| 释义 |
▪ I. petal, n.|ˈpɛtəl|
[= F. pétale, Sp., It. petalo, ad. mod.L. petal-um, in Fabio Colonna 1649 (Hatz.-Darm.); in ancient L. in sense ‘metal plate’, a. Gr. πέταλον thin plate, lamina, leaf, neuter of πέταλος adj. outspread, f. root πετ- to spread.]
1. Bot. Each of the divisions (modified leaves) of the corolla of a flower (see corolla 2), esp. when separate. (Strictly, distinguished from the sepals or leaves of the calyx, but often including these when coloured or petaloid.) At first used in mod.L. form petalum, pl. -a.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Petala, is a Term in Botany, signifying those fine coloured Leaves that compose the Flowers of all Plants. 1726Flower Gard. Displ. (ed. 2) Introd., Petals, Leaves of a Flower; so called to distinguish them from the Green Leaves of the Plant. 1776Withering British Plants (1796) I. 18 [It] contains Blossoms of one Petal; and this Petal is fixed beneath the Germen. 1793Coleridge Rose i, Within the petals of a rose A sleeping Love I spied. 1857Henfrey Elem. Bot. §177 The petals are either distinct, and then the corolla is called polypetalous, or they are coherent more or less, and the corolla is monopetalous [or gamopetalous]. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt i, Petals fell in a silent shower. 1883G. Allen in Knowledge 9 Mar. 143 The spring snowflake..has three sepals or calyx-pieces, and three petals or corolla-pieces; only..these two whorls exactly resemble one another.
fig.1837Lytton E. Maltrav. i. vii, Love opens all the petals of the soul. a1887Jefferies Field & Hedgerow (1889) 6 From the sweet delicious violets think out fresh petals of thought and colours, as it were, of soul.
2. Zool. In Echinoids: A petaloid ambulacrum, or the dilated end of one. (Oftener in L. form.)
1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 557 In the Cassidulidæ the peristomial ends of the ambulacra dilate into petala or phyllodes, forming a figure known as floscella.
3. Comb., as petal-shower, petal-tambourine; petal-like, petal-soft adjs.; petal-wise adv.; petal collar, a collar on a woman's garment cut in the shape of petals; petal ware, a type of pottery (see quot. 1960).
1957M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 74/1 Petal collar, collar made of overlapping petals of fabric. 1969Times 24 Mar. 13/8 (Advt.), A button-through coat dress for Spring into Summer. Short sleeves, petal collar.
1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 145 The two coloured lateral petal-like bodies. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. (ed. 2) 238 Petal-like tentacles..furnished with cupping glasses.
1828–32Webster, Petal-shaped, having the shape of a petal.
a1918W. Owen Coll. Poems (1963) 117 Stirs Of leaflets in the gloom; soft petal-showers. 1945P. Larkin North Ship 4 Whose every hall The light as music fills, and on your face Shines petal-soft. 1947Sun (Baltimore) 6 Aug. 9 (Advt.), Generously cut to the new hem lengths..and pretty as you please, Colony Club's pettiskirt... In petal-soft Bur-Mil rayon crepe, white, pink or black.
1922Blunden Shepherd 26 And petal-tambourines shall earn A largess this May morn. 1930D. T. Rice Byzantine Glazed Pott. 9 In dealing with the Constantinople finds,..six main groups were distinguished; plain glazed ware; stamped ware; white inscribed or sgraffito ware; ‘petal’ ware [etc.]. 1952― Eng. Art 871–1100 viii. 248 The glazes, however, are of a type not so far known from Germany, and suggest, rather Byzantine prototypes; one group, indeed, where the glaze is thick and dark, and where a decoration of blobs has been added, is extremely close to a Byzantine group, usually classed as ‘petal’ ware. 1960R. G. Haggar Conc. Encycl. Cont. Pott. & Porc. 345/2 ‘Petal’ ware, ware found at Constantinople, characterized by the addition of horizontal bands of lumps of clay, pressed firmly to the body at one end but left free at the other, which resemble crude petals, hence the name.
1882G. Allen in Nature 17 Aug. 374/1 The mere fact that the stamens are opposite to the lobes of the calyx,..in itself shows that a petal-whorl has been suppressed.
1880W. Watson Prince's Quest, etc. (1892) 62 Doubtful as a dream that lies Folded within another, petal⁓wise.
▪ II. petal, v. poet.|ˈpɛtəl|
[f. the n.]
trans. To provide or scatter with petals. Also fig.
1907Westm. Gaz. 3 June 2/3 Sigh, little wind.., Winnow the lilacs pink and white, Petal the shining grass. 1930E. Pound XXX Cantos iv. 17 Saffron sandal so petals the narrow foot. 1955― Section: Rock-Drill (1957) xci. 76 The water-bug's mittens petal the rock beneath. |