▪ I. mildew, n.
(ˈmɪldjuː)
Forms: 1 meledéaw, mildéaw, 3 mildeu, 4–6 myldew, 4–8 meldew, 5–7 meldewe, 6 myldewe, mild-, myldeawe, 6–7 mildewe, 7 mieldew, 7–8 milldew, (8 mealy-dew), 4– mildew.
[OE. meledéaw, mildéaw = OHG. militou (MHG. miltou, mod.G. with etymologizing alteration mehlthau), Sw. mjöldagg, Da. meldug; f. OTeut. *meliþ (Goth. miliþ) honey + *đawwo- dew n. The first element is in most of the Teut. langs. assimilated to *melwo- meal n.1]
† 1. = honey-dew. Obs.
| a 1000 Phœnix 260 No he foddor þiᵹeð mete on moldan, nemne mele-deawes dæl ᵹebyrᵹe, se dreoseð oft æt middre nihte. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 455/19 Nectar, huniᵹ, oððe mildeaw. a 1240 Wohunge in Cott. Hom. 269 Swetter is munegunge of þe þen mildeu o muðe. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1571) 53 b, Ther is another kind of swete dewes, that falleth in England called the meldewes, which is as sweet as hony. 1598 F. Rous Thule T, She..with sweete Mel-dewes doth anoint her face. 1608 Topsell Serpents 65 The Honny of Bees is longer kept pure and fine, then any Manne or Meldew. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 908 A kinde of heavenly Ambrosia falls down upon the leaves of plants (which they call honey dew, but I rather mieldew). |
| fig. 1600 Fairfax Tasso ii. lxi. 31 While on the Christian Lords Downe fell the mildew of his sugred words. |
2. A morbid destructive growth upon plants, consisting of minute fungi, and having usually the appearance of a thin whitish coating. Also, a similar growth on paper, leather, wood, etc., when exposed to damp. Usu.
collect. sing.; also with
a and
pl., denoting a particular attack of the disease.
| 1340 Inquisitiones Nonarum 334 b (Record Comm.), Maxima pars frumenti in parochia praedicta seminati distruebatur..hoc anno..per quendam rorem qui vocatur mildew. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xli. 6 Seuene..eerys, thinne and smytun with meldew. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 337/2 Myldew, uredo. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §54 They [sc. pasture-shepe] selden rot but with myldewes. 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iii. 39 Indocus doth defende the corne, from myldeawes and from blast. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 246 If the place be subject to the annoyances of Smutting, Meldews, Birds, &c. 1763 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. II. 411 The rust of corn, the honey-dew, the mealy-dew. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 209/2 The common orange-red mildew of the Berberry is æcidium Berberides. 1850 Ogilvie, Mildew,..spots on cloth or paper caused by moisture. 1859 Jephson Brittany x. 153 Damp and moss and mildew are not such deadly enemies to art as the chisel of the modern stonemason. |
| fig. 1640 Ld. J. Digby Sp. in Ho. Com. 9 Nov. 7 [It] hath fallen againe upon the Land..in Hailstones and Milldews, to batter and prostrate..our liberties, to blast..our affections. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) III. 84 Neither the blasts of arbitrary power could break them off, nor the mildew of servile opinion cause them to wither. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. iv. 138 Something of the mildew of time is stealing over the Waverley Novels. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
mildew-blast,
mildew-drop,
mildew-plant;
mildew-gangrene,
-mortification, gangrene produced by diseased grain, such as gangrenous ergotism (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1890);
† mildew-grass, grass tainted with mildew.
| 1634 Milton Comus 640 Of sov'ran use 'Gainst all inchantments, *mildew blast, or damp. |
| 1808 Scott Marm. ii. xviii, The *mildew-drops fell one by one, With tinkling plash, upon the stone. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §54 *Myldewe-grasse is not good for shepe. |
| 1822–29 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) III. 493 Gangræna ustilaginea. *Mildew-mortification. |
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 209/2 Every precaution should be taken to prevent the spores of the *mildrew-plants from being communicated to the soil. |
▪ II. mildew, v. (
ˈmɪldjuː)
Also 7
melldew, 8
milldew.
[f. the n.] 1. trans. To taint with mildew.
| 1552 [see mildewed ppl. a.]. 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. iv. 123 Hee..Mildewes the white Wheate. 1747 Franklin Let. Wks. 1887 II. 76 A great deal of hay has been lost, and some corn mildewed. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 541 The Licensing Act..detains valuable packages of books at the Custom House till the pages are mildewed. |
| fig. 1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies, Almanack-maker 14 Whole summer nights long hee lyes on his backe, as if hee were melldew'd or planet-struck, gazing on the starrie gallerie. 1807 Montgomery Molehill 72 Tyrants, the comets of their kind, Whose withering influence..smote and mildew'd man. 1898 Bodley France II. iii. i. 47 Nor are the members of the Institute, with all their learning, recluses mildewed in the dust of folios. |
2. intr. To become tainted with mildew.
| 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 14 Rank Land where Corn is apt to lodge, and consequently to Mildew. 1824 J. Johnson Typogr. II. xiii. 482 Authors sometimes detain proofs so long, that the paper allotted for those sheets will mildew. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 210/1 Mr. Knight prevented his peas from mildewing by watering them abundantly and constantly. |
| fig. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 383 These old pheasant-lords,..Who had mildew'd in their thousands, doing nothing. |
Hence
ˈmildewer.
| 1807 A. Seward Lett. (1811) VI. 389 The man..is a noted mildewer on the profits of the noblest verse. |