| 释义 |
▪ I. birch, n.|bɜːtʃ|
Forms: α. 1 berc, beorc (? beorch), byrc. β. 1 birciae, byrce, birce, 3–6 birche, 5–6 byrch(e, 4– birch; north. 4–5 byrk(e, 4– birk.
[OE. had two forms: (1) berc, beorc str. fem. = ON. bjǫrk (Sw. björk, Da. birk):—OTeut. *berkâ- str. fem.; (2) OE. bierce, byrce, birce, in Epinal Gl. birciae, wk. fem. = OHG. bir(i)cha (MHG., mod.G. birke):—OTeut. *birkjôn- wk. fem., a derivative of *berkâ- (cf. the two forms bôkâ- and bôkjôn- beech). An Indo-Germanic tree name:—OAryan *bhergo-, *bhergā-: cf. Skr. bhūrja a species of birch, Lith. beržas, OSlav. brěza. The OE. birce gave ME. birche, mod. birch; the northern form birk reaches to Morecambe Bay and Lincoln: cf. church, kirk.]
1. A genus of hardy northern forest trees (Betula), having smooth tough bark and very slender branches.
a. esp. The common European species (B. alba) which grows from Mt. Etna to Iceland, and from Greenland to Kamtschatka, and is distinguished among the other forest trees by its slender white stem; its twigs, bound in bundles, have furnished brooms, and the ‘birch’ for flogging. Also called Lady Birch, Silver B., White B.; the Weeping or Drooping Birch (B. pendula) is a variety.
(In OE. Vocabularies berc, birce, translate both L. betula and populus.)
a700Epinal Gl. 132 (also Erf. & Cott.), Bet[ul]a, berc arbor dicitur. Ibid. 792 Populus, birciae [Corpus birce]. a1000Rune-poem 18 Beorc byð bleda leás. a1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 138 Populus, byrc. Betulus, byrc. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 332 Nim æps rinde..berc rinde. c1050Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 361 Betulus, byrce. Ibid. 469 Populus, byrce. c1300K. Alis. 5242 Beches, birches of the fairest. 1375Barbour Bruce xvi. 394 Byrkis on athir syde the way. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2063 As oke, fir, birch, aspe, alder, holm, poplere. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clix. (1495) 708 Therwyth houses ben swepte and clensyd . and many called this tree Byrche. 1551Turner Herbal (1568) 66 Byrche..serueth..for betynge of stubborne boyes. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 102 Birch..is a tree very meete for woodes. 1801Southey Thalaba xi. xxiii, The Birch so beautiful, Light as a lady's plumes. 1829Southey Sir T. More I. 121 Directly opposite there are some..steps of herbage, and a few birch. 1830Tennyson Dirge i, Shadows of the silver birk Sweep the green that folds thy grave. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 42 The fragrant breath of birches blowing around him.
b. Dwarf Birch (B. nana), a low wiry shrub found on Scottish moorlands and in continental Europe and North America; Paper Birch or White B. of America (B. papyracea), a North American species, so called from the brilliant white colour of the bark, of which the Indians build birch-bark canoes; Cherry Birch (B. lenta), also called Sweet Mahogany, or Mountain B., a native of N. America, with fragrant leaves. Numerous other species are known: and the name is popularly applied to other genera, as the West Indian Birch (Bursera gummifera, family Amyridaceæ).
1875Higginson Yng. Folks' U.S. Hist. iii. 17 The canoe was made of the bark of the white-birch.
c. The wood of this tree.
a1400Sir Perc. 772 A fyre brynnande Off byrke and of akke. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 262 Birch is also a very common wood.
d. The plural birks is often used in the north in the name of a wood or grove of birches.
a1724D. Mallet Song ‘The Birks of Endermay.’ 1794Burns Birks Aberfeldy, Let us spend the lightsome days In the birks of Aberfeldy. 1855Whitby Gloss., Birks, a coppice or small wood in which the growth chiefly consists of birches.
2. A bunch of birch-twigs bound together to form an instrument for the flagellation of school-boys and of juvenile offenders; a birch-rod.
[c1440Bone Flor. 1518 He bete hur wyth a yerde of byrke. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. i. iii. 24 The threatning twigs of birch.] 1648Herrick Upon Pagget, Hesp. (1869) 67 Pagget, a school-boy, got a sword, and then He vow'd destruction both to birch and men. 1730Swift Sheridan's Subm. Wks. 1755 IV. i. 260 I've nothing left to vent my spleen But ferula and birch. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. iii, Were he [the Schoolmaster] to walk abroad with birch girt on thigh. 1835Marryat Jac. Faithf. v.
3. A canoe made of the bark of the Canoe or Paper Birch (Betula papyracea).
1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 129 Never use the word canoe..if you wish to retain your selfrespect. Birch is the term among us backwoodsmen. 1884E. E. Hale Christmas in Narrag. i. 10 To paddle a birch across the lake.
4. Comb. and attrib., as birch-broom, birch-knowe, birch-leaf, birch-stalk, birch-tree, birch-wand, birch-wood; birch-fringed, birch-shaded adjs.; birch bark, the bark of a birch-tree (also attrib.); (U.S.) a birch-bark canoe; birch beer U.S., a beverage of slight alcoholic content prepared with an extract from the birch-tree; also a carbonated soft drink flavoured to resemble this; birch camphor, a resinous substance obtained from the bark of the Black Birch (B. nigra); birch oil, an oil extracted from the bark of the birch, and used in the preparation of Russia leather, to which it gives its smell; birch partridge, a North American name for the ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbellus; birch-rod = birch 2; birch-water, the sap obtained from the birch-tree in spring; birch-wine, wine prepared from birch-water.
1643Williams Key Lang. Amer. 67 Others make slighter doores of *Burch or Chestnut barke. 1771Pennant Tour Scotl. 97 The materials [of the nest were] moss, worsted, and birch bark. 1829J. MacTaggart Three Yrs. Canada II. 54 Thus we can run a rapid of the Rideau River with a birch⁓bark canoe heavily laden. 1843‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase 175 To float in birch bark canoes on..free waters. 1868F. Whymper Trav. & Adv. in Alaska 212 Birch-barks are.. easily navigated. 1927E. V. Gordon Introd. Old Norse 225 They used birch-bark for leggings.
1883Wheelman (U.S.) I. 392 We reached Bushkill at 12:30 p.m., stopping—for *birch beer—at odd places. 1933E. C. Guillet Early Life in Upper Canada iv. 100 There was..a considerable manufacture of birch beer, a very popular drink among those who did not aspire to social heights.
1762Churchill Ghost ii. 306 Hark! something scratches round the room! A cat, a rat, a stubb'd *birch-broom. 1796H. Glasse Cookery xxii. 348 Scrub them well with a little birch-broom or brush.
1823Gen. Descrip. Nova Scotia iii. 31 A list of most of the known birds of the Province with their popular names... *Birch Partridge. 1834Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 21 June 168/1 A bird, called the partridge,..is found all over the American continent; they are of two sorts, the spruce and the birch, so called from the different buds which they select for their food. 1880Encycl. Brit. XI. 223/2 B. umbellus, the Ruffed Grouse or Birch-Partridge.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. iii, That it [the soul]..could be acted on through the muscular integument by appliance of *birch rods. 1879Act 42–3 Vict. xlix. §10 Such young person to be..privately whipped with not more than twelve strokes of a birch rod by a constable.
1530Palsgr. 198/1 *Byrche tree, boulliav. 1578Lyte Dodoens vi. lxxvii. 758 The Birche tree hath taglettes or Chattons for his blossom, lyke as the Hazell. 1924C. Oman Road Royal xiv. §2 She was made ready for bed and was all white as a moonlit birch tree.
1876Grant Burgh Sch. Scot. ii. v. 196 Striking some on the hand with a *birch-wand.
1663Boyle Usefulness Nat. Philos. ii. iv. 103 The great commendation..given to this *Birch-water. 1769Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 325 Boil twenty gallons of birch water.
1681Lond. Gaz. No. 1616/4 *Birch-Wine rightly prepared, and made of the Sap of Birch Trees. 1853Lindley Veg. Kingd. (ed. 3) 252 Birch Wine has a popular reputation as a remedy for stone and gravel.
1849Southey Com-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. 615 Horns made of *birch-wood. 1860G. H. K. Vac. Tour 135 The old birch⁓woods still linger here and there.
▪ II. birch, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To punish with a birch rod; to flog.
[Not in Richardson; nor in Todd 1818.]1830Marryat King's Own xlvii, Like a school-boy ordered up to be birched. 1845Thackeray Bk. Snobs v, At Eton..he was birched with perfect impartiality.
2. To drive (knowledge) into (a boy) by flogging.
1883American VI. 214 Greek and Latin were birched into them while they were young. |