dewdrop
(ˈdjuːdrɒp)
[f. dew n. + -drop. Cf. Ger. thau-tropfen, Du. dauw-droppel.]
a. One of the rounded ‘drops’ or globules in which dew collects on surfaces on which it is deposited.
| [a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xli. 114 Ase fele sythe ant oft as dewes dropes beth weet.] 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 14, I must go seeke some dew drops heere, And hang a pearle in euery cowslips eare. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 746 Starrs of Morning, Dew-drops, which the Sun Impearls on every leaf, and every flouer. 1788 Cowper Stanzas for Year 31 Dew-drops may deck the turf that hides the bones. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. ii, The lawn Begemmed with dew-drops. 1847 Tennyson Princ. vii. 53 When two dewdrops on the petal shake To the same sweet air. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. xi. 342 The little pearly globe which we call a dew-drop. |
| transf. and fig. 1781 Cowper Truth 144 The shivering urchin, bending as he goes, With slip-shod heels, and dew⁓drop at his nose. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 161 And feel the dew-drop in my eye. 1826 Hood Wee Man xiv, On every brow a dew-drop stood. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. vi, The heart..unvisited by any heavenly dew-drop. |
b. A glass bead resembling a drop of dew.
| 1880 Harper's Mag. June 31/1 ‘Grass-work’ consists in the fastening of small glass beads or ‘dew-drops’ to the artificial blades. |
Hence
dew-dropped a., covered or bespangled with dew-drops.
| 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans IV. 201 The dew-dropp'd rose. 1762 J. Warton Enthusiast Poems 82 Bladed grass perfumed with dewdropped flowers. 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 161 How bright it's dewdropp'd tint appears! |