| 释义 |
palm-oil
[In sense 1, f. palm n.1 + oil; in 2, f. palm n.2, with humorous allusion to sense 1.]
1. Oil produced by various species of palm-tree; esp. that obtained from the fruit-pulp of the Oil Palm (Elæis guineensis) of West Africa, which in cooler climates becomes of the consistence of butter and of an orange-red colour; it is used as food by the natives, and elsewhere for making soap and candles, lubricating machinery, etc.
1705W. Bosman Guinea xvi. (1721) 267 The Palm-oil..is obtained by Contusion and Expression. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 136 Palm Oil..is an unctuous Liquor, as thick as Butter. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 204 Palm oil is used in England principally in the manufacture of yellow soap, but with the Africans it is an article of food.
attrib.1863R. F. Burton Wand. W. Africa II. 145 ‘Palm-oil-chop’ is the curry of Western Africa. 1896Sir H. H. Johnston in Daily News 9 Dec. 10/2 The sneered at ‘palm-oil-ruffians’ of the first half of this century, who did more than anyone else to unconsciously abolish the slave trade. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 208 The Negroes cook uniformly very well, and at moments are inspired in the direction of palm-oil chop and fish cooking.
2. humorously. That with which the palm is ‘greased’ or ‘anointed’; money given as a douceur or bribe; a ‘tip’.
a1627Middleton Game at Chess iii. i, Palm-oil will make a pursuivant relent. 1867Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. June 368, I had plenty of money, and ‘palm oil’ goes as far in those latitudes as in our more civilized communities. 1896E. A. King Ital. Highways 190 Palm-oil will always produce temporary blindness in the officials. |