| 释义 |
▪ I. stepping, vbl. n.|ˈstɛpɪŋ|
[f. step v. + -ing1.]
1. a. The action of step v.; an instance of this.
c1394P. Pl. Crede 649 Þer is no waspe in þis werlde þat will wilfulloker styngen For stappyng [v.r. stamping] on a too of a styncande frere. 1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Marchemenet plus oultre, a stepping forward. 1663J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 130 Nature's voluntary errors and steppings out of her more common road of Operation. 1835T. Mitchell Acharn. of Aristoph. 198 note, The Homeric word πλίσσοντο, which in the Odyssey..is applied to the stepping of mules. 1875M. Arnold God & Bible 72 Existence, again, means a stepping forth.
†b. pl. Footsteps, footprints. Obs.
1575Gascoigne Posies, Jocasta v. v, Leade the waye Into the stonie rockes and highest hilles, Where fewest trackes of steppings may be spyde. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus T ij, It is a custome of purloining burglairers, to strew pepper in the tract of their steppings. 1647H. More Song of Soul i. ii. 82 Though short he fall of old Corvino's age, His steppings with the other footsteps fit.
†c. pl. Gradual advances. Obs.
1651–3Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year (1678) 54 Still the Flood crept by little steppings, and invaded more by his progressions than he lost by his retreat.
d. Places on which to step. rare.
1854Miller Sch. & Schm. xvii. (1858) 370 That common sense..which enables men to pick their stepping prudently through the journey of life.
e. With up. The action of step v. 29 h.
1958Listener 24 July 112/1 This would involve a stepping-up of supplies from Persia and from Venezuela. 1965D. Francis For Kicks i. 8 There were trials and prison sentences..and a stepping-up of regular saliva and urine tests.
f. The step-by-step movement of a stepping device (see stepping ppl. a.).
1960McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XIII. 356/2 These selectors may be arranged for..absorbing the digit pulsed without any stepping of the switch. 1964[see step n. 7 e]. 1974B. C. Kuo Theory & Applications of Step Motors i. 4 There are many different versions of switches and actuators which give stepping motion through the principle of solenoid action. 1977Engin. Materials & Design Aug. 41/1 Medium power switching types provide operating voltage ranges from 6 to 110V dc and 6 to 220V ac, with latching and stepping facilities in selected items.
2. concr.
†a. pl. Steps, stairs. Also, stone for making steps. Obs.
1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 453 All steppings vp [to the altar] being forbidden. 1676in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 144 Item for Steppings 70 and ½ foot at seven shillings per foot.
b. pl. = stepping-stones. dial.
1796W. H. Marshall Yorksh. (ed. 2) II. 347.
c. Naut. A rabbet taken out of the deadwood, for the heels of the timbers to step on.
1805Shipwright's Vade-M. 135. 1874 Thearle Naval Archit. 195 At present, however, the cants are heeled against the keel and deadwood without any such stepping.
3. Surveying. A method of ascertaining the horizontal measure of a slope by extending the chain horizontally in a series of successive positions resembling a flight of steps.
1888B. H. Brough Mine-Surv. 15 The process is called stepping, and, on steep ground, may be carried on by half⁓chains, or even shorter distances.
4. attrib., as stepping-board, stepping-line, stepping-piece, stepping-place, stepping-wheel; stepping-off place jocular, the place at the end of the world, whence one steps off into vacancy; stepping-stile = step-stile.
1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 150/1 The tread-wheel is similar to a common water-wheel. Upon its circumference are *stepping-boards.
1846A. Young Naut. Dict. 30 Bearding-line,..often called the *stepping-line.
1893E. Custer Tenting on Plains 21 In my mind, Texas then seemed the *stepping-off place.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 83 [Ship-building.] It is usual..to fit a ‘*stepping piece’.
1824Scott Redgauntlet xiii, By knowing exactly where certain *stepping-places and holdfasts were placed.
1791C. Smith Celestina (ed. 2) II. 209 She then went into the park over the *stepping stile. 1872Jenkinson Guide Engl. Lakes (1879) 143 A stepping-stile leads into the field.
1884A. Griffiths Chron. Newgate II. iv. 168 The newly-invented tread-wheels, or *stepping wheels, as they were at first called.
▪ II. stepping, ppl. a.|ˈstɛpɪŋ|
[f. step v. + -ing2.]
Of an electric motor or other electromechanical device: designed to make a rapid succession of small, equal movements in response to a pulsed input, each pulse causing one movement.
1957Goode & Machol System Engin. iv. 48 Consider a stepping switch acting as a line finder in a telephone system. 1958J. G. Truxal Control Engineers' Handbk. v. 69 Besides stepping relays and the Ledex rotary solenoid, few digital devices are available that can step from one point to another rapidly enough to be useful as a control-system output actuator. 1975Physics Bull. July 319/3 The precision divided tables may be fitted with calibrated hand wheels or driven by either stepping motors or dc gear motors. 1979Nature 12 July 121/1 The electrodes were advanced through the brain with a stepping microdrive..until a cell or process was penetrated. |