| 释义 |
brimstone|ˈbrɪmstən|
Forms: α. 3 (?), 4–5 brin-, brynstan(e, -ston(e, brenston, -stoon, (4 Kent. bernston, north. bronstane, brunstan(e), 4–6 brunston(e, 5–6 bronston, 6 byrnstone, brontstane, brint-, bryntstane, -stone, 8– Sc. brunstane. β. 4–5 brimstan(e, -ston, -stoon, brymston(e, -stoon(e, (brem-, brom-, brumstone, 5 brymestone, 7 brimestone), 6– brimstone; mod.Sc. brumstane.
[ME. brin-, bren-, brun-, brimston, late OE. (12th c.) brynstán (MS. Vesp. D. xiv, f. 163), app. f. bern-, brinn-, stems of burn v. + stone n.; cf. ON. brenni-steinn sulphur; also, for the form, OE. berne-lác burnt-offering. An identical formation in other Teut. langs. (MDu. and MLG. bernsteen, Du. barnsteen, Ger. bernstein) is used with the sense ‘amber’. The transposition in bern-, bren- was inherited from the vb.; the subsequent change to brim- may have been due to association with the adj. brim, breme ‘fierce’: cf. quot. c 1400 in 1 α.
The uncertainty of form in ME. may be estimated by the fact that the printed ed. of Wyclif (Forshall and Madden) has in the two texts the following varieties:—Gen. xix. 24 brenstoon, brynston; Deut. xxix. 23 brimstoon, brymston; Job xviii. 15 brumston, brymston; Ps. x. 7 brunston, brymston; Isa. xxx. 33 brunston, brymstoon.]
1. Formerly the common vernacular name for sulphur. Now used chiefly when referring to its inflammable character, and to the biblical use in Gen. xix. 24 and Rev. xix. 20; or in speaking of old-fashioned prescriptions, as ‘brimstone and treacle’.
αa1300Cursor M. 2842 Our lauerd raind o þam o-nan, Dun o lift, fire and brinstan [other MSS. brimston]. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 6746 Fire and brunstan and stormes with wynde. 1340Ayenb. 130 Þou gest in-to helle huer þou sselt yuinde ver and bernston. 1375Barbour Bruce xvii. 612 Lynt and hardiss with brynstane. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 291 Brynston [v.r. brymston, bremston] boilaunt brennyng out-casteþ hit Al hot on here heuedes. a1400Cov. Myst. (1841) 308 In bras and in bronston [v.r. brenston] the brethellys be brent. c1400Destr. Troy 860 Þe ffyre..was blasound of brunston with a brem lowe. c1450Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 683 Hoc fulgur, bornston. 1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 631 The blast of the byrnstone blew away his brayne. 1536Bellenden Cron. Scotl. (1821) I. 136 Birnand flammis of pik, roset and brintstane. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. 92 With brontstaine and fyre. 1791Burns Ep. J. Maxwell iii, Rake them, like Sodom and Gomorrah In brunstane stoure. 1875Robinson Whitby Gloss. Brunstan, or Burnstan, burning-stone or brimstone.
βa1300Cursor M. 2888 Fir and brimstan was þe wrake. 1382Wyclif Job xviii. 15 Brumston be sprengd in his tabernacle. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 271 Sal Armonyak and the ferthe Brymstoon [v.r. brymston, brunston, bremston(e, bromstone]. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. ii. iv. 96 Enoyncted with oyle and brymestone. 1570Levins Manip. 168 Brimstone, sulphus. 1611Bible Rev. xix. 20 Both were cast aliue into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 1672R. Wild Declar. Lib. Consc. 14 An itch, which is too hard for butter and brimstone to cure. 1691Hartcliffe Virtues xli. 1755Smollett Quix. (1803) II. 47 Every fiend may stink of brimstone. 1796H. Glasse Cookery xxii. 346 Fire a large match dipped in brimstone. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast xxix. 98 We..made a slow fire of charcoal, birch bark, brimstone, and other matters. 1863Kingsley Water-bab. v. 207 She dosed them with..salts and senna, and brimstone and treacle.
b. fire and brimstone! an ejaculation of ‘strong language’.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 56 To. Fire and Brimstone! Fa. O peace, peace. 1604― Oth. iv. i. 245.
2. vegetable brimstone: the inflammable spores of Lycopodium clavatum and Selago, sometimes employed in the manufacture of fireworks.
1866in Treas. Bot.
3. fig.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. iii. ii. 22 To put fire in your Heart, and brimstone in your Liuer. 1709Chandler Effort agst. Bigotry 15 Such Mens new acquired Light having too much Brimstone in it. 1828Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 120 Like a person of breeding, and without any flavour of brimstone.
4. A virago, a spit-fire. Cf. brim n.4
1751Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. vi. 54 She is..not a brimstone, like Kate Coddle. 1788Walpoliana xlii. 21 Oh! Madam..he had such a brimstone of a wife! 1824W. Irving T. Trav. II. 29 A tragedy queen, and a brimstone to boot.
5. brimstone butterfly: an early butterfly with wings of a sulphur colour, Gonepteryx Rhamni.
1827Butterfly Collect. Vade Mec. 87. 1860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 5 The delicate ‘brimstone’ comes bounding over the fence.
6. attrib. and Comb.:
a. simple attrib. Of, pertaining to, or resembling brimstone;
b. brimstone match, a match or splinter of wood having its end dipped in brimstone; brimstone moth, a species of moth of sulphur colour, Rumia cratægata; brimstone-wort, a plant, Sulphur-wort, Peucedanum palustre (and officinale).
a.c1590Marlowe Faust. viii. 18 The most intolerable book for conjuring that e'er was invented by any brimstone devil. 1616B. Holyday Juvenal 240 Flames begun By brimstone-plot. 1786Burns Sc. Drink xx, And bake them up in brunstane pies. 1791Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. i. i. iv. 67 A fine brimstone colour. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge vi, Asserted his brimstone birth and parentage.
b.1594Plat Chem. Conclus. 15 The rest of the fats have not received..the brimstone match. 1657Reeve God's Plea 23 The furnace-brand, the brimstone-match of that cursed man. 1739Desaguliers in Phil. Trans. XLI. 177 When Brimstone Matches are burning. 1812Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 299 Sulphuret of phosphorus..applied to a common brimstone match inflames when gently rubbed. 1859W. Coleman Woodlands (1862) 112 The curious twig-like caterpillars of the Brimstone Moth. 1678A. Littleton Lat. Dict., Brimstone-wort, an herb, Peucedanum. 1863Prior Plant-n. 29 Brimstonewort, from its roots yielding, as W. Coles says, ‘a yellow sap which waxeth quickly hard, and dry, and smelleth not unlike to brimstone’. |