| 释义 |
▪ I. plush, n. and a.|plʌʃ|
[ad. F. pluche, contracted form of peluche a hairy fabric, shag, plush = OSp. peluza, mod.Sp. pelusa down on fruit, nap on cloth, velvet, Cat. pelussa down on fruit (cf. It. peluccio, peluzzo a little hair, soft down, fine hair), f. late L. type *pilūceus, -ea, f. L. pilus hair.]
A. n.
1. a. A kind of cloth, of silk, cotton, wool, or other material (or of two of these combined), having a nap longer and softer than that of velvet; used for rich garments (esp. footmen's liveries), upholstery, etc. In quot. 1633, taken as the typical livery of the ‘fool’ or clown.
1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. 50 The trappings of his horse were pounced and bolstered out with rough plumed siluer plush. c1611Chapman Iliad xxiv. 338 Wast coats of silke plush laying by. a1626Bacon New Atl. (1650) 25 He sate alone, upon Cushions, of a kinde of excellent Plush, blew. 1633Shirley Bird in Cage v. i, All places he is free of, and fooles it without blushing At Maskes and Playes, is not the Bayes thrust out, to let the plush in. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iv. 71 A fair silk Cassock, richly lin'd with Plush. 1784Cowper Task i. 11 As yet black breeches were not, satin smooth, Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile. 1882Beck Draper's Dict. s.v., Plush may be described roughly as long-napped velvet, and any kind of stuff may be used in its manufacture—cotton, silk, wool, any kind of hair, or even swansdown.
b. pl. Plush breeches (as worn by footmen).
1844J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. xxiv, A footman in green plushes and a powdered head. 1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 14 His lace-bedaubed coat, gold-gartered plushes and stockings.
c. Colloq. phr. on (or in) (the) plush: in comfortable circumstances.
1930Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves ix. 226 He was, to all appearances, absolutely on plush. He ate well, slept well, was happily married. 1945Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 23 Mar. 20/3 Morgenthau..made it plain that the drive would be aimed chiefly against ‘the boys who live in the plush’ rather than the small taxpayer.
2. transf. A natural substance likened to the preceding.
a1619Fletcher Knt. Malta i. i, O my black swan, sleeker than signet's plush. 1635Quarles Embl. iii. xiii. (1718) 177 The proud summer-meadow, which to day Wears her green plush, and is to morrow hay. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 117/1 Plush [is] the middle of..Marigolds, &c., of some termed..Thrummy heads; of others Hairy heads. 1862Johns Brit. Birds (1874) 56 Eggs, from which emerge..bodies enveloped in a soft plush of grey yarn.
3. attrib. and Comb.
a. attrib., usually in sense Made or consisting of plush; also, of or pertaining to plush. Also, covered or upholstered in plush. (In quots. 1629, a 1640. Clad in plush.)
1629B. Jonson New Inn, Ode to Himself, Brave plush and velvet-men. a1640Day Parl. Bees To Rdr. (1881) 9 Some Plush-Midas that can read no further But ‘Bees’. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. 28 They unmantled him of a new plush cloak. 1787‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsem. (1809) 31 Riding in black plush breeches. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs vii, Pea-green plush inexpressibles. 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 113/1 Silk plush work box with silvered center and corner ornaments. 1926E. O'Neill Great God Brown i. iii. 89 At the left is a bald-spotted crimson plush chair. 1935R. Macaulay Personal Pleasures 135 Pointing us to seats in the middle of an eagerly gazing row of persons, past whom we push, to subside into plush chairs and eagerly gaze too. 1935Punch 4 Sept. 256/2 And, what is more, though you were seeing it in comfort from a plush seat, it was nearly as good as if you had been energetic and enthusiastic enough to go to Victoria. 1976–7Hamley's Catal. 66/3 A fully jointed soft plush teddy.
b. Comb., as plush-weaver; plush-bottomed, plush-bound, plush-capped, plush-clad, plush-coloured, plush-covered, plush-fitted, plush-framed, plush-lined, plush-wearing adjs.; plush-copper (see quot.); plush horse, used as a symbol of ostentation and over-elaborateness; also attrib.; plush-stitch, a kind of stitch in worsted or wool work, forming projecting loops which can be cut so as to make a long nap as in plush; plush-velvet, a kind of plush with short nap, resembling velvet; plush-velveteen, a cotton plush imitating silk plush as velveteen does velvet.
1901Conrad & Hueffer Inheritors xiii. 210, I sat on a *plush-bottomed gilded chair. 1902Conrad Typhoon xxiii. 185 She reclined in a plush-bottomed and gilt hammock⁓chair near a tiled fireplace.
1912C. Mackenzie Carnival xxxiv. 347 These..were now propped dismally against the overmantel, individually obscured..by a plush⁓bound photograph of Mr. Lloyd George.
1876G. M. Hopkins Wreck of Deutschland viii, in Poems (1967) 54 How a lush-kept *plush-capped sloe Will, mouthed to flesh-burst, Gush!
1913C. Mackenzie Sinister Street I. ii. vii. 259 He saw..*plush-clad children who continually dropped Sunday-school books in the mud. 1927A. Conan Doyle Case Bk. Sherlock Holmes i. 38 A butler..handed me over to a plush-clad footman, who ushered me into the Baron's presence.
1678T. Jordan Triumphs Lond. 7 A Sky-colour'd Scarf Fringed with Silver, *Plush-colourd Hose.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Plush-copper, chalcotrichite, a fibrous red copper ore.
1882M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal II. iv. 58 In the spacious *plush-covered chair.
1938L. MacNeice Zoo 227 *Plush-fitted theatres.
1937E. Sitwell I live under Black Sun 98 A *plush-framed photograph.
1922S. Lewis Babbitt ii. 23 Just compare a real human like you and these neurotic birds like Lucile McKelvey—all high-brow talk and dressed up like a *plush horse. 1936J. Dos Passos Big Money 201 What I'd love more than anything in the world would be to get out and make my own living. I hate this plushhorse existence.
1946P. Larkin Jill 184 The competition is very keen, because they're very, very *plush-lined jobs.
1848W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. II. 252 The *plush-weavers..took into consideration a general stoppage of the looms.
B. adj. Luxurious, expensive, stylish. colloq.
1927in Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (1960) 398/2 ‘Plush’ indicates..stylish. 1934M. H. Weseen Dict. Amer. Slang 192 Plush, stylish. 1944‘P. Quentin’ Puzzle for Puppets xix. 141 We had the plushest hotel suite of any married couple in San Francisco. 1946Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 30 Oct. 1/2 The recently established plush eating place. 1952W. R. Burnett Vanity Row (1953) v. 48 ‘Apartment address?’ asked Roy. Joe gave it to him. ‘H'm’ said Roy. ‘..Pretty plush.’ 1955Bull. Atomic Sci. Feb. 51/2 These need not be plush or elaborate shelters. 1959Sunday Express 1 Feb. 19/6 The word ‘Set’ in this context is an economic symbol—a plush version of what humbler people call ‘The Gang’. 1959H. Hobson Mission House Murder ii. 8 The sales⁓minded débutante who was earning pin-money in the plush establishment. 1971Guardian 28 May 8/2 It was really plush, with 25 waitresses. 1978New York 3 Apr. 27/1 Plush place with excellent service, a great chef, and strolling guitarist-singer.
Add: Hence ˈplushness n.
1977Washington Post 28 Oct. b7/1 The ‘plushness’ of the agency's quarters. 1988Christian Science Monitor 19 May 21 One could appreciate the vigor and tonal plushness of the Dvorak.
▪ II. plush, v. nonce-wd.
[f. prec. n.]
a. intr. Of velvet: To have the nap crushed or flattened by pressure or wet.
b. to plush it: to wear plush, i.e. to act as footman.
1867W. H. L. Tester Poems 54 He plush'd it there for many a day. 1904Daily Chron. 1 Sept. 8/5 Corduroy velvet would certainly look well, but it would be less suitable than the woollen on account of its greater weight and liability to ‘plush’ with damp or pressure. |