释义 |
ouzel, ousel|ˈuːz(ə)l| Forms: α. 1 ósle, 4 osul, (hosel), 4–5 osel, (5 owsille, osill, -ulle, -ylle), 6 osell, -yll, osȝil, oozel, owsell, -yl, ousil, -syl, -zell, 6–7 ousell, 6–8 owsel, 7 ou-, owsle, 7–8 ouzle, 6– ousel, 8– ouzel, (9 dial. uzzle, ussel). β. 4 (?) wesel, 6–7 woosell. [OE. ósle wk. fem.:—*ǫmsla = OHG. amsala (MHG., Ger. amsel); ulterior etymology unknown. The form wesel in Trevisa is prob. an error for wosel.] 1. A name of certain birds of the genus Turdus. a. An old name of the blackbird or merle (T. merula). This is app. the original application of the name (although sense b may have been included); it is now mainly a literary archaism, but appears to be in local use in the qualified form black-ouzel or garden-ouzel. Also attrib. in ouzel-cock.
a700Epinal Gloss. (O.E.T.) 665 Merula, oslae. a725Corpus Gl. ibid. 1306 Osle. c1000Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 260/26 Merula, osle. c1325Gloss W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 164 En braunche seet la merle, an hosel-brit. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 187 Þe wesels [L. merulæ, Caxt. ousels] be blak among vs; þere [Arcadia] þey beeþ white. Ibid. 237 In towne, as it longes, Þe osul twytereþ mery songes. c1450Bk. Hawkyng in Rel. Ant. I. 296 Owsilless, and þresches. and other smale briddes. 1533Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 20 b, Blacke byrdes or ousyls, amonge wylde fowle hath the chiefe prayse. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 128 The Woosell cocke, so blacke of hew, With Orenge-tawny bill. 1594R. Barnfield Affect. Sheph. ii. x, Gins and wyles, the Oozels to beguile. 1746W. Thompson Hymn to May xxvii, The ouzle sweetly shrill. 1842Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 93 The mellow ouzel fluted in the elm. 1843James Forest Days x, It is difficult there to know a carrion crow from an ousel. 1875Lanc. Gloss., Black-ousel, the blackbird. b. Applied to the allied species T. torquatus, usually distinguished as ring-ouzel; also known locally as crag-ouzel, moor-ouzel, mountain-ouzel, rock-ouzel, tor-ouzel. The earlier quots. under sense a may have included this: in the following it is distinguished from the merle or otherwise identified.
c1450Holland Howlat 713 The Maviss and the Merle syngis, Osillis and Stirlingis. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The maueis maid myrtht, for to mok the merle..the lyntquhit sang cuntirpoint quhen the osȝil ȝelpit. 1601Holland Pliny x. xxiv. 284 Ousles, Throstles, Blackbirds, and Stares,..depart aside from us, but goe not farre. a1705Ray Synops. Meth. Avium (1713) 65, Merula torquata, The Ring-Ouzel or Amzel. 1768G. White Selborne xx. 57 The ousel is larger than a blackbird, and feeds on haws. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 8 Ring ouzel..so called from the white gorget on the bird's breast. †c. transf. Applied to a person (prob. of dark hair or complexion). Obs.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 9 Shal. And how doth..your fairest Daughter, and mine, my God-Daughter Ellen? Sil. Alas, a blacke Ouzell. 1628Ford Lover's Mel. ii. i, Rhe... What new ouzle's this? Tham... This stranger, an Athenian, named Parthenophill. 2. Applied with distinctive adjuncts to other birds, popularly associated with the prec.a. brook ouzel, the Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus).
1611Cotgr., Mere des cailles, a Rayle; or, a brooke-Owsell. 1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. 314 The Water-Rail called by some the Bilcock or Brook-Owzel. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 176. b. rose-coloured ouzel, the Rose-coloured Pastor or Starling, Pastor (Turdus Linn.) roseus.
1766Pennant Zool. (1768) II. 489 The rose colored ouzel. 1832Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 1. 4 It was mentioned that a male bird of the rose-coloured ouzel (Pastor roseus) had been shot at West Ord. c. water ouzel, the dipper (Cinclus aquaticus); also the American Dipper (C. mexicanus).
1622Drayton Poly-olb. xxv. (1748) 366 The water-woosell next all over black as jet. 1793G. White Selborne ii. vii. (1875) 156 The water-ousel is said to haunt the mouth of the Lewes river. 1849Kingsley N. Devon Misc. II. 243 The startled water-ousel, with his white breast, flitted a few yards. 1874Allen in Coues Birds N.W. 12 The American Ouzel (Cinclus mexicanus) is doubtless a frequent inhabitant of nearly all the mountain-streams of Colorado. |