a. and sb. Forms: α. 7–8 feuill(e)mort, (7 fueillemort), f(i)eulamo(r)t, fil(l)-amo(r)t, -imot, (8 foliomort), 8–9 fillemot, 8– filemot. β. 7 philia-, phylia-, phyllamort, 7–8 philemort, 7–9 philamot, (8 -mort), -omot, 9 phil(l)imot. [A corruption of FEUILLEMORTE.]
A. adj. = FEUILLEMORTE a.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 98.
| Her Fieulamort old gowns he beggs, | |
| Which cloths must all great sudden crosses bear, | |
| And be an expiation for that year. |
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 247/1. The Wings of a Feuill-mort colour.
1698. J. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XX. 334. They are of a Tawny or Phyllamort Colour, as are the Seeds which are flatish, small and seem somewhat marbled.
1702. Lond. Gaz., No. 3835/4. A Feulamort Persian Silk.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 265, ¶ 5. One of them [hoods] was blue, another yellow, and another Philomot; the fourth was of a pink colour; and the fifth of a pale green.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xvii. 239. The flowers [of Virginian Sumach] are produced in close tufts at the ends of the branches, and are followed by seeds inclosed in purple, woolly, succulent covers, which give them their autumnal hue, when the leaves fade first to purple, and then to feuillemort colour.
1840. Browning, Sordello, II. 313.
| Let Vidal change or any other fool | |
| His murrey-coloured robe for philamot | |
| And crop his hair; so skin-deep, is it not, | |
| Such vigour? |
1880. L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, IV. iii. 177. Each compartment crowded with labelled folios all filemot with age and use.
b. Comb. filemot-coloured adj.
1681. Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m., xxxiv. § 8 (1689), 188. Philomot, coloured Mohairs.
1847. G. P. R. James, J. Marston Hall, II. ix. 237. Monsieur de Villardin had at that moment a fillemot-coloured cloak, lined with light blue, and light blue plumes in his hat.
B. sb. The name of a color, viz. that of a dead or faded leaf; (may have a plural).
1655. W. Rokeby, in Surtees Misc. (1858) 16. I would have it trimmed with a … philamot or some pretty colour.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 2–3. Instead of the fresh and lively greens, other Countreys put on at this time of the year, these [islands] were apparrel’d with Russets, or at best Phyliamorts.
1659. Lovelace, Poems (1864), 169.
| Lucasta, she that holy makes the day, | |
| And ’stills new life in fields of fueillemort, | |
| Hath back restor’d their verdure with one ray, | |
| And with her eye bid all to play and sport. |
1703. M. Martin, Descr. W. Isl. (1716), 135. There is another coarser Scurf call’d Crostil; it’s of a dark colour, and only dyes a Philamot.
1721. Cibber, Double Gallant, I. The rest of her Trim are a mottly Crowd of Blacks, Tawny, Olives, Feulamots, and pale Blues.
a. 1745. Swift, Direct. Servants, Footman. The colours you ought to wish for are blue, or filemot turned up with red; which, with a borrowed sword, a borrowed air, your master’s linen, and an improved confidence added to a natural, will give you what title you please, where you are not known.
1841. Brand’s Pop. Antiq., II. 173. The Egyptians [use] yellow, or fillemot, to show that, as herbs being faded become yellow, so death is the end of human hope.
1844. G. P. R. James, Agincourt, I. 37. His tight-fitting hose were of a light philimot, or brownish yellow, colour.
