| 释义 |
‖ ˈbalsamum Obs.
[a. L. balsamum, a. Gr. βάλσαµον the balsam-tree, and its resin (prob. f. Semitic: cf. Heb. besem, bāsām, ‘spice’; though the LXX never render this word by βάλσαµον, nor the Vulg. by balsamum, words which do not occur in these versions. Occas. used in OE. in the general sense of balm, and in regular use from c 1400 to 17th c., in the specific senses, in which balsam is now substituted.]
1. An aromatic resinous vegetable juice; = balm n. 1, balsam n. 1.
c885K. ælfred Bæda iii. viii. (Bosw.), Héddern ða balsamum on wǽre. 1590Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. iv. ii, An ointment..distilled from the purest balsamum. 1636Featly Clavis Myst. viii. 100 To discerne a sented poyson from Balsamum.
2. = balm n. 2–5.
c1400Destr. Troy xxi. 8776 A prise oyntment of bavme and of balsamom. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 89, I haue bought The Oyle, the Balsamum, and Aqua-vitæ. a1653G. Daniel Idyll iii. 113 To plaister o're These Vlcers with a Balsamum.
fig.1601Chester Love's Mart. lxxxviii, Heart-curing Balsamum. a1631Donne Serm. xli. 410 The Balsamum of this kisse.
3. Alch. = balsam n. 4.
a1631Donne Serm. xxxii. 313 Everything hath in it..a naturall Balsamum; which if any wound or hurt which that Creature hath received be kept clean from Extrinsique putrefaction, will heal of itself. 1650French Chym. Dict., Balsamum is a substance of bodies preserving things from putrefaction.
4. A tree yielding balm or balsam; = balsam n. 8.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xviii. (1495) 614 The bowes of Balsamum ben softly kytte wyth a knyfe of boon.
5. attrib., as in balsamum-tree (= prec.).
1603Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. xxii. 485 The Viper delighteth in the shadow of the Balsamum tree. |