| 单词 |
puff-ball |
| 释义 |
ˈpuff-ball
[f. puff n. (sense 3) or v. + ball n.1; so Du. pof-bal: see puff v.]
1. a. A fungus of the genus Lycoperdon or of some allied genus; so called from the ball-like shape of the ripe spore-case, and its emission of the spores in a cloud of fine powder when broken. (Some of the species are edible in an unripe state.)
1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 34 And filleth the Earth with Wind,..and makes it swell and rise like a Puf⁓ball. 1702Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1364, I find the Dust of the..Puff-Ball to be the minutest Powder that I ever saw. 1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. (1794) 502 Common Puff-ball is roundish, and discharges its dust by a torn aperture in the top. 1843Zoologist I. 25 Intoxicating the bees..by filling the hive with the smoke of an ignited puff-ball. 1861H. Macmillan Footnotes fr. Page Nat. 199 The giant puff⁓ball (Bovista gigantea)..increases from the size of a pea to that of a melon in a single night.
fig.1826Pusey in Liddon, etc. Life (1893) I. iv. 87 [Writing from Berlin..he states that] Tholuck was initiated a few days since,..and that great puff-ball Marheineke delivered addresses in Latin. 1873Leland Egypt. Sketch Bk. 221 A poisonous puff-ball of pride.
b. collect. The powdery spores of a species of Lycoperdon used as a styptic.
1767Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 173 Over which..it will still be right to apply Puff-Ball,..or some such substance,..to retard the fall of the eschar as long as possible.
2. = powder-puff 1 a; also transf. and fig.
1821–2Swainson Zool. Illustr. II. Plate 99 The disproportionate size of the head [of the puff-bird] is rendered more conspicuous by the bird raising its feathers so as to appear not unlike a puff ball. 1860Macm. Mag. Sept. 380/1 The puff-ball of the dandelion. 1872Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 396/1 The exquisite little white puff-balls of dogs.
3. Naut. slang. (See quot.)
1933J. Masefield Bird of Dawning 263 Bloody Bill China had bonnets on his courses and contrivances that he called puffballs in the roaches of his topsails. Ibid. 307 Puff-balls or Save-alls. Extra sails laced to the feet of square sails.
Add:4. Fashion. A short full skirt which is gathered in round the hemline to produce a soft, puffy, billowing form. Usu. attrib., as puffball dress, puff-ball skirt, etc.
[1960Times 27 Jan. 12/5 The important silhouette for dresses for after five o'clock is best described as a slender but loosely fitting sheath..with puff-ball drapery.] 1968J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 46 Puffball: See Balloon. 1986Artseen Dec. 14 (Advt.), Astrakhan Puffball skirt {pstlg}145. 1987Times 9 June 25/1 Christian Lacroix, the Paris designer,..is credited with introducing the pouffe, otherwise known as the puffball, into the grandest parties. 1988Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 16 Oct. 17/2 She has abandoned skintight leathers and puffball minis, platinum rinses and bootlace ties. |
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