| 释义 |
▪ I. cull, n.1 dial.
Also 5 cole.
The fish called Bull-head or Miller's Thumb.
a1490Botoner Itin. (Nasmith 1778) 291 Homines possunt piscare..de colys vocat. Myller-thombys. Ibid. 358 Yn Wye-water sunt..cullys. 1847–78Halliwell, Cull, the bull-head. Glouc.
▪ II. cull, n.2 slang and dial.|kʌl|
[perh. abbreviation of cully.]
A dupe, silly fellow, simpleton, fool; a man, fellow, chap.
1698In Vino Veritas 25 How prettily we top upon those Rum Culls called Gentlemen. 1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. xii, A way to empty the pocket of a queer cull. a1764Lloyd On Rhyme Poet. Wks. 1774 II. 107 The hen-peck'd culls of vixen wives. 1839H. Ainsworth Jack Sheppard (1889) 14 (Farmer) Capital trick of the cull in the cloak to make another person's brain stand the brunt for his own.
▪ III. cull, n.3|kʌl|
[f. cull v.1]
1. The act or product of culling; a selection.
a1618Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue iv. 383 Some curious Cull Of Croton Dames so choicely Beautifull. 1643Sir J. Spelman Case of Affairs 17 This man..presents the world with a cull of all the irregular times of our unfortunate Princes. 1692R. L'Estrange Josephus' Antiq. xii. ii. (1733) 303 To make a Cull out of your several Tribes, of six Elders out of each Tribe. 1958Times 20 May 4/3 An annual cull should be carried out..to limit further increases in the grey seal population. 1968Times Lit. Suppl. 30 May 559/4 A list of the words and phrases I'd found, which may be of interest as showing an average daily cull from an intelligent newspaper.
2. Farming. An animal drafted from the flock as being inferior or too old for breeding; usually fattened for the market. Also, a bird drafted as inferior; and fig. Cf. culling vbl. n.1 2. (Usually in pl.)
The use in quot. 1791 is peculiar.
1791Young Ann. Agric. XVI. 493 The Burford ewes are..culled every year; the oldest are fattened and the ram given to the culls, to answer the purpose of westerns. 1809Nat. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 801/2 We have our lamb fairs..our shearling fairs, our fairs for culls. 1858Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIX. i. 39, 20 fat cows..the culls of their herds. 1880Blackw. Mag. Apr. 463 They were ‘culls’, that is sheep drafted out of other flocks for some fault or on account of age. 1919H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill viii. 253 It made him feel like a social cull or an outcast, or something. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 359/1 Many culls are unhealthy or diseased and are a potential danger to all other birds with which they come into contact.
attrib.1793Young Ann. Agric. XIX. 148 Cull ewes, generally..called draught ewes. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 322/1 The purchasing of ‘cull’ or old ewes from some good breeder.
3. chiefly pl. and attrib.
a. N. Amer. ‘Any refuse stuff; as, in bakeries, rolls not properly baked’ (Webster ‘Refuse timber, from which the best part has been culled out’ (Webster 1864). Also cull lumber.
b. U.S. ‘Any refuse stuff; as, in bakeries, rolls not properly baked’ (Webster Supp. 1881).
1829J. MacTaggart Three Yrs. Canada I. 245 The refuse wood is called culls, and brings an inferior price. 1867Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. 1865–66 VI. 647 Culls are a quality manufactured from winding, worm-eaten, shaky or dry-rot timber, badly manufactured, or less than sixteen (16) inches in length. 1873Wisconsin Rep. XXIX. 593 About 90,000 feet was not good merchantable lumber, but was what is called culls. 1897F. C. Moore How to Build ii. 23 The ‘cull’ lumber should be put in the closets, storerooms, and upper or attic rooms. 1953Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. i. 35 Cull, (a) an inferior plant rejected from nursery stock, (b) trees or logs that are of merchantable size but are rendered unmerchantable by defects. 1969L. G. Sorden Lumberjack Lingo 30 Cull, rejected logs having little or no value.
c. Fruit rejected as being of inferior quality. (See also E.D.D.) Also attrib.
1937Nature 7 Aug. 222/1 The utilization of farm wastes and by-products is being investigated; already cull citrus fruits in California are being processed for producing citric acid, citrus oils and pectin. 1951New Biol. X. 56 Malformed and scarred apples were discarded, and it became a matter of moment to reduce the proportion of ‘culls’ or waste. 1962Times 31 Mar. 9/7 Some cull apples go, at a low price, into cider manufacture.
▪ IV. cull, v.1|kʌl|
Also 4 cole, 5–7 culle, 6–7 cul.
[a. OF. cuillir and -er, later cueillir, in imperative cuille, coille, cueille (køʎ), to collect, gather, take, select, etc. = Pr. coillir, cuelhir, culhir, Cat. cullir, Sp. coger, Pg. colher, It. cogliere:—L. colligĕre, pres. indic. colligo, which became subsequently colgo, coglio, and was conjugated in different parts of the Romanic domain with -ĕre (It.), -ēre (Sp. and Pg.), -īre (Pr. and F.), -āre (F.). The word was frequent in ME. in the form coil (see coil v.1, and cf. coil v.3) for the OF. form coillir; cull appears in the 15th c., and may represent the F. stem cuell-, cueill-: cf. ME. puple for F. pueple, peuple. Cf. also ME. cuyl, to collect.]
1. trans. To choose from a number or quantity; to select, pick. Now most frequently used of making a literary selection. cull out: to pick out, select (arch.).
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 2731 Sex hundred of hyse he colede out, Þat proued were, hardy & stout. c1440Promp. Parv. 107 Cullyn' owte, segrego, lego, separo. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 239 The auctours so rawe, and so ferre to culle. 1566Painter Pal. Pleas. I. Pref. 9 Certaine have I culled out of the Decamerone of..Boccaccio. a1593H. Smith Serm. (1622) 338 To cull out of all the people, those which had best courage. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 60 It is no small advantage to pick or cull out the best Seed. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. viii. 82 This Villian was culled out to be sacrificed to the just Resentment of the People. 1807Crabbe Village ii. 159 Words aptly culled, and meanings well exprest. 1877H. A. Page De Quincey I. vi. 111 From various notes of later dates we cull the following.
2. To gather, pick, pluck (flowers, fruits, etc.).
1634Milton Comus 255 The Sirens three Culling their potent herbs. 1743–6Shenstone Elegies iv, Then Elegance Shall cull fresh flowrets for Ophelia's tomb. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Leech of Folkest. (1877) 373 A sprig of mountain ash culled by moonlight. 1880Ouida Moths I. 12 The strawberries just culled.
fig.1805Wordsw. Prelude xiii. 131 Where I could..cull Knowledge that step by step might lead me on.
3. transf. To subject to the process of selection; to select or gather the choice things or parts from.
1713Steele Guardian No. 171 ⁋3, I shall always pick and cull the Pantry for him. 1821A. Fisher Jrnl. Arct. Reg. 230, I thought that, by attempting to cull it [a subject] I might omit some circumstances that deserved to be mentioned. 1881Gard. Chron. No. 417. 823 The ground is culled at intervals of three, four, or five years.
4. a. To pick out (livestock, etc.) according to their quality. Also absol.
The earliest examples are Austral. and N.Z. but the word is now widely used in Britain and elsewhere.
1889Williams & Reeves Colonial Couplets 9 I'd far sooner choose To be writing to you, than be culling the ewes. 1927M. M. Bennett Christison xii. 125 Christison used to cull on clearly defined lines. At first coarse calves were culled. 1929‘M. B. Eldershaw’ House is Built i. 10 There were a few lean, dejected cattle, the best of them having been culled out hours before [by buyers]. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 387/3 All ewes on this farm, which are crossbred sheep, are culled for quality and not for age. 1968J. Gordon Beagle Guide 170 Cull, to eliminate unwanted hounds. 1969Listener 27 Mar. 439/3 The battery boys ‘cull’ (or liquidate) their hens when they've laid for about a year. 1970Kenya Farmer Feb. 15/2 A bigger cow..will..fetch a higher price at culling.
b. spec. To select and kill (wild animals or birds), usu. in order to improve the stock or reduce the population.
1934Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 12 Apr. 10/4 With the object of determining the best method of culling deer in the Tararuas..the sum of {pstlg}10 was granted by the Wellington Acclimatisation Society last night. 1963E. Robins Africa's Wild Life xxvi. 212 One should cull at least 50% of one's herd annually. 1964[implied at culling vbl. n. 1 b]. 1978Orcadian 31 Aug. 1/2 Lord Cranbrook..said that 10,000-plus [seal] pups had been culled in the last ten years. 1979S. Flint Let Seals Live! i. 20 It always appeared to me that the..Nature Conservancy Council had been coerced into appearing to back the decision to cull when its unpopularity became evident.
5. Forestry. (See quots.) N. Amer.
1904S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories 49 A log is culled, or thrown out, when..it will not make good timber. 1905Forestry Bureau Bull. (U.S.) No. 61, 9 Cull, to take out of a forest by selection a portion of the trees. 1953Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. i. 35 To cull, (a) to reject inferior plants from nursery stock, (b) to deduct the effective portion of a merchantable log or piece of timber from the gross volume in scaling or measuring timber. (Canada.) 1953H. L. Edlin Forester's Handbk. iv. 59 Once raised, the stocks should be culled—that is, any obviously stunted, mis-shapen or diseased specimens should be thrown aside.
▪ V. † cull, v.2 Obs. or dial.
Also 6 kull.
[Var. of coll v.1]
trans. To fondle in the arms, hug.
a1564Becon Jewel of Joy Wks. (1844) 443 To kiss and kull him as his dear darling. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 215 Least making a wanton of my first..I should..kill it by cullyng it. 1601Weever Mirr. Mart. D iv, He..Hugges, culles, and clippes him in his aged armes. 1659Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 535 Oh! how they could hug and cull it.
b. cull-me-to-you, rural name of the pansy.
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxcix. §4. 704 Harts ease, Pansies, Liue in Idlenes, Cull me to you, and three faces in a hood. 1814L. Hunt Feast of Poets, Cuddle-me-to-you, which seems to have been altered by some nice apprehension into the less vivacious request of Cull-me-to-you.
▪ VI. cull(e
early form of kill. |