▪ I. sallow, n.
(ˈsæləʊ)
Forms: α. 1 sealh, (seal, salh, salch); β. 4–5 salwe, (4 salew, salugh), 5–6 salgh(e, salow(e, (5 salwhe, 6 sallowe, sallo, 7 salloo), 4– sallow; γ. [1 saliᵹ-], 3 selihe, salyhe, 5–6 saly, 6 salye, 6, 9 salley, 7– sally. (See also E.D.D., and the forms placed under saugh.)
[OE. sealh (Anglian salh):—prehistoric *salho-z masc.; cogn. w. OHG. salaha wk. fem. (MHG. salhe, mod.G. in comb. salweide):—*salhōn-; ON. selja wk. fem. (Sw. sälj, sälg, Da. selje):—*salhjōn-; cognates outside Teut. are L. salic-, salix, Gr. ἑλίκη, Irish saileach, Welsh helyg (collect.). The Fr. saule is an adoption from Teut.
The OE. nom. sing. is directly represented by the dialectal saugh. The β and γ forms above descend from the late Anglian flexional form salᵹ-, saliᵹ-, where the ᵹ is introduced on the analogy of those ns. in which final h is a euphonic modification of ᵹ. The form seal appears partly to represent the normal flexional form of the stem in OE., as in seales genit. sing., sealas pl., and partly to be adopted from ON. selja.]
1. A plant of the genus Salix, a willow; chiefly, in narrower sense, as distinguished from ‘osier’ and ‘willow’, applied to several species of Salix of a low-growing or shrubby habit: see quot. 1866. Also, one of the shoots of a willow.
| α a 700 Epinal Gloss. 892 Salix, salch. a 800 Erfurt Gloss. 1767 Salix, salh. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 18 Wið heafod ece ᵹenim sealh & ele. |
| β 1377–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 131 In posicione de Sallowys juxta ripam de Wer, xxd. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 655 Who so that buyldeth his hous al of salwes..Is worthy to been hanged on the galwes! 1388 Wyclif Lev. xxiii. 40 And ȝe schulen take to ȝou..salewis [1382 withies] of the rennynge streem. c 1450 Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 2014 Afftir, ovir a ryveer rennyng, To be set Arrayed to thyn estat, With salwys, wyllwys Envyronnd preperat. 1555 Eden Decades 38 Elmes, wyllowes, and salowes. 1583 L. M[ascall] tr. Bk. Dyeing 76 Take cole of a willo or sallo. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 573 Sallows and Reeds, on Banks of Rivers born. 1725 T. Thomas in Portland Pap. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 131 There is a small shrub growing over the greatest part of it [‘the Carr’, near Carlisle] which they call soft sallows. 1782 J. Scott Poet. Wks. 96 And lofty sallows their sweet bloom display. 1818 Shelley Pr. Wks. (1880) III. 18 We sit with Plato by old Ilissus..among the sweet scent of flowering sallow. 1859 Tennyson Merlin & V. 223 A robe..In colour like the satin-shining palm On sallows in the windy gleams of March. 1866 Treas. Bot., Sallow, a name for Salix cinerea, S. Caprea, and the allied species, which are not flexible like the osier, but furnish the best charcoal for gunpowder. 1907 Gentl. Mag. July 38 The yellow sallows, locally sallys, which the cottage children call palms, flame in gold. |
| γ c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) xxxvi. 2 On saliᵹ[um] we sariᵹe, swiðe ᵹelome, ure organan up-ahengan. a 1300 E.E. Psalter cxxxvi. 2 In selihes [v.r. salyhes, wilthes] in mide ofe ite Our organes henge we yhite. 1483 Cath. Angl. 317/1 Salghe for Saly A.), salix. 1664 Evelyn Sylva xix. 39 Of the Withy, Sally, Ozier, and Willow. Ibid. 40 We have three sorts of Sallys amongst us: The vulgar..and the hopping Sallys..: And a third kind..having the twigs reddish. 1694 W. Westmacott Script. Herb. 222 Sallies grow the faster, if planted within the reach of the Water. 1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. ii. 41 (E.D.S.). 1882 W. Worc. Gloss., Sallies, willow-boughs. |
2. The wood of the sallow tree.
| β c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 118 If þe heed be smyte wiþ a liȝt drie staf as of salow. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. v. 88 Smal-coale..is made of Sallow, Willow, Alder, Hasell, and the like. 1658 ― Hydriot. iii. 44 Sallow..makes more Ashes then Oake. 1843 Holtzapffel Turning, etc. I. 104 Sallow (Salix caprea), is white, with a pale-red cast, like red deal, but without the veins. 1882 Athenæum 26 Aug. 271/2 A Sussex trug..is a flat basket..of flakes of sallow braced with ash. |
| γ 1546 Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) I. 113 Ther is a wood..conteynyng..xx acres of okes, asshes, salyes and other woodes. 1582 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 424 Spoylinge of hasells, salleys, and other woods readie for sale. 1640 Bp. Reynolds Passions xxxvii. 453 They doe not take Sally, or Willow, or Birch, and such other Materialls. 1810 W. H. Marshall Rev. Board Agric., W. Departm. 275 The softer woods, such as ash, sallies, alder, are regularly cut from twelve to fourteen years' growth. 1835 J. Wilson Biog. Blind 212 The old harp..the front of which is white sally, the back of fir. |
3. a. A collectors' name for certain moths the larvæ of which feed on the sallow or willow;
esp. a moth of the genus
Xanthia.
| 1829 J. F. Stephens Syst. Catal. Brit. Ins. ii. 98. 1832 J. Rennie Conspect. Butterfl. & M. 85. 1880 O. S. Wilson Larvæ Brit. Lepidopt. 270. |
b. ?
= sally-fly (see 4 b).
| 1902 Webster's Dict., Suppl., Sally, a stone fly. |
4. a. attrib. as
sallow (or sally) bush,
sallow charcoal,
sallow land,
sallow pole,
sallow stake,
sallow switch,
sallow tree,
sallow twig,
sallow willow,
sallow wood.
| 1883 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Nov. 69/2 A few low *sallow bushes. |
| 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. 81 Take of *Sallow Charcole vj. ounces. |
| 1907 Gentl. Mag. July 38 Down by the river we have the Sallens, or *Sally lands. |
| 1898 B'ham Daily Post 26 Mar. (E.D.D.), ‘White and black *Sally poles’ for sale. |
| c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. xii. 139 And put a *saly stake in hit. |
| 1802 H. Martin Helen of Glenross I. 55 A *sally switch. |
| 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 188 Take..half soo myche of coles of *salow or of wylow tree. 1850 K. H. Digby Compitum III. 206 A brook that winds through bending sally trees. |
| c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 18 And softe a *saly twigge aboute hym plie. |
| 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 54 *Sallow Willow. Salix caprea... This is perhaps the most common of all our willows. |
| c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Art II. 17 Charcoal is to be chosen of *sallow wood. |
b. Special comb.:
sally-fly, some kind of stone fly;
sallow kitten, a moth (see
quot.);
sallow moth, a moth of the genus
Xanthia (
Cassell's Dict.);
sally picker Anglo-Irish, a name for the Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler;
sallow thorn, a plant of the genus
Hippophae;
sallow (wattle), one of several Australian acacias that resemble willows in habit or foliage.
sallow † withe,
withy [
= G.
salweide]
= sense 1.
| 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 114 The Yellow *Sally Fly. Comes on about the twentieth of May... It is a four winged fly; as it swims down the water its wings lie flat on its back. |
| 1880 O. S. Wilson Larvæ Brit. Lepidopt. 189 Dicranura furcula, Linn. The *Sallow Kitten. |
| 1885 Swainson Provinc. Names Birds 25, 26, 28 *Sally picker (Ireland). |
| 1847 W. E. Steele Field Bot. 157 Hippophae. L. *Sallow⁓thorn. |
| 1884 A. Nilson Timber Trees New South Wales 21 A[cadia] dealbata.—Silver Wattle; Sallow. 1965 Austral. Encycl. VII. 539/2 A[cacia] longifolia, A. mucronata and several related species with long flower-spikes are known as sallow wattles in Victoria. |
| 1657 Thornley tr. Longus' Daphnis & Chloe 68 The Goats gnaw'd the green *Sallow With in pieces. |
| 1893 Wiltsh. Gloss., *Sally-withy, a willow. |
▪ II. sallow, a. (
ˈsæləʊ)
Forms: 1
salo, 4–6
salowe, (5
salloh,
salwhe, 6
sallowe, 7
salow), 6–
sallow.
[OE. salo = MDu. salu, saluwe discoloured, dirty (Du. † zaluw), OHG. salo, salew- dark-coloured (MHG. sal, salw-, mod.Ger. dial. sal), Icel. söl-r yellow:—OTeut. *salwo-, whence F. sale, It. salavo dirty. Cf. Russian solovoy cream-coloured.] a. Of the skin or complexion: Having a sickly yellow or brownish yellow colour.
| a 1000 Riddles lxxx. 11 (Gr.) Good is min wise & ic [sc. ? a horn] sylfa salo. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 355 Ful salowe was waxen hir colour. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7392 That false traitouresse untrewe Was lyk that salowe hors of hewe, That in the Apocalips is shewed. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. lxix. (1869) 41 Al blac thei bicomen and salwh,..and elded. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 441 Salwhe of colowre (P. salowe), croceus. 1530 Palsgr. 323/1 Salowe yolowe coloured as ones skynne is for sycknesse, jaunastre. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 13 Colour of inward causes... Of inequalytie of humoures, wherof doo procede, blacke, salowe, or white onely. Red, Blacke, Salowe, do betoken domynion of heate... Salowe, choler citrine. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iii. 70 What a deale of brine Hath washt thy sallow cheekes for Rosaline! 1613 R. Cawdrey Table Alph. (ed. 3), Salow, white. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini, Pol. Touchstone (1674) 256 [She] is of so sallow a complexion, that she shadows upon the Moor. 1744 Armstrong Preserv. Health iv. 48 Hence..The Lover's paleness; and the sallow hue Of Envy. a 1745 Swift Panegyric on Dean Wks. 1751 X. 170 Pale Dropsy with a sallow Face. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 194 They were of a sallow or brownish complexion. 1813 Byron Corsair i. viii, That man.. Whose name appals..And tints each swarthy cheek with sallower hue. 1856 Bryant Death Schiller iii, The sallow Tartar. 1877 Black Green Past. xxx, The eldest daughter was rather pretty but sallow and unhealthy. |
b. transf. and of things personified.
| 1746 Collins Ode Evening 45 While sallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves. 1784 Cowper Task i. 438 He..who, imprisoned long..and a prey To sallow sickness,..Escapes at last to liberty and light. 1827 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 50 They are believers; but their faith is no sallow plant of darkness. 1844 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems 1850 I. 72 Pining to a sallow idiocy. |
c. Comb.| 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 52 b, A man maie be high coloured, or *sallowe coloured, and yet not blacke. 1633 Ford Love's Sacr. iv. i, The sallow-coloured brat Of some vnlanded banckrupt. |
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iv. Columnes 148 That *sallow-fac't, sad, stooping Nymph. 1877 Black Green Past. v, A tall, thin, sallow-faced man. |
| 1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars 81 There came spindling along an old *sallow-hued Earth-mulgar. |
| 1892 Zangwill Childr. Ghetto 100 A *sallow-looking, close-cropped Pole. |
| 1606 Marston Parasitaster iii. sig. E1, A blacke hayred, pall-fac'de, *sallowe thinking Mistresse. |
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiii. (1856) 292 The *sallow-visaged party. |
▪ III. sallow, v. (
ˈsæləʊ)
[f. sallow a.] trans. To make sallow.
| 1831 T. L. Peacock Crotchet Castle i, Her quondam lover, whose physiognomy the intense anxieties..had left blighted, sallowed, and crow's-footed. 1861 P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. xviii. 325 The whole complexion is sallowed. 1868 Lowell Under the Willows 41 July..sallows the crispy fields. |