| 释义 |
ramrod|ˈræmrɒd|
[f. ram v.1 + rod.]
1. A rod used for ramming down the charge of a muzzle-loading fire-arm. (The earlier word was rammer.)
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 246/1 If the ball has been forcibly driven down with an iron ramrod..the piece will almost certainly burst. 1859All Y. Round No. 4. 87 The invention of the iron ramrod by the Prince of Dessau,..doubled the value of the fire of infantry.
2. transf.
†a. Cricket. (See quots.) Obs.
1870R. B. Mansfield School-Life at Winchester College 228 Ramrod, Raymonder, names given to a ball bowled all along the ground. 1880Baily's Monthly Mag. Feb. 93 It [sc. a quick underhand ball] must be very straight so as to ensure a L.B.W., and provided it pitches half-way—for ‘ramrods’ are not cricket proper—the more irregular the pitch the better.
b. A foreman or manager. N. Amer.
1881E. W. Nye Bill Nye & Boomerang 60 John Humpfner, the ram-rod of the New York House, feared that the explosion might break the large French plate glass windows of his palatial hotel. 1905Dialect Notes III. 92 Ramrod, main⁓stay, manager, superintendent. 1942Amer. Speech XVII. 75/1 The man in charge of a herd on the trail [in Nebraska] is the trailboss or ramrod. 1973R. Symons Where Wagon Led i. i. 10 Jake..acted in between times as a sort of foreman, or in western parlance, ‘ramrod’ of the outfit.
c. With sexual connotations.
1951Dylan Thomas Poems (1971) 206 Sighed the old ram rod, dying of women. 1974H. S. Kaplan New Sex Therapy i. 17 The glans also becomes enlarged. It does not become hard, however, thus guarding against the possibility that the female will be hurt by the ramrod of the phallus.
3. a. attrib. and Comb., as ramrod-maker, ramrod spring; ramrod-backed, ramrod-like, ramrod-rigid, ramrod-stiff, ramrod-straight adjs.; ramrod roll U.S. (see quot.).
1939‘N. Blake’ Smiler with Knife ii. 33 The major or his ramrod-backed housekeeper.
1861Musgrave By-roads 264 A ramrod-like descent of pelting rain.
1860Tomlinson Arts & Manuf. II. Gun-Barrels, The bayonet and ramrod maker.
1961Countryman LVIII. 515 We lay ramrod rigid.
1936M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xxviii. 477 The men added as dessert some ‘ramrod rolls’..and this was the first time Scarlett had ever seen this Confederate article of diet... The soldiers mixed their ration of corn meal with water, and salt too when they could get it, wrapped the thick paste about their ramrods and roasted the mess over camp fires.
1841Ordnance Man. for Use of Officers of U.S. Army (U.S. Ordnance Dept.) 120 In the musket of the model of 1840, the trigger screw and trigger are taken off after the guard, then the pin for the ramrod spring and the ramrod spring.
1961Times 6 Dec. 17/3 A ramrod-stiff naval officer.
1979G. Hammond Dead Game xii. 150 A slim man, ramrod-straight.
b. attrib., passing into adj. Rigid, inflexible; solemn, formal.
1905Pall Mall Gaz. 18 Dec. 2 Under the pretence that, apart from such ramrod rule, the nation would tumble to pieces. 1920D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl vii. 137 He was a tall Swiss with..a flattish face and a rather stiff, ramrod figure. 1932Times Lit. Suppl. 19 May 366/3 Mrs. Stainlit, an elderly lady of the ramrod breed. 1978J. A. Michener Chesapeake 74 He saw him as..a man of petty foibles and ramrod rectitude.
Hence ˈramrod v. trans., to force or drive (something), as with a ramrod; spec. (U.S.), to manage, direct (a ranch, event, etc.); also, to beat or thrust in the form of a ramrod; (nonce-wds.) ˈramroddy a., stiff, unbending; ˈramrodism, military stiffness.
1880Sir W. Butler Far Out 12 The Mosaic ramrodism of the German Emperor's face and figure. 1886Harper's Mag. May 888 Ramroddy and uncompromising. 1948Popular Western June 15/2 This is Tex Grant, the star-toter who ramrods this burg. 1955R. Hobson Nothing too Good vi. 50 You're Rich Hobson, ramrodding the Batnuni end of Frontier Company. 1966S. Heaney Death of Naturalist 39 A volley of cold blood ramrodding the current. 1973R. Symons Where Wagon Led i. vii. 118, I ramrodded the Circle Diamond for quite a few years after that. 1976Publishers Weekly 1 Mar. 84/1 The skittish livestock Kingman must ramrod to a distant army post. Ibid. 8 Mar. 57/1 Railroad builders par excellence who ramrod tracks across the virgin countryside. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 11a/3 Scores of volunteers rallied around this charitable event which was ramrodded by the city of Tucson.
[2.] [c.] For def. read: With sexual connotations; sometimes spec. the erect penis (coarse slang). (Earlier and later examples.)
The first quot. is ostensibly taken from Capt. C. Morris's Plenipotentiary (c 1790), but in all editions available for consultation ‘fine parts’ appears in place of ‘ramrod’.
1902Farmer & Henley Slang V. 370/1 The Nymphs of the Stage did his ramrod engage. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §121/39 Male pudendum,..ramrod. 1979A. Sillitoe Storyteller i. iv. 58 I'd undone my belt and zip on our way across, and fell onto her with my ramrod already out. |