| 释义 |
bird's-eye, n. and a.
Also bird-eye.
I. n.
1. A name given to several plants with small round bright flowers.
a. A species of Primula (P. farinosa) having pale lilac flowers with a yellow eye; formerly called bird's eyen, and now also more fully bird's-eye primrose. The American bird's-eye is a kindred species (P. pusilla).
b. Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamædrys).
c. Species of Adonis (more usually Pheasant's eye).
d. Robert's Geranium, and many other plants locally: see Britten and Holland.
1597Gerard Herbal ii. cclxi. 638 In the middle of euery small flower appeereth a little yellowe spot, resembling the eie of a bird, which hath mooued the people..to call it Birds Eine. 1731Miller Gard. Dict., Adonis, or Flos Adonis, Bird's-Eye, or Pheasant's-Eye. 1771Ibid. Primula (Farinosa), called Birds' eyen. 1859C. A. Johns Flowers Field 465 Veronica Chamædrys. A well-known plant, which, under the popular names of Blue Speedwell and Birds-eye, is a favourite with every one. 1868Burgess Old Eng. Wild Fl. 104 The Bird's eye Primrose is..somewhat like an auricula. 1885Longm. Mag. 311 Blue Veronica..sometimes called germander speedwell, sometimes bird's-eye.
2. A variety of manufactured tobacco in which the ribs of the leaves are cut along with the fibre.
1857Trollope Three Clerks I. ii. 29 Mary, my dear, a screw of bird's-eye! Ibid. 33 An ample allowance of gin-and-water and bird's-eye tobacco. 1861Sala Tw. round Clock 40 A pipeful of the best Bristol Bird's-eye. 1922Joyce Ulysses 444 Gaudy dollwomen loll in the lighted doorways..smoking birdseye cigarettes.
II. attrib.
3. Of or belonging to a bird's eye; as in bird's-eye view: a view of a landscape from above, such as is presented to the eye of a bird; a perspective representation of such a view; also fig. a résumé of a subject.
1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 145 It exhibits an almost birds-eye view of an extensive country. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 96 A bird-eye landscape of a promised land. a1797― Let. Wks. 1845 V. 148 The government..have..as it were a bird's eye view of everything. 1859C. Barker Assoc. Princ. i. 2 Presenting a résumé or bird's-eye view of a subject.
4. Marked as with bird's eyes; spotted. bird's-eye limestone: a lower Silurian rock of North America, with eye-like markings. bird's-eye maple: the wood of the sugar maple when full of little knotty spots, used in cabinet-making. bird's-eye primrose, bird's-eye tobacco: see 2, 3.
1665Pepys Diary (1879) III. 156 My wife very fine in a new yellow bird's-eye hood, as the fashion is now. 1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2440/4 A third [pair of stays] of Olive coloured Birds-eye Silk. 1793E. P. Simcoe Diary 26 Apr. (1911) xi. 161 Capt. Shaw has given me a tea-chest in bird's-eye maple. 1837Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1871) I. 81 Finished off with bird's-eye maple and mahogany. 1841Thackeray Yellowpl. P. 22 He wore a white hat, a bird's-eye handkerchief, and a cut-away coat. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton I. iii. 37 Her business was duly announced in gold letters..enclosed in a bird's-eye maple frame. 1916A. Bennett Lion's Share xxx. 221 A table of bird's-eye maple. |