| 释义 |
demolition|dɛməˈlɪʃən, diː-|
[a. F. démolition (14th c. in Littré), ad. L. dēmōlītiōn-em, n. of action from dēmolīrī to demolish.]
1. a. The action of demolishing (buildings or other structures); the fact or state of being demolished.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God. 125 Before this demolition the people of Alba were all transported unto Rome. 1780Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 9 June, The outrages began by the demolition of the mass-house by Lincoln's Inn. 1852Conybeare & H. St. Paul (1862) I. v. 136 Its demolition was completed by an earthquake.
b. pl. The remains of a demolished building; demolished portions, ruins. Also fig.
1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (1654) IV. 56 Out of their demolitions, Trophies might be erected. 1641Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 20 Being taken four or five days before, we had only a sight of the demolitions [of the castle]. 1668Clarendon Contempl. Psalms Tracts (1727) 734 All the breaches and demolitions they had made in his Church.
2. fig. Destruction, overthrow.
1549Compl. Scot. xx. 184 There querellis tendit to the demolitione of the antiant public veil. 1775Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 49 Such controversies frequently end in the demolition of those rights and privileges which they were instituted to defend. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 243 The demolition of that Infamous in belief and in practice.
3. attrib.
a.
1936Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) vi. 289 In an Atlanta department-store the News-Record found..demolition-engineers who were once content to be house-wreckers. 1959J. Austwick Murder in Borough Library iii. 21, I thought the houses in Clough Street were closed under a demolition order. 1971A. Clarke Mind to Murder xii. 179, I went first to the demolition site, told the foreman I'd got to look for a room.
b. Special Comb. demolition ball = wrecking ball s.v. wrecking vbl. n.1 3; demolition derby chiefly U.S., a contest in which old cars are battered into one another, the last one running being declared the winner; also fig.
1962Engin. News-Rec. 27 Sept. 19/3 Apprehensive about putting a *demolition ball on a 200-ft-plus crane boom, decided to try the helicopter approach. 1980Daily Tel. 27 Aug. 3/2 Cranes with demolition balls have moved in and destroyed the factory.
1956Britannica Bk. Year (U.S.) 751 *Demolition derby, a stock car bump-and-crash, elimination contest. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 1 July 2a/4 A demolition derby will start at 7.30 p.m. at the fairgrounds, followed by fireworks. 1982Listener 20–30 Dec. 22/3 Keith Moon, the one-man demolition derby on drums, represented a physical element at the opposite end of the spectrum from Pete Townshend's lyrics. |