Forms: 1 fearn, 3 south. værne, 4–7 ferne, 6–7 fearn(e, (6 Sc. farne, 7 fyrne, 9 dial. fearn), 7 ferron, 6– fern. [OE. fearn str. neut. = MDu. væren (Du. varen), OHG. farn, farm (MHG. varn, varm, mod.Ger. farn) neut. and masc. (not recorded in ON., but cf. Sw. dial. fänne:—ON. *ferne):—OTeut. *farno-:—OAryan *porno-, whence Skr. parṇa neut., wing, feather, leaf. The primitive meaning of the word is doubtless ‘feather’; for the transferred application cf. Gr. πτερόν feather, πτερίς fern.]
1. One of a large group of vascular cryptogamous plants constituting the N.O. Filices; a single plant or frond of the same; also collect. in sing.
Flowering or Royal Fern: Osmunda regalis; see OSMUND. Hard fern = Blechnum. Lady-fern = Athyrium filix femina. Male fern = Lastrea filix-mas. Prickly fern = Polystichum aculeatum.
For bladder-, buckler-, hare-foot-, holly-, maidenhair-, tree-, etc. fern, see those words.
a. 800. Corpus Gloss., Filix, fearn.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxiii. § 1. Atio ærest of þa þornas & þa fyrsas & þæt fearn.
c. 1205. Lay., 12817. I wude i wilderne inne haæðe & inne uærne.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 8875. No gaf he ther of nought a ferne.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 247. Yit is glas nought like aisschen of ferne.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxxi. 307. Tentes, made of black Ferne.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., vi., in Ashm. (1652), 95. Of Ashes of Ferne.
1523. Fitzherb., Surv., 6 b. Brome, gerse, fyrs, braken, ferne.
1621. Sir R. Boyle, in Lismore Pap. (1886), II. 16. He is to vse ffyrnes and heath, but not wood to brew withal.
1639. T. de Gray, Compl. Horseman, 319. Take the root of male brake or fearn.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 259. It is a brown desert, of considerable extent, that produces nothing but heath and fern.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, V. xix.
| Here the tall fern obscured the lawn, | |
| Fair shelter for the sportive fawn. |
1842. Tennyson, The Talking Oak, 201.
| O flourish, hidden deep in fern, | |
| Old oak, I love thee well; | |
| A thousand thanks for what I learn | |
| And what remains to tell. |
2. attrib. and Comb.: simple attrib., as fern-ashes, -bracken, -bush, -covert, -faggot, -frond, -harvest, -leaf -plant, -root, -spore, -stalk, -stem, -tuft; objective, as fern-gatherer, -grower, -thief; instrumental and parasynthetic, as fern-clad, -crowned, -fringed, -leaved, -thatched adjs.; similative, as fern-like adj.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 246. To maken of *fern asshen glas.
1745. Beverley Beck Act, ii. 2. Every quarter of fern ashes.
1567. Jewel, Def. Apol., II. 255. In like order of reason he might haue saide it is not a *fearn bushe.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 319. It is a blynde Goose that knoweth not a Foxe from a Fearne-bush, and a foolish fellow that cannot discerne craft from conscience, being once cousened.
1841. Lever, C. O’Malley, cviii. Apparently endless succession of *fern-clad hills lay on every side.
1859. G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxi. Adrian reclined against a pine overlooking the *fern-covert.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., xvii. 23.
| That with the *Fearne-crown’d Flood he Minion-like doth play: | |
| Yet is not this the Brook, entiseth him to stay. |
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 47. Proceed to make ready for burning; which is performed, either with Spray, Bush, Furz, Heath, Brake, or *Fern Faggots.
1841. Faber, The Styrian Lake and Other Poems, 131; ‘The Earth’s Heart,’ ii.
| Sit by yon bay where Rothay comes With merry sparkling fall To rest within the glossy pool Beneath the *fern-fringed wall. |
1879. Encycl. Brit., IX. 101/1, ‘Ferns.’ Columna in 1648 compared the *fern frond to butcher’s broom, and identified the fructification in the one case with the flowers in the other.
1886. Hall Caine, Son of Hagar, III. xi. I’m a *fern-gatherer, that’s wot I am. On’y nature don’t keep ferning all the year round, so I’se forced to go fruiting winter times.
1864. T. Moore, Brit. Ferns, 15. The amateur *Ferngrower.
1855. Mrs. Gaskell, North & S., ii. The *fern-harvest was over; and now that the rain was gone, many a deep glade was accessible.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. iv. 60/2. He beareth Argent, a *Fern leaf, Vert.
1840. Mrs. Norton, The Dream and Other Poems, 82. ‘The Creole Girl,’ xiv.
| Which she would shrink from, as the gentle plant, | |
| *Fern-leaved Mimosa folds itself away; | |
| Suffering and sad;—for easy ’twas to daunt | |
| One who on earth had no protecting stay. |
1650. How, Phytologia Brit., 77. Muscus filicinus Park. *Fernlike Mosse.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 179. In the Gymnosperms and Fern-like plants tubes are found.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 225. The Fern is capable of immediate multiplication by the production of bulbils from which *Fern-plants are directly developed.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccli. 322. Corne was so skarce in Englond that in somme places of Englond poure peple made hem brede of *fern rotes.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Fern-root was frequently prescribed by the antients in diet-drinks, for removing obstructions.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., 13. I thinke the mad slaue, hath tasted on a *ferne-stalke, that he walkes so invisible.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 289. A number of *Fern-stems with leaves in many rows.
1614. Sylvester, Bethulia’s Rescue, III. 29.
| Happy-Arabians, who their *Fern-thatcht Towns | |
| Tumble in Tumbrels up and down the Down. |
1888. Athenæum, 21 July, 105/2. Some *fern thieves were captured and punished for injuring fences and private property.
a. 1835. Mrs. Hemans, Poems, An Hour of Romance, 6.
| A hidden rill | |
| Made music such as haunts us in a dream, | |
| Under the *fern-tufts. |
b. Special comb.: fern-allies, plants of a nature allied to that of ferns; fern-bracken = BRACKEN (Britten & H.); fern-brake, (a) = prec.; (b) a thicket of fern; † fern-bud, a kind of fern-fly, used by anglers; fern-chafer, a beetle (Scarabæus or Amphimalla solstitialis); fern-cup, the cup-like form of the fern just after coming through the ground; fern-fly, a fly frequenting fern; fern-gale, the Sweet Fern (Myrica Comptonia); fern-moss, a genus of mosses, Fissidens; fern-oil (see quot.); † fern-sitter, a name given to the hare; fern-tree = tree-fern; fern-web, a beetle (Scarabæus or Melorontha horticola). Also FERN-OWL, -SEED.
1879. Encycl. Brit., IX. 100/2. Smaller groups, closely related to ferns and often spoken of in familiar language as *Fern-allies.
1611. Chapman, May Day, Plays, 1873, II. 352. For you shall no sooner enter but off goes your rustie skabberd, sweete water is readie to scoure your filthy face, milk, & a bath of *fernebraks for your fustie bodie.
1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, V. i. Your breech is safe enough: the wolf’s a fern-brake.
1760. Walton & Cotton’s Angler, Appendix (1760), 121. *Fern-Bud, this fly is got on Fern, and the natural one is very good to dib with.
1774. G. White, Selborne, lx. 103. The appearance and flying of the Scarabæus solstitialis, or *fern-chafer, commence with the month of July, and cease about the end of it.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xvi. (1828), II. 5. Of this nature seems to be that of the cockchafer and fern-chafer.
1888. Pall Mall G., 4 July, 5/1. In their nightly gambols through my garden they too often destroy … my choicest *fern-cups.
1676. Cotton, Angler, II. 330. The *Fern-fly … is of the colour of Fern or Bracken.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 233. The Fern-flyes, which though bred in the Fern, yet nip and feed on the young corn and grass, and hinder their growth.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, vi. (1880), 230. They [the Fern Fly] are well known to children … as, ‘soldiers and sailors.’
1698. J. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XX. 398. Our common *Fern Moss.
1868. Tripp, Brit. Mosses, 181. Marsh Fern Moss … Rock Fern Moss.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., *Fern-oil in pottery, a name given … to a sort of varnish, which the Chinese use in their porcelain manufactories. It is also called lime-oil.
a. 1325. Names of Hare, in Rel. Ant., I. 134. The hare The liȝtt-fot, the *fernsittere.
1827. Hellyer, in Bischoff, Van Diemen’s Land (1852), 166. *Fern trees twenty feet in height, laurel-fern, and feather-fern are every where to be found, except in the thickest scrubs.
1884. Boldrewood, Melb. Mem., xx. 147. Riding parties, picnics to fern-tree gullies, to Mount Juliet, and other places of romantic interest, were successfully carried out.
1796. W. Marshall, W. Devon. Gloss., *Fern-web.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., vii. (ed. 12), 37. Caught well-nigh a basketful of little trout and minnows, with a hook and a bit of worm on it, or a fern-web, or a blow-fly, hung from a hazel pulse-stick.
Hence Ferned ppl. a., fern-grown; Fernist, one who cultivates or takes an interest in ferns; Fernless a., devoid of ferns.
1845. H. B. Hirst, Poems, On a Misty Morning in May, 155.
| Bringing me with his song to murmuring rills | |
| And grassy fields—to mossy oaks and flowers. | |
| I were as one aweary of his hours; | |
| But now I tread on ferned and laurelled hills. |
1865. Athenæum, No. 1959. 648/3. The fernist of meanest capacity. Ibid. (1888), 21 July, 105/2. Fairlight Glen, once the loveliest spot on the southern coast, now almost fernless.
1893. T. E. Brown, Old John, etc., 177, ‘My Garden.’
| A garden is a lovesome thing, Got wot! | |
| Rose plot, | |
| Fringed pool, | |
| Ferned grot. |
