molehilln.

Brit.

/ˈməʊlhɪl/, U.S.

/ˈmoʊlˌ(h)ɪl/

Forms: see mole n.³ and hill n.; also late Middle English modhyll.

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: mole n.³, hill n.

Etymology: < mole n.³ + hill n. Compare slightly earlier mole-heap n.With sense 3 compare mole n.¹

a. A small mound or (occasionally) ridge of earth pushed up by a mole in burrowing near the surface of the ground.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > [noun] > order Insectivora > family Talpidae > genus Talpa (mole) > molehill

mole-heapc1400

molehillc1450

want-hillc1450

mouldwarp hill?c1475

mole-hillock1523

mole-bank1672

mole-cast1707

moley hill1899

c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 152 (MED) At a molle hille j stumblede and fil doun.

1485–6 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1898) I. 98 Pro aspercione lez modhylles.

1492–3 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1901) III. 652 Lez moldhillez.

1531 Accts. St. John's Hosp., Canterbury (Canterbury Cathedral Archives: CCA-U13/4) Paid for castyng a brode of moll hillys.

1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 380/1 Grumus,..an hop hil, mole-hill, or want hill.

1617 J. Minsheu Ἡγεμὼν είς τὰς γλῶσσας: Ductor in Linguas Mole-hill, or Mole-heape.

1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 140 With their Extortions, they [sc. moles] high Houses builds, To take their Pleasure in, called Mole-hills.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. v. 82 Walking to the Top of a fresh Mole-hill, I fell to my Neck in the hole.

1736 Compl. Family-piece iii. 344 Plow up your Mole-hills, &c. with a Mole-hill Plough.

1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) vi. 162 Upon this the plant creeps, and where it is planted there is a little loose earth like a mole-hill.

1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss. 95/2 Skale, or skail, to scatter or throw abroad, as molehills are when leveled.

1855 W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. II. 489 The little heaps well known as Mole-hills.

1878 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 609/1 Passages..along which the animal hunts its prey, throwing out the soil in the form of mole-hills.

1922 ‘R. Crompton’ Just—William vii. 142 Jumble chased a butterfly and a bee, and scratched up a molehill.

1992 J. Herbert Shrine (BNC) 339 ‘That's that, then,’ the reporter said, deliberately scuffing the top off a molehill as they passed.

†b. A similar mound surrounding an ants' nest, an anthill. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant > that form ant-hills > ant-hill

anthilleOE

ant bedeOE

pismire hill1440

maur-hill?c1475

maur house?c1475

ant heap1591

molehill1610

ant-hillock1656

bank1667

sprout hill1766

formicary1816

ant mound1830

formicarium1834

1610 G. Fletcher Christs Victorie 16 Like a sort of busie ants, that crawle About some molehill.

1631 T. Dekker Match mee in London iv. 59 What should the Ant, On his poore Mole-hill braue the Elephant.

a1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Art of Love (1709) i. 8 The Theatres are Berries for the Fair: Like Ants on Mole-hills thither they repair.

1730 B. Martyn Timoleon iii. i. 24 Like Ants, we toil, and raise a little Mole-hill.

2. figurative.

a. to make a mountain (out) of a molehill: to attribute great importance to something, esp. a difficulty or grievance, which is insignificant in reality; to make a lot of fuss over a minor matter. Also in other phrases with opposition to mountain.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > judge wrongly [verb (intransitive)] > overestimate or overstate

overween1554

to make a mountain (out) of a molehill1570

1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1361/1 To much amplifying thinges y^t be but small, makyng mountaines of Molehils.

1576 A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. 237 (margin) To whome you are as much comparable as a mole hill to a mountaine.

1631 J. Mabbe tr. F. de Rojas Spanish Bawd 282 Thou promisest mountaines, but performest Mole~hils.

1682 S. Pordage Azaria & Hushai 34 Each Mole-hill they a Mountain did create.

1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. i. vi. 36 Thou can'st make a Mole-hill appear as a Mountain; a Jew's-Harp sound like a Trumpet.

1778 T. Hutchinson Diary 5 May (1886) ii. 203 I told him his nerves were affected: every mole-hill was a mountain.

1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. V. x. x. 738 Of the mountain of their nonsense, the..magnitude may be measured by the molehill dimensions of..their..sense.

1892 J. Tait Mind in Matter (ed. 2) 53 [This is] like making mountains out of molehills.

1953 J. Wain Hurry on Down 32 With one bound he had leapt clear of the tradition of his class and type, which was to see molehills as mountains.

1992 D. Pannick Advocates i. 5 Counsel must..follow and defend the great tradition of advocacy: to make mountains out of molehills, to find a point of law where none had previously been known to exist.

b. Something small or insignificant. Sometimes attributive.Sometimes with allusion to phrases at sense 2a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial

gnatc1000

ball play?c1225

smalla1250

triflec1290

fly1297

child's gamec1380

motec1390

mitec1400

child's playc1405

trufferyc1429

toyc1450

curiosity1474

fly-winga1500

neither mass nor matins1528

boys' play1538

nugament1543

knack?1544

fable1552

nincety-fincety1566

mouse1584

molehill1590

coot1594

scoff1594

nidgery1611

pin matter1611

triviality1611

minuity1612

feathera1616

fillip1621

rattle1622

fiddlesticka1625

apex1625

rush candle1628

punctilio1631

rushlight1635

notchet1637

peppercorn1638

petty John1640

emptiness1646

fool-fangle1647

nonny-no1652

crepundian1655

fly-biting1659

pushpin1660

whinny-whanny1673

whiffle1680

straw1692

two and a plack1692

fiddle1695

trivial1715

barley-strawa1721

nothingism1742

curse1763

nihility1765

minutia1782

bee's knee1797

minutiae1797

niff-naff1808

playwork1824

floccinaucity1829

trivialism1830

chicken feed1834

nonsensical1842

meemaw1862

infinitesimality1867

pinfall1868

fidfad1875

flummadiddle1882

quantité négligeable1885

quotidian1902

pipsqueak1905

hickey1909

piddle1910

cream puff1920

squat1934

administrivia1937

chickenshit1938

cream puff1938

diddly-squat1963

non-issue1965

Tinkertoy1972

1590 R. Wilson Three Lordes & Three Ladies London sig. G3 This mool-hill Isle, that litle England hight, With London that proud paltrie market towne.

1592 J. Lyly Speeches Progresse Bissam sig. Civ Among my ioies, there is one griefe, that my daughter, the Mistris of a Moole hil, hath so much forgotten..duetie.

1594 Battle of Alcazar ii. ii King of a mole-hill had I rather be, Than the richest subiect of a monarchie.

1679 J. Dryden & N. Lee Oedipus iv. 50 Each Mole-hill thought swells to a huge Olympus.

1825 J. Nicholson Airedale in Anc. Times 116 Where can the history reach of all his deeds? Scarce o'er the little molehill of this earth.

1847 J. C. Prince Dreams & Realities 37 In lieu Of soaring into regions high and new Of perfect Poesy, I strove to climb The little mole-hill of imperfect Rhyme.

1996 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 23 May 1/1 Mr Borbidge agreed Mr Cooper's ‘simplification flattened out at least a molehill of difficulty’.

†3. A small lump or excrescence on the face; = mole n.¹ 2a. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > blemish > [noun] > mole

molea1398

honey spot1547

tongue-mole1562

mould1573

molehill1650

witch's teat1654

honey drop?a1800

honey-marka1803

rose-mole1877

witch-pap1886

witch's tit1932

1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 157 Whose heaving phantsies fill their Faces full of such artificial Mole-hils.

Derivatives

ˈmolehillish adj. rare resembling a molehill.

ΚΠ

1830 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 28 888 Obstacles..we smile at the idea of surmounting, so molehillish do they kythe.

1991 Entertainm. Weekly (Electronic ed.) 20 Sept. 65 On videocassette The Poseidon Adventure has always looked pretty molehillish, thanks to a cropped-picture transfer that undercuts the film's wide-screen visuals.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	molehill
释义	molehilln. Brit. /ˈməʊlhɪl/, U.S. /ˈmoʊlˌ(h)ɪl/ Forms: see mole n.³ and hill n.; also late Middle English modhyll. Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: mole n.³, hill n. Etymology: < mole n.³ + hill n. Compare slightly earlier mole-heap n.With sense 3 compare mole n.¹ 1. a. A small mound or (occasionally) ridge of earth pushed up by a mole in burrowing near the surface of the ground. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > [noun] > order Insectivora > family Talpidae > genus Talpa (mole) > molehill mole-heapc1400 molehillc1450 want-hillc1450 mouldwarp hill?c1475 mole-hillock1523 mole-bank1672 mole-cast1707 moley hill1899 c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 152 (MED) At a molle hille j stumblede and fil doun. 1485–6 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1898) I. 98 Pro aspercione lez modhylles. 1492–3 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1901) III. 652 Lez moldhillez. 1531 Accts. St. John's Hosp., Canterbury (Canterbury Cathedral Archives: CCA-U13/4) Paid for castyng a brode of moll hillys. 1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 380/1 Grumus,..an hop hil, mole-hill, or want hill. 1617 J. Minsheu Ἡγεμὼν είς τὰς γλῶσσας: Ductor in Linguas Mole-hill, or Mole-heape. 1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 140 With their Extortions, they [sc. moles] high Houses builds, To take their Pleasure in, called Mole-hills. 1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. v. 82 Walking to the Top of a fresh Mole-hill, I fell to my Neck in the hole. 1736 Compl. Family-piece iii. 344 Plow up your Mole-hills, &c. with a Mole-hill Plough. 1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) vi. 162 Upon this the plant creeps, and where it is planted there is a little loose earth like a mole-hill. 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss. 95/2 Skale, or skail, to scatter or throw abroad, as molehills are when leveled. 1855 W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. II. 489 The little heaps well known as Mole-hills. 1878 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 609/1 Passages..along which the animal hunts its prey, throwing out the soil in the form of mole-hills. 1922 ‘R. Crompton’ Just—William vii. 142 Jumble chased a butterfly and a bee, and scratched up a molehill. 1992 J. Herbert Shrine (BNC) 339 ‘That's that, then,’ the reporter said, deliberately scuffing the top off a molehill as they passed. †b. A similar mound surrounding an ants' nest, an anthill. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant > that form ant-hills > ant-hill anthilleOE ant bedeOE pismire hill1440 maur-hill?c1475 maur house?c1475 ant heap1591 molehill1610 ant-hillock1656 bank1667 sprout hill1766 formicary1816 ant mound1830 formicarium1834 1610 G. Fletcher Christs Victorie 16 Like a sort of busie ants, that crawle About some molehill. 1631 T. Dekker Match mee in London iv. 59 What should the Ant, On his poore Mole-hill braue the Elephant. a1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Art of Love (1709) i. 8 The Theatres are Berries for the Fair: Like Ants on Mole-hills thither they repair. 1730 B. Martyn Timoleon iii. i. 24 Like Ants, we toil, and raise a little Mole-hill. 2. figurative. a. to make a mountain (out) of a molehill: to attribute great importance to something, esp. a difficulty or grievance, which is insignificant in reality; to make a lot of fuss over a minor matter. Also in other phrases with opposition to mountain. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > judge wrongly [verb (intransitive)] > overestimate or overstate overween1554 to make a mountain (out) of a molehill1570 1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1361/1 To much amplifying thinges y^t be but small, makyng mountaines of Molehils. 1576 A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. 237 (margin) To whome you are as much comparable as a mole hill to a mountaine. 1631 J. Mabbe tr. F. de Rojas Spanish Bawd 282 Thou promisest mountaines, but performest Mole~hils. 1682 S. Pordage Azaria & Hushai 34 Each Mole-hill they a Mountain did create. 1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. i. vi. 36 Thou can'st make a Mole-hill appear as a Mountain; a Jew's-Harp sound like a Trumpet. View more context for this quotation 1778 T. Hutchinson Diary 5 May (1886) ii. 203 I told him his nerves were affected: every mole-hill was a mountain. 1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. V. x. x. 738 Of the mountain of their nonsense, the..magnitude may be measured by the molehill dimensions of..their..sense. 1892 J. Tait Mind in Matter (ed. 2) 53 [This is] like making mountains out of molehills. 1953 J. Wain Hurry on Down 32 With one bound he had leapt clear of the tradition of his class and type, which was to see molehills as mountains. 1992 D. Pannick Advocates i. 5 Counsel must..follow and defend the great tradition of advocacy: to make mountains out of molehills, to find a point of law where none had previously been known to exist. b. Something small or insignificant. Sometimes attributive.Sometimes with allusion to phrases at sense 2a. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial gnatc1000 ball play?c1225 smalla1250 triflec1290 fly1297 child's gamec1380 motec1390 mitec1400 child's playc1405 trufferyc1429 toyc1450 curiosity1474 fly-winga1500 neither mass nor matins1528 boys' play1538 nugament1543 knack?1544 fable1552 nincety-fincety1566 mouse1584 molehill1590 coot1594 scoff1594 nidgery1611 pin matter1611 triviality1611 minuity1612 feathera1616 fillip1621 rattle1622 fiddlesticka1625 apex1625 rush candle1628 punctilio1631 rushlight1635 notchet1637 peppercorn1638 petty John1640 emptiness1646 fool-fangle1647 nonny-no1652 crepundian1655 fly-biting1659 pushpin1660 whinny-whanny1673 whiffle1680 straw1692 two and a plack1692 fiddle1695 trivial1715 barley-strawa1721 nothingism1742 curse1763 nihility1765 minutia1782 bee's knee1797 minutiae1797 niff-naff1808 playwork1824 floccinaucity1829 trivialism1830 chicken feed1834 nonsensical1842 meemaw1862 infinitesimality1867 pinfall1868 fidfad1875 flummadiddle1882 quantité négligeable1885 quotidian1902 pipsqueak1905 hickey1909 piddle1910 cream puff1920 squat1934 administrivia1937 chickenshit1938 cream puff1938 diddly-squat1963 non-issue1965 Tinkertoy1972 1590 R. Wilson Three Lordes & Three Ladies London sig. G3 This mool-hill Isle, that litle England hight, With London that proud paltrie market towne. 1592 J. Lyly Speeches Progresse Bissam sig. Civ Among my ioies, there is one griefe, that my daughter, the Mistris of a Moole hil, hath so much forgotten..duetie. 1594 Battle of Alcazar ii. ii King of a mole-hill had I rather be, Than the richest subiect of a monarchie. 1679 J. Dryden & N. Lee Oedipus iv. 50 Each Mole-hill thought swells to a huge Olympus. 1825 J. Nicholson Airedale in Anc. Times 116 Where can the history reach of all his deeds? Scarce o'er the little molehill of this earth. 1847 J. C. Prince Dreams & Realities 37 In lieu Of soaring into regions high and new Of perfect Poesy, I strove to climb The little mole-hill of imperfect Rhyme. 1996 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 23 May 1/1 Mr Borbidge agreed Mr Cooper's ‘simplification flattened out at least a molehill of difficulty’. †3. A small lump or excrescence on the face; = mole n.¹ 2a. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > blemish > [noun] > mole molea1398 honey spot1547 tongue-mole1562 mould1573 molehill1650 witch's teat1654 honey drop?a1800 honey-marka1803 rose-mole1877 witch-pap1886 witch's tit1932 1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 157 Whose heaving phantsies fill their Faces full of such artificial Mole-hils. Derivatives ˈmolehillish adj. rare resembling a molehill. ΚΠ 1830 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 28 888 Obstacles..we smile at the idea of surmounting, so molehillish do they kythe. 1991 Entertainm. Weekly (Electronic ed.) 20 Sept. 65 On videocassette The Poseidon Adventure has always looked pretty molehillish, thanks to a cropped-picture transfer that undercuts the film's wide-screen visuals. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.c1450
随便看	to drop the fbomb to drop the flag to drop the handkerchief to drop the handkerchief at to drop the handkerchief to to drop the pilot to drop the rag to drop the writ to drop to or on to drop to or on to to drop trou to drop vie to drop vies to drop, throw, etc, in someone's lap to drop, throw, etc, something in someone's lap to drown out to drown the miller to drown the shamrock to drub a person to death to drub to death to drug and draw to drum home to fill in to fill in on to fill in the time