释义 |
merelsn. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French merele. Etymology: < Middle French merele, merelle, feminine (late 11th cent in Old French; French marelle (rare before 19th cent., replacing earlier mérelle (current to 18th cent., and 19th cent. as archaism)), and marel , merel , masculine (12th cent. in Old French; French regional méreau ; compare Anglo-Norman merel in sense ‘counter’), both probably < an unattested Romance base *marr- stone, rock (compare French regional (Poitiers) marre rock, Occitan marro tufa; perhaps from the same base are maroon n.1, and marron n.1: see further Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch at *marr-). Compare mill n.1 9a, morris n.2The word is attested earliest in Old French in feminine form in the sense ‘token, piece of wood’ (11th cent.) and in masculine form in the sense ‘token, coin, piece of stone or wood thrown in sports’ (12th cent.); it is attested (in feminine form) in the sense ‘piece or counter in a game’ in the late 13th cent., and soon after (in singular and in plural) as the name of a game played with such pieces or counters on a board marked with a figure of intersecting lines ( > Italian regional (Sicily) marrella, maredda, smerelli), and in the 16th cent. as the name of this figure; it is attested later (late 17th cent.) also as the name of a children's game involving pushing a quoit on a figure sketched on the ground, and (late 19th cent.) as the name of the figure on which this game is played. Compare post-classical Latin merellus, mirellum counter (14th cent. in British sources). For other names of the same game in English regional use, perhaps all originating as alterations of this word, see H. J. R. Murray Hist. Board-games (1952) 38. Now historical and English regional. society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > games similar to draughts > [noun] > merels > piece a1393 J. Gower (Fairf.) Prol. 430 (MED) So that under the clerkes lawe, Men sen the Merel al mysdrawe. a1393 J. Gower (Fairf.) vii. 3266 Wherof ensamples ben ynowhe Of hem that thilke merel drowhe. 1611 R. Cotgrave at Merelles Played..in France with pawnes, or men made of purpose, and tearmed Merelles. 2. In plural form (formerly also in singular form). society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > games similar to draughts > [noun] > merels c1449 R. Pecock (1860) 120 Where is it also grondid in Holi Scripture that men myȝten alloweabili..pleie..bi sitting at the merels? c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate (1901) 2404 (MED) At mereles, dees, and tables He kan pley passyngly. c1460 (?c1400) 1250 (MED) Leve now al thy foly and thy rebawdy, As Tablis & merellis and þe hazardry. a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville (Vitell.) 11192 (MED) I wyl nat spare To hunte for hert..shetyn at bessellys, And affter pleyn at the merellys [Fr. mereillier, merell]. 1611 R. Cotgrave Merelles. Le Ieu des merelles, the boyish game called Merills, or fiue-pennie Morris; played here most commonly with stones. 1627 W. Hawkins iii. iv. 49 That can set his three along in a row, And that is fippeny morrell. 1694 T. Hyde Hist. Nerdiludii 204 in Alia habet Nomina secundum numerum frustulorum quibus luditur..: sicut est Marlin: alias three mens Morals, & nine mens Morals, & nine penny miracle,..alias three penny Moris, aut five penny Moris, aut nine penny Moris [etc.]... Pro his autem omnibus verius & rectius dicendum est three pin Merells, aut nine pin Merells. 1706 (new ed.) Merils,..otherwise call'd Fivepenny Morris. 1826 in W. Hone (1827) II. 983 There is an ancient game, played by the ‘shepherds of Salisbury Plain’, and ‘village rustics’ in that part of the country, called ‘Ninepenny Marl’. 1877 F. Ross et al. Merrils, a game played on a square board with 18 pegs, nine on each side. Called in many parts nine men's morris. 1945 75 16/1 Two other board games, backgammon or nard and merels, seem to have had a similarly penetrative distribution. 1952 H. J. R. Murray iii. 43 A passage in Apollo Shroving..confuses this game [sc. fivepenny morris] with the smaller [three-counter] merels. 1995 S. K. Penman (1996) xxvii. 373 He found Hugh slouching morosely in a corner, playing a game of merels with Alexander de Bohun. society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > games similar to draughts > [noun] > fox and geese 1902 16 195 The royal household [under Edw. IV] found delight in games of chess and ‘marelles’. For the latter game ‘2 foxes and forty-six hounds of silver overgilt’ were purchased to form two sets. Compounds With first element in singular form. 1688 R. Holme (1905) 68/1 A 9 Hole Board..some terme this a miracle board and the game Miracles. 1867 B. Brierley 95 One [chair] in particular had supplied the material for a ‘merril’ board. 1889 7 233 The boys of a cottage near Dorchester had..carved a ‘marrel’ pound on a block of stone by the house. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.a1393 |