| 释义 |
▪ I. serpentine, n.|ˈsɜːpəntaɪn|
Also 4–6 serpentyn, 5–6 -yne, (5, 7 sarp-, 5 -ene, 6–8 -in, 6 Sc. scharpentyn).
[a. OF. serpentin and serpentine, ad. med.L. serpentīnum and serpentīna, absol. uses of the neut. and fem. sing. respectively of serpentīnus (see next).]
1. A name for certain plants reputed to contain an antidote to the poison of serpents; e.g. dragonwort, fenugreek.
a1400Stockholm Med. MS. ii. 651 in Anglia XVIII. 323 Dragaunce & serpentyn in same And nedderistonge, alle on be name. 1526Grete Herball ccccx. (1529) Y iij, Powdre of serpentyne put alone in to y⊇ eye is good to clense the eye of the pynne & webbe. 1552Huloet, Serpentine [ed. 1572 adds or serpentarie,..dracuntium..Vulgo Serpentaria]. 1608Topsell Four-f. Beasts 611 Fænegreek..is called also Serpentine, because when Snakes..are hurt therewith, they recouer their woundes by eating therof.
2. A kind of cannon; in the 15th and 16th cent. used largely as a ship's gun. Now only Hist.
c1450Brut ccl. 505 Many other gret gonnes & serpentines. 1485Cely Papers (1900) 177, iiij small sarpentynus with vij chamburs of on mackyng. 1513Acc. Ld. High. Treas. Scot. IV. 484 For iij scharpentynnis..to the greit schip. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiv. 70 A Sarpentine. Height [= bore] in Inches 1½. 1824Meyrick Ant. Armour II. 201 In the year 1474 King Edward the Fourth directed all the bombs, cannons, culverines, fowlers, serpentines..to be taken and provided for his use. 1863Kirk Hist. Chas. Bold II. 451 The battering-train consisted of thirty bombards and fifty large serpentines.
3. A rock or mineral, consisting mainly of hydrous magnesium silicate, of a dull green colour with markings resembling those of a serpent's skin. Also, an ornamental stone made of this.
The purest kind is called ‘noble’ or ‘precious serpentine’. The impure or ‘common serpentine’ occurs in rock-masses and is worked as serpentine marble.
1426in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 118 [My best covered cup of silver and gilt, with one] serpentyn [in the bottom (in fundo) of the said cup]. c1450J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 47/1256 A ston ys ther, That the serpent may noght hym noght dere. The name off home serpentyne ys. 1561–2New Yrs. Gifts in Nichols Progr. Eliz. (1823) I. 114 A small coller of serpentyne garneshed with silver gilt. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 181 In the bottome of this manger, and just in the middle a round Serpentine is set. 1644Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 97 Four pillars of a kind of serpentine. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 288 The seats of the chairs in this apartment are made of serpentine. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 466 Serpentine..is either compact, granulated, scaly, lamellated, or fibrous. 1874Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 380 The main ridge seems to be made up of a series of metamorphic slates, sandstones, and serpentines.
†4. = serpent n. 4. Obs.
c1440Alphabet of Tales 434 This sakett and þis gold is not þine, for þou says þou lost ij serpentynys and here-in is bod one.
5. The coiled pipe or worm of a distilling apparatus. Obs. exc. as representing F. serpentin.
1519in Noake Mon. & Cath. Worc. (1866) 185 A limbeke with a serpentyn closed both on oun. 1584Cogan Haven Health ccxxii. (1636) 227 Distill it with a Limbecke or Serpentine. 1611Florio, Serpentina,..a kind of winding limbecke called a Serpentine or doubble ss. 1694Salmon Bate's Dispens. 34/2 Then distil twenty four hours, and distil through a Serpentine or Worm. 1725Bradley's Fam. Dict. Qq 4/2 A Canal made of Tin,..very long, and winding..; For which Reason they have given it the Name of Serpentine. 1885Forestry 209 This is subjected to a cooling process, in this case a serpentine of cold water.
†6. The cock of the harquebus. Obs.
1590Sir J. Smythe Cert. Discourses 21 b, If Harque⁓buziers in putting their matches into their serpentines do faile to set them of a conuenient length. 1611Florio, Serpentina, an iron at the end of a Gunners Linstocke called a cocke or serpentine. [1881Greener Gun 45 The serpentin is hung upon a pivot passing through the stock and continued past the pivot, forming a lever.]
†7. A serpiginous disease. Obs.
1639T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 94 Pin and web, dragons, serpentines, and such numberlesse sorances. 1700Rycaut Hist. Turks III. 134 He was afflicted with a Distemper called a Serpentine or Cancer, which some Years since was caused by an Erysipelas.
†8. [after Pg. serpentina.] A kind of hammock.
1767Byron's Voy. round World 15 The rich [at Salvador, Brazil] cause themselves to be carried about in a kind of cotton hammocks called serpentines.
†9.
a. A malicious action.
b. A wily, cunning person. Obs.
c1510More Picus Wks. 3/2 When thei perceiued, that thei coulde not against his connyng any thing openly preuaile: thei brought forth the serpentines of false crime. a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. vii. (1537) 11 When our senate fayllethe of meke and wyse Senatours, and multyplieth with these serpentines.
10. a. A winding path or line.
1885Pall Mall G. 20 Mar. 6/1 The narrow-gauge line can..wind down mountains, with a number of quick turns and serpentines. 1886Field 13 Mar. 310/1 (Skating) The more sedate delineator of 3's, 8's, Q's, serpentines, and what not. 1893R. F. Burton in Lady Burton Life I. 269 The yellow..Wazegura wilderness, traversed by a serpentine of trees.
b. Math. A cubic curve to which the equation is y (a2 + x2) = abx.
a1912(In recent Dicts.).
c. A lake or canal of a winding shape, esp. the one constructed in Hyde Park in 1730.
1837W. Tayler Jrnl. 2 Jan. in J. Burnett Useful Toil (1974) II. 176 Went round Hyde Park, saw some thousands of people sliding and skaiting on the Serpentine. 1853Geo. Eliot Let. 22 Oct. (1954) II. 120, I am hoping for a row..on the Serpentine, which is really almost as good as a lake. 1885C. M. Yonge Nuttie's Father II. xiii. 157 He said he'd take him to the Serpentine to sail his ship. 1971Country Life 2 Sept. 546/2 By 1747 he [sc. George Anson of Shugborough] had erected a Chinese house on a little island formed by a new canal or serpentine. 1977P. Willis Charles Bridgeman iv. 96 When Bridgeman's widow in her Petition to the Lords of the Treasury asks for money for making ‘the lake in Hyde Park’ she is obviously referring to the Serpentine.
11. attrib.
a. Consisting of, containing, or made of serpentine (sense 3), as serpentine knife, serpentine porphyry, serpentine pillar, serpentine rock, serpentine tankard, serpentine-wacke.
1463Will of J. Baret in Bury Wills (Camden) 35 My serpentyn knyves. 1582J. Hester Secr. Phiorav. i. lxv. 78 A rounde Corrall like vnto the Serpentine Purphire. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 16 note, The serpentine pillar of the Hippodrome. 1799W. Tooke View Russian Emp. I. 120 The principal mountains of these parts [sc. Lapland], consist of granite..and probably likewise of porphyry and serpentine-wake. 1838W. F. Ainsworth Res. Assyria, etc. 336 Serpentine rocks. 1875J. W. Dawson Dawn of Life vi. 144 Serpentine-limestone or ophicalcite.
b. (sense 2) serpentine cart, serpentine gun.
1471Coventry Leet Bk. 363 Delyuered to Rob. Onley a serpentyne gun & a staffe gun. 1496Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 291 The feys and schethis to the serpentyn cartis.
Senses 10 a, b in Dict. become 10 b, c. Add: [10.] a. Equestr. A riding exercise consisting of a series of half-turns to right and left alternately, testing the rider's control and the horse's suppleness. Cf. caracol n. 3.
[1711Milit. & Sea Dict. (ed. 4), Caracol, as Wheel by Caracol; used only among the Horse, and is a Serpentine or Rounding Motion of Wheeling.] 1861T. Martin Bk. of Aids ii. 25 Serpentine,..the leading file inclines to the right across the school,..and makes a zigzag course down the school. 1946M. C. Self Horseman's Encycl. 364 The serpentine may be done at all gaits, the faster the gait the larger in diameter the turns. 1976R. L. V. Ffrench Blake Elementary Dressage 72 In the Intermediate test..there is a six-loop serpentine the full width of the arena with flying changes. 1986Your Horse Sept. 34/3 The rider should..be capable of riding basic school movements—turns, circles, serpentines and loops.
▪ II. serpentine, a.|ˈsɜːpəntaɪn|
Also 5–6 -yn(e, 6–7 -in.
[a. F. serpentin (12th cent.), ad. L. serpentīnus, f. serpent-, serpent n. + -īnus -ine1.]
1. a. Of or pertaining to a serpent or serpents; of the form of or resembling a serpent, or that of a serpent.
c1420? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 616 Wyngys had hit serpentyne and a long tayll. Ibid. 968 Vice..On hys steede serpentyn. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxvi. xi, The sorceresse..Of the best, made the head serpentyne. 1608Topsell Serpents 235, I will not expresly define whether this may be called a Sea-Serpent, or a Serpentine-fish. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. i. viii. 250 That notorious Serpentine shape which deceived Adam and Eve. 1667Milton P.L. x. 870 Thy shape..and colour Serpentine. 1774J. Bryant Anc. Mythol. I. 428 Servius, who distributes the serpentine species into three tribes. 1834Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 80 The most active and malignant of all the serpentine poisons is that of the rattlesnake. 1880W. Smith & Cheetham's Dict. Chr. Antiq. II. 1889/2 Continual use is made of the serpentine or lacertine form in Irish and Anglo-Saxon ornament. 1896Crockett Cleg Kelly vii, Once more he protruded his head in that monstrously serpentine manner round the corner of the low shop-door.
b. In allusion to the representation of a serpent with its tail in its mouth. serpentine verse, a metrical line beginning and ending with the same word.
1605Camden Rem., Rythmes 26 Our Poets hath their knacks..as Ecchos, Achrostiches, Serpentine verses,..&c. 1656Blount Glossogr., Serpentine verses, are those which do, as it were, run into themselves, as we see Serpents pictured with tail in mouth.
c. Surg. (See quot.)
1753Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Bandage, These creeping, or as we sometimes call them serpentine bandages.
d. serpentine pot: a potters' utensil for colouring or ornamenting common stoneware.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1017 The serpentine or snake pots..are made..in three compartments, each containing a different colour... On inclining the vessel, the three colours flow out at once..; whereby curious serpent-like ornaments may be readily obtained.
†e. Caused by serpents. Obs. rare.
1446Lydg. Two Nightingale Poems ii. 315 Receyved..medicyne Of al theyr hurtis, that were serpentyne.
2. Having the evil qualities of the serpent; pertaining to the Serpent as the tempter of mankind; diabolical, Satanic; devilishly wily or cunning.
In early use often with retention of literal phraseology.
1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. vii. (Skeat) l. 40 Enemyes..wol seche privy serpentynes queintyses, to quenche..by venim of many besinesses, the light of truthe. c1422Hoccleve Min. Poems (1892) 236 This serpentyn womman..shee That had him terned with false deceitis. 1491Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. xl. 58 b, An euyll and serpentyne tongue full of venyme. a1550Image Ipocr. in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 426 Sectes serpentyne. 1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 96 A serpentine generation, wholly made of fraud, of policies and practises. 1637Dow Answ. to H. Burton 25 The poysoned shafts of his serpentine tongue. 1663Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. ii. 31 A serpentine warinesse in declining dangers. 1752Law Spirit of Love ii. (1816) 125 All that is earthly, serpentine, and devilish in every man. 1830Westm. Rev. XIII. 84 In De Foe's time the serpentine temptation consisted in laced shoes instead of leathern. 1873Dixon Two Queens xiv. vi. III. 99 With serpentine deceit, she said the King was cheerful in his trials.
3. a. Having a direction or following a course resembling that of a serpent in motion; tortuous, sinuous, winding. Also, esp. in reference to canals or lakes.
1615Crooke Body of Man 26 The Serpentine and writhen Meanders of the Veynes. Ibid. 603 A Serpentine Still. c1645Howell Lett. I. i. xvi, The branching and serpentin cours of the River Seine. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), Serpentine Line, a crooked winding, that incloses itself continually, as a Serpent wraps himself up in Folds. 1730London Jrnl. 26 Sept. 2/3 Next Monday they begin upon the Serpentine River and Royal Mansion in Hyde-Park. 1754Smeaton in Phil. Trans. XLVIII. 535 Upon the serpentine river in Hyde-park. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 81 (Dict. Terms), Serpentine (repandus), the edge of some leaves is formed like a serpentine line; without any angles or corners. 1809N. Pinkney Trav. France 127 The road was..so serpentine as never to be visible beyond an hundred yards. 1824J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) iii. iv. 1011 Those wavy serpentine canals..are never mistaken for natural scenes. 1829Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) I. 379 When the stools were examined, they were found..to be serpentine or twisted. 1868Bain Ment. & Mor. Sci. iii. xiii. §18. 307 The most beautiful line is the serpentine line, called by Hogarth, the Line of Grace. 1888M. E. Braddon Fatal Three i. v, A broad gravel path led in a serpentine sweep towards the stables. 1948C. Hussey in M. Jourdain Work of William Kent 23 The most famous Serpentine Lake, that in Hyde Park, was ordered by Queen Caroline and is probably due to Bridgeman.
b. In various technical uses (see quots.). serpentine temple = serpent temple (see serpent n. 12).
1743Stukeley Abury 9 Those with the form of a snake annext, as that of Abury, I call serpentine temples, or Dracontia, by which they were denominated of old. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 311 A horse is said to have a serpentine tongue, if it is always frisking and moving, and sometimes passing over the bit. 1851Squier Serpent Symbol 137 Ancient serpentine structures of the United States. 1860C. R. M. Talbot tr. Newton's Lines 3rd Order 12 We shall call..that which cuts the asymptote in contrary flexures, having on both sides contrary branches, the serpentine hyperbola. Ibid. 17 Where the serpentine curve does not pass through the intersection of the asymptotes. 1867Philatelist I. 99/2 The peculiarity of the serpentine perforation is that no paper is taken away by the machine; it is simply a serpentine cut, with twelve waves to the base of the stamp on one, eighteen on the other. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Serpentine Molding Machine, one for carving parlor frames, lounge, sofa, and chair backs, and other crooked work [etc.].
4. Comb., as serpentine-like adj.; serpentine superphosphate N.Z., a mixture of superphosphate and crushed serpentinite, used as a fertilizer.
1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 249 All that intestine and serpentine-like tragedie. 1867Philatelist I. 103/1 This, which has been called serpentine-pierced, is found..on the..stamps of Finland. 1887P. M'Neill Blawearie 93 The gentle serpentine-like curvings of the wall-sides. 1941Elliott & Lynch in N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. 15 Sept. 179/1 The name serpentine superphosphate will be used in future in place of ‘silico superphosphate’, as it is a more accurate description of the material. It is made by mixing three parts of hot, newly-made superphosphate with one part of ground serpentine and allowing the mixture to ‘mature’ in heaps for several days. 1965G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. x. 143/1 Serpentinite is quarried in considerable quantity in New Zealand for the manufacture of ‘serpentine-superphosphate’.
▪ III. ˈserpentine, v.
[f. prec.]
1. intr. To move in a serpentine manner; to pursue a serpentine or tortuous path; to wind.
a1774Harte Vis. Death 2 In those fair vales..Where Guadalquiver serpentines with ease. 1797T. Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. III. lxxi. (ed. 2) 83 Garlands of flowers serpentine with a free..air. 1802Colman Broad Grins, Elder Bro. (1804) 120 Toby [who was drunk]..Went serpentining home. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. 289 Permitting the road to serpentine and zigzag up the cliff terraces.
b. trans. To pursue (one's way) with a winding motion.
1837T. Hook Jack Brag viii, He was merely serpentining his way to the part of the details.
2. To cause to take a serpentine direction; to wind. Also, to bring into a condition by serpentine behaviour.
1850Dickens Dav. Copp. xxxv, If you're an eel, Sir, conduct yourself like one... I am not going to be serpentined and corkscrewed out of my senses! 1870Thornbury Tour Eng. I. i. 25 He serpentined water through the gardens, and built two bridges. 1883D. C. Murray Val Strange III. xxiv. 243 ‘My dear,’ said Hiram, serpentining his long arm about her. |