| 释义 |
miniver|ˈmɪnɪvə(r)|
Forms: 3 menivieyr, menuver, 3–5 menyvere, 3–4, 7–8 meniver, 4 meyneveir, menevayr, -veyr, -voir, menivere, menuveyr, -voyr, menyvaire, 4–5 menevere, menyver, 5–6 menever, mynever, 6 miniveere, 6, 9 minivere, 6–9 minever, 7 minerver, 7, 9 dial. minifer, -fa, 9 mineveer, 6– miniver.
[a. F. menu vair (14th c. in Godef.), ‘the furre Mineuer; also, the beast that beares it’ (Cotgr.); lit. ‘little vair’ (menu:—L. minūtus minute a., and vair: see vair).]
1. A kind of fur used as a lining and trimming in ceremonial costume.
French lexicographers say that menu vair is the fur of the petit-gris, a variety of the common squirrel. What the Eng. miniver meant in early use is uncertain; some have supposed that it was the white fur of the Siberian squirrel; the application may have varied at different times, but etymology would suggest that it must have been an artificially spotted or variegated fur, with a smaller pattern than that of vair. In 1688 R. Holme explains miniver as ‘plain white fur’, and this (notwithstanding Cotgrave's divergent explanation) may have been the meaning of the word as used with reference to the costume of judges and the lower nobility in the 16–17th c. In this sense the term was revived in the official regulations for the coronation of Edward VII, and it has since had some currency in the description of the ceremonial costume of peers.
pured miniver, miniver pure = AF. meniver puré, ‘powdered miniver’; but in modern times the adj. has been misinterpreted as ‘pure white’.
a1300Floriz & Bl. 515 (Hausknecht) A mantel of scarlet Ipaned al wiþ meniver. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 137 For a mantel of menyuere he made lele matrimonye Departen ar deth cam. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 65 Her good and gay clothing and furres of gray[,] meniuere and letuse. 1463–4Rolls of Parlt. V. 505/1 Furres of Mattrones, Funes, Letyce, pured Grey, or pured Menyver. 1470–85Malory Arthur xii. i. 593 A lykely knyghte and wel apparaylled in scarlet furred with myneuer. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 214 The knightes of the bath in Violet gounes with hoddes purfeled with Miniuer lyke doctors. 1593Drayton Ecl. iv. 178 His Hood of Miniveere. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Vair, Menu Vair, Mineuer; the furre of Ermines mixed, or spotted, with the furre of the Weesell called Gris. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 76 It seems in fashion for you to..dapple your speeches with new quodled words. Ermins in Minifer is every mans Coat. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. iii. 50/2 They [sc. Viscounts] have no Ermine on their Mantles, but three doublings of Miniver, or plain White Furr, the Baron having but two on the cape of his Mantle. 1766Entick London IV. 33 If they be of Cambridge, they wear white meniver. 1867J. Ingelow Story Doom vi. 214 And served in gold, and warmed with minivere. 1901Lond. Gaz. 4 Oct. 6477 That the robe or mantle of the Peers be of crimson velvet, edged with miniver, the cape furred with miniver pure, and powdered with bars or rows of ermine (i.e., narrow pieces of black fur).
¶ Recent Dicts. attribute to the word the sense that belongs to menu vair in Fr. heraldry, viz. a fur distinguished from vair in that the shield menu vair has six rows of spots instead of four. But this use has never been recognized in English heraldry.
2.
†a. The animal from which the fur was supposed to be obtained (obs.).
b. dial. The stoat or ermine, Mustela erminea, when wearing its white winter coat.
1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 189 Furs of Foxes, Sables,..Miniver, Beaver, Otter, Squirrel and the like. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Minifer, the white stoat or ermin. 1895P. H. Emerson Birds, etc., Norf. 345 In winter, of course, he [sc. the stoat] is often white, with a black tip to his tail—hence his name of ‘minifa’. 1895Daily News 27 Nov. 6/3 To this day the white stoat is called ‘minifer’ in Norfolk.
3. attrib. and Comb., as miniver cap, miniver hood, miniver mantle, miniver skin.
1589Rider Bibl. Schol., A *Menever cappe, redimiculum. 1600Dekker Gentle Craft Wks. 1873 I. 72 Shall Sim Eyre learne to speake of you Lady Maggy? vanish mother Mineuer-Cap. 1632Massinger City Madam iv. iv, You wore..sometimes A dainty Miniver cap.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxiii. 138 For a *menyuer mantel he made leel matrimonye Departe er deþ come.
1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. x. (1674) 12 *Minerver-skins, Sables, and other very pretious Furrs. |