| 释义 |
▪ I. onion, n.|ˈʌnjən|
Forms: α. 4–6 unyon, 4–8 onyon, oynyon, 6–7 oynion, 6– onion; also 4 uniown, oynioun, 4–5 oynon, 5 onyounne, oynoun, oyne(u)on, onȝon, onyone, honȝon, hunyn, 6 unȝeon, onnyon, unyeoun, 7 oignion. β. Sc. and dial. 5 ynon, 6 ynion, ingowne, ingȝeon, 7 ynȝoin, 8–9 inion, ingan, 9 ingon, ingun, U.S. dial. ineon, ingyon.
[a. F. oignon (formerly also oingnon, ongnon, ognon) = Pr. uignon, ignon:—L. ūnio, ūniōn-em unity, union, a kind of large pearl, a rustic Roman name for a single onion.]
1. a. The edible rounded bulb of Allium Cepa, consisting of close concentric coats, and having a strong pungent flavour and smell due to a volatile oil which is destroyed by boiling; it varies much in size, and in colour from dark red to white; it has been used as a culinary vegetable from the earliest known times. b. The plant Allium Cepa itself (family Liliaceæ), supposed to be originally a native of central Asia, but very widely cultivated in almost all climates.
1356–7Durham Acc. Rolls, Unyonn [see onion-seed in 8]. 1382Wyclif Num. xi. 5 The leeke, and the vniowns [1388 oyniouns] and the garlekes. c1386Chaucer Prol. 634 Wel loued he garleek, oynons and eek lekes [v. rr. onyounnys, oynyons, onyons, oynouns]. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xlii. (1495) 628 Oyneon and Ascolonia beryth leues twyes in oo yere. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 785/40 Hoc sepe, a hunyn. 1522Skelton Why not to Court 368 What here ye of Burgonyons And the Spaniardes' onyons? 1545Brinklow Compl. 55 b, As moch for that purpose as to lay an vnyon to my lytel fynger for the tothe ache. 1616–61B. Holyday Persius 318 A coated oignion then with salt he eats. 1717Prior Alma i. 52 Who would ask for her opinion Between an oyster and an onion? 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 243 They will have a relish—salt, and olives, and cheese, and onions.
βc1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 569 Þat ye haue ssoddyn ynons to meddille with galantyne. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 206 Wilt thow hang vp with ropes of ynions? 1596Compt Bk. D. Wedderburne (S.H.S.) 71 Half a last of Ingȝeonis. 1728Ingan [see onion-head in 8]. 1818Scott Leg. Montrose ii, Our Spanish colonel, whom I could have blown away like the peeling of an ingan. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 84 Ingyons are proper good, when ye're sick. a1845Hood Lost Heir 12 He'll be rampant..at his child being lost; and the beef and the inguns not done!
2. With qualifying words:
a. Applied to varieties of the above or other species of Allium, as Egyptian, potato, or underground o., a variety which produces numerous small bulbs from the parent bulb; pearl o., a variety or sub-species with a small bulb; rock or Welsh o., a bulbless species (A. fistulosum) cultivated for its leafy tops; the Chibol; top or tree o., a variety of Canadian origin, producing a cluster of small bulbs instead of flowers at the top of the stem; wild o. (U.S.), A. cernuum, a species with nodding rose-coloured flowers.
1552Huloet, Onyon called a redde onyon, pallancana. 1581Rich Farew. (1846) 218 They are sometymes rounde like to Saincte Thomas onions. 1733Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Onion, Welch Onions, a sort of onions propagated by gardeners, for the use of the table in spring; they never make any bulb, and are therefore only to be eaten green in sallads. 1832Veg. Subst. Food 290 The Tree, or Bulb-bearing Onion. 1855Delamer Kitch. Gard. (1861) 40 Few gardeners, if any, can say they have ever seen a potato⁓onion in flower. 1866Treas. Bot. 40/1 The Under-ground, or Potato Onion..has the singular property of multiplying itself by the formation of young bulbs on the parent root... The bulb-bearing Tree-Onion,..was introduced from Canada in 1820, and is considered to be a viviparous variety of the common Onion. Ibid. 40/2 How this [A. fistulosum] obtained the name of Welsh Onion it is impossible to say, as it is a native of Siberia and certain parts of Russia.
b. Applied to plants of other genera, mostly bulbous, as Barbados o., Ornithogalum scilloides; bog o., one of several plants with roots resembling an onion, esp. the royal fern, Osmunda regalis; dog's o., the Star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum umbellatum; French o.: see c.
1548Turner Names Herbs (1881) 57 Ornithigalum is called in Colon Hondes vllich..after the folowynge of the duche tonge it may be called dogleke or dogges onion. 1706Phillips, Ornithogale, an Herb call'd Star of Bethlehem, or Dogs-Onion. 1832W. D. Williamson Hist. State Maine I. 120 The Brake, of which there are several varieties, the root of which is sometimes called the ‘bog-onion’. 1853Phytologist (1856) V. 30 Osmunda regalis..is vulgarly known under the name of ‘bog onion’. 1866Treas. Bot. 813/2 Onion, Barbados, Ornithogalum scilloides. 1878W. Dickinson Cumberland Gloss. (ed. 2) 9/1 Bog onion, the Osmunda Regalis or flowering fern. 1892Jrnl. Amer. Folk-Lore V. 104 Arisæma triphyllum, bog onion. Worcester Co.
c. sea onion, sea-onion: Urginea (formerly Scilla) maritima, a native of the Mediterranean region, which produces the bulbs called squills; also applied locally to Scilla verna.
1548Turner Names Herbs (1881) 71 Scilla is named of the Poticaries squilla, in english a sea Onion, and in some places, a french Onyon. 1597Gerarde Herbal i. xciv. (1633) 171 The ordinary squill or sea onion. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 22 Pushes, or suddain boils,..are cured with the juice of asses dung, and of sea-onions beat to powder. 1807Robinson Archæol. Græca iii. iv. 211 Drawing round the person purified a squill, or sea-onion.
†3. transf. A bulb (of any plant). [= F. oignon.] Obs. rare.
1718Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. (1730) II. xx. §6 Making one only Julyflower or Tulip spring out of its Onion or Bulb.
†4. A bunion. Obs.
1785D. Low (title) Chiropodologia, or a Scientific Inquiry into the causes of Corns, Warts, Onions and other painful or offensive cutaneous excrescences. 1802Hull Advertiser 17 Apr. 2/3 He eradicates Corns, Onions, or Nails growing into the Quick. 1846F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 64 The onion has a large base, and several layers of epidermis (like the layers of an onion) adhering to the skin in several points.
5. a. A rounded projection, bulb, knob. ? Obs.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 134 The end of the rod B..has a knob or onion on it, by which it can be moved endwise while it is turning in the box C.
b. slang. Head; esp. in phr. off one's onion, mad.
1890Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang II. 94/2 Off his onion (costermongers), imbecile, cracked. 1909H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay ii. ii. 176 He come home one day saying Tono-Bungay till I thought he was clean off his onion. 1922Wodehouse Girl on Boat xii. 202 When..she informed him one day that she was engaged.., he went right off his onion. 1928Daily Express 11 Dec. 7/4 After four drops of beer I am properly off my onion. 1971Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves vi. 52 What on earth was the idea of inviting a fiend in human shape like that here?.. You must have been off your onion, old ancestor.
c. to know one's onions, to be experienced or knowledgeable in the subject, etc., on hand; (only P. G. Wodehouse) (not) the only onion in the stew, (not) the only person or thing to be taken into consideration.
1922Harper's Mag. Mar. 530/1 Mr. Roberts knows his onions, all right. 1934Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves vii. 75, I claim the right to have a pop at these problems..without having everybody behave as if Jeeves was the only onion in the hash. 1952‘E. C. R. Lorac’ Murder in Mill-Race v. 52 If I know my onions the woman's death has been an almighty relief to the lot of them. 1956S. Ertz Charmed Circle v. 86 ‘That old man,’ he said, ‘doesn't know his onions, luckily for you.’ 1958J. Cannan And be a Villain ix. 200 Shakespeare knew his onions, didn't he? 1958Times 16 June 9/4 A man ‘who knows his onions’ is a man wise in the ways of the world, shrewd in affairs, a tough bargainer, by no means born yesterday. 1972Wodehouse Pearls, Girls & Monty Bodkin vii. 109 She wanted to stimulate competition. By showing you you weren't the only onion in the stew she would get your attention. 1974J. Wainwright Evidence I shall Give xxxii. 166 They know their onions... They are old in wisdom and experience.
6. a. Thieves' slang. A seal or the like worn on a watch-chain.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Onion, a watch-seal, a bunch of onions, is several seals worn upon one ring. 1829Blackw. Mag. XXVI. 132 Then his ticker I set a-going..And his onions, chains and key. 1834H. Ainsworth Rookwood iii. v, With my fawnied famms, and my onions gay.
b. Naut. A fraction of a knot.
1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin v. 73 We got about six and an onion out of the old bus,..and reached there about noon. 1938F. A. Worsley First Voy. in Square-Rigged Ship iv. 71 The speed..was 13 knots or, as Stringer put it: ‘Thirteen and an onion in the squalls.’ 1958F. H. Shaw Seas of Memory ii. 48 ‘Fifteen, sir, fifteen and an onion!’ called the second mate. ‘That's the way I like her to move,’ said Fegan.
c. = flaming onion (flaming ppl. a. 1 c).
1917Blackw. Mag. Apr. 560/1 A line of fiery rectangles shot up... These were ‘onions’, the flaming rockets which the Boche keeps for..hostile aircraft. 1918in Amer. Speech 1972 (1975) XLVII. 84 The airmen's pest is the ‘onion’, or large flaming anti-aircraft shell. 1936‘McScotch’ Fighter Pilot vi. 122 On heading south for the other balloon the ‘onion’ battery had another shot at me.
†7. A pearl: see union. Obs.
1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 39/2 The Onion, or Unions, or Pearl, are little round Stones, white. 1750tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 200 The Pearl is for the most part round, and by some is called an Onion.
8. attrib. and Comb., as onion bed, onion bulb, onion crop, onion-green (also as adj.), onion head, onion roll, onion salt, onion sauce, onion-seed, onion-seller (so onion-selling), onion soup, onion spire, onion steeple; onion-eating, onion-like, onion-loving, onion-red, onion-shaped, onion-spired, onion-towered adjs.; † onion asphodel, a kind of asphodel with a bulbous root; onion-couch, a species of wild oat (Avena elatior), so called from the rounded nodes of the root-stock; onion dome, a dome on a church, palace, etc., shaped like an onion; so onion-domed a.; onion-eyed a., having the eyes full of tears, as if from the effect of raw onions; onion-fish, a name for Cepola rubescens (see quot.); also (in Massachusetts) for the grenadier, Macrurus rupestris, from a fancied resemblance of its eyes to onions; onion-fly, a dipterous insect, Delia cepetorum, the larva of which is very destructive to onions; onion-grass = onion-couch; onion-maggot, the larva of the onion-fly; onion-peel = onion-skin; onion ring, a circular segment of an onion; onion set (see quots.); onion-shell, name for various molluscan shells of rounded form, as those of species of Ostrea (oyster), Lutraria, and Mya; onion-skin, (a) the outermost or any of the outer coats of an onion; (b) (also onion-skin-paper) a very thin smooth translucent kind of paper; also (see quot. 1879) a ballot paper of very fine paper; also attrib.; onion-smut, a parasitic fungus (Urocystis Cepulæ) infesting onions; onion-twitch = onion-couch; † onion-water, a medicinal liquor prepared from onions.
1597Gerarde Herbal i. lxv. 89 Of *Onion Asphodill.
1573–80Baret Alv. O 91 An *onion bed, or a place planted with onions. 1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. (1863) 523 Most ingeniously watering her onion-bed with a new mop—now a dip, and now a twirl! 1857Quinland I. i. xiii. 184, I spaded up the onion-bed after supper. 1874Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 551 Raked as smooth as an onion bed. 1975D. Green Food & Drink from your Garden 91 They..no longer need the special onion beds which took so many years to perfect.
1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 274 In consequence of the free phosphoric acid which the common *Onion bulbs contain.
1880Britten & Holland Eng. Plant-names, *Onion Couch, Avena elatior... It is also called Onion Grass..and Onion Twitch.
1879Congress Rec. 46th Congress 1 Sess. App. 120/1 The *onion crop of South Carolina.
1956R. Macaulay Towers of Trebizond ii. 20, I dreamed too of the Crimea, of crumbling palaces decaying among orchards by the sea, of *onion domes. 1960N. Mitford Don't tell Alfred xxiv. 245 The French papers were full of lines and sidelines on Russia, no photograph without its onion dome. 1973J. M. White Garden Game 54 The exotic onion-dome of a church looming through the veiled whiteness.
1959Manch. Guardian 26 Feb. 9/4 The Kremlin, with its three *onion-domed cathedrals. 1974Aiken (S. Carolina) Standard 22 Apr. 6-A/1 Entering through Persian onion-domed archways, guests saw the Fermata Club in Aiken transformed into a festive pavillion of purple and orange.
1884E. Barker Through Auvergne 80 An *onion-eating or garlick-eating people.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. ii. 35 Looke they weepe, And I an Asse, am *Onyon-ey'd. 1753Stage Coach I. 23 But your women are all onion-eyed.
1854Badham Halieut. 232 The..*onion-fish, whose body peels into flakes like that bulb, and who zigzags through the waves like a leech.
1840J. & M. Loudon tr. Köllar's Treat. Insects ii. 159 The larva very much resembles that of the *onion fly. 1882Garden 4 Mar. 147/2 The well-known Onion fly. 1896Daily News 17 July 6/7 Onion fly, which causes serious injuries to the onion crop. 1966Punch 6 Apr. 510/2 Sets..will grow onions..without onion fly risk. 1975D. Green Food & Drink from your Garden 92 The main pest is the onion fly, which lays its eggs in May and June.
1906S. W. Bushell Chinese Art II. viii. 23 The brilliant grass-greens of the Lungch'üan porcelain, called ts'ung-lü, or ‘*onion-green’ by the Chinese. 1925W. de la Mare Two Tales 71 The very ferocious onion-green dragon.
1626Bacon Sylva §445 It may bee tried also, with putting Onion-Seed into an *Onion-Head, which thereby (perhaps) will bring forth a larger, and earlier Onion. 1728Ramsay Last Sp. Miser v, My pouch produc'd an ingan head, To please my wame.
1713Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 91 About the bigness of an *Onion-Hoe.
1811Shelley Let. 17 May (1964) I. 76 How gets on your *onion-loving Deist.
1898Daily News 10 Nov. 6/4 It is not the ordinary foreign paper, nor the ‘*onion peel’—so called from its transparency.
1952M. Norton Borrowers iii. 24 She [sc. a midget] took the *onion ring from Homily and slung it lightly round her shoulders. 1974Times 21 Feb. 10 Thinly sliced onion rings.
1967C. Potok Chosen v. 100 Lunch turned out to be a massive affair, with a thick soup, fresh rye bread, *onion rolls, bagels. 1972New Yorker 15 Apr. 35/3 Most of the women buy some kind of bread (a loaf of rye bread..or a few onion rolls).
1938E. Waugh Scoop iii. ii. 287 A little store of seasonings..*onion salt, Bombay duck, gherkins. 1958Onion salt [see garlic salt].
1723J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. X5 (heading) To make *onion sauce. Cut..Onions into slices, put them into a Sauce-pan with some Veal-gravy,..simmer. 1787J. Woodforde Diary 4 Dec. (1926) II. 356, I gave them for Dinner..a couple of Rabbitts boiled and Onion Sauce. 1877E. S. Dallas Kettner's Bk. of Table 320 (heading) Onion sauce.—See the Soubise sauce, the Breton sauce, and the Sauce Robert. 1939T. S. Eliot Old Possum's Pract. Cats 45 And when he's finished, licks his paws So's not to waste the onion sauce.
1356–7Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 558 In Cepis et *unyonnsede. 1471–2Ibid. 93 Pro j lb. del vnyonsede et aliis herbis. 1626[see onion-head].
1483Cath. Angl. 260/1 An *Onȝon seller, ceparius. 1914W. B. Yeats Responsibilities 15 What th' onion-sellers thought or did. 1970V. Canning Great Affair xvi. 300 Troops..strung with hand grenades..like French onion sellers. 1915Daily Chron. 23 Nov. 5/3 Onion-selling parties in England.
1886Harper's Mag. Oct. 708/2 ‘*Onion sets’..are produced by sowing the ordinary black seed very thickly on light poor land. 1951Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) III. 1424/2 Small bulbs grown in the previous autumn and known as ‘onion sets’ may..be planted in spring for the raising of dry bulbs. 1975D. & T. Hoobler Vegetable Gardening & Cooking 77 Growing onions from seeds takes up to four or five months, so most home gardeners buy onion ‘sets’, which are the baby onion bulbs, ready to be buried in early spring, 2 inches deep, 4 inches apart, in rows 12 inches apart.
1949R. Harvey Curtain Time 97 And a brand-new wooden church, bright blue with a yellow *onion-shaped dome. 1959J. Braine Vodi vi. 87 The chapel..was a compact red-brick building with large round-headed windows, topped rather incongruously by a tower with an onion-shaped dome.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Onion-shell,..a peculiar kind of oister, which is of a roundish figure, and very thin, and transparent, and [is like] the peel of an onion. 1882Ogilvie, Onion-shell, a species of oyster of roundish form; also, species of Lutraria and Mya.
1879C. G. Williams in Congress. Rec. 2 Apr. 167/2 From that time to the wee small hours of the morning *onion-skin ballots went in unchallenged but not uncounted. Ibid. 23 June App. 120/1 The term ‘onion skin’ or ‘tissue ballots’ has obtained a generic and well-defined meaning synonymous with the ‘stuffing’ of ballot-boxes. 1892Paper & Press July, facing p. 49 (Advt.), The Highest Grades of Typewriter Paper a Specialty. Onion Skin. Manifold Linen. 1922Handbk. Quality-Standard Papers (Amer. Writing Paper Co.) 360 Onion Skin. A thin, transparent, highly glazed paper made of rag and sulphite. 1923H. A. Maddox Dict. Stationery 56 Onion skin, an American paper trade expression..applied to very thin and crisp typewriting or bank paper, which in texture, tear and crackle has some of the nature which characterizes the skin of an onion. 1956S. Bellow Seize the Day (1957) iv. 99 He took out a substantial bundle of onion-skin papers and said, ‘These are the receipts of the transactions. Duplicates.’ 1970New Yorker 20 June 25/2 The shredding of a quarto of onionskin stationery, to simulate the tearing up of a billion dollars. 1973R. Thomas If you can't be Good (1974) xxii. 191 He handed me some folded sheets of onion skin..I unfolded the onion-skin sheets.
1747H. Glasse Art of Cookery ix. 77 An *Onion Soop. 1861Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. vi. 73 Onion Soup... 6 large onions,..1/4 pint of cream. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. xxv. 223 Most of us missed our lunch but ate onion soup and sausage with sauerkraut in midafternoon. 1966J. B. Priestley Salt is Leaving xiii. 179 He..opened a tin, French and good, of onion soup. 1977P. Harcourt At High Risk i. 31 We settled for onion soup, a filet with a wine sauce, salad.
1966New Statesman 17 June 893/1 The *onion spires of Alaska.
1959Times 25 Apr. 9/5 A baroque, *onion-spired church.
1868G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 179 The churches here have those *onion steeples nearly all. 1960Times 11 June 11/6 A Church with Baroque ‘onion’ steeple.
1959Listener 15 Jan. 131/1 Almost every little South Swabian and Bavarian village has its delightful *onion-towered church.
1875Gardener's Chron. 10 Apr. 477/2 *Onion Twitch.
1694Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 555/2 You may make it with Parsly, Arsmart, or *Onion-water.
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˌonioˈnet [F. oignonet], a small onion; ˈonionized ppl. a., flavoured with or smelling of onions.
1820Blackw. Mag. VIII. 89 From your large, fat, yellow, insipid onion, to your little, lean, fiery, bitter onionet. 1830Fraser's Mag. I. 751 The unwashed fraternity of onionized ragamuffins.
▪ II. ˈonion, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To season or flavour with onions.
1755Smollett Quix. ii. iii. xvii. (1784) IV. 86 They treated him with an hachis of beef onioned.
2. To apply an onion to; to produce (tears) by application of an onion. Also fig.
1763C. Johnston Reverie I. 243 The fellow wiped his eyes which had been well onioned for the purpose. a1792Wolcott Quaker & Barn ii, When master Broadbrim..Por'd o'er his father's will, and drop'd the onion'd tear. 1900Shaw Plays Purit. p. xxix, The undertaker's handkerchief, duly onioned with some pathetic phrase. |