▪ I. thistle, n.
(ˈθɪs(ə)l)
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 (cf. Somersetsh. dəis'l, deiʃ'l, dāʃ'l; also LG. diestal, dîstel, dîssel, beside dəistələ, deussl, duissl, in various German dialects. Of OTeut. *þīstil-o{supz} m., *þīstil-a f., the ulterior history is unknown.
Sc. thristell may have been influenced by thrist vb.]
1. a. 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.
Formerly (and in scriptural or rhetorical language) applied vaguely, including various prickly plants: cf. 2, 3.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 384 Carduus, þistel. a 800 Erfurt Gloss. 271 Carduus, thistil. c 1050 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 379/23 Carduus orrens, se onscunienda þystel. a 1327 On Dreams in Rel. Ant. I. 264 Ȝef thou etest of thystles ȝurne, Thy fomon the freteth on uche hurne. c 1400 Rom. Rose 1835 Thornes sharpe..Ther were, and also thistels thikke, And breres, brimme for to prikke. 1481 Caxton Reynard xxxii. (Arb.) 86, I haue nothyng but thystles and nettles. 1535 Coverdale Gen. iii. 18 Cursed be y⊇ earth for thy sake... Thornes and thistles shall it beare vnto the. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 145 b, Spina in Latin is properly called a thistel. 1650 Baxter Saint's R. i. vii, Doubts are like the Thistle, a bad weed, but growing in good ground. 1758 R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. (1760) 31 Thistles, docks, and all sorts of rank weeds. 1890 A. R. Wallace Darwinism 28 Hundreds of square miles of the plains of La Plata are now covered with..species of European thistle. |
| β c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xi. 130 A gode contree to sowen Inne thristelle & breres & broom & thornes. 1503 Dunbar Thistle & Rose 129 Vpone the awfull Thrissill scho beheld. 1548 H. Balnaues Conf. Faith (1584) 132 May yee gather grapes of thornes, or figges of thrisles? 1806 A. Douglas Poems 145 (E.D.D.) Nae thrisles here your thumbs to prick. 1815 Scott Guy M. iii, The thristles by the road-side. |
| γ 1809 T. Batchelor Orth. Anal. Eng. Lang., Bedford Words 123/2 Provincial Pronunciations, fislz. 1848 B. Evans Leicestersh. Words, Fistle, var. pron. of ‘thistle’. 1886 Britten & Holland Plant-n., Fissle, Fistle, a thistle. |
b. As the heraldic emblem of Scotland; also, a figure of a thistle as such.
Cf. rose n.1 6 b, 12 c.
| 1488 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 85 A couering of..purpir tartar browdin with thrissillis and a vnicorne. 1507 Ibid. III. 261 Thre thrissilles of coppir gilt. 1562 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i. 3 Welcum, oure thrissill with þe Lorane grene! 1786 Burns Earnest Cry & Prayer vii, Paint Scotland greeting owre her thrissle. 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. xiii, She seeks the Black Douglas, or some such hero of the Thistle. 1853 [see rose n.1 12 c]. |
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;
Knight of the Thistle, a member of this order.
| 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. 1710 Ibid. No. 4694/3 The Earl of Stair was invested..with the most Noble Order of the Thistle. 1732 Gentl. Mag. June 827/1 The E. of Portmore, made a Kt of the Thistle in the Room of the E. of Loudoun, dec. 1828 N. H. Nicolas Statutes of Order of Thistle 21 After its [sc. Order of the Thistle's] Revival by King James, the Knights of the Thistle were Installed in the Chapel of Holyrood House. 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. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 10 Jan. 1/1 The Duke of Argyll..received his Thistle from Lord Palmerston in 1851. 1911 J. Warrack Knights of Most Noble Order of Thistle 29 The King, after consulting the Chapter of the Knights of the Thistle, ordered a letter to be sent. 1963 Times 30 Apr. 10/7 Sir Robert Menzies, the Prime Minister, is expected to visit Britain and the United States in June,..later going to Edinburgh to be installed as a Knight of the Thistle. |
d. transf. Something resembling a thistle in form or appearance.
| 1891 J. W. Harrison Mackay of Uganda i. 2 Thistles of frost garnished the window-panes. |
e. fig. or in figurative context, with reference to the thistle as a noxious or prickly weed.
| 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! 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xiv. 415 He snatcheth at the thistle of a project, which first pricks his hands, and then breaks. 1797–1803 Foster in Life & Corr. (1846) I. 163 Adversity! thou thistle of life. 1840 Carlyle Heroes ii, His knowledge is a pedantry, and dead thistle, otherwise. |
† 2. a. Applied (definitely) to other prickly plants, as artichoke, sea-holly (
Eryngium), teasel, etc.
| 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. 14.. [see teasel n. 1]. 1545 Elyot, Scolymus, a thystell nowe called Arkechoke, of some men is taken for the..cowethystell. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 64 A Thistell is the Hartichoch; that euerie where dooth grow. 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. |
b. = teasel n. 2.
| 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. |
3. With qualifying words, applied to various species of
Carduus and allied genera, and to some prickly plants of other orders: as
bull thistle, a local name (in Ireland and
U.S.) for
Carduus lanceolatus;
Californian thistle (
N.Z.),
Canada thistle (
U.S.),
corn-thistle,
creeping thistle,
cursed thistle,
Carduus arvensis (
Cirsium arvense), a troublesome weed with creeping rootstocks;
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 n.1 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 neighbouring 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. eriophorus;
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 n. 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.| 1878 Britten & Holland Eng. Plant-n., *Bull Thistle, Carduus lanceolatus. Irel. (Belfast). |
| 1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxii. 310 One of the most recent importations..is that of the ‘Canadian’ or ‘*Californian’ thistle. 1948 D. W. Ballantyne Cunninghams i. ii. 10 It's been awful with Californian thistle up there. |
| 1884 Miller Plant-n., Cirsium arvense, *Canada Thistle, Creeping Thistle, ‘Cursed Thistle’, of N. America. |
| 1878 Britten & Holland Eng. Plant-n., *Corn Thistle, Carduus arvensis. |
| 1845 Gard. Chron. 20 Dec. 864/1 Will any of your correspondents inform me the most effectual way to eradicate the *Dog Thistle? |
| 1846 Sowerby Eng. Bot. (ed. 3), *Dwarf Thistle, Carduus acaulis. |
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 329 *Gentle Thistle. |
| 1882 Garden 3 June 391/3 A large oval⁓shaped bed of Ricinus Gibsoni..edged with Chamæpeuce Casabonæ or *Green Thistle. |
| 1884 Miller Plant-n., Chamæpeuce Casabonæ, Fish-bone or *Herring-bone Thistle. |
| 1587 L. 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. 1599 Shakes. 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. 1793 A. B[isani] Pict. Tour Europe, etc. 52 Sciato... The hills..are covered with holy thistle, centaury, thyme, sage, and calamint. 1866 Treas. Bot. 222 The Holy Thistle (Carduus Marianus) is well marked by the white veins on its large shiny leaves. 1893 McCarthy Red Diamonds II. 42 Here was holy thistle, which of old its admirers called Benedictus for its supposed astonishing virtues. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodeons iv. lviii. 519 The other kinde is called..the *Hundred headed Thistel... This without doubt is a kinde of Eringium. 1880 Britten & Holland Eng. Plant-n., Hundred Thistle, Eryngium campestre. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 468 E[rythrolæna] conspicua..was introduced to English gardens about 1838, and is commonly known as the Scarlet *Mexican Thistle. |
| 1705 tr. Cowley's Plants Wks. 1711 III. 367 Whilst the *Scotch Thistle, with audacious Pride, Taking Advantage, gores your bleeding Side. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 240 The handsome Cotton Thistle..is often cultivated under the name of the Scotch Thistle. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 307/1 The common C[arduus] lanceolatus seems to be the most suitable prototype for the Scotch Thistle. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lxiv. 526 In Latine Acanthium;..in Englishe White Cotton Thistell, Wilde white Thistell, and Argentine, or *Siluer Thistel. |
| 1633 Gerarde's Herbal ii. xx. 292 The stalk of Hares Lettuce or *smooth-Thistle. |
| 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. |
| 1846 Sowerby Eng. Bot. (ed. 3), *Welted Thistle, Carduus crispus. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Thistle, Welted, Carduus acanthoides. |
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 329 Thistle, *Woolly, Onopordon. |
| 1867 Babington Man. Brit. Bot. (ed. 6) 200 C[arduus] eriophorus... Heads very large; involucre covered with a dense white web... *Woolly-headed Thistle. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 1145 Thistle.., *Yellow, Argemone mexicana. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
thistle-clock [
clock n.1 8],
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 cup, a silver cup with an outward-turning rim, of a type formerly manufactured in Scotland;
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 26
s. 8
d. Scotch (2
s. 2
2/
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 glass, a drinking glass with a round bowl and an outward-turning rim;
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 n.2], collectors' name for a Scottish silver coin of James VI, bearing the figure of a thistle on the reverse, and worth 13
s. 4
d. Scotch (13
1/
3d. English);
thistle noble, a Scottish gold half-merk of James VI, bearing the figure of a thistle on the reverse;
thistle-plume [
plume n. 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 n. 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.
| 1855 Browing Two in Campagna xi, Must I go Still like the *thistle-ball..Onward, whenever light winds blow? |
| 1797 Coleridge Foster-mother's T. 20 A baby wrapt in mosses, lined With *thistle-beards. |
| 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 131 American Goldfinch. Yellowbird. *Thistlebird. 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. |
| 1836 Prichard Phys. Hist. Man. (ed. 3) I. 58 The *thistle-butterfly, termed ‘La Belle Dame’. |
| 1948 C. Day Lewis Poems 1943–47 63 *Thistle-clocks fly. |
| 1866 T. Edmondston Shetl. & Orkney Gloss. 127 *Thistle-cock, common bunting (Emberiza miliaria). |
| 1726 Leake Nummi Brit. Hist. 83 *Thistle Crowns..4s. 43/4d. 1878 M. A. Brown Nadeschda 20 Plucked a thistle-crown and fastened it As a breast-knot. 1899 Daily News 12 July 8/3 To watch the goldfinch clinging to the silken thistle-crown. |
| 1947 W. C. Wallis Silver, Glass & Pott. 4 Another type of vessel, unique in Scotland, which made its appearance during the last twenty years of the seventeenth century, is the little mug known, from its supposed resemblance to a thistle, as a ‘*thistle’ cup. 1968 Canadian Antiques Collector July 17/1 Late in the seventeenth century appear two forms of secular silver unique to Scotland. One is a drinking cup of a type often called a ‘thistle’ cup, though it has little resemblance to a thistle. |
| 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. |
| 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 of the plant. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 1906 Outlook 24 Mar. 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. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Thystle floure, scholymos. 1908 [Miss Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 107 No Thistle flowers as yet. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Thistle Fly, a small fly produced from a flyworm, hatching in the protuberances of the carduus hæmorrhoidalis. |
| 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. |
| 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. 1864–5 Wood Homes without H. xxvi. (1868) 505 The Thistle-gall Fly (Urophora Cardui)..produces large and hard woody galls upon the thistle. |
| 1935 M. Mitchison We have been Warned ii. 138 Alex..got a bottle of hock and poured it out into *thistle glasses. 1973 Times 20 Oct. 14/3 The ‘thistle’ glass, with its outward-angled rim. |
| 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. 1896 Spectator 31 Oct. 588/2 He [a bee] returned to the inviting thistle-head. |
| 1857 Henfrey Bot. 320 The Cynareæ, or *thistle-like Compositæ. 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. |
| 1590–1 Reg. Privy Council Scot. IV. 574, [200 oz. weight of] utter fyne gold [shall be coined] in the *thrissill noblis. 1603 Ibid. VI. 529 Thrissill noblis of gold. |
| 1782 Cowper Progr. Err. 555 They..Like *thistle-seeds, are sown by every wind. |
| 1896 Mrs. Caffyn Quaker Grandm. 105 Why should Mr. Ince lag behind with the dogs, and his *thistle-spud? |
| 1882 J. Walker Jaunt Auld Reekie 41 *Thistle-stampit auld Scotch bodles. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 202 Preparing *thistle-teasels for the workman. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Thystle toppe, whyche is lyke plume, pappus. 1606 [see thistlewarp]. 1893 [see thistle-bird above]. |
| 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. |
| a 1847 Eliza Cook Song of Wind iii, I grasped an airy *thistle-tuft. |
| 1801 Sporting Mag. XIX. 114 This North-Country *Thistle Whipper. 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. |
Hence
ˈthistle v., trans. to clear of thistles, to weed out the thistles from (whence
ˈthistling vbl. n.);
thistled (
ˈθɪs(ə)ld)
a., covered or overgrown with thistles; adorned with figures of thistles;
ˈthistlery (
ˈθɪs(ə)lrɪ), a plantation of thistles;
ˈthistlish a., resembling or suggesting a thistle.
| 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v., In France, a farmer may sue his neighbour who neglects to *thistle his land at the proper seasons. |
| 1745 in Motherwell Harp of Renfrewshire (1819) 319 The *Thistled banners far were streaming. 1797 M. Robinson Walsingham I. 72 The upland mead, and thistled down. 1893 C. Rossetti Poems (1904) 123/2 Our thorned and thistled plot. |
| 1889 M. E. Bamford Up & Down Brooks 97 Do not his folk make such ‘*thistleries’ in Paraguay that robbers can hide among them? |
| 1766 Compl. Farmer, *Thistling, the action of cutting or pulling up thistles. |
| 1858 Motley Corr. 17 June, Like his tongue and his mind, it [his visage] is eminently Scotch, sharp, caustic, rugged, *thistle-ish. |
▪ II. thistle obs. variant of
thixel, an adz.