释义 |
ˈculverkeys [f. culver dove + key.] 1. A popular name of various plants, the flowers of which suggest a bunch of keys. a. In 17th c. writers, and still in Somersetshire, etc., the wild Hyacinth or Blue-bell, Scilla nutans. (Commentators on Dennys and Walton have wrongly guessed Columbine, Meadow Cranesbill, Orchis mascula.) a.1613J. Dennys Secr. Angl. i. in Arb. Garner I. 157 Pale ganderglass and azure culverkeys. 1653Walton Angler xi. 214, I could..see here a Boy gathering Lillies and Lady-smocks, and there a Girle cropping Culverkeys and Cowslips. 1873Jrnl. Horticulture 1 May 350/2 The Culverkey is well known in Somersetshire, and applies to the Bluebell (Hyacinthus non-scriptus). In Oxfordshire and Essex the same flower is by some called Culvers. b. The Cowslip. (In some parts said to be the Oxlip; but cowslip and oxlip are confounded dialectally.)
1736Pegge Kenticisms, Culverkeys, cowslips. 1873Jrnl. Horticulture 1 May 350/2 The term Culverkeys is in general use among all the poorer classes of this neighbourhood [Ashford], and is applied to the Cowslip (Primula veris)..Culverkey wine is a much-admired beverage. 1878–86Britten & Holland citing Field 26 June 1876, Coverkeys or Covey-keys, the Oxlip—not the true Primula elatior, but the plant known as P. variabilis. Kent. 1887Kentish Gloss., Culver key, the cowslip. c. In Clare, app. a pale-flowered species of Vetch, ? Vicia sepium or V. sylvatica.
1835Clare Rural Muse 68 Here I in cutting nosegays would delight, The lambtoe tuft, the paler culverkey. 2. The seedpods of the ash, ash-keys. dial.
1790Grose Provinc. Gloss. (Britt. & Holl.). 1851G. Johnston Flora of Berw. |