[EAR sb.2] An ear of wheat.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), vii. 27. Þe seuen barayne ȝeres þat ware betakned by þe seuen deed qwhete eres.
[1688. R. Holme, Armoury, I. 103/3. Our old English terms were these … Whet-herys, Wheat Ears.]
1798. Bloomfield, Farmer’s Boy, Summer, 52. Shot up from broad rank blades that droop below, The nodding wheat-ear forms a graceful bow.
c. 1840. Eliza Cook, Song of Sun, iv. Who else can purple the grape on the vine, Or flush the wheat-ear with gold?
1878. Meredith, Love in Valley, 158. Slain are the poppies that shot their random scarlet Quick amid the wheatears.
attrib. 1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 195/2. Wheatear Stitch. This stitch is a combination of Point Natté and Chain Stitch.
Hence Wheat-eared a., full of wheat-ears.
1792. Ess. towards new Ed. Tibullus, 11. Be thine, blond Ceres, from my wheat-ear’d field, A pendant crown thy temple’s doors to grace.
