| 释义 |
▪ I. spiry, a.1|ˈspaɪərɪ|
Also 7 spirie.
[f. spire n.1]
1. Of grass or other plants, stems, etc.: Forming slender pointed shoots.
1602Carew Cornwall 56 The middle part of the Shire..beareth Heath and Spirie Grasse. 1626Bacon Sylva §592 As for the Leaues, their Density appeareth, in that, either they are Smooth and Shining,..Or in that they are Hard and Spiry. 1703Rowe Ulyss. ii. i, When ev'ry spiry Grass, and painted Flow'r, Is hung with pearly Drops of Heav'nly Rain. 1764Museum Rust. I. 453 The oat-stubble, the sedge, or long lowland spiry grass. 1794T. Gisborne Walks in Forest vi. (1796) 101 Spiry rushes in divergent files Rise fledged with rime. 1805–6Cary Dante, Inf. ii. 129 As florets..Rise all unfolded on their spiry stems. 1834Pringle Afr. Sk. vii. 232 Waving with a crop of long spiry grass. 1865Cornh. Mag. May 629 The spiry reed, that bare..The sponge of vinegar and gall.
b. Of trees: Rising in a slender tapering form without much branching.
1664Evelyn Pomona viii. 20 If the top prove spiry, or the fruit unkind, then the due remedy must be in re-graffing. 1712Pope Messiah 74 Waste sandy Vallies..The spiry Fir and shapely Box adorn. 1740Dyer Ruins Rome 54 Thro' spiry cypress groves, and tow'ring pine. 1784Cowper Task iii. 570 The spiry myrtle..Shines there, and flourishes. 1814Wordsw. Laodamia 169 A knot of spiry trees for ages grew From out the tomb. 1843tr. Custine's Empire of Czar II. 279 The marshes with their spiry pines and stunted birches. 1879Stevenson Trav. Cevennes 125 A range of meadows, set with spiry poplars.
Comb.1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §105 Firs, or pines, or other spiry topped trees.
2. Having the characteristic form of a spire; tapering up to a point:
a. Of parts of buildings.
1664Evelyn tr. Freart's Archit. 140 Pinnæ and Battlements were made sometimes more Sharp, Towring or Spiry. 1703[R. Neve] City & C. Purchaser 2 Sharp and spiry Battlements, or Pinacles. a1748Thomson Hymn Solitude vii, I just may cast my careless eyes Where London's spiry turrets rise. 1803J. Porter Thaddeus (1826) III. xi. 244 The spiry aisles of Harrowby-Abbey were discernible through the mist. 1823Gifford in Q. Rev. XXIX. 369 The village church, with its spiry steeple.
b. Of hills, rocks, etc.
1694E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. (ed. 18) i. 35 Carnarvanshire.., with spiry Hills, the highest in all Wales. 1786W. Gilpin Mount. & Lakes Cumberland II. 229 A solitary rock, tho spiry, has often a good effect. 1811Pinkerton Mod. Geogr. (ed. 3) 281 The spiry pinnacles of rock that rear themselves from among the perpetual snows..of the higher Alps. 1840F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. II. 45 Two spiry cliffs..bound the lake on opposite sides. 1889Science-Gossip XXV. 205/1 The sea..leaving on the outskirts..numerous stacks, islets, and spiry rocks.
c. In miscellaneous applications.
1716Gay Trivia iii. 358 The spiry Flames now lift aloft their Heads. 1725Pope Odyss. x. 175 A stream of curling smoke, ascending blue, And spiry tops. 1789E. Darwin Bot. Gard. (1791) I. 99 Loud o'er the camp the Fiend of Famine shrieks,..High-poised in air her spiry neck she bends. 1805J. Luccock Nature Wool 306 Some samples..were very kempy, with coarse and spiry tops to the staple. 1819H. Busk Vestriad v. 468 Spiry lance of dark and polish'd wood. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. v. 283 Soon the climbing spiry flashes Set the tree-tops in a glow.
3. Of form: Resembling that of a spire.
1777G. Forster Voy. round World I. 253 The mountains, clothed with forests, rose majestic in various spiry forms. 1789C. Smith Ethelinde (1814) V. 214 A group of yew and cypress relieved, by their spiry form, the more solid and regular mass of stone. 1842Selby Brit. Forest Trees 521 When young, the Cedar presents a pyramidal or spiry form. 1865Geikie Scen. & Geol. Scotl. viii. 219 The height and the angular spiry forms of the mountain ridges.
4. Of places: Full of spires; spire-crowned.
1728–46Thomson Spring 952 Spiry towns by surging columns mark'd Of household smoke. 1756Dyer Fleece i. 50 The leas And ruddy tilth which spiry Ross beholds. 1843Ruskin Mod. Paint. (1860) V. viii. iv. §10. 189 The group of spires, without it, would not..give a proper impression of Lausanne, as a spiry place. 1889Stevenson Edinburgh 180 The spiry habitable city.
5. slang. Highly distinguished.
1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. I. 229 Mr. Abberly used to think it quite spiry to wear a white hat and sit upon the coach-box and drive them himself on Sundays.
6. Characterized by slenderness or slimness of growth or form.
1853R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xx. 99 The light spiry ease of an animal full of strength and running. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. xi. i. 97/1 It would be impossible..to distinguish a large spiry foxhound from one of the smallest and lightest of her Majesty's beautiful pack [of staghounds].
▪ II. spiry, a.2|ˈspaɪrɪ|
[f. spire n.3]
Curving or coiling in spirals.
1676Dryden State Innoc. iv. i, Hid in the spiry volumes of the snake, I lurked within the covert of a brake. 1697― Virg. Georg. i. 334 Around our Pole the spiry Dragon glides. 1725Pope Odyss. iv. 619 On spiry volumes there a Dragon rides. 1798W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) I. 157 Soft through the ivory flows his gentle breath, And from its spiry folds sweet fairy tones ascend. |