| 释义 |
▪ I. stopper, n.|ˈstɒpə(r)|
[f. stop v. + -er1.]
1. A person who stops (see the senses of the verb).
†a. One who obstructs the course of (a river); one who stops or fills up holes or chinks.
1480Coventry Leet Bk. 455 They maken dayly als gret diligens as they can to knowe the stoppers of the seid Comien Ryuer,..and when eny be perceyued they ben punysshed. 1611Bible Ezek. xxvii. 9 Thy calkers [marg. or, stoppers of chinks, Heb. strengthners].
b. Hunting. = earth-stopper (earth n.1 II).
1848Rural Amusem. 125 The stopper belonging to the pack rarely neglected stopping these earths in the night before the meet.
c. One who brings to a stand or causes to cease.
1533Bellenden Livy iv. (S.T.S.) II. 124 Þe remanent tribunis, quhilkis war stopparis of þe law Agrarie. 1597Middleton Wisd. Solomon iv. 17 When wail is weales, & stelth is welths chiefe stopper. 1611Cotgr., Estancheur, a stopper (of an issue of blood, &c.). 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 22 If any be stopped from following of his track the stopper shall answere the goods so tracked. 1913H. S. Wilkinson in Rep. 7th Ann. Mtg. Hist. Assoc. 3 How..could a leader..find a multitude of his fellow creatures willing to make themselves stoppers of bullets and to part with life itself in obedience to a word..?
d. Pugilism. (See stop v. 15 d.)
1840D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rural Sports §4038 He was..an excellent ‘stopper’, hitting with his right and stopping with his left.
†e. Real Tennis. (See quot. 1585.)
a1548Hall Chron., Rich. III 35 b, The best stopper that he hath at tenyce shall not wel stoppe without a faulte. c1550Dice-Play (Percy Soc.) 43 Another was rid of his six hundred pounds, at tennis, in a week by the fraud of his stopper. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 296/2 Factor,..the stopper, or he that marketh the chase in playeng, at tennise specially.
f. A player whose office it is to stop balls; in Cricket, a wicket-keeper.
1744in Lillywhite's Scores (1862) I. Pref. 10 When y⊇ Ball has been in Hand by one of y⊇ Keepers or Stopers..He may go where he pleases till y⊇ next Ball is bowled. 1847Halliwell, Stopper, a person at tennis, football, and other games, who stops the balls. 1904Daily Chron. 21 May 9/4 This Sussex stumper..is the best ‘stopper’ in England.
g. Assoc. Football. A player whose function is to block attacks on goal from the middle of the field. Also attrib. as stopper centre-half.
1934D. Jack Soccer 124 The defensive pivot..is essentially a ‘stopper’, a destructive player if you like. 1941Daily Mail 10 Feb. 4/2 Though occasionally outwitted by Lawton, Dykes made himself a nuisance as a stopper. 1951Sport 16–22 Mar. 9/1 He was an admirable foil for two clever attacking halves, for he was a stopper pure and simple. 1961Times 10 Feb. 19/6 A fundamental change in tactics with the arrival of the ‘stopper’ centre⁓half. 1978Time 3 July 53/2 He spent the first half, at his own behest, in the unlikely role of a stopper on Paolo Rossi—and very nearly gave away a goal.
2. a. Something that stops up a hole or passage.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Rombon, a stopper, Obturatorium. 1701C. Wolley Jrnl. New York (1860) 29 The surest..stopper of the Pores of their Bodies against the Winter's cold. 1721Mortimer Husb. II. 333 To tun it up into a Cask,..which stop up only with a loose stopper for two or three Days;..put a Peg into the vent hole loose. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. II. i. v. 98 Imagining..that the orifices of these nerves are provided with stoppers which the mind draws up at pleasure to give the animal spirits admittance. 1799Sir T. Munro in Gleig Life vii. (1849) 117, I pulled two stoppers of lint out of my ears. 1844Dufton Deafness 85 Sometimes the stopper of wax is removed by a single syringing. 1875E. White Life in Christ v. xxviii. (1878) 471 Thus the opponent's mouth is shut with a stopper of his own invention. 1888Rutley Rock-Forming Min. 7 The stop-cock being closed and the stopper removed from the upper orifice.
fig.1824Miss Mitford Village I. 64 Lucy never intended to marry this commodious stopper of love-gaps.
b. spec. A plug for closing the neck of a bottle, the end of a tube, or the hole for the egress of fluid from any vessel.
Not usually applied to a cork or bung; most commonly it denotes a solid piece of glass, the lower part of which is shaped to fit the neck of a bottle, while the upper part is fashioned to serve as a handle.
1667Phil. Trans. II. 522 A Silver Tube, with a Silver Stopper. 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) VI. 296 The Hole that let the Liquor run, Was wanting of a Stopper. 1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 228 A phial closed with a ground stopper. 1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 464/1 The patent caoutchouc stoppers, which, besides being..cheaper than corks, can [etc.]. 1881Tyndall Ess. Floating Matter Air 32 In a third series [of experiments] the cork stoppers used in the first and second series were abandoned, and glass stoppers employed. 1883H. J. Powell Glass-making 74 Finally the stopper is ground into the mouth of the decanter. 1913P. D. Scott-Moncrieff Paganism & Chr. Egypt ii. 25 note, The old ‘Canopic’ vases..had stoppers in the form of genii supposed to protect the dead.
fig.1852Thackeray Esmond iii. ix, There is no such word as enough as a stopper for good wine.
c. A cork or plug for the mouth of a muzzle-loading musket, to keep out moisture and dust.
1802C. James Milit. Dict. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artill. Man. (1862) 38 The men will be directed to replace their stoppers.
d. = pipe stopper, tobacco stopper (see pipe n.1 11 b; tobacco 3).
1622J. Taylor (Water P.) Water-Cormorant C 2, A pyde coat Page, Who..his Tobacco fils, With stopper, tongs, and other vtensils. 1693Humours Town 63 As the destruction of Pipes is the multiplication of Stoppers, so [etc.]. 1731–8Swift Pol. Conversat. ii. Wks. VI. 328 They say, that the Corruption of Pipes, is the Generation of Stoppers. 1736[I. H. Browne] Pipe of Tobacco ii. 8 Lip of Wax, and Eye of Fire:..And thy swelling ashey Crest, With my little Stopper prest. 1885J. Payn Talk of Town II. 201 Flattening the tobacco in his pipe with its stopper.
e. The plug of a ‘stopped’ organ-pipe.
1852Seidel Organ 80 The stopping is effected by a sort of capsule, similar to the lid of a round brass box, called the stopper. 1879Organ Voicing 25 If..the stopper and joints of the pipe are sound.
f. = stopping vbl. n. 4 d.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 207/2 The nail holes, &c., are stopped with hard-stopper made of dry lead mixed with Japan gold size. 1912H. J. Butler Motor Bodies 115 Some add turps and tub lead to help the stopper to harden. This hard stopper is forced in carefully with the putty knife.
†3. Anything that produces constipation. Obs.
1528Paynell Salerne's Regim. M ij, Breadde made with littel leuen nourishethe moche, but the norishement therof is a stopper. 1584Cogan Haven Health iv. 23 Bread ouer⁓sweete is a stopper.
†4. Anat. (See quot. and obturator 1.) Obs.
1686Snape Anat. Horse iv. cxx. 187 Two Muscles called Obturatores, or Stoppers, because they fill up the wide hole between the Os pubis and Hip-bone.
†5. A shoemaker's tool: = stopping-stick (stopping vbl. n. 7). Obs.
1599Dekker Shoemaker's Holiday ii. iii. (1610) C 3 b, Heark you skomaker, haue you al your tooles, a good rubbing pin, a good stopper, a good dresser [etc.].
6. The upper pad of the sole of a greyhound's foot.
1853‘Stonehenge’ Greyhound vii. 158 When the cut is severe, as for instance, at the root of ‘the stopper’. 1856― Brit. Rural Sports i. iii. vii. 201 If a Stopper is detached from the leg.., it is far better to remove the hanging portion with the knife.
7. Something that causes to cease or brings to a stand.
a. gen., esp. in the phrase to put a stopper on (? with mixture of sense 2), to put a stop to. colloq. or slang.
1828Egan Boxiana IV. 188 The Lively Kid met with a stopper to his rush on the nob. 1830Marryat King's Own xl, If you don't clap a stopper on that jaw of yours, by George, we'll cobb you. 1841Dickens Barn. Rudge lviii, If it rested with him to decide, he would put a final stopper on the bird, and his master too. 1859Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. II. xcix. 88 The stopper has been put upon the utterance of ideas on both sides the Channel. 1898B. Burleigh Sirdar & Khalifa vii. 107 A bullet so treated expands mushroom fashion upon striking any object and becomes a veritable ‘stopper’. 1901Wide World Mag. VI. 501/1 A hit, evidently, for the animal's progress became immediately slower. Then Armstrong put in the stopper, his bullet piercing the neck. 1911Beerbohm Zuleika Dobson v. 56 But that rejection..is no stopper to my suit.
b. Mech. An appliance for stopping machinery.
1871Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Watches etc. 111 Whenever a stopper is pressed against the collar, the arbor, and therefore the seconds hand, ceases to rotate. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Stopper (Railway Engineering), A trailing-brake formerly used on inclined planes. It..was thrown into action by the pressure of the cars, if the rope broke. 1903Westm. Gaz. 15 Jan. 2/1 Ramsbottom..invented.. the weft-fork-stopper for looms. This stopper, as its name implies, stops the loom when the weft breaks.
c. Hunting. An obstacle that is impassable or causes delay.
1832Q. Rev. XLVII. 237 The fence at the top is impracticable—Meltonicé, ‘a stopper;’ nothing for it but a gate, leading into a broad lane. 1859Eardley-Wilmot Reminisc. T. Assheton Smith (1860) 44 The famous story of Lord Kintore coming once to a ‘stopper’ in the Vale of White Horse, which defied the whole field. 1859Sporting Mag. Mar. 159 They..crossed the old canal, which was another stopper, and allowed the fox to get a long way ahead.
d. Rowing. The after part of a rowlock.
1897J. Jeffery Rowing 8 That part against which the oar is pressed in rowing is called the ‘thowl’, and the opposite, or after-thowl, is called the ‘stop’, or ‘stopper’. 1904G. Rixon Rowing & Sculling 2 In some stock gigs it will be found that there is not sufficient room between the thowl and stopper, causing the oar to stick or ‘lock’ on a full reach forward.
e. Bridge. A card of such value that it can reasonably be counted on, in conjunction with other cards in the same suit, to take a trick in that suit. Cf. stopped ppl. a. 2 d.
1901R. F. Foster Foster's Bridge 112 When the make is original, a guarded king is very likely a stopper in the dealer's suit. 1913F. Irwin Auction High-Lights 101 To bid ‘a no-trump’ declares nothing actually, except general help. The bid is often made on three stoppers. Ibid. 105 Four diamonds to the jack might not prove a stopper if the card next to the jack did not happen to be the ten-spot, but it is, and a sequence-stopper is always safe. 1933Times 24 Jan. 13/4 This is a conventional and artificial response. It does not guarantee a ‘stopper’ in Spades. 1959T. Reese Bridge Player's Dict. 222 Some players bid 1 NT on a fair balanced hand even when they have no stopper. 1978Detroit Free Press 2 Apr. 19c/2 If North has a diamond stopper, he bids no trump.
f. Something which attracts and holds attention; something striking or impressive. colloq. Cf. show-stopper s.v. show n.1 22.
1968Punch 21 Feb. 269/1 ‘What's your snap reaction, Jack?’ broke in Gringeworth. ‘It's um, well, certainly a stopper,’ said Tubstraw. ‘My God! It's the stopper of the century!’ exclaimed Gringeworth. 1973Times 21 Feb. 13/8 ‘A memorable image.’ ‘It's a stopper.’
8. West Indian. A tree of the genus Eugenia.
1884Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 88 Eugenia buxifolia... Gurgeon Stopper. Spanish Stopper. Ibid. 89 Eugenia monticola... Stopper. White Stopper. Ibid., Eugenia procera... Red Stopper.
9. a. Naut. (See quots. 1769.)
For cat-, cathead-, dog-, ring-, wherrit-, wing-stopper, see the prefixed words.
1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 30 Nealed too, looke to your stoppers, your Anchor comes home, the ships a drift. 1644H. Manwayring Seamans Dict. 102. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 153 Stoppers of Anchors... Stoppers of the Bit. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Anchor, The anchor is suspended at the cat-head by its stopper. Ibid., Stoppers,..certain short pieces of rope, which are usually knotted at one, or both ends... They are either used to suspend any weighty body, or to retain a cable, shroud, &c. in fixed position [etc.]. 1829Marryat F. Mildmay xx, The stoppers were cut, and the anchors dropped.
b. Fisheries. (See quot.)
1883R. F. Walsh Ir. Fisheries (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) 11 At the bottom of the nets another rope runs from end to end, and this is called the ‘foot line’... Suspended from this foot line..are other ropes, each 27 feet long, and called ‘stoppers’.
10. Comb. stopper-berry tree, the Barbados cherry, Malpighia glabra; stopper-bolt Naut. (see quots.); stopper-hitch Naut. (see quot.); stopper-hole (see quot.); stopper-knot Naut., a kind of knot used for the ends of stoppers; stopper-net (see quot.).
1750G. Hughes Barbados 176 The *Stopper-Berry Tree; Lat. Malpighia.
1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 37 To have *Stopper-bolts for the Cables. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Stopper-bolt, a large ring-bolt driven in the deck of a ship before the main-hatch, for securing the stoppers to.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 410/2 *Stopper-hitch, a knot for stoppering the fall of a tackle, &c.
1869S. J. V. Day Puddling in Rankine Machine & Hand-tools, In the lower side of the charging door an opening is formed called the *stopper-hole, through which the puddler introduces his rabble for working up the mass of iron.
c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 56 A thimble is spliced in one end and a ‘double wall’ or deck *stopper-knot, is made on the other.
1792G. Cartwright Jrnl. Labrador I. Gloss. p. xv, *Stopper-net, a large net for catching seals, which is made to fit the place in which it is fixed.
Hence ˈstopperless a., without stoppers.
1863Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xxii, The stopperless cruets on the spindle-shanked sideboard were in a miserably dejected state.
Sense 10 in Dict. becomes 11. Add: [1.] h. Baseball slang. A pitching ace, spec. (a) a starting pitcher depended on to win a game or reverse a losing streak; (b) a relief pitcher who prevents the opposing team from scoring highly.
1948San Francisco Examiner 10 Mar. 20/4, I had been known as the ‘stopper’ for the Sox for a long time and I really had to be on September 13, 1946, in Cleveland, the day we clinched the American League championship. 1954Collier's 9 July 45/1 The ‘stoppers’, usually the most dependable on the staff, are apt to get the nod most any time. 1979Washington Post 21 Aug. d2/5 Flanagan..has replaced the injured Jim Palmer as the Oriole stopper and is baseball's hottest pitcher, winning seven of his last eight games. 1985Los Angeles Times 8 July iii. 6/1 In the old days, before relief pitchers became such a factor in baseball, a ‘stopper’ was a starting pitcher. 1985New Yorker 5 Aug. 33/3 Any self-respecting team should have at least one ace, or stopper.
10. colloq. A stopping train. (See stopping ppl. a. 2.)
1969Guardian 11 Jan. 12/3 There was no boat train to Tilbury, only a drab, scheduled service stopper, taking tired Christmas shoppers from London to all stations east. 1976Railway Mag. Aug. 409/1 We had to follow a d.m.u. ‘stopper’ and suffered a succession of signal checks. 1981A. Vaughan Signalman's Morning xiv. 162 There was the stopper, waiting patiently at the home signal.
▪ II. stopper, v.|ˈstɒpə(r)|
[f. stopper n.]
1. trans. Naut. To secure with a stopper.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine ii. (1780), Bosser le Cable, to stopper the Cable. 1834Marryat P. Simple xv, Jump down, then, and see it [the cable] double-bitted and stoppered at thirty fathoms. 1883Man. Seamanship for Boys 234 The first reef-pendant is stoppered and hitched round the boom.
2. To close or secure (a bottle, etc.) with a stopper. Also with down.
1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 441 The milk⁓can is filled full of milk, and so stoppered down that there is no room for the least motion to churn the milk. 1915Morning Post 21 June 8/1 A quart bottle very carefully stoppered.
b. Metallurgy. (See quot.) Also with down.
1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron xx. §770 The metal is run into the several moulds, which are each ‘stoppered’..either with an iron plate, or simply by throwing on a shovelful of sand, which is then covered with an iron plate, wedged down [etc.]. Ibid. xx. §809 The ingots are properly stoppered down, by throwing a shovelful of sand into the mould on the top of the still fluid metal, and then covering it with an iron plate fastened down by a cross bar [etc.].
3. To fit with a stopper.
1827Faraday Chem. Manip. xv. (1842) 361 The bottles should be wide-mouthed and accurately stoppered. 1860Repert. Patent Invent. Dec. 443 Improvements in Closing or Stoppering Bottles, Jars, and other Receptacles. 1883H. J. Powell Glass-making 73 The mouth of the vessel to be stoppered.
4. slang. To stop; to ‘put the stopper on’.
1821Scott Pirate xxxix, Stopper your jaw, Dick, will you? 1905Daily Chron. 24 Apr. 3/4 This elegant Cyril Wentworth, who gaily ‘stoppers’ men and women by the dozen if they happen to thwart him in the slightest degree. |