cirrusn.1
/ˈsɪrəs/, U.S. /ˈsɪrəs/ 1. literal. A curl-like tuft, fringe, or filament.
ΚΠ
1708 Phillips's New World of Words Cirrus, a Tuft or Lock of Hair curled.
2. Botany. A tendril: see quots. 1845, 1861.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > shoot, sprout, or branch > [noun] > tendril or twining shoot
tenaclec1500
tendril1538
clasp1577
clasper1577
winder1577
capreol1578
taglet1578
twine1579
string1585
trail1597
tress1605
nervelet1648
cirrus1708
clavicle1725
twister1799
bine1808
1708 Phillips's New World of Words Cirri are also taken for these fine Strings, or Hairs, by which some Plants fasten themselves; in order to their Support in creeping along; as Ivy, etc.
1845 J. Lindley School Bot. (1858) i. 10 The midrib [of the leaf] is lengthened, and acquires the power of twining round small bodies..it then has the name of cirrhus or tendril.
1861 R. Bentley Man. Bot. i. iii. 110 Tendril or Cirrhus..is applied to a thread-like leafless branch, which is twisted in a spiral direction.
3. Zoology. A slender or filamentary process or appendage, as the fleshy barbel or beard of some fishes, the feet of Cirripedes, the lateral processes on the arms of Brachiopoda, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > parts of fish > [noun] > barbel
beard?1527
barbel1601
wattle1655
barb1688
cirrus1753
barbule1848
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > [noun] > slender or pointed part > filamentary
whiska1618
aculeus1708
cirrus1753
seta1814
setule1826
chaeta1896
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Cirrus, certain oblong and soft appendiculæ hanging from the under jaw of fishes.
1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. II. 126 Tubinicella, body inclosed in a shell, with the cirri small, setaceous, and unequal.
1834 C. Bell Hand (ed. 3) 147 Fishes have cirri which hang from their mouth.
1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 274 [In barnacles] the mouth is at the bottom and the cirri near the orifice.
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals v. 231 In some somites this appendage is a cirrus.
4. Meteorology. A form of cloud, generally at a high elevation, presenting the appearance of diverging filaments or wisps, often resembling a curl or lock of hair or wool. Particular varieties are known as cat's or mare's tails. See cirro- comb. form 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > [noun] > a cloud > cirrus
cirrus1803
curl-cloud1817
cirrus-cloud1864
1803 L. Howard Modif. Clouds (1865) 2–3 It may be allowable to introduce a Methodical nomenclature, applicable..to the Modifications of Cloud..Cirrus, parallel, flexuous, or diverging fibres, extensible by increase in any or in all directions.
1815 T. I. M. Forster Res. Atmosph. Phænom. (ed. 2) iv. 143 When the cirrus is seen in detached tufts, called Mares' Tails, it may be regarded as a sign of wind.
1866 Cornhill Mag. Nov. 565 The moon..disc-hid In a gossamer veil of white cirrhus.
1874 tr. G. Hartwig Aerial World 158 The cirrus or curl-cloud has its seat in the higher regions.
Compounds
C1. attributive and in other combinations, as cirrus-cloud, cirrus-flecked adj. (sense 4).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > [noun] > a cloud > cirrus
cirrus1803
curl-cloud1817
cirrus-cloud1864
1864 R. F. Burton Mission to Gelele 17 The cirrus-flecked nocturnal sky.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 42 The cirrus clouds are..sometimes as much as ten miles above the surface of the earth.
C2.
cirrus-bag n. ‘the sheath containing the cirrus of trematode and other worms’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
cirrusn.2
? Obsolete f. (or misprint) of ceruse n.
Π
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §291 Metalls..in their Putrefactions, or Rusts; as Vermilion, Verdegrease, Bise, Cirrus.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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