| 释义 |
silkworm|ˈsɪlkwɜːm|
Also 1 sioluc-, seolcwyrm, 5 sylke-wyrme; 5 selke-, sylk(e)-, cylke-, 5–7 silkeworme, etc.
[f. silk n. + worm n. In older use freq. written as two words, and from c 1600 often with hyphen.]
1. The caterpillar of the mulberry-feeding moth Bombyx (or Sericaria) mori, orig. a native of northern China, which on changing into the pupa state spins a cocoon made of silken filament; also, the caterpillar of any bombycid or other moth which thus yields silken cocoons of commercial value.
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 151 Bombix, seolc⁓wyrm. c1050Voc. ibid. 360 Bombix, siolucwyrm, oððe sidwyrm. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xcix, Leues of hyze beri tren ben grete and brode,..and gladly wormes eten þerof: and so silke wormes ben beste fed and norischid. c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 643 Hic bombex, sylkworme. a1450Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 26 A bayte that bredyth on an oke leyf & a sylke worme and a cod worme togyder. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 196 We call them in Englishe Silke Wormes, of which at this day the Spaniardes have greate plentye. 1599T. M[oufet] (title), Silkewormes and their Flies, lively described in verse. 1622Bonoeil Art of Making Silke 1 This discourse is therefore touching the feeding and intertainement of your Silke wormes. 1677A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. i. (1704) 8 Their prophets,..like silkworms, spun out their own bowels. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Silk, The Work of 12 Spiders..only equals that of one Silk Worm. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xl. IV. 71 Till the reign of Justinian, the silk-worms who feed on the leaves of the white mulberry-tree, were confined to China. 1836Penny Cycl. V. 109/1 During the time of spinning the cocoon the silkworm decreases in length very considerably. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. v. 139 A plague had raged among the silkworms of France.
transf.1838Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 266/1 An Improved Machine called the Silkworm, for the purpose of Spinning, Twisting, and Doubling Silk. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits x. Wealth, A man should not be a silk-worm; nor a nation a tent of caterpillars.
b. One who wears a silken gown or dress. Used contemptuously. rare.
1613Beaum. & Fl. Honest Man's Fortune v. iii, Thou silk-worm. What has thou in thee to deserve this woman? a1704T. Brown Cont. Quaker's Serm. Wks. 1709 III. ii. 3 Root out of them [sc. thy churches] all Anti-Christian Tiranny of most abominable Bishops; let not those Silk⁓worms and Magpies have Dominion over us. 1820Byron Mar. Fal. ii. ii. 115 Better..call A Tartar lord, than these swoln silkworms masters! 1820Scott Monast. xvii, Shall that English silkworm presume to beard me in my father's house?
†c. A woman given to frequenting drapers' shops and examining goods without buying. Obs.
1712Steele Spect. No. 454 ⁋5 The Silk-worms are, it seems, indulged by the Tradesmen; for tho' they never buy, they are ever talking of new Silks, Laces, and Ribbands, and serve the Owners in getting them Customers.
2. attrib. and Comb., as silkworm breeder, silkworm disease, silkworm egg, silkworm-like adj., silkworm shed; also silkworm gut, a fine, strong, light gut, made of the drawn-out glands of the silkworm (see gut n. 4 d); silkworm moth, one or other of various bombycid moths, whose larvæ produce cocoons; silkworm rot (see quot.).
1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 596/2 The *silkworm breeder allows a few of the pupæ to develop into moths.
1887Cassell's Encycl. Dict. s.v., *Silkworm disease.
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 251 An ounce of *silk-worm eggs in France is worth two francs and a half.
1833J. Rennie Alph. Angling 66 Hook-lines..are usually made of *silk-worm gut. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 349 The sutures may be silk, kangaroo tendon, or silkworm gut.
1672Dryden Conq. Granada II. i. ii, I.., *silkworm-like, so long within have wrought, That I am lost in my own web of thought.
1815Kirby & Sp. Entomol. x. (1818) I. 335 About the year 550..two monks..procured in India the eggs of the *silk-worm moth. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 946 The transmission..of the sporozoa of pebrine from the silkworm moth to its eggs and caterpillar.
1855Ogilvie Suppl. 362/1 *Silk-worm rot, a fungous plant, the Botrytis bassiana, which kills silk⁓worms in great numbers.
1898Folk-Lore IX. 8 The same formula must be used on entering a *silkworm-shed. |