| 释义 |
▪ I. alabaster
obs. var. arblaster, a crossbowman.
▪ II. alabaster|ˈæləˌbɑːstə(r), -æ-, ˌæləˈbɑːstə(r), -æ-|
Forms: 4 alabaustre, alabast, 4–6 alabastre, 6 aliblaster, 6–7 alablaster, 4– alabaster.
[a. OFr. alabastre (mod.Fr. albâtre), ad. L. alabaster, -trum, a. Gr. ἀλάβαστρος, prop. ἀλάβαστος; said to be from name of a town in Egypt. The spelling in 16–17th c. is almost always alablaster; app. due to a confusion with arblaster a cross-bowman, also written alablaster.]
A term applied to fine translucent varieties of carbonate or sulphate of lime, especially to the pure white variety of the latter used for vases, ornaments, and busts. In Min., massive fine-grained sulphate of lime or gypsum, occurring white, yellow, red, or delicately shaded (Modern or Gypseous Alabaster); as distinguished from the translucent or variegated varieties of stalagmitic carbonate of lime, included under the name by the ancients, and used by them for holding unguents (Oriental or Calcareous alabaster).
1375Barbour Bruce xx. 588 Schir archibald his sone gert syne Of alabast [v.r. alabastre] bath fair and fyne, Ordane a towme full richly. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1052 Of alabaster whit and reed coralle [v.r. alabastre]. 1440Promp. Parv., Alabaster, a stone, Alabastrum, Parium. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 84 Why should a man whose bloud is warme within Sit like his Grandsire cut in Alablaster? 1600Dekker Fortun. Wks. I. 124 It were better to let the memory of him shine in his owne vertues..than in Alablaster. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 96 He had a skin as fair as alabaster. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 374 Statuary Alabaster is obtained from the Miocene and Pliocene strata in Tuscany and in Egypt. 1875Ure Dict. Arts I. 41 The Oriental alabaster, or alabaster of the ancients, is to be carefully distinguished from the mineral now commonly known as alabaster; the former is a carbonate, the latter a sulphate of lime.
2. A box made of alabaster in which the ancients sealed up unguents; often with L. pl. alabastra.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxviii. (1495) 933 Alabastrum is a vessell for oyntment. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Others define alabaster by a box without a handle, deriving the word from the privative α and λαβη handle. 1861King Antique Gems (1866) 88 Little jars for holding perfumes, which were called alabastra.
†3. An ancient liquid measure. Obs.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Alabaster is also said to have been used for an ancient liquid measure, containing 10 ounces of wine or 9 of oil..In this sense the alabaster was equal to half the sextary.
B. adj. (orig. attrib. use of n.)
a. Of alabaster, as a material.
1526Tindale Matt. xxvi. 7 A woman, which had an alablaster boxe of precious oyntment. [Genev., Rhem., 1611, alabaster box; Wyclif, boxe of alabastre.] 1605Delightes for Ladies 29 Take your beries and grinde them in a Alablaster morter. 1815Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxviii, Mermaid's Alabaster-grot. 1864Boutell Heraldry xx. 338 The very perfect alabaster effigy of a knight.
b. Like alabaster, in whiteness, smoothness, etc.
1580Sidney Arc. (1622) 427 [He] set his dagger to her Alablaster throate. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iii. 11 Gentle babes..girdling one another Within their alablaster innocent arms. 1616Surflet & Markh. Countrey Farme 417 Tender or delicate pear, such as alabaster pear. 1649Lovelace Poems (1659) 63 Thy Alablaster Lady will come home. 1851Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. xxi. 239 Look at the clouds, and watch the delicate sculpture of their alabaster sides. |
