▪ I. laurel, n.1
(ˈlɒrəl, ˈlɔːrəl)
Forms: α. 4 lorer(e, lorrer, 4–7 laurer(e, 5–7 lawrer(e, 5 laurear, -ier, lawrare, 6 lawryr, 7 lowrier. β. 4 laureal, 5 laurialle, -yel, lawriall, -ielle, (loryel, larel, -ielle), 5–6 lorel(l, 6–7 lau-, lawrell, 7 lawreall, 7–8 lawrel, (7 lowrell), 6– laurel.
[ad. F. laurier for lorier, f. OF. lor:—L. laur-us: the β forms arise from the common substitution of l for a second r in a word. Cf. mod.Sp. laurel. In some of the forms there may be confusion with laureole.]
1. a. The Bay-tree or Bay-laurel, Laurus nobilis: see bay n.1 2. Now rare exc. as in 2.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 8235 He..planted tres þat war to prais, O cedre, o pine, and o lorrer. c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 182 The victor palm, the laurer [v.rr. lawrer, laureol] to deuyne. a 1400 Med. MS. in Archæologia XXX. 358 Lewys of lorere & rwe y{supu} take. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy. i. viii, With y⊇ lawrer..They crowned ben. c 1500 Lancelot 82 To my spreit vas seen A birde, yat was as ony lawrare green. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xlvi. 6 Vpone a blisful brenche of lawryr grene. 1652 Ashmole Theat. Chem. 214 The Laurer of nature ys ever grene. |
| β c 1350 [See laurel-tree in 6]. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4961 A tre..Largior þen a lawriall & lengur withall. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. vi, By a lauryel he lay, vndur a lefe sale. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) i. xxviii. 66 Some he ordeyned to be grene wynter & somer, as lorell, boxe, holme. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 23 b, Take..the leaves of Lorel or Baye. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 173 The Lawrell, both leafe, bark, and berry, is by nature hot. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia i. 10 Ascopo, a kinde of Tree like Lowrell. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 11 'Twin'd with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield. 1808 Scott in Biog. Notices (1880) 19 He would have twisted another branch of laurel into his garland. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. (ed. 6) 450 The Laurel or Sweet Bay, is a native of the North of Asia and the Mediterranean regions. |
† b. The leaves of the same used medicinally.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 67 Lawrell the Laxative. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1539) 60 Lawrell. |
c. Any plant of the genus
Laurus or the family Lauraceæ.
| 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 535 Order ccv. Lauraceæ—Laurels. Ibid. 537 In some cases a volatile oil is obtained from the Laurels in large quantities. |
2. The foliage of this tree as an emblem of victory or of distinction in poetry, etc.
a. collect. sing.| α c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 169 Hoom he rood anon With laurer crowned as a Conquerour. c 1425 Lydg. Assembly Gods 791 Crownyd with laurer as lord vyctoryous. 1515 Barclay Egloges i. (1570) A j b/2 Then who would ascribe, except he were a foole, The pleasant laurer vnto the mourning cowle. 1604 J. Webster Ode in S. Harrison Archs Tri. B b, To euery brow They did allow The liuing Laurer which begirted round Their rusty Helmets. |
| β 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 169 Þere he dede meny victories, and gat a crown of laureal þat hyng bitwene tweie pilers. c 1460 Play Sacram. 882 Gyff lawrelle to that lord of myght. a 1631 Donne Epigr. (1652) 97 It with Lawrell crown'd thy conquering Browes. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xxxv, A crown did that fourth maiden hold,..Of glossy laurel made. |
b. A branch or wreath of this tree.
lit. and
fig.| α 1429 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 141 God of his grace gaf to thy kynrede The palme of conquest, the laurere of victorye. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 26 Laurear of martirs, foundid on holynes! 1607 Dekker Knts. Conjur. (1842) 75 These elder fathers of the diuine furie gaue him [Spenser] a lawrer, and sung his welcome. |
| β 1578 Timme Caluine on Gen. 207 The Oliue..was a sign of peace, even as the Lawrell is a token of victory. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 76 ¶4 Virtue need never ask twice for her Lawrel. c 1718 Prior Ladle 36 Fame flies after with a laurel. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Goethe Wks. (Bohn) I. 387 Still he is a poet—poet of a prouder laurel than any contemporary. 1850 Prescott Peru II. 351 The laurel of the hero..grows best on the battle-field. |
c. pl. in the same sense,
lit. and
fig. Also in
phr. to reap,
win one's laurels,
to repose,
rest,
retire on one's laurels.
to look to one's laurels: to beware of losing one's pre-eminence.
| 1585 Jas. I. Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 23 Phœbus crowns all verses..with Laurers always grene. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 107 Prerogatiue of Age, Crownes, Scepters, Lawrels. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. iii. 157 The Conquerours in the Olympian games did not put on the Laurells on their own heads. 1680 Otway Orphan Ded., Under the Spreading of that Shade, where two of the best [Poets] have planted their Lawrels. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 21 ¶4 They neither pant for laurels, nor delight in blood. 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 372 Puny attempts to blast the laurels..of Jenner. 1818 Byron Juan i. cxxvi, 'Tis sweet to win, no matter how, one's laurels. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. v. i. (1866) 651 Here he reaped his first laurels. 1859 Helps Friends in C. Ser. ii. I. To Rdr. 6 They might really repose upon their laurels. 1874 Deutsch Rem. 250 Let them rest on their laurels for a while. 1882 Mrs. J. H. Riddell Pr. of Wales's Garden-Party 306 The fair widow would be wise to look to her laurels. 1886 ‘Hugh Conway’ Living or Dead xxx, Rothwell..wrote one more book; then retired on his laurels. |
† d. The dignity of poet laureate.
Obs.| 1700 Dryden Fables Pref. (1721) 3 My countryman and a predecessor in the Laurel [Chaucer]. 1814 Edin. Rev. Jan. 454 A Dramatic Poem; which we earnestly hope was written before he [Southey] came to his Laurel and Butt of Sherry. |
e. As the name of a colour
= laurel-green.
| 1923 Daily Mail 8 Oct. 5/1 (Advt.), Navy, Nigger,..Amethyst, Laurel, Wine. |
3. a. In modern use, applied to many trees and shrubs having leaves resembling those of the true laurel;
esp. Cerasus Laurocerasus, the common laurel or cherry-laurel.
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1679) 33 [Plants] not perishing but in excessive Colds,..Laurels, Cherry Laurel. 1736 Bailey Househ. Dict. 378 Laurel, the Cherry Laurel or common Great Laurel. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. vii. 79 The genus Plum, comprehending the Apricot and Cherry..and also the Laurel. 1820 Wordsw. To Rev. Dr. Wordsworth i, The encircling laurels..Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 17 The common laurel..was brought from Constantinople to Holland in 1576. 1888 M. E. Braddon Fatal Three i. v, A winding walk through thickets of laurel and arbutus. |
¶ b. Some forms of this word were by certain writers of the 16th c. appropriated to the spurge laurel (see
laureole).
| 1548 Turner [see laury]. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. xxxvi. 367 Lauriel groweth of the heigth of a foote and a halfe or more. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 452 In this rank is to be reckoned the wild shrub called Lowrier or Chamædaphne. |
c. With defining word:
Alexandrian laurel,
Ruscus racemosus;
American dwarf or
mountain laurel = kalmia;
cherry laurel (see sense 3 above);
copse laurel = spurge laurel;
great laurel, an American name for
Rhododendron maximum (
Treas. Bot. 1866);
Japan laurel = aucuba 1;
native laurel (Tasmania),
Anopterus glandulosus;
Portugal laurel,
Cerasus Lusitanica;
seaside laurel,
Xylophylla latifolia;
spurge laurel,
Daphne Laureola;
Versailles laurel (see
quots.);
wood laurel, spurge laurel,
Daphne laureola. For
ground-,
rose-,
sheep-laurel, see the first member.
| 1611 Cotgr., Laureole, spurge Laurell, little Laurell. 1728 R. Bradley Dictionarium Botanicum II. s.v. Laureola, Laureola..in English, Spurge-Laurel and Bastard-Laurel, or Wood-Laurel, is a small Evergreen, frequent enough with us, blossoming about Christmas. 1736 [see 3 a]. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 316 Laurel, Alexandrian, Ruscus. Laurel, Dwarf, of America, Kalmia. Laurel, Sea-side, Phyllanthus. Laurel, Spurge, Daphne. 1774 Nicholls Let. in Corr. w. Gray (1843) 174 The Portugal laurel, your favourite Portugal laurel, grows to a size here which would tempt you to poison it through envy. 1873 W. B. Hemsley Handbk. Hardy Trees 394 Daphne Laureola, Wood Laurel. 1882 Garden 4 Feb. 85/2 The Alexandrian Laurel (Ruscus racemosus) is one of our most precious plants for foliage with cut flowers in winter. Ibid. 25 Feb. 134/3 The Versailles Laurel (latifolia) is a large, robust, and bold foliaged form. 1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 292 ‘Native Laurel’. ‘Mock Orange’. 1951 Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) III. 1697/2 P[runus] Laurocerasus. Common, Versailles, or Cherry Laurel. Quick-growing shrub up to 15 or 20 ft. |
4. Numism. One of the English gold pieces (
esp. those of 20
s.), first coined in 1619, on which the monarch's head was figured with a wreath of laurel.
Cf. laureate n. 3.
| a 1623 Camden Ann. Jas. I, an. 1619. 3 Sept., Aurea Regis moneta prodiit cum ejus capite laureato, unde Laurells nomen statim invenit apud vulgus, diversi valoris, scil. xxs. cum xx. xs. cum x. & quinque solidorum cum v. 1743 Snelling Gold Coin 20 The Unite or Laurel. 1866 Crump Banking x. 224 Gold laurel James I. 1884 Kenyon Gold Coins Eng. 137 The Laurels were also called Broad Pieces. |
5. attrib. and
Comb.:
a. simple attributive, as
laurel-band,
laurel-berry,
laurel-bough,
laurel-brake,
laurel-branch,
laurel-bush,
laurel-chaplet,
laurel-crown,
laurel-garland,
laurel-green,
laurel-leaf (also
attrib.),
laurel-shade,
laurel-shrub,
laurel-thicket,
laurel-wreath;
b. parasynthetic, as
laurel-leaved adj.;
c. objective, as
laurel-bearing,
laurel-worthy adjs.;
d. instrumental, as
laurel-browed,
laurel-crowned,
laurel-decked,
laurel-locked,
laurel-wreathed adjs. Also
laurel-like adj.| 1584 Hudson Du Bartas' Judith title-p. (1611), Binde your browes with *Laurer band. |
| 1611 Florio, Laurifero, *laurell-bearing. |
| 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 3 A penny worth of *lorel or baye berries. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 230 Laurel berries..are imported from the Streights. |
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 246/2 They that vaynquysshyd in bataylle were crowned wyth *laurier bowes. a 1593 Marlowe Faustus (1604) F 2, Cut is the branch that might haue growne ful straight, And burned is Apolloes Laurel bough. |
| 1853 J. P. Kennedy Blackwater Chron. vi. 73 A man could walk about for a week,..particularly if he got into a big *laurel-brake. 1893 Outing (U.S.) Oct. 61/2 Only in the wilds of the backwoods,..or in the mountains where tracts of laurel brakes give refuge against men and dogs, do the Virginia deer hold their own. |
| 1550 Lyndesay Test. Sqr. Meldrum 138 Ilk Barroun beirand, in his hand, on hie, Ane *Lawrer branche, in signe of victorie. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII 85 Rather with an Oliue-branch..then a Laurel-branch in his Hand. |
| 1823 Byron Juan xiii. xxxiii, The blaze Of sunset halos o'er the *laurel-brow'd. |
| 1657 Trapp Comm. Ps. xx. 5 They presented a Palm, or *Laurel-bush, to Jupiter. |
| 1830 Wordsw. Russian Fugitive iii. ii, Conquerors thanked the Gods, With *laurel chaplets crowned. |
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. vi. 34 To whom the Heau'ns, in thy Natiuitie, Adjudg'd an Oliue-Branch and *Lawrell Crowne. 1882 A. Hare in Gd. Words May 338 The poet Empedocles, draped in purple robes, wearing a laurel crown. |
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1107 The *laurer crowned Phebus. |
| a 1847 Eliza Cook Song Old Year ii. 15 Chant a roundelay over my *laurel-deck'd bier. |
| 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 101 A christian man ought not to go with a *laurell garland vpon his heade. 1607 F. Mason Author. Ch. Ep. Ded. 3 Who..decked their victorious heads with lawreall garlands. |
| 1938 R. Graves Coll. Poems 92 Grass-green and aspen-green, *Laurel-green and sea-green. |
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 295 For covetise of..*laurial leves wiþ oute eny fruyt. c 1450 ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 146 Take of..percely, saueyne, lorel leues. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 56 As much as lies on a sixpence of powder'd Lawrel Leaves. 1927 Peake & Fleure Hunters & Artists 49 The rude Proto-Solutrean examples of the ‘laurel-leaf’ blades. 1973 Times 26 July 18/3 More than 150 unfinished and broken axes lay on the surface, with hammerstones, anvils, laurel-leaf blades, and many thousands of waste flakes. |
| 1787 Fam. Plants I. 379 *Laurel-leaved Tulip-tree. 1855 A. B. Garrod Essent. Materia Medica 122 The bark of Canella alba or *Laurel-leaved Canella..; growing in the West Indies. |
| 1833 H. Martineau Cinnamon & P. iii. 41 The *laurel-like cinnamon. |
| 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 223 Her [Italy] *laurel-locked..Cæsars passing uninvoked. |
| 1894 Gladstone Horace Odes ii. xv. 9 Dense *laurel-shade shall stop the rays Of Summer. |
| 1830 Tennyson Poet's Mind 14 Every spicy flower Of the *laurel-shrubs. |
| 1750 T. Walker Jrnl. in J. S. Johnston First Explor. Kentucky (1898) 49 Just at the foot of the Hill is a *Laurel Thicket. 1840 Browning Sordello Wks. 1896 I. 132 Beneath a flowering laurel thicket lay Sordello. 1945 Mass. Audubon Soc. Bull. Jan. 274 It was June 25 when I sat on a log in a laurel thicket. |
| 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. i, In *Laurell-worthy rymes Her loue shall Liue vntill the end of times. |
| 1721–2 Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 10 (1754) 48 This..bard has..lampoon'd those, who fix'd the immortal *laurel-wreath upon his brows. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. xli, The true laurel-wreath which glory weaves Is of the tree no bolt of thunder cleaves. |
| 1878 Symonds Many Moods, Love & Death 165 The *laurel-wreathèd choir. |
6. Special comb.:
laurel-bay,
† (
a)
= laurel-berry; (
b)
= bay-laurel (sense 1);
laurel-bottle, a bottle containing crushed laurel leaves, used by entomologists for killing insects;
laurel-cherry = cherry laurel; hence
laurel-cherry water = laurel water;
laurel magnolia (
U.S.), either of two species of
Magnolia, the evergreen
M. grandiflora or the sweet bay,
M. virginiana;
† laurel-man, ? a member of one of the parties disaffected to the Hanover dynasty;
laurel oak (
U.S.), either of two species of oak,
Quercus laurifolia or
Q. imbricata;
laurel-oil = oil of laurel, a solid fat obtained from the berries of
Laurus nobilis (
Syd. Soc. Lex.);
laurel-thyme = laurustinus;
laurel-tree = sense 1;
laurel-water Med., the water obtained by distillation from the leaves of the cherry-laurel and containing a small proportion of prussic acid.
| c 1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 198 Tak..*lorel bayes nistad in oyle. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xxxix, Round the Champion's brows were bound The crown..Of the green laurel-bay. |
| 1872 Wood Insects at Home 26 The following is the neatest way of making a *laurel-bottle. |
| 1787 Fam. Plants I. 339 *Laurel-cherry. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 487 Laurel-cherry water. |
| 1806 P. Wakefield Excursions N. Amer. xiv. 93 The *laurel magnolia reaches to the height of an hundred feet. 1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants ii. 52 From the Walnut Hills to Baton Rouge..you begin to discover the ever verdant laurel magnolia, with its beautiful foliage, of the thickness and feeling of leather. 1850 S. F. Cooper Rural Hours 476 The small Laurel Magnolia, or Sweet Bay, is found as far north as New York, in swampy grounds. 1893 W. Robinson Eng. Flower Garden (ed. 3) 520/1 M[agnolia] grandiflora, the great Laurel Magnolia of the southern United States, is—in England—best treated as a wall-plant. 1903 Flora & Sylva I. 19/1 The Laurel Magnolia or Sweet Bay..is certainly a very handsome shrub. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 392/1 The most beautiful species of North America is M. grandiflora, the ‘laurel magnolia’..introduced into England in 1734. |
| 1730 Swift Vind. Ld. Carteret 27 Inflamers of Quarrels between the two Nations,..Haters of True Protestants, *Lawrel-men, Annists,..and the like. |
| 1810 F. A. Michaux Hist. Arbres Forestiers de l' Amérique Septentrionale I. 23 *Laurel oak,..dénomination secondaire dans les Etats à l'ouest des monts Alléghanys. 1832 D. J. Browne Sylva Amer. 271 East of the Alleghanies this species..is called Jack Oak, Black Oak, and sometimes from the form of the leaves, Laurel Oak. 1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 131 Between Bon Secour and Perdido Bay low, sandy hills..support a high forest..of laurel oak and Cuban and long-leaf pine. 1947 Collingwood & Brush Knowing your Trees 201/1 Laurel oak has been widely used, especially in the South, as an ornamental, particularly as a shade or street tree. |
| 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 439 *Laurel oil is expressed from the berries of the laurus nobilis. |
| 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 173 We have now..but few Flowers, except those of *Laurel-Time, or Laurus Thymus. |
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 2983 Vnder a louely *lorel tre in a grene place. c 1415 Lydg. Temple of Glas 115 Daphne vnto a laurer tre Iturned was. 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. xxxvii. 35 Flourishing..as doth the Laurell tree. |
| 1731 Madden in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 85 One Part of *Laurel-Water to four of Brandy. 1829 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 25 Counter-plottings, and laurel-water pharmacy. |
Hence
ˈlaurelship = laureateship.
| 1820 Examiner No. 612. 1/2 Receiving the laurel which had been worn by Dryden, and Spenser, and Ben Jonson, and Daniel (a list of laurelships somewhat doubtful). |
▪ II. laurel, n.2 (
ˈlɒrəl,
ˈlɔːrəl)
A salmon that has remained in fresh water during the summer.
| 1861 Act 24 & 25 Vict. c. 109 §4 All migratory Fish of the Genus Salmon..that is to say..Kelt, Laurel, Girling. |
▪ III. † ˈlaurel, a. Obs. [f. laurel n.1] Crowned or wreathed with laurel; hence, renowned.
| 1579–80 North Plutarch (1595) 131 Lycomedes..hauing taken very rich furniture and flags, did afterwards consecrate them to Apollo laurell. [Sic; but perh. mispr. for laurel-bearer; Amyot surnommé Portant laurier.] 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iii. 100 Vpon your Sword Sit Laurell victory. |
▪ IV. laurel, v. (
ˈlɒrəl,
ˈlɔːrəl)
[f. laurel n.1] trans. To wreathe with laurel; to adorn with or as with laurel.
| 1631 H. Shirley Mart. Souldier v. in Bullen O. Pl. I. 242 The good, how e're trod under, Are Lawreld safe in thunder. 1663 Sir G. Mackenzie Relig. Stoic xvi. (1685) 143 Lawrel'd and rewarded. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1785) V. 87 Sir Edward Nicholas, secretary of state; oval frame laurelled. 1831 Westm. Rev. Jan. 234 Our Cæsar was bald, and we laurelled his defect. 1850 Neale Med. Hymns (1867) 153 Laurelled with the stole victorious. 1867 F. M. Finch Blue & Gray in Atlantic Monthly Sept. 370 They banish our anger forever When they laurel the graves of our dead! |
b. To serve as a decoration for.
| 1821 Sporting Mag. VII. 192 Ever green be the garland that laurels thy fame. |