| 释义 |
▪ I. dapple, n.|ˈdæp(ə)l|
Also 6 dappell.
[Unless this is the first element in dapple-grey (q.v.), it is not known until late in the 16th c., being preceded somewhat by examples of the adj. of the same form, and followed by those of the vb. in the simple tenses; the (? ppl.) adj. dappled however appears two centuries earlier. The mutual relations of these and the derivation and etymological development of the whole group are, from the want of data, still uncertain. The primary meaning of dappled was ‘spotted, specked, blotched’, which might arise either from a vb. ‘to spot’ or a n. = ‘spot, blotch’. A possible connexion is the Icel. depill (found in 13th c.) ‘spot, dot’; according to Vigfusson ‘a dog with spots over the eyes is also called depill’. This is app. a dim. of dapi pool: cf. mod. Norw. dape, depel muddy pool, pond, dub; MLG. dope, dobbe. Thus dapple might perhaps originally mean a ‘splash’, and, hence, a small blotch or speck of colour.]
1. One of many roundish spots or small blotches of colouring by which a surface is diversified.
1580Sidney Arcadia ii. 271 (R.) As many eyes upon his body, as my gray mare hath dapples. 1611Cotgr., Place..a spot or dapple on a horse. 1868Lowell Let. 4 Sept. (1894) I. 453, I should like to lie under a tree for a year, with no other industry than to watch the dapples of sunlight on the grass. 1916D. H. Lawrence Amores 49 When the yellow dapples Of autumn tell the withered tale again.
2. (Without pl.) Spotting, clouding; mottled marking of a surface; dappled condition, dappling.
1591Horsey Trav. (Hakluyt Soc.) 220 A goodly fare white bull, all spotted over with black naturall dappell. 1648Earl of Westm. Otia Sacra (1879) 88 The Crimson streaks belace the Damaskt West..And cast so fair a Dapple o'r the Skies. 1713Lond. Gaz. No. 5176/4 A Grey Mare..a little Fleabitten..on the Dapple behind. 1820J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1857) I. 291 The whole sky has a harsh and unnatural dapple. a1889G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 52 For earth..her dapple is at an end.
3. An animal, as a horse or ass, with a mottled coat. [app. subst. use of dapple a.]
a1635Corbet Poems (1807) 16 The king..rides upon his brave gray dapple. 1733Fielding Quix. i. i, Thou art just such another squat bag of guts as thy Dapple. a1800Cowper Needless Alarm 115 Be it Dapple's bray, Or be it not, or be it whose it may. 1861Times 8 Oct. 8/1 The pure-blooded dapple, shaking his long ears over that manger.
▪ II. dapple, a.|ˈdæp(ə)l|
Also 6 daple.
[See dapple n., and dappled. The simple adj. is known c 1550: its relation to the n. and vb. is uncertain. According to analogy, it might be the source of either or both of these; but its date would suggest that it may itself have been worn down from dappled, or short for dapple-grey.]
= dappled.
1551T. Wilson Logike 79 All horses bee not of one colour, but..some baye, some daple. 1735Somerville Chase iv. 249 With his Hand Stroke thy soft dapple Sides, as he each Day Visits thy Stall. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 46 There approached them a third sheykh, with a dapple mule. [Dapple cited by Imperial and Century Dicts. from Scott, is an error for dappled: see Guy M. xxv.] Hence † ˈdappleness, dappled state.
1611Cotgr., Pommelure, plumpenesse, roundnesse; also daplenesse.
▪ III. dapple, v.|ˈdæp(ə)l|
Also 7 daple, dappel.
[The (? ppl.) adj. dappled (q.v.) occurs from the end of the 14th c.; but the simple vb. is first known two centuries later, and might have been inferred from the ppl. adj., or formed directly on the n. or adj. of same form: see dapple n.]
1. trans. To mark or variegate with rounded spots or cloudy patches of different colour or shade.
1599Shakes. Much Ado v. iii. 27 The gentle day..Dapples the drowsie east with spots of grey. c1620Fletcher & Mass. Trag. Barnavelt iv. i. They should have dapled ore yon bay with fome, Sir. a1658Cleveland Wks. (1687) 14 The trembling Leaves..Dappling the Walk with light and shade. 1697Phil. Trans. XIX. 781 A Negro-Boy that is dappel'd in several Places of his Body with White Spots. 1791Cowper Odyss. xx. 427, I see the walls and arches dappled thick With gore. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 320 How to dapple a horse. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 79 An adjoining meadow, where the sheep are lying, dappling its sloping surface like the small clouds on the summer heaven. 1870Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 240 The flickering shadows of forest-leaves dapple the roof of the little porch.
b. fig.
1647Ward Simp. Cobler 76 It is in fashion with you to..dapple your speeches, with new quodled words. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin. i. 41 Discord dappled o're with thousand Crimes.
2. intr. To become dappled or speckled.
1678Lond. Gaz. No. 1266/4 An iron gray Gelding, beginning to dapple. 1818Byron Mazeppa xvi, Methought that mist of dawning gray Would never dapple into day. 1883D. C. Murray Hearts I. vi. 138 The green flooring of the dell [began] to dapple with light and shadow.
Hence ˈdappling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1830Wordsw. Russian Fugitive i. ii, In the dappling east Appeared unwelcome dawn. 1870Ruskin Lect. Art vi. (1875) 172 The dappling of one wood glade with flowers and sunshine. 1883G. Allen in Knowledge 3 Aug. 66/1 The..colour and dappling [of orchids]. |