| 释义 |
ˈsea-bean
†1. A small stone or pebble (see quot. 1607).
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 143 There is a little blacke stone in Nilus about the bignesse of a Beane... Such as these I saw at Lyons in France, which they called Sea⁓beanes, and they prescribed them to be hanged about a Nurses necke to encrease her milke. 1847Halliwell, Sea-beans, small black pebbles. Devon.
2. A name given to the seeds of the tropical leguminous plant Entada scandens, carried by sea to the British coasts, and often made into trinkets.
1696Sloane Catal. Plant. Jamaica 70 Phaseolus maritimus rotundifolius, flore purpureo [etc.]... The Sea bean. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.
3. A small univalve shell of the family Triviidæ; also the operculum of any shell of the family Turbinidæ. Both are often used for charms, trinkets, etc.
1885A. Brassey The Trades 335 Dealers..were constantly..bringing all sorts of shells,..sea-beans or bay-beans, and other marine curiosities. 1891Century Dict. |