Muscovy
(ˈmʌskəvɪ)
Also 6 Muskovie, 7 muskevia, Muscovia.
[a. F. Muscovie, earlier Moscovie, ad. mod.L. Moscovia, f. Russian Moskova Moscow.]
The name of the principality of Moscow, applied by extension to Russia generally.
I. 1. Used attrib. or quasi-adj. in the name of things belonging to, orginating or produced in and obtained from Muscovy, as Muscovy hide, leather, Russia leather; † Muscovy glass, common mica; also, sometimes, = talc; † Muscovy lantern, one furnished with Muscovy glass; Muscovy talc = Muscovy glass.
| 1573 in Cunningham Revels at Crt. (1842) 42 Muskovie glasse. 1604 Marston & Webster Malcontent i. vii, She were an excellent Lady, but that hir face peeleth like Muscouie glasse. 1606 Dekker Newes fr. Hell F 4 b, A wise man might haue taken it for the Snuffe of a candle in a Muscouie Lanthorne. a 1618 Rates Merchandizes H 3 b, Red Hides, or Muscouia hides. Ibid. I, Muscouia Leather. Ibid. L 4 b, Spruce or Muscouia yearne. 1624 Boyle in Lismore Papers (1886) II. 143, I receaved from Sir W{supm} Hull 30 redd muskevia hydes. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Talc, Muscovy talc, a kind of foliaceous body, well known by the English name of isinglass. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 211 Mr. Sage found muscovy glass infusible in the strongest heat. 1811 Pinkerton Petral. II. 16 Talc has sometimes been called Muscovy glass. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 740 Substituting varnished metallic gauze in the room of Muscovy talc, a kind of mica. |
II. Uses due to misinterpretation or perversion of designations connected with musk n.
2. A species of Crane's-bill or Geranium, Erodium moschatum.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 103/2 Knotted Cranes Bill... This smelleth sweet like musk, and therefore is of many Flowerists, called Muscovy. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Geranium..Moschatum. Musked Crane's-bill or Moscovy. 1796 in Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 609. |
3. = musk-rat.
| 1693 Ray Synopsis Quadrup. etc. 217 Mus Aquaticus..The Muscovy or Musk Rat. 1781 Pennant Hist. Quadrup. II. 476. |
4. Muscovy duck (also ellipt., as Muscovy), (a) = musk-duck 1; (b) = musk-duck 2.
| 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes 35 Muscovia-Ducks..larded with the fat of this Porke..are an excellent bak'd-meat. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 150 Muscovy Ducks. 1821 Galt Ann. Parish xiii, He brought a Muscovy duck to Lady M. 1822 J. Campbell Trav. S. Afr. 2nd Journey I. xiv. 148 We halted at the side of a lake, when one of our people brought down four wild ducks by one shot, and another found eight Muscovy ducks' eggs, as large as those of a turkey. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting v. 114 A fat Muscovy duck..is not a bad subject to work on. 1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling ii. 26 They fairly rushed the cargo into her... Japanese onions, condensed milk, tomato sauce, Worcestershire relish, half a dozen hens, and a dozen Muscovy ducks. 1953 Amer. Speech XXVIII. 276 In this type of folk naming, the domesticated varieties of ducks also are not wholly neglected, the large Muscovy, with distinctive head adornment, suggesting the scoters, sizable among wild ducks and with unusually shaped and colored bills. All of our three species are known as bay muscoveys [sic] in Maryland. 1956 Nigerian Field XXI. 108 The presence of the Muscovy duck in Africa has never been satisfactorily explained. The bird is indigenous to the Americas, hence its presence in Africa as a domesticated fowl must be due to the activity of man. 1972 Country Life 2 Mar. 489/1 The China goose can't stand up to the muscovy and retreats before him. |