▪ I. olive, n.1 and a.
(ˈɒlɪv)
Also 4 olife, 4–5 olyf, 4–6 olyue, 5–7 olyff(e, 7 oliff.
[a. F. olive:—L. olīva olive and olive-tree.]
A. n.
1. a. An evergreen tree, Olea europæa, esp. the cultivated variety O. sativa, with narrow entire leaves, green above and hoary beneath, and axillary clusters of small whitish four-cleft flowers; cultivated in the Mediterranean countries and other warm regions, chiefly for its fruit and the oil thence obtained (see sense 2 b).
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 89 Þat burh folc..beren on here honde blostme sum palm twig, and sum boh of oliue. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3986 Branches hii bere Of oliue as in signe þat hii aȝen pays nere. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. iii. (Tollem. MS.), With oute spray of olyue no messangeres were sente to Rome to gete pese, noþer to profre pees to oþer men. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 180 The olive..myght not forsake his fatnesse. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 57 Throucht the operatione of the sternis, the oliue, the popil, & the osȝer tree changis the cullour and ther leyuis. 1791 Cowper Iliad xvii. 64 As the luxuriant olive by a swain Rear'd in some solitude. 1813 Byron Br. Abydos i. i, Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit. 1839 tr. Lamartine's Trav. East 79/1 It was those very olives themselves, the venerable witnesses of so many days, written on earth and in heaven. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 205 The olive is indigenous to Palestine, Greece, and the slopes of the Atlas mountains. |
b. Extended to the whole genus
Olea; also applied, with qualifying words, to various trees and shrubs allied to the common olive, or resembling it in appearance or in furnishing oil.
American olive, the Devil-wood,
Osmanthus americanus (
Olea americana);
bastard or
mock olive,
Notelæa ligustrina (family Oleaceæ) of Australia and Tasmania;
black olive,
Bucida (Terminalia) Buceras (family Combretaceæ), and
Ximenia americana (family Olacaceæ), of the West Indies;
Californian olive,
Oreodaphne (Umbellularia) californica (family Lauraceæ);
Chinese olive,
Canarium commune (family Amyridaceæ), a tree bearing triangular drupes which yield an oil used as a condiment and for burning;
holly-leaved olive,
Osmanthus ilicifolius (
Olea ilicifolia) of Japan;
Negro's olive,
Terminalia Chebula (family Combretaceæ);
spurge olive,
Daphne Mezereum (family Thymeliaceæ);
sweet-scented olive,
Osmanthus (Olea) fragrans of China;
white olive, the Fly-honeysuckle,
Halleria lucida (family Scrophulariaceæ) of South Africa.
wild olive, the wild variety of the common olive (
= oleaster a), or any wild species of
Olea; also applied to various trees and shrubs resembling this, as
Elæagnus angustifolia (
= oleaster b);
Daphne Thymelæa;
Rhus Cotinus (family Ancardiaceæ);
Putranjiva Roxburghii (family Euphorbiaceæ) of India;
Bontia daphnoides (family Myoporaceæ),
Bucida Buceras,
B. capitata, and
Ximenia americana, of the West Indies. (See
Treas. Bot. 1866, and Miller
Plant-n. 1884.)
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 107 b, The wilde Olive, in Greeke ἀγριελαίας, in Latine Oleaster. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. App. s.v. Olive, Wild Olive of Barbadoes, a name by which some call the Bontia, a distinct genus of plants. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 221 This tree is called the Black Olive in Jamaica. 1785 H. Marshall Arbustrum Amer. 98 American Olive tree..grows naturally in Carolina and Florida, and is a beautiful ever-green tree. 1866 Ruskin (title) The Crown of Wild Olive. 1866 Land We Love (Charlotte, N. Carolina) May 78 American Olive..is a very fine evergreen, producing clusters of small white flowers. 1880 S. Africa (ed. 3) 136 Wild Olive..wood of small size and generally decayed at heart. Used for fancy turning. 1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 14 Their banks adorned with evergreen andromedas, American olive,..sweet bay, and azaleas. |
2. a. The fruit or ‘berry’ of
Olea sativa, a small oval drupe, bluish-black when ripe, with bitter pulp abounding in oil, and hard stone; valuable as a source of oil, and also eaten pickled in an unripe state.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxi. (1495) 674 The more blacke oliues ben wythout: the more rype they be wythin. 1555 Eden Decades 209 They are for the most part of the colour of an olyue. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 438 The ripe Oliues overturne the stomach, and cause wambling therein. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 258 Olives are anti-acid by their Oil. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Voy. to Eng. Wks. (Bohn) II. 12, I find the sea-life an acquired taste, like that for tomatoes and olives. |
† b. oil of olive(s = olive-oil.
Obs.| 1382 Wyclif Lev. xxiv. 2 Comaund to the sones of Ysrael, that thei bryngen to thee oyle of olyues. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C vj b, Anoynt it with oyle of Olyff. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Oil, Oil of olives is the most popular, and most universal of all others. |
3. a. A leaf, branch, or wreath of the common olive, an ancient emblem of peace; hence allusively.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) ii. 11 Olyve betokeneth Pes. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 54 The valiant and noblest vanquishers..were honoured and crowned with the Olive. 1591 Spenser Vis. Bellay ix, His right hand did the peacefull olive wield. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. vi. 7 The three nook'd world Shall beare the Oliue freely. 1710 Pope Windsor For. 429 Where Peace descending bids her olives spring. 1741 Shenstone Judgm. Hercules 402 Peace rears her olive for industrious brows. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley xvi. 238 But six months of the reign of the olive, and I am safe. |
b. A child (
= olive-branch 2); also
attrib.| 1803 A. Seward Lett. (1811) VI. 114, I hope..that the fair convalescent and her young olives are well. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xiv, Four olive Kenwigses who sat up to supper. 1891 Merivale & Marzials Thackeray 37 There is a ring of despair about the name of the tenth olive, Decima. |
4. The wood of the common olive; olive-wood.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) ii. 10 The Table aboven his heved [on the Cros]..was of Olyue. |
5. A gasteropod mollusc of the genus
Oliva or family Olividæ; or its shell, of an elongated oval form and fine polish; an olive-shell.
| 1843 Zoologist I. 54 That beautiful, elegant and brilliantly polished genus of shells called Olives. 1856 Woodward Mollusca iii. 353 Since the period of the English chalk-formation, there have been..Cones and Olives in the London Basin. 1865 Gosse Land & Sea 132 Cowries and olives. |
6. Cookery. (
pl.) A dish composed of thickish slices of beef or veal, rolled up with onions and herbs, and stewed in brown sauce:
cf. olive pie in C.
| 1598 Epulario C ij b, To make Oliues of Veale or any other flesh that is lean. 1598 Florio, Tomacélla,..that meate which we call oliues of veale. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. ii. ii. (1664) 72 To roast Olives of Veal. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 117 Beef Olives. 1861–80 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Household §668 Beef Olives. |
7. † a. A kind of oval bit for a horse (
obs.).
b. An oval button, or a piece of wood of the shape of an olive covered with silk or worsted, for fastening a cloak or other garment by means of a loop of braid.
c. An oval perforated plate attached to the strap of a bag, through which a stud or button passes in fastening it.
| 1607 Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 56 Those Mellons or Oliues, must bee very smooth and full of holes, which the Horse will take great pleasure to sucke, and champe vpon. 1611 Cotgr., Olivette..a little Oliue-bitt for a horse. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Olive, an escutcheon attached to the strap of a traveling bag or satchel and perforated for the passage of the swiveled stud or button. |
8. Anat. The olivary body.
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 807 This connection with the nucleus of the sixth nerve, through the so-called peduncle of the superior olive being very intimate. |
9. a. = Olive colour: see B.
| 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 287 A full face; but yellowish or inclining to an Olive. 1837 Lockhart Scott viii, Charlotte Margaret Carpenter..was rich in personal attractions..a complexion of the clearest and lightest olive. 1884 Christian World 17 Jan. 52/1 All wool Rich Ottoman Dress Material..in..Olive. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 92 The sun has dyed Her cheek with olive. |
b. A woman or girl of olive complexion.
| 1713 Addison Guard. No. 109 ¶5 Your fair women therefore thought of this fashion to insult the Olives and the Brunetts. 1828 Lights & Shades II. 216 One sees Olives and Brunettes trundling mops and crying mackerel. |
10. A greenish-brown moth,
Zenobia (or Ipomorpha) obtusa, of the family Noctuidæ, found in Europe and northern Asia.
| 1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 83 The Olive..feeds on the poplar. 1908 R. South Moths Brit. Isles 2nd Ser. 9 The Olive..is somewhat similar in general appearance to the last mentioned [sc. the Double Kidney]. 1974 B. Goater Butterflies & Moths of Hampshire 376 The Olive..widespread but associated with Populus species. |
11. a. A mayfly with an olive-coloured body belonging to the genus
Baetis, which includes species with transparent wings, or the genus
Ephemerella,
esp. E. ignita, which has blue wings.
| 1889 F. M. Halford Dry-Fly Fishing ix. 206 The blue-winged olive..is known to modern entomologists as Ephemerella ignita. 1911 ― Mod. Devel. Dry Fly iii. 18, I think the dark olive is, as a rule, not so well taken by the fish as the common olive. 1949 A. C. Williams Dict. Trout Flies II. 267 Whereas other insects are seasonal, the olive is more or less always with us. 1971 Country Life 21 Oct. 1084/1 Often there is a good hatch of olives in the morning or afternoon—sometimes both—which usually brings a response not only from the grayling but from the trout. |
b. An artificial fly made in imitation of an insect of this type.
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 495/2 Bass Flies, consisting of the following styles:..Oak, Olive, Montreal, Professor, [etc.]. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping 674/2 Special Irish Salmon Flies... Golden Olive with Blue and Jay Shoulder. 1911 F. M. Halford Mod. Devel. Dry Fly iii. 18 No. 7 of the series of patterns is the olive dun male. 1921 G. E. M. Skues Way of Trout with Fly ii. ii. 109 The floating subimago I tried to imitate with a darkish variety of a stock pattern of olive. 1938 W. C. Platts Mod. Trout Fishing vii. 68 Among the wet flies in use may be mentioned..various Olives. 1968 C. F. Walker Art of Chalk Stream Fishing xvii. 147 My own choice would be the Rough Olive, a most successful fly. |
B. adj. a. Of the colour of the unripe fruit of the olive, a dull somewhat yellowish green.
b. Also, applied to a yellowish brown or brownish yellow, in the complexion of persons or races.
c. Also, of the colour of the foliage of the olive, a dull ashy green with silvery sheen.
In ‘olive colour’
= ‘colour of an olive’,
olive is strictly the
n. used
attrib., as in ‘mouse colour’; but in ‘a greenish or olive colour’, we see it treated as an
adj., and in ‘an olive complexion’, ‘an olive beauty’, it has become a full
adj.| a. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 70 The Pomegranate..the leaves small, with a green mixt with Olive colour. 1830 J. C. Strutt Sylva Brit. 59 Its light and cheerful green..contrasts agreeably with the Oak, whose early leaf has generally more of the olive cast. 1845 Budd Dis. Liver 229 It has generally the greenish or olive colour proper to bile. 1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 250 Protoxide of Mercury..is a black or dark olive powder. |
| b. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 48 The Inhabitants are of an Olive colour. 1713 Addison Guard. No. 109 ¶5 You must know I am a famous olive beauty. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 224 Indians are of an olive colour, and, in the more southern parts, quite black. 1805 Southey Madoc in Aztl. 11 Her cotton vest..leaves her olive arms Bare in their beauty. 1894 Doyle Mem. S. Holmes 218 A beautiful olive complexion. |
| fig. 1814 Sir R. Wilson Priv. Diary II. 388 We have just received the ‘Moniteur’ of the 2nd, with the conditions of peace. To my sight the treaty is not of an olive colour. |
C. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., as
olive crop,
olive culture,
olive-garden (
= olive-yard),
olive garland,
olive-ground,
olive grove,
olive industry,
olive leaf,
olive-lees,
olive-marc,
olive shade,
olive shoot,
olive spray,
olive-wreath, etc.
b. Instrumental, as
olive-bordered,
olive-clad,
olive-hoary,
olive-shaded adjs. c. Similative, with words denoting colour, etc., expressing a colour resembling or suggesting that of an unripe olive, as
olive-brown,
olive-green (
= B.),
olive-grey,
olive-yellow adjs. and
ns.,
olive-pale adj. d. Parasynthetic (from B.), as
olive-backed,
olive-cheeked,
olive-sided,
olive-skinned adjs.; also with reference to the shape of an olive, as
olive-shaped adj. e. Special
Combs.:
olive-acanthus, in decorative art, an ornamental form of acanthus leaf with lobes each resembling an olive leaf;
olive-back, a North American forest thrush,
Hylocichla ustulata, also known as Swainson's thrush;
olive-backed thrush = olive-back,
olive thrush;
olive-bark, (
a) the bark of the olive; (
b) the West Indian tree
Bucida (Terminalia) Buceras, of which the bark is used for tanning;
olive-berry = sense 2;
† olive-bit = sense 7 a;
olive cautery, an olivary cautery (see
olivary);
olive crescent, a pale greenish-brown European moth,
Trisateles emortualis, of the family Noctuidæ;
olive-crown, a wreath of olive (as a token of victory);
olive drab, of a brownish green colour, used
spec. of the colour of
U.S. Army uniform; also
ellipt.;
olive-fly, an insect injurious to olive-trees; also
olive fruit fly;
† olive grape (see
quot.);
olive-nut, the stone of the fruit of species of
Elæocarpus (family Tiliaceæ);
olive-ore = olivenite: see
quot. 1805
s.v.;
olive pie, a pie made with olives of veal (see 6);
olive-plum, the drupaceous fruit of any tree of the genus
Elæodendron (family Celastraceæ), or the tree itself;
olive-shell = sense 5;
olive thrush = olive-back;
olive-tyrant, any bird of the subfamily Elæniinæ of tyrant flycatchers, having generally olivaceous coloration;
olive whistler, an Australian bird,
Pachycephala olivacea;
olivewort, Lindley's name for plants of the family Oleaceæ.
| 1888 F. G. Jackson Decor. Design vii. 152 Curved like the *olive acanthus, it is moulded with concave markings. |
| 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. xvi. 143 The *olive-backs trolled and chanted among the trees. 1892 B. Torrey Foot-Path Way 19 The olive backs began to make themselves heard. 1945 Mass. Audubon Soc. Bull. Mar. 43 Two thrushes of annual interest to students are the migrant Olive-back and the Gray-cheek. |
| 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 437/1 The red-finned, *olive-backed, foolish-looking fish. |
| 1844 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. ii. 74 The *Olive-backed Thrush is closely allied to the [hermit thrush]. 1892 B. Torrey Foot-Path Way 99 Two birds dashed by me—a blackpoll warbler in hot pursuit of an olive-backed thrush. 1946 T. M. Stanwell-Fletcher Driftwood Valley 187 We spend the long bright evenings out on the lake, listening to the chorus of olive-backed thrushes. 1958 E. T. Gilliard Living Birds of World 336/2 The Olive-backed Thrush..winters south to Argentina. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 177/2 The *Olive-bark, or Black Olive of Jamaica, produces wood which is valuable on account of its not being liable to the attacks of insects. |
| 1526 Tindale Jas. iii. 12 Can the fygge tree..beare *olive berries? 1869 Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Folks xvi. 176, I guess our olive-berries are pretty well beaten off now. |
| 1611 *Olive-bit [see 7]. 1706 Phillips, Olive-bit, a kind of Bit for Horses. |
| 1827 Keble Chr. Y. 1st Sund. Advent vii, Beside the *olive-bordered way. 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche March xxv, Olive-border'd clouds o'er lilac led. |
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 318 Pileus *olive brown..edge turned down. 1837 Prichard Phys. Hist. Man. (ed. 3) II. 345 The olive-brown or copper colour of the Bechuana. 1894 R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. I. 101 Eggs [Yellow Wagtail]..Some are uniform pale olive-brown, some darker olive, while others are nearly uniform pinkish-brown. |
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. C j b/1 This Cauterye may allmost be callede the *Olive Cauterye, because it is allmost like vnto an olive. |
| 1866 Howells Venet. Life xii. 193 A black-eyed, *olive-cheeked lady. |
| 1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 146 The *Olive Crescent..resembles the Clay-Fan-Foot. 1908 R. South Moths Brit. Isles 2nd Ser. 88 The Olive Crescent..is exceedingly rare in England. 1974 B. Goater Butterflies & Moths of Hampshire 411 Olive Crescent... One taken in bright sunlight..in late July, 1939. |
| 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 762/1 Apart from occasional damage by weather or organic foes, the *olive crop is somewhat precarious even with the most careful cultivation. 1977 J. Aiken Last Movement ii. 42 Local staff, who came and went when the orange or olive crop demanded their attention. |
| 1749 West Odes Pindar xi. (1753) I. 69 She..decks thy *Olive-Crown with sweetly-sounding Lays. |
| 1893 K. A. Sanborn Truthful Woman in S. California xii. 155 *Olive culture is just now the fad. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 774/1 Specialized olive culture is an important industry on hillsides throughout Greece. |
| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 21/3 One gallon of this paint will cover (two coats) over 300 square feet of surface. Always order by color number as well as catalogue number... 214 *Olive Drab. 1908 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 71/2 Colors of..house paint... Nile Green..Olive Drab..Cream. 1917 A. Woollcott Let. Oct. (1946) 28, I was afflicted because I had signed, have been in olive drab for three months—been away from America for almost three months. 1942 ― in Reader's Digest Nov. 23/2 Wherefore, as he [sc. Irving Berlin] toils away at something for the boys in olive-drab to sing out with real emotion, he has only to listen to the bugle notes for a motif. 1948 W. J. Stokoe Caterpillars Brit. Moths I. 274 The caterpillar..is slaty-brown, inclining to olive-drab above. 1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon iii. 66 Check the olive-drab lap and shoulder strapping for each man. |
| 1886 R. C. Haldane Subtropical Cultivations 183 Musca oleæ (the *olive-fly) lays its eggs in the young fruit, and is a most destructive insect. |
| 1972 Swan & Papp Common Insects N. Amer. 627 The *Olive Fruit Fly, Docus oleae, is a serious pest of olives in the Mediterranean area. |
| 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 72 Its corn fields and *olive gardens. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 409 Another sort, which of the resemblance of oliues, is called the *Oliue grape,..this is the last grape of any account..known to haue bin found out. |
| 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 17 The natural colour of these filaments is a kind of an *olive-green. 1801 Hatchett in Phil. Trans. XCII. 57 Prussiate of potash changed the colour of the..solution to an olive-green. |
| 1894 R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. I. 70 Lower back and rump *olive-greenish, streaked with dusky. |
| 1862 R. H. Patterson Ess. Hist. & Art 29 Oil-paintings, in gilt frames, are effective on walls of *olive-grey. |
| 1849 Grote Greece ii. lx. (1862) V. 298 They found themselves enclosed in a walled *olive-ground. |
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Azebuchal, an *oliue groue, Oleastrum. 1878 O. Wilde Ravenna 6 Dark olive-groves and noble forest-pines. 1959 Times 29 Sept. 12/6 Vineyards and olive groves. |
| 1855 Tennyson Daisy 31 Or *olive-hoary cape in ocean. |
| 1893 K. A. Sanborn Truthful Woman in S. California xii. 155 Pomona is head-quarters for the *olive industry. 1968 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 937/1 In South America and Australia, development of a commercial olive industry is..recent. |
| 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. P iij b, Lyke to *Olyue Leafe. 1611 Bible Gen. viii. 11 Lo, in her mouth was an oliveleaf pluckt off. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 860 An Olive leafe he brings, pacific signe. |
| 1886 Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbo i, Little dogs fattened on *olive-marc. |
| 1864 Browning J. Lee's Wife iii. i, The water's..*olive-pale To the leeward. |
| 1617 Murrell Cookery ii. (1638) 122 To make an *Olive Pie to be eaten hot. 1861–80 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Household §924 Veal Olive Pie. |
| 1685 Dryden Theocritus xxvii. 15 The Sun's too hot; those *Olive-shades are near. |
| 1800 Campbell Ode to Winter, On Calpe's *olive-shaded steep. |
| 1908 Practitioner Sept. 360 The sounds which will best aid are those..having interchangeable *olive-shaped metallic heads. 1930 T. S. Eliot tr. St.-J. Perse's Anabasis 65 He who fashions a leather tunic, wooden shoes and olive-shaped buttons. |
| 1882 Ogilvie, Oliva, the *olive-shell, so named from the olive-like shape of the shell. |
| 1884 Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 438 Contopus borealis, *Olive-sided Flycatcher. |
| 1904 W. H. Hudson Green Mansions 4 The nervous *olive-skinned Hispano-American of the tropics. 1970 H. M. Davy Caring for your Appearance iii. 35 Some of your friends may have a very pale skin throughout all seasons... Some others, with the very darkest colouring, we may describe as olive skinned. |
| 1864 J. R. Lowell Fireside Trav. 222 Climbing the sides of the nearer Monticelli in a gray belt of *olive-spray. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 773/2 The wild olive spray of the Olympic victor. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Olyue stone, samsa, sansa. |
| 1904 S. E. White Silent Places i. 4 The white-throats and *olive thrushes called in a language hardly less intelligible. |
| 1911 J. A. Leach Austral. Bird Bk. 152 *Olive Whistler, Olivaceous Thick⁓head... Olive brown; head dark-gray... Liquid, whistling note. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Sept. 21/1 A curious example of vocal variation among birds..is found in the ‘olive whistler’. 1944 A. Russell Bush Ways xxii. 105 A recluse of the open scrubs of the dry south-eastern interior, as the olive whistler is to the mountain mists of the coast ranges. 1965 Austral. Encycl. IX. 292/1 The olive whistler, of eastern Australia and Tasmania, is probably one of the sweetest singers among the birds of Australia. |
| 1845 Lindley Veg. Kingd. (1853) 616 However heterogeneous the *Oliveworts may appear..it is remarkable that the species will all graft upon each other. |
| 1853 Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1872) II. 656 Place the *olive-wreaths near. |
| 1894 R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. 100 General colour *olive-yellow above, and bright yellow below. |
Add:
[7.] d. A metal ring or fitting which is tightened under a threaded nut to form a seal, as on a compression joint.
| 1919 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (R. Aeronaut. Soc.) 62 Olive joint. 1946 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. L. 136/2 These tubes are fitted 5 rows wide and 12 deep into header tanks, by means of gland nuts and olives. 1972 H. King Install your own Central Heating ix. 57 A body sealing cone or ‘olive’ which slides over the pipe, and a threaded nut, which is tightened on the olive, compressing this on to the pipe to provide a water-tight joint. 1987 Which? Sept. 409/2 Remove the old olive from the flow pipe by cutting it off with a hacksaw, taking care not to damage the pipe. |
▪ II. olive, n.2 (
ˈɒlɪv)
Also 6
oliff.
[Origin obscure: see quot. 1894.] Local name of a bird, the Oyster-catcher (
Hæmatopus ostrilegus).
| 1541–2 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 223 [Prices of Foule] Crocards and Oliffs. 1607 J. Norden Surv. Dial. iii. 111 Any Pibble, Peach, or Sea-bank, wherein breed sea-Pyes, Oliues, Pewets, or such. 1634 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson The Washingtons App. (1860) p. xii, Knotts, Olives, Redshankes. 1802 G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. (Rennie 1833) 351 Oyster-catcher..‘Provincial. Pienet, Olive’. 1848 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 286, 2 golden plovers, 2 olives, 5 curlews. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds, Olive,..apparently a corruption of Olaf, which is said also to be used (Christy, B. Essex, 238);..if so the word should be more properly spelt Olave. |