| 释义 |
▪ I. desk, n.|dɛsk|
Also 5–6 deske, (5–7 desque, 6 dexe, dext), 6–8 Sc. dask.
[ME. deske, app. immed. ad. med.L. desca ‘cum descis et scamnis, et aliis ornamentis’ (c 1250 in Du Cange). The latter is to be referred ultimately to L. discus (also used in med.L. in the sense ‘table’), of which the regular Romanic form remains in It. desco ‘a deske, a table, a boord, a counting boord; also a forme, a bench, a seat, or stoole’ (Florio). Prob. from this It. desco, the med.L. desca fem. (like mensa, tabula) was formed.
Desk was in no way actually connected with dish, OE. disc, ME. disch, although OE. disc, WGer. disk, was itself an ancient adoption of L. discus. The OFr. repr. of L. discus, Rom. desco, Pr. des, was deis, Eng. dais. Thus dais, desk, dish, disk, all originate in the same word.]
1. An article of furniture for a library, study, church, school, or office, the essential feature of which is a table, board, or the like, intended to serve as a rest for a book, manuscript, writing-paper, etc., while reading or writing, for which purpose the surface usually presents a suitable slope.
The name is applied to articles differing greatly in details of construction and in accessories, according to their particular purpose, which is often indicated by a qualification, as litany-desk, music-desk, prayer-desk, reading-desk, school-desk, writing-desk, etc.
It may be a simple table, board, or shelf fixed at a convenient height for resting a book, etc., while reading or writing, or fitted on a small frame so as to be placed on a table, or upon a taller frame, with legs, etc., so as itself to stand on the floor, or it may be more or less elaborately provided with shelves for books, and with drawers and receptacles for papers, documents, etc., such as are required for use in a library, study, school, or office.
a. As a requisite for reading or writing on, or studying at.
c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 400 At Orliens in studie a book he say Of Magyk natureel, which his felawe..Hadde prively vpon his desk [v.r. deske] ylaft. c1440Promp. Parv. 299 Leterone or lectorne, deske, lectrinum, etc. a1500Orol. Sap. in Anglia X. 356 Lenynge hym vpon a deske. 1581Mulcaster Positions v. (1887) 34 Incke and paper..a deske and a dustboxe will set them both vp [i.e. a scholar to learn to draw as well as to write]. 1594Plat Jewell-ho., Diuerse Exper. 39 You must have a deske of the cleerest and evenest glasse that is to be bought..Upon this Deske you must fasten the patterne at the foure endes with a little wax. 1615Stephens Satyr. Ess. (ed. 2) 333 Lawyers Clarke..Hee doth relye upon his maisters practise, large indentures, and a deske to write upon. 1666Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 213, I observed the desk which he hath [made] to remove, and is fastened to one of the armes of his chayre. 1711Steele Spect. No. 109 ⁋5 He sits with one Hand on a Desk writing. 1773Johnson 17 Aug. in Boswell, Composing a Dictionary requires books and a desk: you can make a poem walking in the fields, or lying in bed. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. ii, Nickleby closed an account book which lay on his desk. 1842Tennyson Audley Court 43 Oh! who would cast and balance at a desk, Perch'd like a crow upon a three-legg'd stool. 1847― Princ. ii. 90 To Lady Psyche's..There sat along the forms..A patient range of pupils; she herself Erect behind a desk of satin-wood. 1850― In Mem. cxxviii, To cramp the student at his desk. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 111 He seems to have usually passed the whole day at his desk.
b. As a repository for writing materials, letters, etc., as well as for writing on. In modern use often a portable box or case opening so as to present a sloping surface.
1548Cooper Bibliotheca Eliotæ, Pluteus..a littell holowe deske lyke a coffer, whereupon men do write. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 103 In the Deske That's couer'd o're with Turkish Tapistrie There is a purse of Duckets. 1626Bacon Sylva §658 Some..for Tables, Cupboards and Desks, as Walnuts. 1692Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Pref. (1851) 13 Your Boxes and Desks stufft with nothing but Trifles. a1744Pope (J.), I have been obliged to leave unfinished in my desk the heads of two essays. 1865Trollope Belton Est. xviii. 216 She got out her desk and prepared herself for her letter. Mod. The prisoner had forced the desk open and taken the money out of it.
†c. In early use, applied also to a shelf, case, or press, on or in which books stand in a library or study. Obs.
[c1400Promp. Parv. 120 Deske, pluteum. 1483Cath. Angl. 97 A Deske; pluteus [a book-shelf, book-case, desk]. ]1538Leland Itin. I. 55 At the Toppe of every Square was a Desk ledgid to set Bookes on Bookes on Cofers withyn them. 1557North Gueuara's Diall Pr. Gen. Prol. A iij, One that for his pastime is set round with deskes of bookes. 1669Hackett Let. in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 554 Expended..upon the College Library, either for bookes, or desques. 1717Berkeley Tour in Italy Wks. 1871 IV. 513 The books are all contained in desks or presses, whose backs stand to the wall. These desks are all low, of an equal height, so that the highest books are within reach without the least straining.
2. a. In a church or chapel: In the general sense of 1, a sloping board on which books used in the service are laid, as the book-board in a pulpit. Hence formerly (and still in U.S.) applied to the seat, stall, or pulpit of the minister, or, (as still in Scotland) to that of the clerk or precentor; in England, to the stalls or choir-seats, and to the reading-desk in the now obsolescent arrangement of pulpit, reading-desk, and clerk's desk, one above another; where this has been abolished, and a special stall is provided for the reading of the prayers, the latter is sometimes called the ‘prayer-desk’.
1449Churchw. Acc. St. Georges, Stamford (Nichols 1797) 132 Making of pleyn desques and of a pleyne rodelofte. 1552Berksh. Ch. Goods 32 A old clothe of baulkyn for the dexe. 1565Harding in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. xxx. 72 Clappe me not they the bare Bible on the dext. 1604Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 140 For a desk to lay the byble on. a1640W. Fenner Christ's Alarm (1650) 18 How reverently should ye sit in your Pewes? how sacredly should we stand in our desks? 1653G. Firmin Sober Reply 28 My friend when he had done preaching..went downe out of the Deske. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. iv. 90 Their Singers stood in the Desks. 1784Cowper Task i. 94 Sweet sleep enjoys the curate in his desk, The tedious rector drawling o'er his head. 1809Kendall Trav. I. i. 4 The pulpit, or, as it is here [in Connecticut] called, the desk was filled by three, if not four clergymen; a number which, by its form and dimensions, it was able to accommodate. 1830Tennyson Sonn. to J. M. K., The humming of the drowsy pulpit-drone..while the worn-out clerk Brow-beats his desk below. 1846Parker Gloss. Archit. (1875) 146 s.v. Lectern, At Debtling is one [a lectern] of Decorated date; it is made with a desk for a book on four sides. 1870F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 79 The pulpit, litany desk, and stalls are oaken.
†b. A seat or pew in a church. Cf. dais 3 b. Obs. Sc.
1560in Edgar Ch. Life Scotl. (1885) I. 15 Neither the dasks, windocks nor duris be ony wise hurt. 1603Ibid., To big ane removabill dask for his wyff. 1678in Old Church Life Ballingry (1890) II. 20 Fill up with deskes the emptie roomes of the Church. 1701in Scott. N. & Q. I. 12 [To farm] the haill dasks in both churches. 1885Edgar Ch. Life Scotl. I. 16 Down to about the middle of the 17th century there were very few desks or seats in Church.
3. fig.
a. Used typically for the functions or office of the occupant of a desk, esp. in sense 2.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 108 b, Luther doth not take upon him the person of a schoolemaister, nor hath challenged to himselfe the dignitie of high deske, nor ever taught any Schooles of new factions. 1821Dwight Trav. II. 277 He [Dr. Backus, a professor of divinity] educated between forty and fifty for the desk. 1836W. Andrew Hist. Winterton, etc., 107 At a time when the pulpit and reading-desk were generally at variance. 1838Brit. Critic XXIII. 294 Their tendency is, to exalt the Pulpit too far above the Desk; to make the performance of man the very life and soul of all public worship.
b. Work at the desk in an office, etc.; clerical or office work.
1797Burke Regic. Peace iii. (R.), Never can they who from the miserable servitude of the desk have been raised to empire, again submit to the bondage of a starving bureau. 1844Emerson Lect., Yng. Amer. Wks. (Bohn) II. 296 He who merely uses it [the land] as a support to his desk and ledger..values it less.
c. A specified section of a large organization, such as a newspaper office, government department, etc., responsible for a particular subject or operation. Freq. in U.S., the department in a newspaper office where copy is edited. Cf. city desk s.v. city 9.
1927U. Sinclair Money Writes 18 The reporters who write up the sensational event—each one is hoping to attract the attention of the ‘desk’. 1958E. Newby Short Walk in Hindu Kush ii. 24 [At] the Foreign Office..I was interviewed by a representative of the Asian Desk. 1966J. Bingham Double Agent vi. 87 At the table next to Henry Blundell sat little George Patterson, in charge of the East Russian desk... At the same table was Mike Parsons, who worked at the Czech desk. 1970R. Gadney Drawn Blanc vi. 61 They gave me a desk in Soviet Counter Intelligence, it's a big outfit now.
d. The reception desk or office of a hotel, office building, etc.; the person or persons on duty at the reception desk.
1963D. B. Hughes Expendable Man vi. 200 I'll tell the desk not to put through any more calls. 1966G. Lyall Shooting Script xix. 150 Room 17, I think you said? And the desk knows I'm coming? 1970P. Bair Tribunal ii. iii. 76 Ask the desk to ring through to Miss Jackson's room.
4. transf. A meeting of those who occupy the choir desks of a cathedral.
1691in Macray Catal. Rawl. MSS. D ii. 26 The sub⁓chanter and vicars [of Lichfield] desire to know whether he wishes to renew the lease..as the matter will be settled at the next meeting, or deske as they call it.
5. attrib. and Comb., as desk-board, desk calendar, desk-closet, desk diary, desk-drudge, desk-fellow, desk-gong, desk job, desk lamp, desk-light, desk-officer; desk-book, a book for constant use at the desk, a handbook, vade-mecum; desk-bound a., obliged to remain at work at a desk; desk-cloth, a cloth to cover a reading-desk or lectern; desk copy orig. U.S., a free copy of a book, esp. one supplied for the personal use of a teacher; desk-knife, a pen-knife with fixed handle, an eraser; desk-man, (a) a minister, clergyman, or preacher; (b) a man who works at a desk, spec. a journalist who works mainly at a desk; a white-collar worker; desk-room orig. U.S., space for a desk rented in a business office; desk sergeant U.S. = station sergeant s.v. station n. 29; desk-work, work at a desk, as clerk, book-keeper, etc.; see also desk-top.
1614Selden Titles Hon. 110 Fastned with long nailes to the *deskboards.
1892Literary World 22 Jan. 82/3 This *desk-book may be highly recommended.
1944Time 24 Apr. 26 Few thought he would be *desk-bound for long. 1962Listener 28 June 1104/2 There were desk-bound jurists who had hatched out theories of crime ‘as remote from reality as they are harmful’.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) p. xxxi/5 *Desk Calendar Pads. 1922F. Scott Fitzgerald Beautiful & Damned i. iii. 100 On a desk calendar he marked the days off. 1968H. C. Rae Few Small Bones ii. i. 71 He ruffled the pages of his desk calendar.
1879E. Garrett House by Works I. 62 In the little oak *desk-closet at the back of the shop, stood a young woman.
1942Amer. Speech XVII. 121 The teaching profession avoids the appearance of receiving forbidden favors by asking its publishers not for free copies but for *desk copies. 1962Publishers' Weekly 23 Apr. 39/2 Professors when they request ‘desk copies’ frequently also order books..for their own libraries.
1960T. Hughes Lupercal 52 Outstripping his *desk-diary at a broad desk. 1963L. Deighton Horse under Water xxxii. 125 He flips through the desk and finds a nice leather desk diary.
1880Browning Dram. Idylls Ser. ii. Clive 92 *Desk-drudge, slaving at St. David's, one must game, or drink, or craze.
1825Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Superannuated Man, To visit my old *desk-fellows.
1965‘R. L. Pike’ Police Blotter (1966) vii. 105 He managed to get a soft *desk job in the war.
1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 9 Pen-knives..fastened into the hafts, in the manner of what are now called *desk-knives.
1896New England Mag. Nov. (Advt.), New designs in Dresden *desk lamps. 1922Joyce Ulysses 182 Glittereyed, his rufous skull close to his greencapped desk-lamp sought the face, bearded amid darkgreener shadow, an ollav, holyeyed. 1982Habitat Catal. 1982/83 106/1 Classical desk lamp with swivelling green metal reflector cowl on a brass stem.
1929E. Wilson I thought of Daisy i. 29, I turned aside the adjustable *desk-light..so that it lit only the farther wall.
1893K. Grahame Pagan Ess. 105 The *Desk-men have a temporary majority. 1913Writer's Bull. Oct. 101/1 The salaries paid..are..better than those paid to many ‘desk men’ in the offices of large newspapers. 1925A. S. M. Hutchinson One Increasing Purpose i. xxx. 181 The city desk-man's feeble stoop. 1961Times 8 Feb. 13/7 Millions of deskmen from an inflated officialdom have been out in the fields helping the peasants. 1967R. J. Serling President's Plane is Missing (1968) viii. 142 The IPS bureau chief was regarded as a superb deskman and a skilled writer.
1885Public Opinion 9 Jan. 38/2 A scientific and what is popularly known as a *desk officer.
1868R. B. Kimball Undercurrents 9, I occupied an office—no, I had ‘*desk-room’ in a basement office. 1870J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall Street 117 Many of the operators, as well as the smaller brokers,..have simply desk-room. 1926Kipling Debits & Credits 337 Our War-side merely applied for desk-room in your basement.
1908K. McGaffey Sorrows of Show Girl 89 All he got was a clout on the head from the *desk sergeant. 1967Punch 19 July 85/3 The rich having their three dollars whipped off them by the desk-sergeant and put in an envelope.
1864Tennyson Sea Dreams 78 A dozen years Of dust and *deskwork.
Add:[5.] desk dictionary chiefly N. Amer. (orig. U.S.), a one-volume dictionary of medium size, suited for use on a desk for general reference.
[1915J. C. Fernald (title) The desk standard dictionary of the English language; designed to give the orthography, pronunciation, meaning, and etymology of about 80,000 words and phrases.] 1948New Republic 2 Feb. 27/1 Almost all the *desk dictionaries have come to resemble one another. 1961Bay & Wendell in J. Barzun Delights of Detection 265 Four or five novels..and..a desk dictionary. 1982Papers Dict. Soc. N. Amer. 1977 34 There are two other vowel distinctions that are made by W8 but not by other desk dictionaries.
▸ desk jockey n.‹desk n. + jockey n., after disc-jockey n. at disc n. Compounds 6 colloq. (orig. U.S.) a person who works at a desk; an office worker, esp. one chiefly occupied with routine, unimportant administrative duties.
1943Washington Post 22 Apr. b1/1 He said the farmers had been denied a few dollars and now we are proposing to give $300 apiece to a ‘bunch of *desk jockeys’. 1968K. H. Cooper Aerobics 38 This category catches all the do-nothings, the desk jockeys, the TV watchers, the over-eaters, the over-smokers. 2001N.Y. Mag. 1 Oct. 28/1 Ganci was no desk jockey. His uniform shirt was crusted with medals for pulling people out of burning buildings.
▪ II. † desk, v. Obs.
[f. desk n.]
1. trans. To fit up or furnish with desks.
a1509Hen. VII. Will in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 498 That the said Chapell be desked.
2. To place in or as in a desk.
1615Albumazar i. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 311 A leaf of that small Iliad That in a walnut-shell was desk'd. 1646J. Hall Poems i. 2 Then are you entertaind, and deskt up by Our Ladies Psalter and the Rosary. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 164, I..saw many curious relicks desked up in the side of the wall.
3. to desk it: to work at a desk, do clerical work. nonce-use.
1846J. Mackintosh Let. in Mem. (1854) 109, I have been busy, sometimes desking it 13 to 15 hours per diem. |