| 释义 |
▪ I. pea1|piː|
[A new singular evolved from the earlier sing. and pl. pease, by writing this peas and treating the final -s as a plural inflexion. For earlier history see pease.]
I. The seed or plant.
1. a. The round seed of Pisum sativum (see 2), a well-known article of food.
Also occasionally applied to the similar seeds of other leguminous plants (see 3), esp. when used for food.
1611Beaum. & Fl. King & No K. ii. ii. (1619) 30 Did not his Maiestie say, he had brought vs home Peaes for our money? 1666Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. vii. iii. (1667) 170 A little vegetable bud..not so big..as a Pea. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. v. §85 Much smaller, not exceeding the Rouncival pea..in bigness. 1711Greenwood Eng. Gram. 49 Some words are used in both numbers, as Sheep..Pease..but it is better to say in the Singular Pea, in the Plural Peas. 1727Bailey vol. II, Peas-cod, the shell or husk of a pea. 1851Borrow Lavengro lviii, To find the pea, which I put under one of my thimbles. 1866Treas. Bot. 282 The peculiar form of these peas [seeds of the chick-pea] has given rise to the specific name of the plant arietinum.
b. green peas: peas gathered for food while still green, soft, and unripe.
[c1440–1833: see pease n. B 2 b.] 1789Bath Jrnl. 8 June, Green peas begin now to come to market. 1883Lady Gregory in Fortn. Rev. 1 Oct. 575 A liberal dish of green peas.
c. Proverbial phr. as like as two peas, etc.
[1580,1681: see pease n. B 2.] 1778F. Burney Evelina xxi, As like..as two peas are to one another. a1845Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. iii. Bros. Birchington xiii, A Brother, As like him in form as one pea's like another. 1864–8Browning J. Lee's Wife ix. iii, We both should be like as pea and pea. 1889Miss Tytler Buried Diamonds xix, As like papa as two peas.
d. In the West Indies and southern U.S.A., a name for the seeds of various other legumes, including the red pea, Vigna unguiculata, and the Gungo pea, Cajanus cajan; esp. in phrase pea(s) and rice, the name of a local dish.
1928Freeman & Williams Useful & Ornamental Plants Trinidad & Tobago (ed. 2) 166 Vigna sesquipedalis... Yard Bean. Bodi... The young pods are edible as French beans and also the ripe dry beans. V[igna] sinensis. Cow Pea. Black Eye Pea. 1930B. S. Rhett 200 Yrs. Charleston Cooking 59 (heading) Peas and rice pilau. 1969Daily Tel. 11 Jan. 14/1 [In Jamaica] ‘peas’ are not peas at all but kidney beans. 1970M. Slater Caribbean Cooking 32 ‘Peas and Rice’..is cooked on every island. 1971Bahamas XXIII. iii. 33/1 Being a true native son [of the Bahamas], Sidney Poitier sometimes has irresistible urges to devour such disastrous delicacies as pea ‘n’ rice or pea soup. 1972C. D. Adams Flowering Plants of Jamaica 364 Vigna..cultivated in many varieties; native of tropical Asia; Black Eye Pea, Cow Pea, etc. 1973Advocate-News (Barbados) 22 Jan. 13/3 (Advt.), Today's menu: Fried and boiled chicken,..dry peas or split peas and rice.
e. [In allusion to the pea used by a thimble-rigger.] A favourite; a horse likely to win. Sporting slang (obs. exc. Austral.). Also transf. someone in a favoured or favourable position, a person with authority (Austral. colloq.).
1888Sporting Life 11 Dec. 4/4 Sweeny..forced the fighting, and was still the pea when ‘Time!’ was called. 1891Licensed Victuallers' Gaz. 20 Mar. 187/3 Well, Albert, now what is the pea? we asked, hurrying towards the paddock. 1900E. Wells Chestnuts xxiii. 227 Informed me that the right pea for the race was ‘L'Abbesse de Jouarre’. 1911E. Dyson Benno xvi. 206 Mr. Dickson..ran his eye down the card and chanced it. ‘Dandy's the P,’ he said. ‘Put yer whole week's wash on Dandy, 'n hold me responsible if the goods ain't delivered.’ 1953Baker Australia Speaks v. 118 Other expressions used by racing fans include: pea, a horse that is being ridden to win, especially when there is a doubt about the genuineness of other runners. 1958F. Hardy Four-Legged Lottery xxv. 190 I've got the tip about it. Old Dapper Dan earwigged at the track. Swordsman is the pea. 1969M. Calthorpe Defectors iii. 17 ‘For the time being, I'm satisfied.’ ‘You're the pea,’ Mick said. 1973A. Buzo Rooted iii. iii. 92 He's had his eye on her for some time, you know, but I'm the pea, she said. 1974Sun-Herald (Sydney) 1 Sept. 15 The usual assumption has been that the Social Security Minister, Mr Hayden, 41, would move into the Treasury... Recent events have cast some doubts on that. The Deputy Prime Minister and Overseas Trade Minister, Dr Cairns, now seems the ‘pea’ for any change at the Treasury.
2. a. The plant Pisum sativum, a hardy climbing leguminous annual, which has long been cultivated in many varieties; it has large papilionaceous flowers succeeded by long pods each containing a row of round seeds (see 1). Usually distinguished as pea-plant.
1699Evelyn Acetaria 136 Another Process for the raising early Peas and Beans. 1731–3Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Pisum, 1. Pisum hortense majus..the greater Garden Pea with white Flowers and Fruit. a1770M. Bruce or Logan Cuckoo v, What time the pea puts on the bloom. 1871Blackmore Maid of Sker xliii, To go away from my home and garden..with no one to..sow a row of peas.
b. With defining words distinguishing species and varieties. (In quot. a 1812 = sweet pea.)
1707Mortimer Husb. 106 The common sort of white Pea doth best in a light Land that is somewhat rich. 1731–3Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Pisum, The Species are [sixteen]..2..Hot-spur Pea... 3..Dwarf Pea... 6..Sickle Pea... 8..Green Rouncival Pea. 9..Grey Pea... 11..Rose Pea... 14..Union Pea. 15..English Sea Pea. 16..Pig Peas. 1765Mus. Rust. III. Index, Grey Peas not to be harrowed in on a chalky soil. a1812Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ode on Crim. Con., The fragrant pea with blooms so thick, That curls her tendrils round a rotten stick. 1858Homans Cycl. Comm. s.v. Peas, The common garden pea (Pisum sativum), and the common gray or field pea (Pisum arvense), are the most generally cultivated. 1882Garden 15 July 38/2 From the Isle of Wight comes the pretty Blue Pea. 1884Miller Plant-n., French-Peas, an old name for garden Peas.
3. Applied with defining words to leguminous plants more or less akin to the common pea: as Angola pea = Congo pea; beach-pea = sea-pea; butterfly-pea, (a) Clitoria mariana of S. America and India; (b) spurred butterfly-pea, the genus Centrosema (chiefly American), having a short spur on the standard of the corolla; Congo pea, a variety (bicolor) of Cajanus indicus (see Cajan), with yellow flowers marked with crimson; desert-pea, Clianthus dampieri, a native of the desert parts of Australia, with bright scarlet flowers (Miller Plant-n. 1884); earth-pea, Lathyrus amphicarpus of Syria, which bears its pods under ground (Treas. Bot. 1866); earth-nut pea, Lathyrus macrorhizus (J. Lee Introd. Bot. (1768) App. 322); Egyptian pea, the chick-pea, Cicer arietinum; everlasting pea (see everlasting A. 4 b), Lathyrus latifolius, a variety of L. sylvestris, cultivated for the beauty of its variously-coloured flowers; also extended to other species resembling this; flat pea, the Australian genus Platylobium, from its flat pods (Treas. Bot.); hoary pea, the genus Tephrosia, which has leaves covered with a grey down (Miller 1884); meadow-pea, the Meadow Vetchling, Lathyrus pratensis (ibid.); milk-pea, the N. American genus Galactia (Treas. Bot.); no-eye pea, a variety (flavus) of Cajanus indicus (see Cajan), with pure yellow flowers; painted lady pea (see painted 4); poison-pea = Swainson pea; sea-pea, sea-side pea, Lathyrus maritimus (Pisum maritimum), a sea-coast species rare in England; sensitive pea, Cassia nictitans of N. America, with sensitive leaves; also C. chamæcrista, partridge-pea (partridge 5 c); Swainson pea, the Australian genus Swainsona (Miller 1884); sweet-scented pea = sweet pea; Tangier pea, Lathyrus tingitanus; tuberous(-rooted) pea = heath-pea (Miller 1884); winged pea, the genus Tetragonolobus, having quadrangular winged pods; wood-pea, (a) Lathyrus sylvestris, a British wild plant, the original of the everlasting pea; (b) = heath-pea. See also chich, chick-pea, chickling2, cow-pea, glory-pea, heart-pea, heath-pea, mouse-pea, partridge-pea, pigeon-pea, sweet pea.
1783Justamond tr. Raynal's Hist. Indies V. 319 This shrub is called the *Angola pea.
1866Treas. Bot. 300 The *Butterfly Pea, C[litoria] Mariana,..is a slender twining plant with..flowers of a light blue colour.
Ibid. 189 C[ajanus] indicus..is now naturalised and cultivated in the West Indies, [etc.]... The variety bicolor..is called the *Congo pea in Jamaica. The variety flavus..is called the No-eye pea.
Ibid. 282 C[icer] arietinum is the Chick⁓pea, or *Egyptian Pea of the English.
1597Gerarde Herbal 1054 The first is called Lathyrus,..in English *Pease euerlasting, great wilde Tare, and Cichling. 1705Everlasting pease [see everlasting A. 4 b]. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 379 Tangier Pea, Everlasting Pea, and sweet-scented Pea. 1866*No-eye Pea [see Congo pea].
1633Johnson Gerarde's Herbal Table Eng. Names, Norfolke *sea Pease. 1731–3Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Pisum, English Sea Pea..is found wild upon the Shoar in Sussex, and several other Counties. 1832Veg. Subst. Food 180 The Sea-Pea is a native of this country... During a famine in..1555, the application of the seeds..as an article of food was extensively..practised.
1731Miller Gard. Dict., Lathyrus distoplatyphyllos..commonly called *Sweet-scented Peas.
1741Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 362 Hardy annual Flowers, as..*Tangier Peas, sweet-scented Peas. 1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxv. (1794) 357 Tangier Pea, another of the biflorus section.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. App. s.v., *Winged-Pea, a name by which some call the Lotus. 1866Treas. Bot. 1135 T[etragonolobus] edulis or purpureus, the Winged Pea, a native of Sicily.
1633Johnson Gerarde's Herbal 1237 Astragalus syluaticus, *Wood Pease, or Heath Pease. 1711Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 386 Its Flowers and Pods resemble our Wood-Pea. 1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 129 Vicia Orobus... This Wood-vetch or Wood-pea.
II. Something small and round like the seed.
4. The eggs, roe, or spawn of certain fishes.
1758Descr. Thames 172 The Female [Salmon] discharges her Pea or Spawne. 1773Phil. Trans. LXIV. 120 A roe, which is here called a pea. 1802Sampson Statist. Surv. Londonderry 330 The ova, or pea [of salmon], continue in the sand or gravel for three months.
5. a. Applied to a small point of flame. Cf. peak n.4
1890Baring-Gould Pennycomequicks 43 There was gas in the room, turned down to a pea when not required for light.
b. = pea-coal (see sense 7); pl., coals of a very small size.
1880[see egg n. 3 b]. 1886J. Barrowman Gloss. Scotch Mining Terms 50 Peas, coal a grade smaller than nuts. 1905A. S. Cunningham Rambles in Scoonie & Wemyss 260 Most of the trebles, nuts, beans and peas produced at Wemyss colliery are treated by the washer. 1930Engineering 5 Dec. 708/1 The employment of anthracite duffs in place of washed grains and peas. 1949Black Diamond 26 Feb. 54/3 Prices range as follows:..nut and pea, $3.50–$4.50.
6. See issue-pea, orange-pea.
III. 7. attrib. and Comb., as pea-bloom (also attrib. in reference to form or colour), pea-blossom, pea-crop, pea-field, pea-flour, pea-hull (hull n.1 1), pea patch, pea-picker, pea-picking, pea-plant, pea-pudding, pea-rick, pea-root, pea-seed; also pea-like, pea-picking, pea-sized adjs.; pea-bean (see bean n. 3); pea-beetle = pea-bug; pea-blower = pea-shooter; pea-bone, the pisiform bone of the wrist, resembling a pea in shape and size; pea-bough, the same as pea-stick; pea-bug, a small coleopterous insect (Bruchus pisi), a native of North America, now found also in Southern Europe and Britain, which infests peas, to which its larva is very destructive; also called pea-beetle, pea-chafer, pea-weevil; pea-bush, an Australian heath-like leguminous shrub, Burtonia scabra, with purple papilionaceous flowers; pea-chafer = pea-bug; pea-coal (U.S.), coal in very small pieces like peas (Raymond Mining Gloss. 1881); pea-cod = peasecod (obs. exc. dial.); pea coffee U.S. obs., a beverage made by boiling roasted peas; pea-comb, a triple comb occurring in some varieties of the domestic fowl (from its fancied resemblance to a pea-blossom); pea-combed a., of poultry, having a pea-comb; pea-crab, a small crab of the genus Pinnotheres, commensally inhabiting the shell of a bivalve mollusc, as a mussel or oyster; pea-dodger Austral. = bowler3; pea-dove, a species of pigeon, Zenaida amabilis, found in W. Indies and Florida; pea-dropper, a contrivance for sowing peas singly (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); pea-finch, local (midland) name of the chaffinch; pea-flour, flour made of peas, pease-meal; pea gravel, gravel consisting of particles similar in size to peas; pea-green a. and n., (of) a colour like that of fresh green peas, a nearly pure but not deep green; pea-grit (see quots.); pea-gun = pea-shooter; pea-hook, a hook for reaping peas; pea-lamp, a very small, round electric lamp such as is often used as an indicator light; pea-maggot, a caterpillar which infests peas, the larva of the pea-moth (Ogilvie 1882); pea-make (dial.) = pease-make (see pease n. 5); pea-meal = pease-meal (ibid.); pea-measle, a ‘measle’ or hydatid which infests the rabbit and other animals, being the larva of the tapeworm of the dog; pea-moth, the larva of the moth Cydia nigricana, which feeds on peas; pea-ore (see quot.); pea-rake (see quot.); pea-rifle, a rifle with a thick barrel and a small round bullet like a pea; pea-rise, a branch of the pea-plant, esp. as a heraldic bearing; pea-shell = pea-pod; pea-sheller, (a) one who ‘shells’ peas, i.e. takes them out of the pods; (b) an instrument for shelling peas; pea-shod a., having peas in the shoes, as a pilgrim doing penance; pea-shooter, (a) a toy weapon, consisting of a long tube from which peas are shot by the force of the breath; (b) a person who shoots with this; so pea-shooting (whence pea-shoot v.); pea-spawn = sense 4; pea-stake, pea-stick, a stake or stick upon which a garden pea-plant is trained; pea-straw, the stalks and leaves of the pea-plant, used as fodder; pea-stubble, the stubble of pea-plants left standing after gathering the crop; pea-urchin, a very small species of sea-urchin of rounded form, Echinocyamus pusillus; pea-viner, a machine for picking, washing, and grading peas; pea-weevil = pea-bug. See also peaberry, pea-flower, peanut, pea-pod, pea-soup, peastone, pea-tree, pea-vine.
1815Kirby & Sp. Entomol. ii. (1818) I. 32 A cargo, or even a sample, of peas from North America might present us with that ravager of pulse, the *pea-beetle (Bruchus Pisi, L.).
[1675: see pease-bloom s.v. pease n. 5.] 1763Mills Pract. Husb. III. 238 The flowers..are of the *pea-bloom, or butterfly, kind. 1766W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 321, 1 piece peabloom [cloth].
[1590: see pease-blossom s.v. pease n. 5.] 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. I. 79 The delightful fragrance of their smell, somewhat resembling the *pea-blossom.
1821W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) II. 59 The three eldest boys kept the house in misery for two or three days by *pea-blowers.
1885St. James's Gaz. 2 Jan. 6/1 ‘Branchy’ pieces..are sorted into ‘*pea-boughs’ and fagot-wood.
1841T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (1862) 62 This little insect..the Bruchus Pisi of Linnæus.., the..pea-weevil,..is better known in America by the incorrect name of *pea-bug. 1895Westm. Gaz. 11 May 3/1 Another horror has supervened in the shape of a pea bug..which attacks market gardens.
1884Miller Plant-n., *Pea-bush, Burton's, Burtonia scabra.
1882Ogilvie s.v., Pea-beetle... Called also Pea-bug, *Pea-chafer, and Pea-weevil.
1778H. Brooke Contending Bros. ii. ii, A mere niggardly good for nothing, with a heart as squeez'd and narrow as a young *peacod. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xix, They are as like thine own, as one green pea⁓cod is to another.
1805T. E. White Jrnl. 14 July (1904) 24, I drank three or four cups of *pea coffee and then went to bed. 1818‘A. Burton’ Adventures J. Newcome ii. 112 Pea-coffee, Hurry-hush, and Chowder. 1851H. Melville Moby Dick I. ii. 14 The very spot for cheap lodgings, and the best of pea coffee.
1872–4L. Wright Bk. Poultry 247 This triple or *pea-comb has been found..on the pure Malay breed. Ibid. 249 The comb—known as a pea-comb—is..described as resembling three small combs joined into one, the centre one being higher than the two outside.
1868Darwin Variation of Animals & Plants under Domestication I. vii. 254 In some breeds the comb is double..; it is triple in the *pea-combed Brahmas. 1922R. C. Punnett Mendelism (ed. 6) 32 The pea-combed bird contains the factor for pea but not that for rose.
1836Thompson in Entom. Mag. III. 85 (title) The Metamorphoses and Natural History of the Pinotheres, or *Pea-Crabs. 1901M. Newbigin Life by Seashore x. 202 The tribe Catometopa..includes the curious pea-crab, Pinnotheres pisum, found inside the bivalves. 1960C. M. Yonge Oysters vii. 118 The hundred or so species of Pea Crabs, most of which inhabit the mantle-cavity of various species of bivalves. 1978G. Durrell Garden of Gods iv. 88 It was he..who had got me the biggest clam shell in my collection and, moreover, with the two tiny parasitic pea-crabs still inside.
1732W. Ellis Pract. Farmer 39 This [weed] I cannot say will utterly destroy the *Pea-Crop, but will so cripple it, as not to be a quarter Value. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 583 Pea crops. 1844H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 371 The produce of the pea-crop is either in abundance or a complete failure.
1933Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Apr. 12/3 ‘Elizabeth Owen’:..the different terms applied to ‘bowler’ hats—I have also heard them called ‘egg-boiler’ and ‘*pea-dodgers’. 1959Baker Drum (1960) ii. 133 Peadodger, a bowler hat.
1847Gosse Birds Jamaica 308 The *Pea-dove is frequently seen in the middle of dusty high-roads. 1860― Romance Nat. Hist. 17 The peadove from the neighbouring woods commenced her fivefold coo.
[1677W. Hubbard Narr. Troubles with Indians in New-England i. 24 If there were Indians in the Neck they should send them about a Peas-field not far off.] 1972D. Haston In High Places iii. 44 The trip was planned in the pubs of the *pea-fields of Kent, where we had been supplementing our meagre incomes.
1766J. W. Baker in Compl. Farmer s.v. Turnip, [The bullock] took kindly to the turnips; and on the sixteenth I began to give him, with his turnips, *pea-flower [= pea-flour]. 1881Pea-flour [see fladbrod, -bröd]. 1915D. H. Lawrence Rainbow ii. 46 The vicar put pea-flower [sic] into the crocuses, for his bees to roll in.
1928E. E. Bauer Highway Materials xii. 122 After the bituminous material has been applied, the entire surface must be covered with an application of *pea gravel. 1962R. Page Educ. Gardener x. 277, I devised a very simple arrangement of areas of fine pea gravel and panels of grass. 1963Times 16 Feb. 11/3 A bed of well weathered clinker ash, or small well washed pea gravel say 8 in. deep is placed on the floor of the greenhouse. 1973C. Williams Man on Leash (1974) ix. 140 Bare planks..and then another two steps down onto the grating crunch of pea gravel.
1752Foote Taste ii. Wks. 1799 I. 22 Japan of the *pea-green kind. 1861L. L. Noble Icebergs 99 All the adjacent deep is a luminous pea⁓green.
1859–65Page Handbk. Geol. Terms, *Pea-grit, a coarse pisolitic limestone..composed of concretionary bodies. 1885J. Phillips' Man. Geol. i. 48 The Pea-grit at the base of the inferior Oolite in which the grains are as large as peas.
1823Scott Let. to Terry 14 Feb. in Lockhart, The *pea gun principle. 1872Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. July 454/2, I gave my pea-gun. [1674–1769: see pease-hook s.v. pease n. 5.]
1833Wauldby Farm Rep. 110 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, They are cut down either with the scythe, or the *pea-hook. [1377–1664: see pease-hull s.v. pease n. 5.]
1717Ramsay Elegy on Lucky Wood v, Poor facers now may chew *pea-hools, Since Lucky's dead. 1855Robinson Whitby Gloss., Pea-hulls, the shells of green peas. [1629–1725: see pease-like s.v. pease n. 5.]
1938G. H. Sewell Amateur Film-Making ii. 20 The glowing filament of a *pea lamp. 1950Electronic Engin. XXII. 413/1 The output of this amplifier was used to light a pea-lamp mounted alongside the microphone.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VI. 163 The chrystaline humour in fishes.., being that little hard *pea-like substance which is found in their eyes after boiling. 1866Treas. Bot. 248 Centrosema... The large and elegant pea-like flowers.
1834New Monthly Mag. XLII. 421 The poachers had armed themselves with *peamakes (a long staff with a curved knife at the end, with which peas are cut). [1820–: see pease-meal s.v. pease n. 5.]
1830Kyle Farm Rep. 45 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Chaff or cut hay..enriched with a few potatoes, or a little *pea-meal. 1879J. Wrightson in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 352/2 The sides and hams are powdered over with pea-meal, and are then hung in the smoke.
[1859S. J. Wilkinson Brit. Tortrices 230 The larva [of Endopisa nigricana] feeds on the growing and unripe seeds of the Pea. ]1881E. A. Ormerod Man. Injurious Insects 131 *Pea Moth... The caterpillars of this Moth cause the ‘worm-eaten’ or ‘maggoty’ Peas often found in old pods. 1931G. S. Chappell Gardener's Friend 153 The lupines..have inherited from their lowly ancestry an appeal to..wire-worms and pea moths. 1964F. G. W. & M. G. Jones Pests of Field Crops v. 93 The pea moth has become increasingly important with the intensive cultivation of peas in certain areas of Britain. 1972Arable Farmer Feb. 55/2 Folithion (insecticide for pea moth control from Bayer Agrochem).
1840W. Humble Dict. Geol., etc., *Pea ore..is the pisiform iron-stone of Kirwan.
1834Knickerbocker III. 35 Didn't I turn that pied heifer of yourn into my *pea patch. 1863‘G. Hamilton’ Gala-Days 34 No premonition floated over from that adjoining pea-patch. 1941J. Stuart Men of Mountains 120 Tear off the damn Dingus silk shirts..for to make skeery-cows out'n for the pea patch!
1889Pall Mall G. 17 Aug. 3/1, I came across a party of *pea-pickers.
1898J. Arch Story of Life x. 250 *Peapicking gangs were generally very large. 1901Daily Chron. 7 Aug. 7/7 Instances in which children had started to work pea picking as early as two o'clock in the morning, and then had put in a full day at school. [1758–: see pease-pudding s.v. pease n. 5.]
1844H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 239 An excellent leg of pickled pork, served with *pea-pudding.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Pea-rake, a rake adapted for gathering the field pea. [1530: see pease-rick s.v. pease n. 5.]
1766J. W. Baker in Compl. Farmer s.v. Turnep, I gave my sheep access to some *pea-ricks.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xi. 21 *Pea rifles for rabbit and sea-fowl shooting.
1780Edmondson Her. II. Gloss., *Pea-rise, a name given by Heralds to a Pea-stalk leaved and blossomed.
1744W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Feb. v. 29 When Horse-bean and *Pea-seed are to be sown together..the stated Allowance..is..two-third Parts Beans, and one-third Part Pease. 1946Nature 31 Aug. 293/1 The fungus was grown in various modifications of Czapek-Dox medium with addition of manganese sulphate, in some cases with pea-seed extract. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 97/1 It is in practice difficult to get the fertilizer below the peas without forcing the pea-seed coulters into a too-shallow position.
1755Johnson, Peascod, *Peashell, the husk that contains peas.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Pea-sheller, an implement for taking garden pease from their pods. 1899Westm. Gaz. 31 May 3/2 The pea⁓shellers look as if they have been at work for hours. 1902Ibid. 29 Sept. 3/1 At the Exhibition was a pea-sheller which will shell fourteen tons in ten hours.
1882Sophia E. De Morgan Mem. A. de M. 8 The two pilgrims who went *pea⁓shod to Loretto.
1861Kingsley Ravenshoe xxxvi, Dick Ferrers..carried a peashooter, and *pea-shot the noses of the leading horses of a dragful of Plungers, which followed them. 1899A. Lubbock in Daily News 2 June 8/4 It was a favourite pastime,..for the boys, whenever the room was a bit dark, to pea-shoot at his bald, shining head.
1803J. Russell Jrnl. 23 Sept. in S. Walpole Life Ld. John Russell (1889) I. i. 6 The boys play at hoops, peg-tops, and *pea-shooters. 1833Boy's Week-Day Bk. 210 When you shoot a pea through your pea-shooter, it is quite as well to know that the natives of Macouslie shoot arrows in the same manner. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. iv, With their *pea-shooters, and long whips. 1883‘Annie Thomas’ Mod. Housewife 100, I..became the object of the attentions of a party of young pea-shooters fresh from the excitement of a ‘wake’.
1873W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 332 Two girls within *pea-shooting..distance.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 773 *Pea-sized, smooth, white bald spots.
1840Cottager's Man. 41 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Onions protected..by *pea-stakes or bushes, from being injured by frosty winds in the spring.
[c1325–: see pease-straw s.v. pease n. 5.] 1745J. MacSparran Letter Bk. (1899) 27 Harry is come home..& has bro't home *Pea Sticks. 1855Delamer Kitchen Gard. (1861) 170 Secure a supply of pea-sticks for early spring. 1971Country Life 2 Sept. 580/2 Most of the cut wood has its uses with the seasonal demand for pea sticks and bean poles. 1973Daily Tel. 7 July 7/8 What can we stake our herbaceous plants with..now that you can no longer get pea sticks?
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 184 The small *pea-staw or haulm, is commonly used as rack-meat for horses. 1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 171 Give them..as much clover and green pea straw as they will eat up. [1523: see pease-stubble s.v. pease n. 5.]
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 184 The *pea-stubbles are dressed with six or eight hogsheads of lime per acre, and sown with wheat.
1843Embleton in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 11. 51 Green *Pea Urchin. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. (ed. 2) 237 The pea-urchin is particularly common in Herm. 1841*Pea-weevil [see pea-bug]. 1882Garden 8 Apr. 231/2 The common Pea weevil..is very injurious to young Pea and Bean plants.
1943C. Crow Great Amer. Customer 179 The *pea viner is perhaps the most marvelous of them all. Vines fresh from the field are fed into the robot which hulls the peas, grades them as to size, and sends them on their way to the cooker. 1952J. W. Day New Yeomen of Eng. ii. 32 This giant pea-viner..deals with a ton of peas an hour. It picks them from the vines, washes, and grades them.
Add:[III.] [7.] pea-brain slang, a stupid or empty-headed person; a dunce or fool; also, the supposedly tiny brain of such a person.
1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. x. 181 A ‘blockhead’ is someone who is dense... He is—a brainless chump, a brainless gorm, a *pea-brain, or a putty-brain. 1977D. Ramsay You can't call it Murder iii. 172 Meredith wanted to know if Judith had really ‘put the idea of shooting out light bulbs into that pea brain’. 1986H. Jacobson Redback x. 101 The intellectual pogromists and pea-brains, with their scream-squads of love-mongering mystics who have taken over our educational institutions.
pea-brained a. slang, having a brain the size of a pea; dull-witted, foolish, stupid.
1950W. Faulkner Requiem for Nun ii. 99 The *pea-brained reptilian heads curved the heavy leather-flapped air. 1975Time 7 July 1/1 Vapid, pea-brained, nonsense-spouting but gorgeous young men of the world. 1987R. Guy And I heard Bird Sing xix. 147 That thickheaded pea-brained two-faced thug.
▪ II. † pea2 Obs. rare.
[A parallel form of paa, po, OE. páwa and péa peacock: in late use perhaps deduced from the compounds: see pea-chick, peacock, peafowl, peahen.]
A peafowl.
a1000Phœnix 312 Se fuᵹel is on hiwe..onlicost pean. 1658tr. Porta's Nat. Magic ii. xiv. 46 The Indian-hen, being mixt of a Cock and a Pea, though the shape be liker to a Pea than a Cock.
▪ III. pea3|piː|
Also pee.
[Said to be shortened from peak: cf. peak n.2 4 c.]
The peak or bill of the fluke of an anchor.
1833Penny Cycl. I. 505/1 The bill or peak. (Note, Seamen by custom drop the k in peak and fluke, which they pronounce pea and flue.) c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 53 The parts of an anchor. The ring or shackle, the shank, crown, arms, palm, pee or bill, and stock. 1885Times 3 Dec. 3/4 The pea of the fluke had penetrated.
▪ IV. pea4 local.
[prob. shortened from pease, peis, peise, weight, mistaken for a plural: cf. history of pea1.]
The sliding weight used on a steelyard, safety-valve, etc.
1761N. Jersey Archives XX. 529 To be sold..a large quantity of old refuse cast Iron,..Sash-weights, Stove-plates, Steelyard-peas, &c. 1838Holloway Dict. Provincialisms, Pea... The weight which is used in weighing anything with the steel-yards. Hants. 1847–78in Halliwell. 1874J. Richards Mech. Humour 43 The boilers..had a single safety-valve..with a large rectangular block of cast iron as a weight, or ‘pea’, as it was termed.
▪ V. † pea, int. ? Obs.|piː|
An exclamation of contempt; = pooh!
1608Middleton Mad World i. ii. B ij b, Oh fie, fie, wife! Pea, pea, pea, pea, how haue you lost your time? |