| 释义 |
peppermint|ˈpɛpəmɪnt|
[f. pepper n. + mint n.2: app. after Bot.L.]
1. A species or subspecies of mint (Mentha piperita), cultivated for its essential oil (oil of peppermint: see 2).
Also applied with qualifying words to other species of mint or other labiates having similar properties.
1696Ray Synopsis (ed. 2) 124 Mentha..sapore fervido Piperis. Pepper-Mint found by Dr. Eales in Hartfordshire. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Mentha,..16. The common thick spiked pepper Mint. 1755Johnson, Peppermint, mint eminently hot. 1838T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 473 Oil of Peppermint..is extracted from the leaves of the..common Peppermint. 1866Treas. Bot. 862 Australian Peppermint, Mentha australis. Small—, Thymus Piperella. 1884Miller Plant-n., Chinese Pepper-mint, Mentha arvensis glabrata... Japanese—, Mentha arvensis var. piperascens.
2. a. The essential oil of peppermint, or some preparation of it.
It has a characteristic pungent aromatic flavour leaving an after-sensation of coolness, and is much used for flavouring sweetmeats, etc., and in medicine as a digestive stimulant and carminative, and to qualify the taste of nauseous drugs.
1836Brande Chem. (ed. 4) 987 It is insupportably bitter, with an aroma like peppermint. 1866–77Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 187 (Oils, Volatile) The hydrocarbons from wormwood, anise, thyme, mint..group with ordinary turpentine; bay, myrtle, and rosemary stand alone... Peppermint is somewhat intermediate in its properties.
b. A lozenge flavoured with peppermint, a peppermint-drop. Also, any peppermint-flavoured sweetmeat.
1829G. Griffin Collegians I. iii. 56 ‘He gave me an O'Dell-cake when he was last here,’ said one. ‘And me a stick of peppermint.’ 1835J. Todd Student's Man. (ed. 2) 281 A handful of hot peppermints. 1883Harper's Mag. Sept. 534/2 The windows were decorated..with..glass jars in which were sticks of striped candy, the half-moist peppermint, and the brown sugary squares. 1884J. Quincy Figures of Past 176 [He] produced just the stimulant required in the form of a package of peppermints. 1899Earl Rosebery in Daily News 4 Nov. 3/2 You have an assortment of eloquent extracts like a box of peppermints to take away the taste of anything that fails to come up to the higher standard.
c. Used as a flavouring in drinks: hence, the name of a cordial, and of a liqueur (= crème de menthe s.v. crème 1 b).
c1770in de Vries & Fryer Venus Unmasked (1967) 31 She allows gin and peppermint in the room. 1825P. Egan Life of Actor ii. 54 Now to avail me of the Friar's hint, He bade me take it in some peppermint. c1863T. Taylor Ticket-of-Leave Man i. 8 Four penn'orth of brandy,..and a little peppermint..(stirring and sipping his brandy and peppermint). 1865E. H. Greenhow in E. R. Pike Human Documents Victorian Golden Age (1967) 203 Wine, gin, peppermint, and other stimulants are..often given.., their actual effect being..to stupefy the child. 1870D. J. Kirwan Palace & Hovel xxxv. 516 Glass o' nice peppermint! this cold morning—ha'penny a glass! 1900E. Glyn Visits of Elizabeth 77, I could bear most of it, if it wasn't for the peppermint glasses at the end, which the men have. 1963A. L. Simon Guide Good Food & Wines 742 The highly scented leaves of Mint are used in the making of liqueurs usually sold under the name of Crème de Menthe or Peppermint. 1972C. Drummond Death at Bar i. 32 A little drop of peppermint with a dash of lemonade. 1972M. Gilbert Body of Girl xii. 107 Make it a gin and peppermint and I might join you.
d. Used as the name of various colours (esp. green) associated with peppermint-flavoured drinks or sweets.
1868D. G. Rossetti Let. 17 Nov. (1965) II. 676, I wonder has Scotus's peppermint-and-mud tint been applied yet to the wall surrounding the Topsaic tapestries. 1934A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay 23 The buttery glossiness of acetate silk shone, yellow, or peppermint green. 1963A. Christie Clocks xiii. 113 The door was opened by an elderly woman with..a black skirt and a rather unexpected peppermint-striped jumper. 1965R. Goulart in H. Waugh Merchants of Menace (1971) (title) Peppermint-striped goodbye. Ibid. 143 They drove around in an old ice-cream wagon they'd painted with peppermint stripes. 1973Observer (Colour Suppl.) 30 Dec. 29/2 (caption) Peppermint washable satin nightdress.., {pstlg}24. 1976Milton Keynes Express 28 May 48/2 (Advt.), 1976 Moskvitch Estate, peppermint green..{pstlg}475. 1976N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone i. 4 Bone slipped into his peppermint-stripe shirt.
3. (In full, peppermint-tree.) Name for several Australian species of Eucalyptus (E. amygdalina, piperita, etc.), yielding an aromatic essential oil resembling that of peppermint. Also, peppermint gum.
1790J. White's Voy. N.S. Wales App. 227 The name of Peppermint Tree has been given to this plant by Mr. White on account of the very great resemblance between the essential oil drawn from its leaves and that obtained from the Peppermint. 1880Sutherland Tales Goldfields 30 A woody gully, filled with peppermint and stringy-bark trees. 1911E. M. Clowes On Wallaby ix. 249 In the Wombat Forest..is found messmate, peppermint, and swamp⁓gum. 1936F. Clune Roaming round Darling vi. 51 He found the poor thief by the sight of his boots poking out between two stones that made him a house under a peppermint tree. 1963W. Blunt Of Flowers & Village 94 The Australian peppermint tree (Eucalyptus amygdalina) is the tallest of all trees. 1966Southerly XXVI. 107 The stringybarks and peppermint gums at the edges of the encircling scrub. 1967T. Keneally Bring Larks xxv. 189 A half-uprooted peppermint hung over them.
4. attrib. and Comb. peppermint cake = mint cake (b) s.v. mint n.2 3; peppermint-camphor = menthol; peppermint cordial, a cordial flavoured with peppermint; peppermint cream, a cream sweet flavoured with peppermint and often covered with chocolate; peppermint-drop, -lozenge, a lozenge made of sugar, flavoured with peppermint; peppermint geranium, a variety of Pelargonium tomentosum, with downy, scented leaves and white flowers; peppermint gum: see sense 3 above; peppermint lump, a type of sweet flavoured with peppermint; peppermint oil = oil of peppermint (see 1, 2); peppermint-scented a., with a scent of peppermint; spec. peppermint-scented geranium = peppermint geranium; peppermint-tea, an infusion of the leaves of the peppermint; peppermint-tree (see 3); peppermint-water, a cordial distilled from peppermint.
1863Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. II. xii. 220 Here's a bit o' *peppermint cake; he's main and fond on it.
1865–68Watts Dict. Chem. III. 881 *Peppermint-camphor is an alcohol containing the radicle C10H19 (menthyl).
1917Harrods Gen. Catal. 1293 Schweppes cordials... *Peppermint cordial 1/6. 1974Guardian 24 Jan. 6/8 Dr McGill later celebrated his acquittal with peppermint cordial.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 49/2 *Peppermint Creams. 1940‘R. Crompton’ William & Evacuees ii. 49 ‘Thank you, dear,’ said Mrs. Brown, selecting a peppermint cream. 1976P. Ferris Detective i. 3 His wife..asked him if he would buy a box of peppermint creams.
1799F. Boscawen Let. 10 Jan. in C. Aspinall-Oglander Admiral's Widow (1942) 177, I shall be glad..if you could send me 3 ounces of *pepper mint drops such as I am used to have. 1818[see drop n. 10 e]. 1849Dickens Dav. Copp. (1850) vii. 68 He was so kind as to..dissolve a peppermint drop in it. 1878W. S. Gilbert H.M.S. Pinafore, A. 1 I've chickens and conies and pretty polonies, And excellent peppermint drops. 1888Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 785 Peppermint-drops are made of granulated sugar and water heated to the boiling-point.
1922A. L. Jekyll Kitchen Ess. iv. 36 Make a quart of good lemon jelly... Whilst warm add a handful of those large green *peppermint geranium leaves, thick as a fairy's blanket, soft as a vicuna robe, and to be found in most old-fashioned gardens. 1931E. S. Rohde Scented Garden vii. 177 The leaves of this kind were large and soft... I know it now for Pelargonium tomentosum, usually called the peppermint geranium. 1966G. B. Foster Herbs for every Garden iv. 123 Peppermint geranium, with its velvety, grape-like leaves and small white blossoms is P[elargonium] tomentosum.
1846Lindley Veg. Kingd. 660 The volatile oil..is what gives their flavour to *Peppermint lozenges.
1926–7Army & Navy Stores Catal. 55/2 Sweets... *Peppermint lumps. 1932H. H. Price Perception viii. 230 The taste of a peppermint lump may linger on when the lump itself is no longer tactually present in our mouth.
1892Analyst XVII. 14 Commercial samples of *peppermint oil differ in quality as well as composition. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. VIII. 227/2 l-Menthol, found as the main constituent..in peppermint oil.
1823R. Sweet Geraniaceæ II. 168 This plant, often known by the name of *Peppermint-scented Geranium, is an old inhabitant of our greenhouses. 1907Westm. Gaz. 3 Dec. 2/1 To return to the peppermint-scented schoolroom. 1946M. Free All about House Plants xvii. 165 P[elargonium] tomentosum has long-stalked, Peppermint-scented leaves. 1960R. Hemphill Fragrance & Flavour 89 Pick and wash a bunch of peppermint-scented geranium leaves.
1875tr. H. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. I 460 Aromatic drinks, chamomile tea, *peppermint tea, &c.
1757A. Cooper Distiller ii. v. (1760) 126 The simple Waters now commonly made, are Orange-flower-water,..*Pepper-mint-water, etc. 1820Pharmacopœia U.S. 85 In the same manner are prepared peppermint water,..spearmint water,..rose water. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 516/2 Peppermint Water..8 oz. bot 0/5. a1976A. Christie Autobiogr. (1977) v. 251, I did..give her an extra dollop of peppermint water.
Add:[4.] peppermint patty: see patty n. 1 b. |