Thistle. World English Historical Dictionary

Thistle. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1916, rev. 2022. Thistle sb. Forms: 1 thistil, þistel, þystel, 4–6 thistel, thystle, 5 thestel, thystelle, -tylle, 5–6 thistell, thystell, 6 thystel, thistyll, thessel, 7 thissel, 5– thistle. β. (chiefly Sc.) 5 thristelle, 5–7 thrissill(e, 6 thirsill, thyrsill, 6–9 thrissel, thrisle, 8–9 thrissle, 9 thristle. γ. 9 dial. fissle, fistle. [OE. þistil, -el m. = OHG. distil masc., distila fem. (MHG. distel m., f., Ger. distel f.), Du. distel, ON. þistell, -ill m. (Sw. tistel, Da. tidsel). Modern dialects point to an original long ī in the stem-syllable (also LG. diestel, dîstel, dîssel, beside deussl, duissl, in various German dialects. Of OTeut. *þīstil-oz m., *þīstil-a f., the ulterior history is unknown.

1   Sc. thristell may have been influenced by thrist vb.]

2   1.  The common name of the prickly herbaceous plants of the genus Carduus (N.O. Compositæ, suborder Cynarocephalæ) and several closely allied genera (Cnicus, Cirsium, Onopordum, etc.), having the stems, leaves, and involucres thickly armed with prickles, the flower-heads usually globular, and the flowers most commonly purple; many species are abundant as weeds.

3   Formerly (and in scriptural or rhetorical language) applied vaguely, including various prickly plants: cf. 2, 3.

4 c. 725.  Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.), 384. Carduus, þistel.

5 a. 800.  Erfurt Gloss., 271. Carduus, thistil.

6 c. 1050.  Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 379/23. Carduus orrens, se onscunienda þystel.

7 a. 1327.  On Dreams, in Rel. Ant., I. 264. Ȝef thou etest of thystles ȝurne, Thy fomon the freteth on uche hurne.

8 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 1835. Thornes sharpe … Ther were, and also thistels thikke, And breres, brimme for to prikke.

9 1481.  Caxton, Reynard, xxxii. (Arb.), 86. I haue nothyng but thystles and nettles.

10 1535.  Coverdale, Gen. ii. 18. Cursed be ye earth for thy sake … Thornes and thistles shall it beare into the.

11 1562.  Turner, Herbal, II. 145 b. Spina in Latin is properly called a thistel.

12 1650.  Baxter, Saint’s R., I. vii. Doubts are like the Thistle, a bad weed, but growing in good ground.

13 1758.  R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, II. (1760), 31. Thistles, docks, and all sorts of rank weeds.

14 1865.  Miss Cary, Ball. & Lyrics, 267.        I heard the ploughman’s whistle, I saw the rough burr thistle   In the sharp teeth of the harrow.

15 1890.  A. R. Wallace, Darwinism, 28. Hundreds of square miles of the plains of La Plata are now covered with species of European thistle.

16   β.  c. 1400.  Maundev., (1839), xi. 130. A gode contree to sowen Inne thristelle & breres & broom & thornes.

17 1503.  Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, 129. Vpone the awfull Thrissill scho beheld.

18 1548.  H. Balnaues, Conf. Faith (1584), 132. May yee gather grapes of thornes, or figges of thrisles?

19 1806.  A. Douglas, Poems, 145 (E.D.D.). Nae thrisles here your thumbs to prick.

20 1815.  Scott, Guy M., iii. The thristles by the road-side.

21   γ.  1809.  T. Batchelor, Orth. Anal. Eng. Lang., Bedford Words, 123/2. Provincial Pronunciations, fislz.

22 1848.  B. Evans, Leicestersh. Words, Fistle, var. pron. of ‘thistle.’

23 1886.  Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Fissle, Fistle, a thistle.

24   b.  As the heraldic emblem of Scotland; also, a figure of a thistle as such. Cf. ROSE sb. 6 b, 12 c.

25 1488.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 85. A couering of … purpir tartar browdin with thrissillis and a vnicorne. Ibid. (1507), III. 261. Thre thrissilles of coppir gilt.

26 1562.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), i. 3. Welcum, oure thrissill with þe Lorane grene!

27 1786.  Burns, Earnest Cry & Prayer, vii. Paint Scotland greeting owre her thrissle.

28 1831.  Scott, Cast. Dang., xiii. She seeks the Black Douglas, or some such hero of the Thistle.

29 1853.  [see ROSE sb. 12 c].

30   c.  As a part of the insignia of the Order of the Thistle, the distinctively Scottish order of knighthood (instituted by James II. in 1687 and revived by Queen Anne in 1703) conferred on noblemen of that country; hence transf. the order itself, or membership in it.

31 1687.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2251/2. His Majesty having been Graciously Pleased the 29th of May last, to sign a Patent to be past under the Great Seal of Scotland, for Reviving and Restoring [sic] the most Ancient and most Noble Order of the Thistle. Ibid. (1710), No. 4694/3. The Earl of Stair was invested … with the most Noble Order of the Thistle.

32 1852.  Thackeray, Esmond, III. iv. Having the Thistle already originally bestowed on him by King James the Second, his Grace was now promoted to the honour of the Garter.

33 1898.  Westm. Gaz., 10 Jan., 1/1. The Duke of Argyll … received his Thistle from Lord Palmerston in 1851.

34   d.  transf. Something resembling a thistle in form or appearance.

35 1891.  J. W. Harrison, Mackay of Uganda, i. 2. Thistles of frost garnished the window-panes.

36   e.  fig. or in figurative context, with reference to the thistle as a noxious or prickly weed.

37 1563.  Winȝet, Vincent. Lirin., xxviii. Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 59. God forbid that the rose plantis of the catholik sense be turnit in thirsillis and thornis!

38 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xiv. 415. He snatcheth at the thistle of a project, which first pricks his hands, and then breaks.

39 1797–1803.  Foster, in Life & Corr. (1846), I. 163. Adversity! thou thistle of life.

40 1840.  Carlyle, Heroes, ii. His knowledge is a pedantry, and dead thistle, otherwise.

41   † 2.  Applied (definitely) to other prickly plants, as artichoke, sea-holly (Eryngium), teasel, etc.

42 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxxvii. (Bodl. MS.). Paliurus is a þistel moste rowȝe & scharp with prikkes and growiþ … wiþ certeyne hedes ful of certeyne prickes.

43 14[?].  [see TEASEL sb. 1].

44 1545.  Elyot, Scolymus, a thystell nowe called Arkechoke, of some men is taken for the … cowethystell.

45 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 64. A Thistell is the Hartichoch; that euerie where dooth grow.

46 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lviii. 519. The first kinde of these Thistels is called … in Latine Eryngium:… in Englishe,… Sea Holly. Ibid., lx. 522. Of the Teasel…. This kinde of Thistel is called … in Englishe, Fullers Teasel, Carde Thistell.

47   b.  = TEASEL sb. 2.

48 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 1322. The large side [of the frame], against which the tops of the teasels rest, is hollowed out…. There are … cross-bars, which serve … to form short compartments for keeping the thistles compact.

49   3.  With qualifying words, applied to various species of Carduus and allied genera, and to some prickly plants of other orders: as

50   Bull thistle, a local name (in Ireland and U.S.) for Carduus lanceolatus; Canada thistle (U.S.), Corn-thistle, Creeping thistle, Cursed thistle, Carduus arvensis (Cirsium arvense), a troublesome weed with creeping root-stocks; Dog thistle, ‘apparently Carduus arvensis’ (Britten & Holland); Dwarf thistle, Carduus (Cnicus) acaulis; Gentle thistle, Carduus anglicus; Green thistle, Herring-bone thistle (also called fish-bone thistle: see FISH sb. 7), Chamæpeuce (Cirsium) Casabonæ; Holy thistle, (a) Centaurea benedicta (Cnicus benedictus), with yellow flowers and weak prickles on the leaves, formerly in repute as an antidote; also called blessed thistle; (b) erron. applied to Carduus Marianus, with white veins on the leaves; also called Our Lady’s thistle or milk thistle; Hundred-headed thistle (abbrev. hundred thistle), Eryngium campestre (N.O. Umbelliferæ); Jersey thistle, Centaurea Isnardi (C. aspera); Mexican thistle, a prickly composite plant, Erythrolæna conspicua, cultivated in gardens, having yellow florets surrounded with scarlet involucral scales; Russian thistle (U.S.), a species of saltwort, Salsola Tragus, with prickly stems, introduced from Russia into S. Dakota with flax-seed, and now abundant as a weed in that and neighboring States; Scotch thistle, a name for the species supposed to be that figured as the emblem of Scotland, variously identified as the spear-thistle (Carduus lanceolatus), the musk thistle (C. nutans), the milk thistle (C. Marianus), and the cotton-thistle (Onopordum Acanthium); Silver thistle, a name for the cotton-thistle; Smooth thistle, a name for SOWTHISTLE (Sonchus); Syrian thistle, Notobasis Syriaca; Welted thistle, Carduus acanthoides; Woolly thistle, the cotton-thistle; Woolly-headed thistle, C. criophorus; Yellow thistle, (a) a species of thistle with pale yellow or purple flowers (Cnicus horridulus), found in the eastern U.S.; (b) a name for the prickly poppy (Argemone mexicana): see POPPY sb. 3. See also ARGENTINE thistle, St. BARNABY’S t., BLESSED t., BOAR t., BUR t., CARD t., CARLINE t., COTTON-THISTLE, DISTAFF t., FRIAR’S t., FULLERS’ t., GLOBE t., GOLDEN t., GUM t., HARE’S t., HEDGEHOG t., HORSE t., LADY’S THISTLE, St. MARY’S t., MELANCHOLY t., MELON t., MILK t., MUSK t., OAT t., PINE t., PLUME t., SAFFRON t., SEA-THISTLE, SOWTHISTLE, SPEAR t., STAR-THISTLE, SWINE’S t., THOWTHISTLE, TORCH t., WAY t., WOLF’S t.

51 1878.  Britten & Holland, Eng. Plant-n., *Bull Thistle, Carduus lanceolatus. Irel. (Belfast).

52 1884.  Miller, Plant-n., Cirsiun arvense, *Canada Thistle, Creeping Thistle, ‘Cursed Thistle,’ of N. America.

53 1878.  Britten & Holland, Eng. Plant-n., *Corn Thistle, Carduus arvensis.

54 1845.  Gard. Chron., 20 Dec., 864/1. Will any of your correspondents inform me the most effectual way to eradicate the *Dog Thistle?

55 1846.  Sowerby, Eng. Bot. (ed. 3), *Dwarf Thistle, Carduus acaulis.

56 1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 329. *Gentle Thistle.

57 1882.  Garden, 3 June, 391/3. A large oval-shaped bed of Ricinus Gibsoni … edged with Chamæpeuce Casabonæ or *Green Thistle.

58 1884.  Miller, Plant-n., Chamæpeuce Casabonæ, Fish-bone or *Herring-bone Thistle.

59 1587.  Mascall, Govt. Cattle, Horses (1627), 190. Take the soft downe of the stalks of the hearb Cardus Benedictus, called the *holy-thistle, and therewith fill the wounds.

60 1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, III. iv. 80. Get you some of this distill’d carduus benedictus..., it is the only thing for a qualm…. I meant plaine holy thissell.

61 1793.  A. B[isani], Pict. Tour Europe, etc. 52. Sciato…. The hills … are covered with holy thistle, centaury, thyme, sage, and calamint.

62 1866.  Treas. Bot., 222. The Holy Thistle (Carduus Marianus) is well marked by the white veins on its large shiny leaves.

63 1893.  McCarthy, Red Diamonds, II. 42. Here was holy thistle, which of old its admirers called Benedictus for its supposed astonishing virtues.

64 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lviii. 519. The other kinde is called … the *Hundred headed Thistel…. This without doubt is a kinde of Eringium.

65 1880.  Britten & Holland, Eng. Plant-n., Hundred Thistle, Eryngium campestre.

66 1866.  Treas. Bot., 468. E[rythrolæna] conspicua … was introduced to English gardens about 1838, and is commonly known as the Scarlet *Mexican Thistle.

67 1705.  trans. Cowley’s Plants, Wks. 1711, III. 367. Whilst the *Scotch Thistle, with audacious Pride, Taking Advantage, gores your bleeding Side.

68 1861.  Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., III. 240. The handsome Cotton Thistle … is often cultivated under the name of the Scotch Thistle.

69 1888.  Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 307/1. The common C[arduus] lanceolatus seems to be the most suitable prototype for the Scotch Thistle.

70 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lxiv. 526. In Latine Acanthium;… in Englishe White Cotton Thistell, Wilde white Thistell, and Argentine, or *Siluer Thistel.

71 1633.  Gerarde’s Herbal, II. xx. 292. The stalk of Hares Lettuce or *smooth-Thistle.

72 1866.  Treas. Bot., 794. The *Syrian Thistle, N[otobasis] syriaca,… is distinguished from other thistles by the central florets of the flower-head only being fertile.

73 1846.  Sowerby, Eng. Bot. (ed. 3), *Welted Thistle, Carduus crispus.

74 1884.  Miller, Plant-n., Thistle, Welted, Carduus acanthoides.

75 1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 329. Thistle, *Woolly, Onopordon.

76 1867.  Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. (ed. 6), 200. C[arduus] criophorus.… Heads very large; involucre covered with a dense white web…. *Woolly-headed Thistle.

77 1866.  Treas. Bot., 1145. Thistle…, *Yellow, Argemone mexicana.

78   4.  attrib. and Comb., as thistle-flower, thistle-topped adj.; thistle-ball, the globular head of feathery seeds of the thistle; thistle-beard = THISTLE-DOWN; thistle-bird, a bird that feeds on thistle-seeds (cf. THISTLE-FINCH); spec. the American goldfinch, Chrysomitris (Spinus) tristis; thistle-butterfly, the ‘painted lady,’ Vanessa (Pyrameis) cardui, whose larva feeds on the thistle; thistle-cock (dial.), the corn bunting, Emberiza miliaria; (see also THROSTLE-COCK); thistle-cropper = thistle-eater (b); thistle-crown, (a) a name for a Scottish gold coin of James VI., bearing the figure of a thistle on the reverse, and worth about 4 shillings; cf. thistle noble; (b) the flower-head of the thistle; thistle-cutter, a machine for cutting down thistles or other weeds; thistle-digger, a tool for rooting up thistles; thistle dollar, (a) a name for a Scottish silver coin of James VI., also called double merk, bearing the figure of a thistle on the reverse, and worth 26s. 8d. Scotch (2s. 22/3d. English); (b) a silver coin of the reign of Charles II.; thistle-eater, thistle-feeder, (a) a bird that eats thistle-seeds (cf. THISTLE-FINCH); (b) a beast that eats thistles, as a donkey; so thistle-feeding a.; thistle-fly, an insect (Urophora cardui) infesting a species of thistle; thistle funnel, a kind of funnel used in chemical operations, having a large bulb between the conical flaring part and the tube, so as to suggest the form of a thistle-head upon its stalk; thistle-gall, a gall produced by the thistle-fly or thistle-gall fly; thistle-head, the flower-head or capitulum of the thistle (in quot. 1839, that of the teasel = 2 b above); thistle-like a., resembling a thistle; also, of the thistle kind, of the suborder Cynarocephalæ of Compositæ, comprising the thistles and allied plants; thistle merk [MARK sb.2], collectors’ name for a Scottish silver coin of James VI., bearing the figure of a thistle on the reverse, and worth 13s. 4d. Scotch (131/3d. English); thistle noble, a Scottish gold half-merk of James VI., bearing the figure of a thistle on the reverse; thistle-plume [PLUME sb. 5), U.S., ‘a plume-moth, Pterophorus carduidactylus, whose larva feeds on thistle-heads’ (Cent. Dict.); thistle-saffron, the safflower = saffron-thistle (see SAFFRON 6 c); thistle-seed, the feathery or pappose ‘seed’ or achene of the thistle; thistle-spud = thistle-digger; thistle-stamped a., stamped with the figure of a thistle; thistle-teasel = TEASEL sb. 2; thistle-top, (a) = THISTLE-DOWN; (b) = thistle-head; thistle-tube = thistle funnel; thistle-tuft = THISTLE-DOWN; thistle-whipper (Hunting slang), a nickname for a hare-hunter.

79 1855.  Browning, Two in Campagna, xi. Must I go Still like the *thistle-ball … Onward, whenever light winds blow?

80 1797.  Coleridge, Foster-mother’s T., 20. A baby wrapt in mosses, lined With *thistle-beards.

81 1872.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 131. American Goldfinch. Yellowbird. *Thistlebird.

82 1893.  Scribner’s Mag., June, 763/1. The goldfinch or wild canary is seen, perched on a thistle-top…. ‘Thistle bird’ is another name that he bears, on account of his fondness for thistle-seeds as food, and thistle-down for the lining of his nest.

83 1836.  Prichard, Phys. Hist. Man. (ed. 3), I. 58. The *thistle-butterfly, termed ‘La Belle Dame.’

84 1866.  Edmonston, Shetl. & Orkney Gloss., 127 *Thistle-cock, common bunting (Emberiza miliaria).

85 1726.  Leake, Nummi Brit. Hist., 83. *Thistle Crowns … 4s. 43/4d.

86 1878.  M. A. Brown, Nadeschda, 20. Plucked a thistle-crown and fastened it As a breast-knot.

87 1899.  Daily News, 12 July, 8/3. To watch the goldfinch clinging to the silken thistle-crown.

88 1901.  Dundee Advertiser, 30 June, 3. A capital display of the *thistle cutter’s powers on a rank growth of bracken…, the rapidly whirling knives … made short … work of the bracken.

89 1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v. Spade, The *thistle-digger is a pronged tool, intended to catch the root below the crown, and then pry out the plant.

90 1562.  Turner, Herbal, II. 145 b. Aristotel … wryteth … τὰ δὲ τοία ἀκανθοφάγα…. That is to saye, these are spiniuora, that is *thistel eaters…. Aristotell sayeth that Linetes and Goldfinches, and Grenefinches, are acanthophage.

91 1904.  Daily News, 20 June, 5. I did not see either the bullfinch or the goldfinch,… either the detested bud-plucker or the pretty *thistle-feeder.

92 1906.  Outlook, 24 March, 404/2. In Hertfordshire, a county notable for the high-farming that was supposed to have exiled the *thistle-feeding birds, goldfinches were singing about their nests.

93 1552.  Huloet, *Thystle floure, scholymos.

94 1908.  [Miss E. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 107. No Thistle flowers as yet.

95 1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., *Thistle Fly, a small fly produced from a fly-worm, hatching in the protuberances of the carduus hæmorrhoidalis.

96 1849.  D. Campbell, Inorg. Chem., 17. Sometimes a small funnel (called a *thistle funnel) passes through the cork, and reaches nearly to the bottom of the bottle.

97 1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., *Thistle-Galls, a name given … to the protuberances on the stalks of a species of Thistle, called … carduus hæmorrhoidalis, from these tubercles, which are supposed to resemble those of the hæmorrhoidal veins.

98 1864–5.  Wood, Homes without H., xxvi. (1868), 505. The Thistle-gall Fly (Urophora Cardui) … produces large and hard woody galls upon the thistle.

99 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 1322. 16 frames bearing the teasels which are to act upon the cloth,… their breadth only large enough to contain two *thistle-heads set end to end.

100 1896.  Spectator, 31 Oct., 588/2. He [a bee] returned to the inviting thistle-head.

101 1857.  Henfrey, Bot., 320. The Cynareæ, or *thistle-like Compositæ.

102 1866.  Treas. Bot., 225. Carlina, a genus … distinguished among the thistle-like group of compound flowers by having the inner leaves of the … involucre coloured.

103 1590–1.  Reg. Privy Council Scot., IV. 574. [200 oz. weight of] utter fyne gold [shall be coined] in the *thrissill noblis. Ibid. (1603), VI. 529. Thrissill noblis of gold.

104 1782.  Cowper, Progr. Err., 555. They … Like *thistle-seeds, are sown by every wind.

105 1896.  Mrs. Caffyn, Quaker Grandmother, 105. Why should Mr. Ince lag behind with the dogs, and his *thistle-spud?

106 1882.  J. Walker, Jaunt Auld Reekie, 41. *Thistle-stampit auld Scotch bodles.

107 1835.  Ure, Philos. Manuf., 202. Preparing *thistle-teasels for the workman.

108 1552.  Huloet, *Thystle toppe, whych is lyke plume, pappus.

109 1606.  [see THISTLEWARP].

110 1893.  [see thistle-bird above].

111 1903.  Westm. Gaz., 29 Dec., 10/1. Carved thistles ornament his dining-room chairs; and a *thistle-topped railing lends novelty to the front of the house.

112 a. 1847.  Eliza Cook, Song of Wind, iii. I grasped an airy *thistle-tuft.

113 1801.  Sporting Mag., XIX. 114. This North-Country *Thistle Whipper.

114 1856.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports (ed. 2), § 1. A brace of hares, or a single fox, will serve for the amusement of a large field of fox-hunters or thistle-whippers.

115   Hence Thistle v., trans. to clear of thistles, to weed out the thistles from (whence Thistling vbl. sb.); Thistled a., covered or overgrown with thistles; adorned with figures of thistles; Thistlery, a plantation of thistles; Thistlish a., resembling or suggesting a thistle.

116 1766.  Compl. Farmer, s.v., In France, a farmer may sue his neighbour who neglects to *thistle his land at the proper seasons.

117 1745.  in Motherwell, Harp of Renfrewshire (1819), 319. The *Thistled banners far were streaming.

118 1797.  Mrs. M. Robinson, Walsingham, I. 72. The upland mead, and thistled down.

119 1893.  Chr. G. Rossetti, Poems (1904), 123/2. Our thorned and thistled plot.

120 1889.  Mary E. Bamford, Up & Down Brooks, 97. Do not his folk make such *‘thistleries’ in Paraguay that robbers can hide among them?

121 1766.  Compl. Farmer, *Thistling, the action of cutting or pulling up thistles.

122 1858.  Motley, Corr., 17 June. Like his tongue and his mind, it [his visage] is eminently Scotch, sharp, caustic, rugged, *thistle-ish.

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