| 释义 |
boulder-stone|ˈbəʊldəstəʊn|
Forms: 3–6 bulder-ston(e, 7 boother-, bowther-stone, 8–9 bowlder-stone, 7– boulder-stone.
[Etymology obscure. With ME. bulderston, cf. Sw. dial. (E. Gothl.) bullersten a large stone in a stream, one which makes a rumbling noise in the water, as opposed to klappersten a smaller pebble; f. Sw. buller noise, roar, bullr-a to roar, rumble + sten = stone. This gives a passable sense; but no corresponding word is known elsewhere in Swedish, Old or New, Icelandic, Norwegian, or Danish; so that actual relation between the North. Eng. and Swedish dialect word cannot be asserted.
No words answering to Sw. buller, bullra, exist in Old or New Icelandic; but Da. has bulder ‘tumbling noise’, buldre ‘to racket, rattle, make a noise’. If either these words were in use in North. Eng., or a compound *buldersteen in Da., it would be natural to find here the origin of the Eng. word; but no such connecting links are found. The verb and n. seem indeed to exist in the Sc. buller ‘to bellow, roar’, buller ‘bellowing, roar, loud gurgling sound’, but this is not quite the shade of sense required, while the form it would yield is not bulder-, bowlder-, bowther-, or boother-, as actually found in North. Eng. dial., but *bullerstane, which is not found.]
A rounded water-worn stone larger than a pebble, a cobble-stone (= boulder n. 1). Also, in later use, = boulder 2.
a1300Havelok 1790 He gripen sone a bulder ston, And let it fleye. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §15 Bulder stones..wold weare the yren to soone. 1635Brereton Trav. (1844) 101 The best paved street with bowther stones..that I have seen. 1792Gentl. Mag. Apr. 350 Large bowlder stones. 1861Mrs. Norton Lady La G. i. 224 The ground is rough with boulder stones. 1879Jenkinson Guide to Lake Dist. 148 Borrowdale..The Bowder Stone is an immense detached block..computed to weigh 1971 tons. 1884S. E. Dawson Handbk. Canada 295 A very singular plateau, covered to a great depth with rounded boulder-stones. |