| 释义 |
▪ I. morsel, n.|ˈmɔːsəl|
Forms: 3 mossel, 4–5 mussel(e, mossele, 5 mussell(e, mossell(e; 4 morsele, morcele, 4–6 morselle, 4–7 morsell, 4–8 morcel, 5 morssel, murssell, morsylle, 5–7 morcell, 6 morssell, Sc. morsall, 3– morsel.
[a. OF. morsel (mod.F. morceau: see morceau) = It. morsello, med.L. morsellum, dim. of F. mors, It. morso a bite:—L. morsum, neut. pa. pple. of mordēre to bite.]
1. A bite; a mouthful; a small piece of food.
Now apprehended as a contextual use of sense 2.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7028 Þe mossel he dude in to is mouþ..Hit bileuede amidde is þrote. a1300Cursor M. 13485 Qua had o penis thre hundreth Bred for to bi, þai ar sua fele, War til ilkan bot a morsel. c1375Barbour Bruce ix. 398 Our lordis of France, that ay With gud morsellis farsis thair panch. 1382Wyclif Ps. cxlvii. 17 He sendeth his cristal as musselis [v.r. morselis]. c1450M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 219 Ete þat at fyve mosseles, & þenne drynk a gret drawȝt of good wyn. 1486Bk. St. Albans a v, Take .iij. cornes of whete and put hem in a morcell of flesh and yeue thessame morcellis to the hawke. 1565T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 30 This apple is all rotten, and yet there are some sound morsells in him. 1663H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lviii. 230 She eat of the Fruit, and made her Husband likewise to eat of it, whence it ensued that they were both of them by that unhappy Morsel subjected to the pains of Death. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 334 They..wrap it in a leaf of Betele..and chew it in morsels. 1758Johnson Idler No. 19 §8 The first morsel is in his mouth. 1828Scott F.M. Perth vi, He took a cake in his hand, broke it, and was about to eat a morsel, when the effort to swallow seemed almost too much for him. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 202 At the spring..the men paused to have a morsel of bread.
b. with omission of of.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7025, & al so late þis mossel bred þoru mi þrote wende. c1450Merlin i. 6 Yef we hadde but a mossell brede, we haue more ioye..than ye haue with alle the delicatys of the worlde. 1528Paynell Salerne's Regim. Q j b, They eate a morsell breadde.
c. A choice dish; a ‘tit-bit’.
c1440Lydg. Horse, Goose & Sheep 207 A fatt goos..a morsel [v.r. mussell] agreable. a1450Knt. de la Tour 22, I wolle telle you an ensaumple of a woman that ete the good morsell in the absence of her husbonde. Ibid., No woman shulde ete no lycorous morcelles in the absens..of her husbond. 1879S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. x. 225 The Sheikh brought me, as choice morsels, two or three clusters of large sorrel, which tasted very refreshing.
d. A small meal; a ‘snack’.
† to bring (a person) to a morsel: ? to bring to poverty.
1470–85Malory Arth. xvi. viii. 675 She prayd hym to take a lytyl morsel to dyne. 1655Terry Voy. E. India 8 The Shark..will make a morsell of any thing he can catch, master, and devour. a1734North Life Ld. Kpr. Guilford (1742) 291 But his Vices, in the Way of Women and the Bottle, were so ungoverned, as brought him to a Morsel. 1765Bickerstaffe Maid of Mill i. iii. 8 Thou'lt come and eat a morsel of dinner with us. 1818Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 154 We were eating our morsel at home. 1898W. F. Clark N. Gleams 56 (E.D.D.) Janey was gettin' ready some kind o' morsel.
e. transf. and fig.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3434 Rauyssht of þe beaute of þis womman, This tendir yong morsel, þis doghter, I seye. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 413 Whan the hisperyens sawe hym brought to that sorowe as for to taste the bitter morsell of deth, alle lefte their armes. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxii. 23 Scho wes an morsall of delyte. 1538Bale Thre Lawes 713 He shall be at the last a morsell for the deuyll. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 396 Now comes in the sweetest Morsell of the night, and wee must hence, and leaue it unpickt. 1625Burges Pers. Tithes 33 Tithes which is a sweet morsell that they are loath to part with. 1649Milton Eikon. ix. 81 That revenge was no unpleasing morsel to him. a1676Guthrie Mem. (1702) 91 The Rent of the Chapel Royal (esteem'd formerly a Morsel sufficient for a Bishop). 1742Young Nt. Th. ix. 2044 Few years, the sport Of fortune; then, the morsel of despair. 1775Harris Philos. Arrangem. Wks. (1841) 382 Many choice morsels, both from Greek and Roman writers. 1848L. Hunt Jar of Honey Pref. 2 With this sauce a man might swallow some of the bitterest morsels of life. 1874Deutsch Rem. 74 Scores of other tough morsels in the Koran.
f. jocularly applied to a person.
1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 286 You doing thus, To the perpetuall winke for aye might put This ancient morsell: this Sir Prudence. 1838Mrs. Carlyle New Lett. (1903) I. 69 Beware..how you encourage that little morsel of yours to follow the trade of being a Genius.
2. A small piece (of anything), esp. a portion cut or broken from a mass; a little piece; a fragment. Also Comb. † morsel-meal adv., piecemeal.
c1290St. Kath. 247 in S. Eng. Leg. 99 Hire tetes heo to-drowe Fram hire bodi mossel mele. a1400–50Alexander 1268 Maistris & mynistris menere & grettir, Þat was in morsels magged. c1430Two Cookery-bks. i. 30 Take Applys, & pare hem, an smal screde hem in mossellys. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxix. 5 He simply deliuered vp a large morsell whereby the value of that which remained was betrayed. 1662Evelyn Chalcogr. 92 A morcel of St. Peters by it self. 1693Tate Juvenal xvi. (1697) 374 An Ombite Wretch..is Pris'ner made: Whose Flesh torn off by Lumps, the rav'nous Foe In Morsels cut, to make it farther go. 1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 349 When dry, it appears in white morsels, which may be reduced by the fingers into an exceedingly fine powder. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 815 The small morsels of quicksilver ore. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 8 A morsel of territory.
fig.1860A. Trollope Castle Richmond I. vi. 106 I'm blessed if I've a morsel of feeling in my toes. 1873Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxxiv. 391 No morsel of the system could now be counted an open question.
▪ II. morsel, v.|ˈmɔːsəl|
[f. morsel n. Cf. F. morceler.]
1. trans. To divide into ‘morsels’ or small pieces.
1598Florio, Morsecchiare, to morsell, to bite. 1621Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. iv. xvii. 301 Chopping into peeces, morselling and deuouring their prisoners.
2. With out: To distribute (property, etc.) in small parcels or quantities.
1855Mrs. Gore Mammon I. 7 Their estates have been morselled out; while ours remain intact. 1859Masson Brit. Novelists i. 50 The total mass..was shaped, adjusted, and again morselled out in parts by subsequent minstrels.
Hence ˈmorselled ppl. a.; ˈmorselling vbl. n.
1799Beddoes Contrib. Phys. & Med. Knowl. 536 advt., The practice..of tantalizing readers by morselled information. 1844M. Hennell Soc. Syst. 188 Civilization and all historic periods known, have their narrow foundation on family management, or morselling. 1861Lytton & Fane Tannhäuser 95 The split and morselled crags. |