| 释义 |
ˈsteamboat
A boat propelled by steam; esp. a coasting or river steamer of considerable size, carrying either passengers or goods. Also attrib.
1787M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 399 In all probability, steamboats will be found to do infinite service in all our extensive river navigation. 1814Scott Diary 8 Sept. in Lockhart, Embarked in the steam-boat for Glasgow. 1817–8Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 268 We are now frequently met and passed by large, fine steam-boats, plying up and down the river. 1821Deb. Congress U.S. 28 Dec. (1855) 44 The jurisdiction had only embraced steamboat navigation. 1847[see raft-man s.v. raft n.1 6]. 1866Lowell Study Wind., Swinburne's Trag. (1871) 162 A Mississippi steamboat captain. 1906Tribune 5 Dec. 6/3 The Thames steamboat service.
b. fig.
1823Byron Juan ix. lxxiv, I needs must rhyme with dove, That good old steam-boat which keeps verses moving 'Gainst reason. 1854Mrs. Stowe Sunny Mem. I. xvi. 296 If he [Abp. Whately] had been born in our latitude..the natives would have..said he was a real steamboat on an argument. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 449 Steam⁓boat, a term used at the West to denote a dashing, go-a-head character.
c. Comb., as steamboat Gothic adj. phr. (U.S.), used to designate an ornamented style of architecture typical of houses built by retired steamboat captains in the mid-nineteenth century.
1962W. Faulkner Reivers viii. 166 The big rambling multigalleried multistoried steamboat-gothic hotel where the overalled aficionados..gathered..each February. 1970K. Platt Pushbutton Butterfly (1971) iv. 43 The beautiful old mansions with their bay windows, ornate Steamboat Gothic cornices and mouldings.
Hence ˈsteamboating vbl. n. (a) travelling by steamboat; the business of working on or operating a steamboat; (b) fig. (see quots. 1875, 1891); also steamboatman U.S., one who works on a steamboat, esp. a steamboat owner or captain.
1826Malthus Diary 7 July (1966) 263 Dr Brown said that the introduction of Steam boating had quite altered the habits of the people of Glasgow. 1828Mrs. B. Hall Let. 7 June in Aristocratic Journey (1931) xxii. 288 Two nights more and we shall have done with it and have no more steamboating in this country. 1834Lady Granville Lett. 9 Sept. (1894) II. 162 Having enjoyed our steamboating on the Rhone so much. 1856Lever Martins of Cro' M. lxv. 601 That rattling, noisy steam-boating up the Rhine. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Steamboating (Bookbinding), cutting simultaneously a pile of books which are as yet uncovered, that is, are out of boards. 1875‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Jan. 69/1 When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades... That was, to be a steamboatman. 1883Athenæum 2 June 694/3 They treat of a time when steamboating was a great industry [on the Mississippi]. 1891Century Dict., Steamboating 2. Undue hurrying and slighting of work. (Colloq.) 1910D. W. Bone Brassbounder 251 Sailormen walk fore and aft; steamboat men, athwart. 1929G. L. Eskew Pageant of Packets ii. 101 All the steamboatmen when in New Orleans did their banking at the Banque des Citoyens. |