| 释义 |
▪ I. lawn, n.1|lɔːn|
Also 5–6 laun(e, lawnd(e, 5–7 laund(e, lawne, 6 la(a)ne.
[According to Prof. Skeat, from the name of Laon in France.
This suggestion has since been independently made by A. Thomas (Romania XXIX. 182, 1900), who shows that linen manufactures were carried on extensively at Laon as late as the 18th c. A slight difficulty is presented by the fact that the earliest known form of the word is launde, which long remained more frequent in use than the shorter form; this, however, may be due to association with laund, lawn n.2]
1. A kind of fine linen, resembling cambric; pl. pieces or sorts of this linen.
1415Test. Ebor. (Surtees) I. 382, j plice de lawnd. 1423Rolls of Parlt. IV. 239 Item, 1 remenaunt de Laun, cont' viii alnz pris l'aln' iiis. iiiid. c1440Generydes 73 Ther was an hanged bedde, And ther vppon a shete of launde was spredde. 1483Acc. Coronation Rich. III, in Antiq. Repertory II. 251 A coyfe made of a plyte of lawne. 1502Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 50 A plyte of lawnde for a shirte for the childe of grace at Reding. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 240 b, But on her head she had a cap as she ware on the saturdai before with a cornet of laune. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 46 You must tie the powder hard in a rag of Laune or thin Cambrick. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 38 Long haire and loose,..covered with a fine thinne vaile of Callico Lawne. 1640in Noorthouck Lond. (1773) 838/2 Lawns, the whole piece 2d. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. 123 In vessels cover'd with fine lawn, so as to admit the air and keep out the insects, no living thing was ever produced. 1730–46Thomson Autumn 86 Bright in glossy silk and flowing lawn. 1764Hadley in Phil. Trans. LIV. 5 Sold in the shops for 2s. 4d. per yard, under the name of long lawn. 1793Miss Chowne in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1861) II. 511 If you can get fine lawns, bring them with you, for they are rare. 1813Scott Trierm. iii. xi, A summer mist arose;..It seem'd a veil of filmy lawn. 1829Yng. Lady's Bk. 501 Take a common vase..and cover it entirely with widow's-lawn.
transf. and fig.1555Eden Decades 186 Her bodye was..full of a laune wherof they make their webbes. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. vii. 667 Then neat and nimbly her new web she [the spider] weaves, With her fine shuttle circularly drawn Through all the circuit of her open lawn. 1663Cowley Hymn Light xix, The Virgin Lillies in their White, Are clad but with the Lawn of almost naked Light.
Proverb.1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 15 He that will sell lawne before he can folde it, He shall repent him before he haue solde it. 1598Barnfield Pecunia xxxvi, No peece of Lawne so pure, but hath some fret.
2. spec. This fabric used for the sleeves of a bishop. Hence, the dignity or office of a bishop.
a1732Gay Fables ii. iv, You ask me if I ever knew Court chaplains thus the lawn pursue. 1732Pope Ep. Cobham 136 A Saint in Crape is twice a Saint in Lawn. 1763Churchill Ep. to Hogarth (ed. 2) 6 Whilst Thou In Lawn had'st whisper'd to a sleeping croud. c1800Syd. Smith in Lady Holland Mem. (1855) I. ii. 28 Those who were too honest to sell them [sc. liberal opinions] for the ermine of the judge or the lawn of the prelate. 1894Hall Caine Manxman v. xi. 315 He took one of the two chairs under the canopy; the other was taken by the Bishop in his lawn.
†3. An article of dress made of lawn. Obs.
c1480Henryson Test. Cres. 422 Thy gay garmentis, with mony gudely goun, Thy plesand lawn pinnit with goldin prene. 1573–80G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 103 No laanes or the like, to bewitch delite. 1578T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 204 They were covered with a lawne called Nacar. 1610G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. i. liii, Her vpper garment was a silken lawne. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. ii. viii, Lest eyes should surfet with too greedy sight, Transparent lawns withhold, more to increase delight. c1704Prior Henry & Emma 360 To stop the wounds, my finest lawn I'd tear. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Lawn, a white cambric handkerchief.
†b. A piece of lawn used in torture.
For an explanation of the torture of the ‘lawn’, see 1569 Jewel Expos. i Thess. Wks. 1848 VII. 42–3. (Cf. linen-ball, linen B 5.)
1590Marlowe Edw. II, v. iv. 32 (1598), I learned in Naples how..To strangle with a lawne thrust through [later 4tos down] the throte. 1622S. Ward Life of Faith in Death i. 84 Here thou..shiuerest to hear of the strappado, the racke, or the Lawne.
4. techn. Short for lawn sieve: A fine sieve, generally of silk, through which porcelain ‘slip’, cement, etc., are strained, to ensure uniform fineness.
1853Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 453 (s.v. Porcelain), The mixture [of ‘slips’ or fluid clays] is now passed..through fine sieves or ‘lawns’ woven of silk, and containing 300 threads to the square inch. 1895Times 10 Jan. 3/6 [Cement-manufacture]. The use of such lawns..would..be almost impracticable.
5. Bot. A name for Venus' Navelwort (Cynoglossum officinale).
1778Milne Bot. Dict. (ed. 2) 22 Cynoglossum, Hound's Tongue, Venus's Navel Wort, Lawn.
6. attrib. and Comb.
a. attributive (‘made of or consisting of lawn’);
b. objective, as † lawn-maker;
c. instrumental, as lawn-robed adj. Also lawn-sleeved a.
1477Norton Ord. Alch. vii. in Ashm. (1652) 103 Lawne Kercheefes fayre. c1515Cocke Lorell's B. 10 Golde sheres, keuerchef, launds, and reben makers. 1562W. Bullein Bk. Simples 86 a, Covering the place with a Launde clothe. 1565Golding Ovid's Met. To Rdr. (1593) 4 As Persian kings did never go abroad with open face, But with some lawne or silken scarfe. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. ii. C 4 b, Looke on those lips, Those now lawne pillowes. 1697tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 284 The Embassadors are obliged..to put on certain little Lawn Cuffs, which they wear quite flat upon their sleeves. 1710Steele & Addison Tatler No. 257 ⁋3 The Lawn Apron that was whiter than Ermin. 1711Ld. Marshal's Order 26 Apr. in Lond. Gaz. No. 4840/3 That the Peeresses..wear Black Silk, Laune Linnen, and White Gloves. 1719Tickell To Earl Warwick, On Death Addison, The duties by the lawn-robed prelate pay'd. 1819Keats Eve of St. Mark 53 From plaited lawn-frill, fine and thin, She lifted up her soft warm chin. 1856Miss Mulock J. Halifax ix. (1859) 101 Garnished with the snowiest of lawn frills and ruffles.
d. Special comb.: † lawn-man (derisively), a bishop; lawn-sieve, a fine sieve, made of lawn (or silk), used in cookery, porcelain-manufacture, etc.: cf. sense 4. Also lawn-sleeves.
1795Wolcot (P. Pindar) Liberty's last Squeak Wks. 1812 III. 432 May those lawn-men, born to happier fate Chase not the Curate from their grand abode. 1806A. Hunter Culina (ed. 3) 32 Run it through a lawn sieve. 1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 492 The clay is reduced nearly to the consistence of milk with water, and the liquid passed through lawn sieves gradually increasing in fineness.
▪ II. lawn, n.2|lɔːn|
Also 6 laune, 7 lawne.
[Later form of laund.]
1. a. An open space between woods; a glade. = laund. Now arch. and dial.
1548Elyot Dict., Sallus, a place voyde of trees, as a laune in a parke or forrest. 1591Greene Farew. to Folly (1617) D 3 b, Her stature and her shape was passing tall, Diana-like, when longst the Lawnes she goes. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 202 A goodly forrest..intermixed with fruitfull and flowry lawnes. 1637Milton Lycidas 25 Ere the high Lawns appear'd Under the opening eye-lids of the morn, We drove a field. 1730–46Thomson Autumn 405 The thistly lawn, the thick-entangled broom. 1780A. Young Tour Irel. I. xviii. (1892) 404 The hills..consist of a large lawn in the center of the two woods, that to the right of an immense extent. 1805Wordsw. Waggoner iv. 38 Thence look thou forth o'er wood and lawn Hoar with the frost-like dews of dawn! 1876Morris Sigurd i. 25 She came where that lawn of the woods lay wide in the flood of light. 1899Times 3 Mar. 15/3 So long as the favourite feeding places—lawns, as they are called—of their cattle are not interfered with,..no possible injury can be done to the commoners [of the New Forest].
fig.1635R. Brathwait Arcad. Pr. i. 120 Privacy was his Lawne, and discontent his Lure.
b. A stretch of untilled ground; an extent of grass-covered land. Also in generalized sense.
1674Ray S. & E. C. Words 70 Lawn in a Park: Plain untilled ground. 1749L. Evans Middle Brit. Col. (1755) 11 They [Indians] fix their Towns commonly on the Edges of great Rivers for the Sake of the rich Lawns to sow their Corn in. 179.Burns My Nannie's Awa iii, Thou laverock that springs frae the dews o' the lawn. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 124 Vast lawns that extend like sheets of vivid green. 1839E. D. Clarke Trav. Russia 47/1 The roads (if a fine turf lawn may be so denominated). 1863W. Barnes Dorset Gloss., Lawn or Lawnd, unploughed land; the unploughed part of an arable field. 1890Science 12 Sept. 141 A birdseye view..would show 60 acres of beautiful lawn besprinkled with buildings.
2. A portion of a garden or pleasure-ground, covered with grass, which is kept closely mown.
(Somewhat different in early use: cf. quot. 1733 and sense 1.)
1733Miller Gardeners Dict., Lawn is a great Plain in a Park, or a spacious Plain adjoining to a noble Seat... As to the Situation of a Lawn, it will be best in the Front of the House, and to lie open to the neighbouring Country and not pent up with Trees. 1761Descr. S. Carolina 6 Fine Savannahs..a Kind of natural Lawns, and some of them as beautiful as those made by Art. 1829Wordsw. Poems Sentim. xxx, This Lawn, a carpet all alive With shadows flung from leaves. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Universities Wks. (Bohn) II. 88, I had but a single day wherein to see..the beautiful lawns and gardens of the colleges. 1875J. D. Heath Croquet Player 89 Finely sifted earth must now be spread over the lawn.
3. Bacteriology. A layer of bacteria uniformly distributed over the surface of a culture medium.
1951Whitby & Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 5) xxiv. 433 Phage activity is readily observed on solid culture media. A plate is first thickly inoculated with susceptible bacteria to form a ‘lawn’ of growth. 1970Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. II. xviii. 102/1 The routine test dilution (RTD) is determined by placing drops of tenfold dilutions of the phage suspension on a lawn of sensitive bacteria.
4. attrib. and Comb., as lawn-shading adj.; lawn-like adj. and adv.; lawn billiards = troco; lawn-cutter = lawn-mower; lawn-meet, the meeting of a hunt in front of a gentleman's house; lawn-mower, a machine provided with revolving spiral or horizontal knives for cutting the grass on a lawn; lawn-party, a party held on a lawn, a garden-party; lawn sand, a top-dressing of ammonium sulphate and iron sulphate mixed with sand, used as a fertilizer and weed-killer for lawns; lawn-sprayer, a sprayer for diffusing a fine spray of water over a lawn; lawn-sprinkler, a machine with revolving tubular arms from which water is sprinkled like rain. Also lawn-tennis.
1873Young Englishwoman Nov. 572/2 Jean would feel obliged if the Editor would tell her..if *lawn billiards can be played on a croquet lawn?.. Is there a book of rules on lawn billiards? 1879Trollope John Caldigate I. xvi. 213 Hunting, shooting, fishing,..lawn-billiards. 1882[see troco]. 1910Encycl. Brit. III. 934/2 The game [billiards] was at one time played on a lawn, like modern croquet... A later form of ‘lawn billiards’ again enjoyed a brief popularity during the latter half of the 19th century.
1897S. Hale Let. 24 Mar. (1919) 315 Such a delicious drive,..and the *lawn-cutters making hay smells.
1879I. L. Bird Rocky Mountains 121 Flowery pastures..sloping *lawnlike to bright swift streams.
1890Daily News 8 Dec. 5/5 A *lawn meet of the West Norfolk Hunt took place at Sandringham.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Lawn-mower.
1852W. Collins Basil v. (1856) 17 At pic-nics, *lawn-parties, little country gatherings of all sorts. 1937R. S. Morton Woman Surgeon xxxi. 346 Many interesting people gather in our frequent outings, lawn parties and other expressions of comradeship. 1955R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (ed. 3) viii. 181 Parades, picnics, funerals, Mardi Gras, lawn parties, dances—he and his band were in demand everywhere. 1973Lebende Sprachen XVIII. 38/1 US lawn party—BE/US garden party—Gartenfest.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) p. xlii/4 *Lawn sand. 1909T. W. Sanders Lawns & Greens vii. 68 Methods of exterminating daisies are to put a pinch of salt on the crown of each plant, or to sprinkle ‘Watson's Lawn Sand’ over the infested parts. 1939R. B. Dawson Pract. Lawn Craft xxi. 152 It may be found more convenient for owners of quite small areas of turf to buy a ready compounded lawn sand. 1968Punch 20 Aug. 304/2 Add 1 oz of iron sulphate to 15 oz of dry sludge and you have a moss killing ‘lawnsand’.
1820Keats Hyperion iii. 25 Poplars, and *lawn-shading palms.
1943Wyndham Lewis Let. 15 Aug. (1963) 362 Watching the blue jays..having a shower-bath in a *lawn-sprayer.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Lawn Sprinkler.
Add:[4.] lawn chair N. Amer., a garden chair, esp. a reclining garden chair.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 617/1 *Lawn Chair, high back, comfortable and durable; will stand outdoor use. 1987J. Wilcox Miss Undine's Living Room viii. 113 Pulling up one of the webbed lawn chairs, the young man settled into it.
lawn edger, a cutting device for trimming the turf on the edges of a lawn.
1960J. J. Rowlands Spindrift 177 Why pay twenty dollars or more for an electric *lawn-edger when you can..make one for little or nothing? 1988Independent 9 July 18 There should be none of the wavy-edged beds that look as if they have been cut out by a man drunk in charge of a lawn edger.
▸ lawn bowling n. any of several forms of the game of bowls played on a grass (or sometimes dirt) surface.
1868Times 5 June 15/6 The pleasure gardens in the rear..are admirably arranged for the amusements of archery, croquet, *lawn bowling, and dancing. 1939Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 15 Sept. 32/8 Mrs. M. Folkins of Redlands, Calif., walked off with the women's international singles lawn bowling championship yesterday at Golden Gate Park. 1998Gaz. (Montreal) (Nexis) 4 July w2 Lawn bowlers would like nothing better than to get rid of the popular image of lawn bowling as an ‘old-farts' game’.
▪ III. lawn, v.|lɔːn|
[f. lawn n.2]
trans. To turn (arable land) into lawn or grass-land; to make (ground) lawn-like.
1766[Anstey] Bath Guide Epil. 337 To improve an old Family Seat By Lawning a hundred good Acres of Wheat. 1781–1814Parliamentary Hist. XXI. 1282 Several of the country clergy..chose to lawn their church yards and cut away the noxious yew trees. 1792A. Young Trav. France 99 A gently falling vale with a little stream through it, that might be made anything of for lawning and watering. 1868Doran Saints & Sin. I. 256 This led in later times to lawning cemeteries on the part of incumbents, who would not plant since they might not cut down. |