| 释义 |
▪ I. smelt, n.1|smɛlt|
[OE. smelt, = obs. G. schmelt, schmelz (Gesner), Da. smelt (from c 1600): cf. Du. smelt, Flem. smelte, G. schmelte sand-eel, also Norw. smelta a small species of cod or whiting. Relationship to OE. smolt, smylte is very doubtful.]
1. A small fish, Osmerus eperlanus, allied to the salmon, and emitting a peculiar odour; the sparling or spirling.
c725Corpus Gl. S 72 Sardas, smeltas. 1328–9Exch. K.R. Memoranda m. 125 Quoad capcionem piscis qui vocatur smelt. c1358in Eng. Hist. Rev. XXIV. 742 Item in smelt ijd. 1421Contin. Brut 447 Gurnard rosted... Smelt ffryed. c1440Promp. Parv. 460/2 Smelte, fysche. 1530Palsgr. 271/2 Smelte, a fysshe, esp[er]lang. 1558Act 1 Eliz. c. 17 §4 Places where Smelts, Loches,..Gudgions or Eels, have been used to be taken. 1602R. Carew Surv. Cornw. 30 Of round fish there are Brit, Sprat,..Smelts, &c. 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Impr. (1746) 282 Smelts are so called because they smell so sweet. 1767Phil. Trans. LVII. 285 The smelt are a very small sort of fish,..used for garnish to those that are larger. 1769Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 264 The smelt inhabits the seas of the northern parts of Europe. 1825S. & Sarah Adams Compl. Servant 86 Smelts, when fresh, have a fine bright appearance,..and a fragrant smell, like a cucumber. 1896Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 503 The beautiful and delicately flavoured little fish known as smelts are represented by three species.
fig.1791Boswell Johnson (Oxf. ed.) II. 567 Sir, you were a Cod surrounded by smelts. Is not this enough for you?
b. A fish of a related species, esp. Osmerus mordax of the American coast.
1836W. Irving Astoria III. 189 A daughter of the one-eyed potentate Comcomly, who held sway over the fishing tribe of the Chinooks, and had long supplied the factory with smelts and sturgeons. 1839Yarrell Brit. Fishes Suppl. ii. 16 The Hebridal Smelt. 1868U.S. Rep. Commiss. Agric. (1869) 330 Spawn..of the white fish,..the Belgrade smelt, and the wall-eyed pike. 1883Sir A. Shaw Newfoundland Fisheries 7 The American ‘smelt’ swarms on all parts of the coast.
c. Applied to various other small fishes, in the south of England freq. to the atherine or sand-smelt.
1776Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4) III. 287 Atherine... This species is very common in the sea near Southampton, where it is called a Smelt. 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 224/1 Retropinna contains but one species, R. richardsonii, which is known as the New Zealand Smelt. 1898Morris Austral Eng. 421 Smelt, name given, in Melbourne, to the fish Clupea vittata. Ibid., The Derwent Smelt is a Tasmanian fish, Haplochiton sealii.
†2.
a. transf. A simpleton. Obs.
In quot. 1607 there is allusion to 2 b.
1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. ii. iii, What's he, Mercurie? Mer. A notable smelt. 1607Dekker & Webster Westw. Hoe iv. ii, To see how plaine-dealing women can pull downe men: Moll, you'le helpe vs to catch Smelts too? a1625Fletcher Love's Pilgr. v. ii, Talk what you will, this is a very smelt.
†b. Used allusively in the phrase westward for smelts (see quots.). Obs.
1607Dekker & Webster Westw. Hoe ii. ii, But wenches, with what pullies shall wee slide..out of our husbandes suspition, being gone Westward for smelts all night. 1608Great Frost in Arber Eng. Garner (1895) I. 85 Say, have none gone ‘westward for smelts’, as our proverbial phrase is? 1619(title), Westward for Smelts: or, The Waterman's Fare of mad-merry Western Wenches.
3. north. dial. A smolt. See smolt n.1 1.
a1633Coke On Litt. ii. xlvii. (1642) 478 Yong Salmons, or Salmon peals, or Salmon Smelts. a1672Willughby Hist. Pisc. iv. iv. 189 Nostratibus in fluvio Ribble agri Eboracensis Salmones primo ætatis anno Smelts dicuntur; secundo Sprods. 1677,1769[see smolt n.1 1 β]. 1825Brockett N.C. Gloss., Smelts, the fry of the salmon; generally called salmon-smelts. 1842Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 4 He took Smelts of the Salmon with their silvery sides.
4. attrib., as smelt-boat, smelt family, smelt fishery, smelt-fishing, smelt-leap, smelt net.
1384–5Cal. Lett. Bk. ‘H’ Lond. (1907) 255 [Eight nets called] smelt net [of unlawful mesh]. 1620Middleton Chaste Maid iv. iii, She would not stay for oars; but took a smelt-boat. 1630in Binnell Descr. Thames (1758) 78 That no Peter-man do fish with any Hagan or Smelt Net below London Bridge. Ibid. 79 No Fisherman..shall lay down in the River..any Smelt-Leaps before St. Paul's Day yearly. 1795Cole Yng. Angler's Comp. Title-p., The Best Method of Smelt-Fishing. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 543 The Smelt Family, Microstomidæ. 1888― Amer. Fishes 492 The smelt fishery is increasing yearly in importance.
▪ II. † smelt, n.2 slang. Obs.
[Of obscure origin.]
A half-guinea.
1635Shirley Lady of Pleasure v. i, He..pays the rooks That went their smelts a piece upon his hand. 1688Shadwell Sq. Alsatia 1, Pr'ythee, noble Squire, equipp me with a couple of Meggs, or two couple of Smelts. [1822Scott Nigel xxiii, That noble Master Grahame, whom you call Green, has got the decuses and the smelts.]
▪ III. † smelt, a. Obs.—1
[? a. ON. smelt-r enamelled.]
? Enamelled, polished.
c1400Destr. Troy 1667 A tabill..all of triet yuer, Bourdurt about all with bright Aumbur, Þat smelt is & smethe.
▪ IV. smelt, v.|smɛlt|
[prob. ad. MDu. or MLG. smelten (smilten), whence also MSw. and Sw. smälta, Norw. smelta, Da. smelte, = OHG. and MHG. smelzen (G. schmelzen), a weak trans. verb corresponding to a strong intr. (of the type smeltan, smalt) found in the same languages. The stem appears to be a variation of that of melt v.1]
trans. To fuse or melt (ore, etc.) in order to extract the metal; to obtain or produce (metal) by this process.
1543in Mem. Fountains Abbey (Surtees) 403 For smelting one pece leade. 1602–3Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham) 149 To Henry Orrell, bellfounder of Wyggan, for smeltinge the lead ashes, xxs. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 165 Which they Smelted..not far off, where they had Mills, &c. for the purpose. 1729Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 32 This slag is afterwards smelted again with Cowke only. 1812Brackenridge Views of Louisiana (1814) 148 The floats have no tiff, and are the most easily smelted. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 317 It was not then the practice to employ coal for smelting the ore. 1873Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 10/1 The best plan of smelting brass is to melt the copper in a black-lead crucible first.
absol.1831[see smelt-furnace below].
fig.1850Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. viii. (1872) 277 Who will smelt..these scandalous bewildering rubbish-mountains. 1874H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. iv. §6. 272 God..will scorch and smelt the true metal in the furnace. |