gossamer: [14] It would be pleasant to think that gossamer, originally ‘fine cobwebs’, is a descendant of an earlier goose-summer, but unfortunately there is not enough evidence to make this more than a conjecture. The theory goes as follows: mid-autumn is a time when geese for the table are plentiful (November was once known as g?nsemonat ‘geese-month’ in German), and so a warm period around then might have been termed goose-summer (we now call it an Indian summer); the silken filaments of gossamer are most commonly observed floating in the air on such warm autumnal days; and so the spiders’ webs were christened with the name of the season.
gossamer (n.)
c. 1300, "filmy substance (actually spider threads) found in fields of stubble in late fall," apparently from gos "goose" (see goose (n.)) + sumer "summer" (see summer (n.)). Not found in Old English. The reference might be to a fancied resemblance of the silk to goose down, or more likely it is shifted from an original sense of "late fall; Indian summer" because geese are in season then. Compare Swedish equivalent sommartrad "summer thread," Dutch zommerdraden (plural). The German equivalent m?dchensommer (literally "girls' summer") also has a sense of "Indian summer," and there was a Scottish go-summer "period of summer-like weather in late autumn" (1640s, folk-etymologized as if from go). Thus the English word originally might have referred to a warm spell in autumn before being transferred to a phenomenon especially noticeable then. Compare obsolete Scottish go-summer "period of summer-like weather in late autumn." Meaning "anything light or flimsy" is from c. 1400; as a type of gauze used for veils, 1837. The adjective sense "filmy, light as gossamer" is attested from 1802.
雙語例句
1. a gown of gossamer silk
絲綢女裙服
來自《權(quán)威詞典》
2. Gossamer is floating in calm air.
空中飄浮著游絲.
來自《現(xiàn)代漢英綜合大詞典》
3. The prince helped the princess, who was still in her delightful gossamer gown.
王子攙扶著仍穿著那套美麗薄紗晚禮服的公主。
來自辭典例句
4. The Gossamer Conder, a human - powered airplane, flew into aviation history on Aug. 23,1977.
1977年8月23日, “飄忽禿鷹”式人力飛機(jī)載入了航空史冊(cè).
來自辭典例句
5. Binding wire yarn Gossamer Threads, flaxen thread, etrieve and etc.