| 释义 |
weevil|ˈwiːv(ə)l, ˈwiːvɪl|
Forms: α. 1 wibl, wibil, wifel, 5 wyvyl, -oll, 6 wyvel(l(e, 6–7 wivel(l; 5 wevel, -yl, 6 wevell (wew-), -yll, 6–7 wevill, 6–8 wevil; 6 weavill (7 -il), 6–7, 9 weavel (7 -ell); 6 weevell, 6– weevil (6–7 -ill). β. dial. 7 wibel, -ill, 9 wibble; 8–9 weeble, 9 weabel. γ. dial. 7 whule, 8–9 whool, 9 wheul, whewl, wule, weuel, yule.
[OE. wifel masc., beetle, corresp. to OS. (gold-)wivil glowworm, MLG. wevel, OHG. wibil, wipil beetle, chafer, ON. vifill in tordyfill dung-beetle (MSw. pl. torddöffla, Sw. tordyfvel, Norw. tordivel; cf. OE. tordwifel):—OTeut. *weƀilo-z, f. *weƀ- to move about briskly (see wave v.) or *weƀ- to weave, ‘from the filaments spun for the larva-case’ (Skeat). From the same root is the synonymous OE. wibba (:—*weƀjon-) beetle, glowworm.
For the special phonology in English cf. beetle repr. OE. bitela; the OE. i when lengthened in an open syllable became ē in ME. The β and γ forms illustrate normal dialectal alterations of the v.
In the 16th and 17th c. some writers app. confused the name of the weevil with that of the weasel, using wesell, weezel, for the insect; see the quotations under weezel.]
1. In OE., a beetle of any kind; in later use, any beetle classed under the group Rhyncophora, the larvæ of which, and sometimes the beetles themselves, are destructive by boring into grain, fruit, nuts, the bark of trees, etc.; esp. a beetle belonging to any of the numerous species of the family Curculionidæ, the true weevils; also one belonging to the families Brenthidæ and Bruchidæ.
The best known are the corn-weevil, Calandra granaria, a small red beetle that does much damage in granaries by boring into the grains of corn in order to deposit its eggs, and the nut-weevil. For clover-, grain-, palm-, pea-, rice-weevil see those words.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) C 151 Cantarus, wibil. Ibid. P 110 Panpila, wibl. a1000Riddles xli. 73 (Gr.) Is þæs gores sunu gonge hrædra Þone we wifel wordum nemnað. c1440Promp. Parv. 523/2 Wevyl, or malte boode (Winch. MS. gurgulio). 1455Rolls of Parlt. V. 324/2 Whether ye Malt be bad or good, all is cast togeder in soo grete a multitude, that noo man can kepe it from Wormes called Wevels. 1469in Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 21 Also that you gar the malt be windowd, or it be laid in any garners, for ells there will brede wyvolls in it. 1528Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 174 The wyche malte was etten with wewells. 1587Golding De Mornay xvi. (1617) 284 The Husbandman createth not the wiuell in the Corne. 1623T. Scot Highw. God 78 Mothes are no worse in cloth, rust in yron, nor whules in Mault, then these in the Commonwealth. 1626Bacon Sylva §696 A Worm called a Wevill..that feedeth upon Roots. 1628May Virg. Georg. i. 10 There little Weeuills heapes of corne destroy. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece i. vi. 284 Your Malt..not having had Time to contract..Weebles, (an Insect that eats out the Heart of Malt). 1750W. Ellis Country Housew. Fam. Compan. 7 Whools, or Wevils, or Maggots, may be screened and sifted from the Flower. 1760R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 95 Pease..are very apt to breed worms, wevils, and mites. 1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. II. xxiii. 322 The whole tribe of weevils (Curculionidæ). 1834J. Ross's Van Diemen's Land Ann. 70 The wheat of New South Wales is seldom six months old before it is affected with the weavel. 1863J. G. Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 474 We now arrive at a vast group of beetles, embracing several thousand species, which are popularly classed under the name of Weevils. 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. v, If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit you would catch them still.
b. collect. sing.
1866Standard 16 July 5 The plaintiff stated that he found the malt contained ‘weevil,’ a very destructive insect. 1908Animal Managem. (War Office) 99 Beans should be hard and dry..and free from weevil.
c. fig. and in fig. context.
1598E. Guilpin Skial., Sat. vi. E 3, If that some weeuil, mault-worme, barly-cap, Hearing my lines halfe-snorting ore his kanne, Sweares them for good. 1793Wolcot (P. Pindar) Epist. Pope 179 The French are..downright devils; In heavenly wheat, accurs'd destructive weevils!
2. Applied to other insects or their larvæ.
1789T. Wright Meth. Watering Meadows (1790) 41 One of the ewes was kill'd, and..its liver was putrid, and replete with the insect called the Fluke or Weevil.
3. attrib. and Comb., as weevil-beetle, weevil tribe; weevil-damaged adj.; † weevil malt, malt infested with weevils.
1720Strype Stow's Surv. II. v. xi. 202 In the End of the Year they commonly brewed with Wyvel Malt. 1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxi. II. 235 The weevil tribe. 1871Darwin Desc. Man ii. viii. (1890) 208 In some weevil-beetles..there is a great difference between the male and female in the length of the rostrum or snout. 1890Kapunda Herald 26 July 2/4 Sheepskins.—..Broken and weevil-damaged skins bring from 13/4d. to 31/4d. per lb. |
