Forms: α. 4 philliberd, 6–7 philbert, (7 -ibert), (8 philberd, -bud). β. 5 fel-, 5–6 fyl-, 6–9 filberd(e, (7 -burd, fillberd), 6–9 dial. filbeard(e, (6 fyl-), 6 filberte, (fylbert), 6–7 filbird(e, (6 fylbyrd), 4– filbert. [prob. short for filbert (i.e., Philibert)-nut, dial. Fr. noix de filbert (Moisy, Dict. Patois Normand) from being ripe near St. Philibert’s day, Aug. 22 (O.S.). Cf. Ger. Lamberts -nuss.]
1. The fruit or nut of the cultivated hazel (Corylus avellana).
[1292. Britton, II. xxiv. § 1. Et as foiles, et as flours (v.r. ea philbers).]
a. 1400. Pistill of Susan, 92. Þe fyge and þe filbert were fode med so fayre.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 160. Fylberde, notte, fillum.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1539), 21 b. Fylberdes and hasyll nuttes … are more stronge in substance than wall nuttes.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 127. Filberds are wholsomer then the common Hasell-Nuts.
1712. E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 70. Something bigger, and more oval than a Filbeard.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), IV. 29. The acorn, the philberd, the chesnut, and the wilding.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 264. I grew two hundred weight of filberts (weighed when gathered) upon fifty-seven trees.
2. The tree bearing the nut; = filbert-tree.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 30.
| And after Phillis philliberd | |
| This tre was cleped in the yerd. |
c. 1450. Lydg., Compl. Loveres Life, 68. The filbert eke, that lowe doth encline Her bowes grene.
c. 1475[?]. Sqr. lowe Degre, 37. The fylbyrdes hangyng to the ground.
1523. Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 140. Fylberdes and walnuttes may be set on the nuttes in a gardeyn.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 341. Filberts … doe grow of smal shoots.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., vi. (1813), 80. Filberds are raised from nuts or suckers, and layers, the latter of which is the best method; or they may be grafted on the common nut tree.
1858. Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 21/1. Filberts must be planted by the same rules and with the same care.
3. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as filbert-grove, -hedge, -nut, -tree, -walk. b. similative, as filbert nails; filbert-formed, -shaped adjs. Also, † filbert-mouse, the common dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), so called from its fondness for filberts.
‘Filbert nails’ are often referred to as a beauty, but sometimes regarded as a symptom of consumptive tendencies.
a. 1845. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Lady Rohesia. It was a pretty little hand, with long taper fingers and *filbert-formed nails, and the softness of the palm said little for its owner’s industry.
1552. Huloet, *Filberde groue, coryletum.
1742. Fielding, J. Andrews, III. iv. A short Walk, shaded on each side by a *Filbert Hedge.
a. 1821. Keats, Poems, ‘I stood tiptoe,’ 35.
| A filbert hedge with wild briar overtwined, | |
| And clumps of woodbine taking the soft wind | |
| Upon their summer thrones. |
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 545. Of the Nut-mouse, Hasell-mouse, or *Filburd-mouse.
1861. Trollope, Framley P., I. i. 9. With clear white hands, *filbert nails.
1552. Huloet, *Filberd nutte, abellina.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr. Wülcker, 715. Hec morus, a *fylberdtre.
1551. Turner, Herbal, I. (1568), M iij a. The gardyne nutt tree [is] called the fylberde tree.
1751. Phil. Trans., XLVII. 176. The fruit of the nut and filberd-tree will be most numerous.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., ‘I never sid the filbyard-trees covered ooth lamb-tails [catkins] as they bin this ’ear’ [1879].
