. Andro Kennedy 110, I will..na bellis for me ring,..Bot a bag pipe to play a spryng, Et unum ail wosp ante me. 1518in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 18 The inhabitants of thos howses that be..infectyd shall kepe in, pott owt wyspes and ber whyt roddys. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden N 3, His Muse, from the first peeping foorth, hath stood at Liuery at an Ale-house wispe. a1598D. Ferguson Scot. Prov. (S.T.S.) 34 Good wine needs not a wispe. 1626Bacon Sylva §934 The same Man vsed to haue continually, a great Wispe of Herbes, that he smelled on. 1650Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Wars ix. 41 [He] put forth..a wisp of straw, upon the end of a white Rod, as if he would, according to the custome of the Countrey, give notice..that the house was visited with the plague. 1658tr. Porta's Nat. Magic v. ix. 176 Strain the vinegar through a wisp. 1688Holme Armoury iii. xviii. (Roxb.) 141/1 A wisp or wad, is either hay or straw to put in after the powder. 1855Delamer Kitch. Gard. (1861) 25 If the potatoes are moist,..it will be well to leave a wisp of straw sticking out at the top [of the ridge]. 1901Rhys Celtic Folklore I. iv. 299 He gave them herbs..and..sold them wisps to place under their pillows.
†d. in proverbial phr. as wise as a wisp. Obs.
1550Bale Engl. Votaries ii. 84 Than as wyse as ij wyspes, and as godly as ij goselynges, they examined her what her beleue was in the sacrament. 1655H. More Second Lash 218 When we say that one is as wise as a wisp, does that imply the wisp is wise? 1682― Annot. Glanvill's Lux O. 35 They would have rose out of their sleep no more wise than a Wisp.
2. A twisted band, esp. of hay or straw; a ring or wreath of twisted material, used as a pad.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xviii. (1495) D v b/1 [The] gristylbone..in y⊇ eere..is wound & wrapped as a wyspe, leest the spyrite of heringe were..hurt by sodayn..smytynge. c1440Promp. Parv. 530/2 Wyspe, torques,..torquillus. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 239/2 [They] mocked hym..and bond behynd hym wyspes of strawe. 1607Markham Cavel. iv. ix. 48 As you rid him with the tramels, so you shall ride him with these wispes [sc. thick ‘thumb-ropes’ of hay round his pasterns]. 1611Cotgr., Torche,..the wreathed clowt, wispe, or wad of straw, layed by wenches betweene their heads, and the things which they carrie on them. 1725Pope Odyss. x. 194 An ell in length the pliant wisp I weaved, And the huge body on my shoulders heaved. 1876Smiles Sc. Natur. i. 10 His mother tied him firmly to the table leg with a thick wisp of thrums. 1908J. Gunn's Orkney Book 394 ‘Wisps’ (the local name for great rolls of heather ‘simmons’, or ropes, used in thatching houses).
†b. A twist or figure of straw for a scold to rail at. Obs.
a1450Knt. de la Tour xv. 21 He writhed a litell wipse of strawe, and sette it afore her, and saide, ladi, yef that ye will chide more, chide with that straw. 1566Drant Horace, Sat. vii. D 7 b, Women..Whose tatling tongues, had won a wispe. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. ii. 144. 1626 H. Parrot Cures for the Itch B 5 b, Theres nothing mads..her [sc. a scold] more..then but the very naming of a wispe. 1698[R. Fergusson] View Eccl. 27 As a Wisp..is a Theame copious enough to engage an Harangue for an hour long to a well studied Scold.
3. A bunch or twisted bundle of hay or straw, used for burning as a torch, etc.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. 4984 Þei faren as a wisp a-fire: Whanne it brenneþ briȝtest in his blase, Sodeinly it wasteþ. 15..Wyf of Auchtirmuchty 29 (Bannatyne MS.) Yeis lay ane soft wisp to the kill. 1572L. Mascall Plant. & Graff. (1592) 49 Ye shall..with a wispe on a Poles ende, set fire on all. 1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1688/4 Some rascally Boys..who made some wisps of Straw, and burnt them in the dark night. 1806[J. Black] Falls of Clyde 169 Fie light a wisp, and look below the bed! 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 268 It should be put into the oven, moderately heated with a few wisps of straw.
b. A marsh-fire, will-o'-the-wisp; also the light supposed to be carried by the sprite. In more recent use poet.
[1608–: see will-o'-the-wisp.] 1618Bp. Hall Contempl., N.T. i. Sages and Star, Philosophy without the star, is but the wispe of error. 1650in H. Cary Mem. Gt. Civ. War (1832) II. 226 It is the saints' minimum quoddam naturale; a Nol with the wisp. 1821Clare Vill. Minstrel vii, ‘Jack-a-lantern’ with his wisp alight. 1822Byron Vis. Judgm. c v, Light as an elf, Or wisp that flits o'er a morass. 1847Tennyson Princess iv. 339 We did not know the real light, but chased The wisp that flickers where no foot can tread.
4. A bundle or parcel containing a definite quantity (of certain commodities: see quots.). Sc. and north. (Presumably so named from being orig. tied in a bundle with a wisp or wisps of straw or hay: cf. widdy 3, and the analogous sheaf n. 2 a, b, c.)
a. of steel and glass.
1470in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees) 73 Pro j les wysp vitri rubii, 16 d. 1496Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 292 Item..for vij wosp of steil to pykkis and mattokkis xiiij s. 1511–12Ibid. IV. 273 Ane wisp of Lambart steile, price iiij s. 15..Aberdeen Reg. (Jam.), Ane wosp of glas. 1612Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 330 Wisp steill the wisp, x s. 1621in Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1895) XII. 439 Thay fand that the..caissis of the said glasse contenis fyfteene wispis and that in everie wisp thair is three tablis. 1657[see wisp-steel in 6].
b. of other things, e.g. fish.
1521Aberdeen Reg. XI. (Jam.), Four wospe of malt. 1557Rec. Inverness (New Spalding Club) I. 8 This is the pricis [of fish]: for the gret wasp iij s., the small wasp xxx d. 1910Aberd. Jrnl. Notes & Q. III. 150/2 Weesp, a quantity of fish; ‘I hae naething bit a weesp o' eels' as the result of my fishing—Moray.
c. transf. A flock (of birds, esp. snipe).
1806P. Neill Tour Orkney etc. 59 The sportsman..will not pass a marsh without starting several wisps of snipe. c1810A. Mackintosh Driffield Angler 294 Wisp, or whisp, of snipes. 1886P. Robinson Teetotum Trees 159 A barrelful of shot emptied into a wisp of larks.
5. In various transferred and allusive senses.
a. A twist of paper. b. A heap or bundle (of clothes). c. (See quot.) d. A thin, narrow, filmy, or slight piece, fragment, or portion (of something); a mere shred or ‘slip’ of. e. A small broom; a whisk.
a.1597Return fr. Parnass. v. i. 1434 What, you saucye groome, are you bringinge mee such paper wisps? 1800in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. IV. 264 And soar like a wisp to the tail of his kite. 1861F. Nightingale Nursing 24 If you have a fire-place, would you cram it up..with a great wisp of brown paper? 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xiii, The bare⁓armed Bob, leading the way with a flaming wisp of paper.
b.1736Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.) s.v. Wips, ‘The cloaths lie in a whips’, i.e. tumbl'd in disorder. 1784tr. Beckford's Vathek (1786) 106 At last, he was drawn forth, almost smothered, from the wisp of linen. 1810T. Williamson E. Ind. Vade Mecum I. 245 [The clothes] are folded up into whisps, or bundles.
c.1787W. H. Marshall Rur. Econ. Norfolk (1795) II. 391 Wisp, a rowel, or seton.
d.1836Dickens Sk. Boz, Vauxhall-Gardens, A rusty black neckerchief with a red border, tied in a narrow wisp round his neck. 1836M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. xxxvi. (ed. 3) 398 Some [nebulæ] cling to stars like wisps of cloud. 1848Thackeray Our Street 14 She had a large casque with a red horse-hair plume (I thought it had been a wisp of her brother's beard at first). 1883Century Mag. Sept. 719/1 Tufted with ferns and brambles and wisps of delicate long grass. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. 22 That great mountain..weaving vapours, wisp after wisp growing, trembling, fleeting, and fading in the blue. 1889Conan Doyle Micah Clarke xii, As we approached this lonely gibbet, we saw that a dried-up wisp of a thing..was dangling from the centre of it. 1893Stevenson Catriona xxviii, The sun had gone down, a little wisp of a new moon was following it. 1919Blackw. Mag. Aug. 244/1 Dawson pointed to a thin wisp of smoke on the horizon.
e.1875Knight Dict. Mech., Wisp, a besom, a small broom. 1908Rider Haggard Ghost Kings xv. 209 A fly wisp made of the tip of an elephant's tail shrunk on to a handle of rhinoceros horn.
6. Comb., as wisp-like adj.; wisp bacillus (see quot. 1916); wisp-light, a will-o'-the-wisp; † wisp-steel, steel sold in wisps.
1915Lancet 18 Sept. 639/1 The non-sporing bacteria of fæcal origin—e.g., strepto-cocci, B. proteus, ‘*wisp’ bacilli, &c. 1916Ibid. 8 Jan. 75/1 The so-called ‘wisp bacillus’..is the B. ramosus or a member of its group.
a1847Eliza Cook To the Spirit of Song iv, When *wisp-lights dance on the moor and fen.
1883W. Saville-Kent in Fisheries Bahamas 36 A twisted *wisp-like bundle of long silicious spicules. 1612*wisp steill [see sense 4 a]. 1617Rates of Marchandizes L 2, Steele vocat. Long-steele, Wisp-steele [etc.]. 1657Acts Interregn. (1911) II. 1220 Steel called Steel Wisp or Long.
▪ II. wisp, n.2 dial.|wɪsp|
Also 6 wyspe, 8–9 whisp.
[Of doubtful origin; perh. a use of prec.]
a. A disease in cattle, causing lameness or soreness near the hoof. (Cf. angleberry, foul n. 2.)
1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. 132 This disease, as I take it, the countrey people call the Fowle, or the Wyspe. 1684J. S. Profit & Pleas. United 24. 1696 Aubrey Misc. 109 To Cure a Bullock, that hath the Wisp, (that is) Lame between the Clees. 1847Halliwell, Whisp..Wisp.
b. = sty n.4 (Cf. earlier and dial. west n.2 and dial. wish.)
1789A. C. Bower Diaries & Corr. (1903) 57, I am blind in one Eye nearly from a Whisp on the Eye lid. 1888Berksh. Gloss., Stye, a ‘wisp’ on the eye.
▪ III. wisp, n.3|wɪsp|
[f. wisp v.]
An act of wisping. a wisp down, a rub down with a wisp.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 180 They should give the horses a slight wisp down.
▪ IV. wisp, v.|wɪsp|
Also 7, 9 whisp.
[f. wisp n.1]
1. trans. To rub (an animal, esp. a horse) down or over with a wisp.
a1598D. Ferguson Scot. Prov. (S.T.S.) 6 A fair bryde is soon buskt, and a short horse soone wispt. 1834New Monthly Mag. XLII. 436 Wisp her and curry her, feed her and train her!..and what is she after all but a mule! 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 217 The whole body should then be wisped down with straw. Ibid., Of wisping and brushing, wisping is the more beneficial to the legs, where the hair is short. 1844Queen's Regul. & Ord. Army 351 They are to remain saddled.., time being allowed for wisping them over. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. i. xi. §1. 361/1 Beginning with the head, which should be first brushed over, then well whisped with a handful of hay.
†2. To put a twisted band of hay upon (the legs of a horse). Also with up. Obs.
1607Markham Cavel. iv. ix. 48 Hauing thus wispt al his foure legs,..you shall then mount vpon him [etc.]. 1639T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. 32 Whisp him up round with small whisps.
3. To twist into or as a wisp; dial. to rumple.
1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty v. 28 The very same head of hair, wisp'd, and matted together, would make the most disagreeable figure. 1823E. Moor Suffolk Words 487 Wisp is used with us, in the farther sense of rudely handling any delicate thing—‘Dont wisp it’. 1870‘Ouida’ Puck vi, ‘Ye'r wispin' tha ribbon, ma dear,’ said Dick. 1880Daily Tel. 2 Mar. 5/2 A cloth, degenerating into a rag, is wisped round his head.
4. intr. To pass away, as a wisp of vapour.
1883Meredith Poems Joy of Earth 12 Whish! the phantom wisps away. 1898G. W. Steevens With Kitchener to Khartum 278 Magically the rifles hushed, the stinging powder smoke wisped away.
5. intr. Of hair, etc.: to hang or twine in wisps. Hence wisped |wɪspt| ppl. a.
1913W. de la Mare Peacock Pie 31 Topknot to love⁓curl The hair wisps down. 1922A. S. M. Hutchinson This Freedom ii. ix. 164 Her face flushed; her hat awry; her hair escaped and wisped about her eyes. 1976‘A. York’ Dark Passage iv. 56 Long, straight hair which wisped on her shoulders. |