| 释义 |
ˈbird's-foot, ˈbird-foot
1. Applied to objects having the shape of a bird's foot, as various plants.
a. A small yellow vetch (Ornithopus);
b. A small fern (Cheilanthes radiata);
c. = Bird's-foot Trefoil.
1578Lyte Dodoens 486 Birdes foote is lyke to..the wilde vetche, but far smaller. 1794Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxv. 366 The wild species [Lotus corniculatus] is called common Bird's foot. 1859C. M. Yonge Hist. Sir Thomas Thumb xiv. 91 There the scented thyme..the glowing bird's-foot, and the tufted milk-wort grow. 1865Gosse Land & Sea (1874) Among Ferns of humbler pretensions, the pretty little Bird-foot.
d. Applied to the delta of a river (see quot. 1944).
1939A. K. Lobeck Geomorphology vii. 230 (caption) Three types of delta; arctuate, estuarine, and bird's foot. Ibid. 231 Bird's foot delta. Still a third type of delta is built by streams carrying large amounts of extremely fine material. 1944A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. x. 171 The Mississippi..extends its mouths seaward by way of deep channels..which are outstretched like fingers. This part of its delta is the chief example of the bird's foot type.
2. bird's-foot trefoil or bird's-foot lotus: a yellow leguminous plant (Lotus corniculatus), a native of Britain; also applied to other species. So bird's-foot fenugreek, bird's-foot violet.
1833Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. 29 Lotus decumbens, Spreading Bird's-foot Trefoil. 1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 97 Trigonella ornithopodioides, Bird's Foot Fenugreek..a very little plant..and bearing very small yellow flowers. 1882Garden 29 Ap. 286/2 The Bird's-foot Violet [is] one of the sweetest flowers we have seen.
3. bird's-foot star, bird's-foot sea-star: an echinoderm related to the star-fish.
1855Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 167 The bird's foot star (Palmipes membranaceus)..crawling by its thousand sucking-feet..a pentagonal webbed bird's foot, of scarlet and orange shagreen. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. (ed. 2) 237 The Cribella, the sun-stars..and the birds' foot sea-star, are all represented. |
