| 释义 |
ox-tongue, oxtongue|ˈɒksˌtʌŋ|
1. The tongue of an ox.
c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 26 Take tho ox tonge and schalle hit wele, Sethe hit, broche hit in lard yche dele. 1601Holland Pliny II. 279 The leaves..resemble an ox tongue. 1894Westm. Gaz. 26 Oct. 6/3 He amassed a considerable fortune by the ox-tongue trade.
2. Popular name of several plants: = langue de bœuf 1.
†a. orig. applied to various plants having rough leaves, more or less tongue-shaped; chiefly species of bugloss, borage, and alkanet. Obs.
c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 162 E bucle [gloss oxe-tunge] ausy, une herbe seyne. a1400–50Stockh. Med. MS. 196 Langdebef or oxtunge, lingua bouis. 1483Cath. Angl. 265/2 Oxtonge, buglossa, herba est. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. vi. 12 The auncient Fathers called it [Borage] in Greeke βούγλωσσον,..in English Oxe tongue. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. xxxii. 235 Sharpe Haukeweede hath leaues like to those of Langue de beefe or Oxetoong. 1611Cotgr., Langue de bœuf,..Ox-tongue, rough or small Buglosse.
b. In modern Botany: A composite plant, Helminthia (Picris Linn.) echioides, growing on clayey soil; also called prickly ox-tongue.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 321 Ox-tongue, Picris. 1858Penny Cycl. 2nd Suppl. 301/1 There is but one species [of the genus] inhabiting Great Britain, H[elminthia] echioides, the Ox-Tongue... The branches, stem, leaves, and involucre are covered with strong prickles springing from white tubercles, and with 3 minute hooks at the apex. 1885Pall Mall G. 28 Oct. 4/2 In the long, dry grass at the foot of the hedge stands out the yellow ‘bristly oxtongue’—stem and leaves all frosted with white glands.
3. A name occasionally applied to obsolete weapons with broad blades: = langue de bœuf 2.
1890in Cent. Dict. 1894in Funk's Stand. Dict. |