| 释义 |
▪ I. mildew, n.|ˈmɪldjuː|
Forms: 1 meledéaw, mildéaw, 3 mildeu, 4–6 myldew, 4–8 meldew, 5–7 meldewe, 6 myldewe, mild-, myldeawe, 6–7 mildewe, 7 mieldew, 7–8 milldew, (8 mealy-dew), 4– mildew.
[OE. meledéaw, mildéaw = OHG. militou (MHG. miltou, mod.G. with etymologizing alteration mehlthau), Sw. mjöldagg, Da. meldug; f. OTeut. *meliþ (Goth. miliþ) honey + *đawwo- dew n. The first element is in most of the Teut. langs. assimilated to *melwo- meal n.1]
†1. = honey-dew. Obs.
a1000Phœnix 260 No he foddor þiᵹeð mete on moldan, nemne mele-deawes dæl ᵹebyrᵹe, se dreoseð oft æt middre nihte. c1050Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 455/19 Nectar, huniᵹ, oððe mildeaw. a1240Wohunge in Cott. Hom. 269 Swetter is munegunge of þe þen mildeu o muðe. 1563W. Fulke Meteors (1571) 53 b, Ther is another kind of swete dewes, that falleth in England called the meldewes, which is as sweet as hony. 1598F. Rous Thule T, She..with sweete Mel-dewes doth anoint her face. 1608Topsell Serpents 65 The Honny of Bees is longer kept pure and fine, then any Manne or Meldew. 1658Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 908 A kinde of heavenly Ambrosia falls down upon the leaves of plants (which they call honey dew, but I rather mieldew).
fig.1600Fairfax Tasso ii. lxi. 31 While on the Christian Lords Downe fell the mildew of his sugred words.
2. A morbid destructive growth upon plants, consisting of minute fungi, and having usually the appearance of a thin whitish coating. Also, a similar growth on paper, leather, wood, etc., when exposed to damp. Usu. collect. sing.; also with a and pl., denoting a particular attack of the disease.
1340Inquisitiones Nonarum 334 b (Record Comm.), Maxima pars frumenti in parochia praedicta seminati distruebatur..hoc anno..per quendam rorem qui vocatur mildew. 1382Wyclif Gen. xli. 6 Seuene..eerys, thinne and smytun with meldew. c1440Promp. Parv. 337/2 Myldew, uredo. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §54 They [sc. pasture-shepe] selden rot but with myldewes. 1570B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iii. 39 Indocus doth defende the corne, from myldeawes and from blast. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 246 If the place be subject to the annoyances of Smutting, Meldews, Birds, &c. 1763Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. II. 411 The rust of corn, the honey-dew, the mealy-dew. 1839Penny Cycl. XV. 209/2 The common orange-red mildew of the Berberry is æcidium Berberides. 1850Ogilvie, Mildew,..spots on cloth or paper caused by moisture. 1859Jephson Brittany x. 153 Damp and moss and mildew are not such deadly enemies to art as the chisel of the modern stonemason.
fig.1640Ld. J. Digby Sp. in Ho. Com. 9 Nov. 7 [It] hath fallen againe upon the Land..in Hailstones and Milldews, to batter and prostrate..our liberties, to blast..our affections. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) III. 84 Neither the blasts of arbitrary power could break them off, nor the mildew of servile opinion cause them to wither. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. iv. 138 Something of the mildew of time is stealing over the Waverley Novels.
3. attrib. and Comb., as mildew-blast, mildew-drop, mildew-plant; mildew-gangrene, -mortification, gangrene produced by diseased grain, such as gangrenous ergotism (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1890); † mildew-grass, grass tainted with mildew.
1634Milton Comus 640 Of sov'ran use 'Gainst all inchantments, *mildew blast, or damp.
1808Scott Marm. ii. xviii, The *mildew-drops fell one by one, With tinkling plash, upon the stone.
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §54 *Myldewe-grasse is not good for shepe.
1822–29Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) III. 493 Gangræna ustilaginea. *Mildew-mortification.
1839Penny Cycl. XV. 209/2 Every precaution should be taken to prevent the spores of the *mildrew-plants from being communicated to the soil.
▪ II. mildew, v.|ˈmɪldjuː|
Also 7 melldew, 8 milldew.
[f. the n.]
1. trans. To taint with mildew.
1552[see mildewed ppl. a.]. 1605Shakes. Lear iii. iv. 123 Hee..Mildewes the white Wheate. 1747Franklin Let. Wks. 1887 II. 76 A great deal of hay has been lost, and some corn mildewed. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 541 The Licensing Act..detains valuable packages of books at the Custom House till the pages are mildewed.
fig.1631R. Brathwait Whimzies, Almanack-maker 14 Whole summer nights long hee lyes on his backe, as if hee were melldew'd or planet-struck, gazing on the starrie gallerie. 1807Montgomery Molehill 72 Tyrants, the comets of their kind, Whose withering influence..smote and mildew'd man. 1898Bodley France II. iii. i. 47 Nor are the members of the Institute, with all their learning, recluses mildewed in the dust of folios.
2. intr. To become tainted with mildew.
1651R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 14 Rank Land where Corn is apt to lodge, and consequently to Mildew. 1824J. Johnson Typogr. II. xiii. 482 Authors sometimes detain proofs so long, that the paper allotted for those sheets will mildew. 1839Penny Cycl. XV. 210/1 Mr. Knight prevented his peas from mildewing by watering them abundantly and constantly.
fig.1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 383 These old pheasant-lords,..Who had mildew'd in their thousands, doing nothing.
Hence ˈmildewer.
1807A. Seward Lett. (1811) VI. 389 The man..is a noted mildewer on the profits of the noblest verse. |