| 释义 |
peppercorn|ˈpɛpəkɔːn|
Forms: see pepper.
[f. pepper n. + corn n.1 2 b.]
1. a. The dried berry of Black Pepper.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 24 ᵹenim eft senepes sædes dæl..& .xx. piporcorna. a1400–50Alexander 2025 How all þi soft grayns Sall vndire-put be all þe pake vn-to þir peper⁓cornes. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. iii. 9 And I haue not forgotten what the in-side of a Church is made of, I am a Pepper-Corne, a Brewers Horse. 1652Howell Giraffi's Rev. Naples ii. (1663) 34 None might embeazle the value of a pepper corn. 1769Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 283 Mix them with..a blade or two of mace, a few pepper corns, and a little salt. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 525 As absurd as to suppose that a grain of sand should command the motion of a mill-stone, or a pepper-corn that of a mountain.
b. Formerly often, and still sometimes, stipulated for as a quit-rent or nominal rent: see quots.
1607Hieron Serm. 2 Tim. iv. 7 Wks. I. 221 Some great man, out of his bounty, giueth thee an inheritance of some pounds by the yeare; thou must pay a pepper corne for thy rent. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle v. 2007 Sha't have a new lease for a hundred yeares,..and shalt yearly pay A pepper⁓corne, a nutt, a bunch of may, Or some such trifle. 1669Boston Rec. (1881) VII. 50 He payeinge a pepper corne to the said Treasurer upon demand for ever on the said 29th September. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 379 The reservation of a peppercorn in the bargain and sale for a year is a sufficient consideration to raise a use in the bargainee, so as to make the release valid. 1898Encycl. Laws Eng. s.v., In modern times building leases sometimes reserve a pepper-corn as rent for the first few years.
fig.1646Evance Noble Ord. 31 You can never have a firme possession, till you hold your Honours in this title, that God bestowes them, and untill you give a Pepper corne of honour unto God. 1780Cowper Table-t. 110 True. While they live, the courtly laureat pays His quit-rent ode, his pepper-corn of praise.
2. attrib.
a. Of or consisting in a peppercorn, as peppercorn rent (see 1 b); also fig. very small, insignificant, trivial.
1791Wolcott (P. Pindar) Remonstrance 83 Not pepper⁓corn acknowledgment I owe 'em. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Worship Wks. (Bohn) II. 396 After their peppercorn aims are gained, it seems as if the lime in their bones alone held them together. 1863Keble Bp. Wilson xxi. 712 To whom and his heirs and assigns the property is granted for a thousand years at a peppercorn rent.
b. Used attrib. or as adj. to designate the tufted style in which Hottentots and Bushmen wear their hair; also transf.
1868J. Chapman Trav. S. Afr. i. i. 16 Bushmen with peppercorn heads. 1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 107 High cheek-bones, oblique eyes, and peppercorn hair. 1935L. G. Green Great Afr. Mysteries x. 121 Reconstructions of these bones suggested that the Strandloopers were never more than five feet in height. Some authorities declare they had peppercorn hair. 1948H. V. Morton In Search of S. Afr. viii. 251, I could see the road running ahead, disappearing for a while and emerging again upon the face of the greyish-brown plain, which was dotted with small peppercorn bushes like a Hottentot's hair. 1958L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari i. 12 His [sc. the Bushman's] hair was black and grew in thick round clusters which my countrymen called, with that aptitude for scornful metaphor they unfailingly exercised on his behalf, ‘pepper-corn hair’. 1959J. D. Clark Prehist. S. Afr. i. 17 The Hottentot closely resembles the Bushman except in stature. He..has black hair which grows in spirals and is known as ‘pepper-corn hair’.
3. Comb., as peppercorn-sized adj. peppercorn shrub, tree = pepper-tree.
[1830Hobart Town Almanack 65 A thick grove of the pepper-shrub..grows in a close thicket to the height of from six to ten feet.] 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 592 It is miliary to pepper-corn sized. 1901M. Franklin My Brilliant Career i. 1 The stringybark roof of the salt-shed..peeped out picturesquely from the musk and peppercorn shrubs. 1954Coast to Coast 1953–54 76 Who do you think we see sittin' under a pepper-corn tree but this old sundowner. 1973Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Aug. 43/3 Dejected peppercorn trees by the station. 1978O. White Silent Reach ix. 104 A line of scrawny peppercorn trees.
Hence ˈpeppercornish, ˈpeppercorny adjs., of the nature of or resembling a peppercorn.
1762J. Hall-Stevenson Crazy Tales 24 First his acknowledgment being paid, A pepper-cornish kind of due. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. viii, Of a peppercorny and farinaceous character. |