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▪ I. meander, n.|miːˈændə(r)|
Also (6 meandor), 6–9 mæander.
[a. L. mæander, Gr. µαίανδρος, appellative use of the name of a river in Phrygia noted for its winding course. Cf. F. méandre (1582 in Hatz.-Darm.), Sp., Pg., It. meandro.]
1. pl. Sinuous windings (of a river); turnings to and fro (in its course); flexuosities. Rarely in sing., the action of winding; one of such windings.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe 14 In all which foords or Meandors..if any drowne themselues in them, their Crowners sit vpon them. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. viii, The River Niger..deflecting after Westward, without meanders, continueth a strait course about 40 degrees. 1796W. Coombe Boydell's Thames II. 67 The stream loses itself in a distant meander. 1825Waterton Wand. S. Amer. i. i. 118 Probably..these apparently four creeks are only the meanders of one. 1834Beckford Italy I. 166 Springs whose frequent meanders gave to the whole prospect the appearance of a vast green carpet shot with silver. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. xv. 235 The river now flowed in gentle meanders.
transf. and fig.1638R. Brathwait Barnabees Jrnl. ii. G iij, When my head feels his [sc. Ale's] Mæander, I am stronger than Lysander. 1784Cowper Task iv. 65 Here rills of oily eloquence in soft Mæanders lubricate the course they take. 1820Scott Abbot i, The boy..lay..half drowned in the meanders of the fluctuating delirium.
2. pl. Crooked or winding paths (of a maze); labyrinthine passages; windings or convolutions (of a vein, fissure, line, etc.).
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. i. Eden 561 Round-winding rings, and intricate Meanders..of an end-less Maze. 1603J. Savile K. Jas. Entertainm. Theobalds B b, Hee went into the Laberinth-like garden to walke, where hee recreated himselfe in the Meanders compact of Bayes, Rosemarie, and the like. 1610Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 3. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 94 Intercepted and deteined within those Meanders [sc. the guts]. 1666G. Harvey Morb. Angl. iv. 34 The effuges, or mæanders of the central..parts of the brain. 1699Garth Dispens. i. 25 Now she [Nature] unfolds..How ductile Matter new Meanders takes. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 65 ⁋2 The new path, which he supposed only to make a few meanders. 1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. iv. 141 The fibres of the rind..and the meanders of the fibrillae being equally discernible. 1801J. Jones tr. Bÿgge's Trav. Fr. Rep. xii. 238 The inextricable windings and meanders of those caves.
†b. fig. Confusing and bewildering ways; intricacies (of affairs, the law, a subject, etc.). Obs.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 285 They being ouerwhelmed in Mæanders of mischiefes. 1631R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature i. 5 He was in such Meanders of miserie and labyrinths of troubles. 1652H. L'Estrange Amer. no Jewes 71 There are many Meanders and windings in this question of Plantation. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull i. vi, Ten long years did Hocus steer his Cause through all the meanders of the Law. 1759Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 132 In this purpose I am ready..until by better information out of England, we shall be led out of these state meanders.
†c. sing. A winding or labyrinthine course or plan; a labyrinth, maze. lit. and fig. Obs.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxliii. v, Lest awry I wander In walking this meander. 1610Heywood Lanc. Witches iv. Wks. 1874 IV. 226 The more I strive to unwinde My selfe from this Meander, I the more Therein am intricated. 1645Evelyn Diary Apr. (1879) I. 211 After wandering two or three miles in this subterranean meander [the catacombs]. 1651Biggs New Disp. 46 [They] have made of Physick a Meander,..and wild labirynth of incertainty. 1796W. Coombe Boydell's Thames II. 3 The garden..retains its early form, and the lesser walks preserve their original meander.
3. A circuitous journey or movement; a deviation; a winding course (as in the dance); chiefly pl.
1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 241 For building Churches sure he goes to Christ without Meander. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 20 Dancing many times, a great multitude passe together, and in mæanders turne and winde themselves. 1713Young Last Day ii. 50 So swarming bees, that..In airy rings, and wild meanders play. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. xix, He made so many Tours, such Meanders, and led us by such winding ways. 1891T. Hardy Tess xliv, Her journey back was rather a meander than a march.
4. Art. An ornamental pattern composed chiefly of lines winding in and out with rectangular turnings or crossing one another at right angles.
It is used chiefly as a border ornament on walls, pottery, etc.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Mæander,..a Fret-work in arched Roofs. 1737Whiston Josephus, Antiq. xii. ii. §8 On the table itself they engraved a meander. 1851C. Newton in Ruskin Stones Ven. I. App. 401 Two conventional imitations [of water], the wave moulding and the Mæander, are well known. 1857Birch Anc. Pottery (1858) II. 196 The exterior has been ornamented with a mæander, in white paint.
5. attrib. and Comb., as meander pattern, meander walk; meander-like adv.
[1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. i. Tropheis 1000 Now, like thy Jordan, (or *Meander-like) Round-winding nimbly with a many-Creek.] 1612Drayton Poly-olb. x. 94 Riuery veines, Meander-like that glide.
1851C. Newton in Ruskin Stones Ven. App. 401 In the *Mæander pattern [of water] the graceful curves of nature are represented by angles.
1766Museum Rust. VI. 80 Lay out the ground in some gentle *meander-walks.
▪ II. meander, v.|miːˈændə(r)|
[f. meander n.]
1. a. intr. Of a river, stream, etc.: To flow in meanders; to wind about in its course.
c1612Drummond of Hawthornden Tears Death Mœliades (1614) A 3, Forth where thou first didst passe Thy tender Dayes,..Meandring with her Streames. 1738Glover Leonidas viii. 149 Soft streams mæander'd. 1894Rider Haggard People of Mist xxxvi, Rivers that.. meandered across the vast plains.
indirect passive.1731Pope Ep. Burlington 85 Beds..With silver-quivering rills mæander'd o'er.
b. transf. and fig.
1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. ii. i. (ed. Rae 1902), When you shall see in a beautiful Quarto Page, how a neat rivulet of Text shall meander thro' a meadow of margin. 1784Cowper Task iii. 202 Pierce my vein, Take of the crimson stream meandering there. 1835–6Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 462/2 Blue veins are seen meandering on its [the skin's] surface. 1853Felton Fam. Lett. xxix. (1865) 257 The smoke..meandered in graceful curls among the timbers.
2. Of a person: To wander deviously or aimlessly. (? Partly suggested by maunder v.2 2.) Also fig.
1831S. Lover Leg. & Stories Irel. 151 He wint meandherin' along through the fields. 1872Calverley Fly Leaves (1903) 101, I meandered Through some chapters of Vanity Fair. 1875Helps Soc. Press. v. 71 They will have..meandered about the flower-garden in a listless way.
†3. trans. To entangle as in a labyrinth. Obs.
1652Urquhart Jewel 95 [They devised questions, arguments, etc.] thereby to puzzle him in the resolving of them, Meander him in his answers..and drive him to a non-plus.
4. U.S. To pass or travel deviously along or through (a river, etc.).
1821in Missouri Hist. Soc. Coll. (1906) II. 61 We still continued meandering the Arkansas. 1831J. O. Pattie Personal Narr. 13 We crossed the Missouri..and meandered the river as far as Pilcher's fort. 1839Z. Leonard Adventures (1904) 69 We separated, each party to meander the rivers that had been respectively allotted to them. 1839in Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. (1856) VII. 360 Branches of Swan creek meander this track in such manner as to facilitate drainage.
Hence ˈmeandered ppl. a., winding, labyrinthine. Also ˈmeanderer, one who meanders.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. i. 158 Those armes of Sea,..By their Meandred creeks indenting of that Land. 1622Ibid. xxii. 19 Ouze..in Meandred Gyres doth whirle herselfe about. 1708Brit. Apollo No. 43. 3/1 Love's meander'd Paths. 1887T. N. Page Ole Virginia (1889) 188 The meanderer was Drinkwater Torm. |