| 释义 |
▪ I. sunk, n. Sc. and north. dial.|sʌŋk|
Also 6–9 sonk.
[Origin unknown.]
1. A seat of turf.
1513Douglas æneis iii. iv. 30 Syne efter, endlang the see costis bay, Wp sonkis [we] set, and desis did array. Ibid. v. vii. 44 Tho gan the grave Acest with wordis chyde Entellus, sat on the greyn sonk hym besyde. 1768Ross Helenore iii. 221 Gang in an' seat you o' the sunks a' round. 17..Lizie Lindsay xxix. in Child Ballads IV. 262/2 She sawna a seat to sit down on, But only some sunks o green feall.
2. A straw pad used as a cushion or saddle. (Usually pl.) Cf. sod n.1 2.
1787Grose Provinc. Gloss. (1790), Sunk, a canvas pack⁓saddle stuffed with straw. North. 1807Stagg Poems 7 Wheyle some wi' pillion seats an' sonks To gear their naigs are fussin. 1816Scott Old Mort. i, A hair tether, or halter, and a sunk, or cushion of straw, instead of bridle and saddle. a1860J. Younger Autobiog. ix. (1881) 90 Now, John,..lay the sunks on your yellow mare.
3. A bank or dyke. Also attrib., as sunk-dyke.
1842A. Laing in Whistle-binkie Ser. iv. 72 Wi' rough divot sunks haudin' up the mud wa's. 1866Gregor Banffsh. Gloss., Sunk-dyke, a dyke built of stone or sods on the one side, and filled with earth on the other. 1875Alex. Smith New Hist. Aberdeen ii. 925 The larger farms are enclosed..with earthen sunks and hedgerows.
▪ II. † sunk, v. Obs.
Also 8 sonk.
[Origin unknown.]
intr. To be sullen; to sulk. Hence ˈsunkan ppl. a., sulking, sullen.
1728Ramsay Monk & Miller's Wife 127 [He] ask'd his sunkan gloomy Spouse, What Supper had she in the House. 1737― To Duncan Forbes 64 For which they'll now have nae relief, But sonk at hame, and cleck mischief. 1788Picken Poems Gloss., Sunkan, sullen, sour, ill-natured.
▪ III. sunk, ppl. a.|sʌŋk|
[pa. pple. of sink v.]
In present usage this form of the pa. pple. in adj. use tends to be restricted to senses implying deliberate human agency; e.g., sunk fence; contrast sunken cheeks, sunken rocks. (Cf. shrunk and shrunken.)
1. = sunken 2. Now rare.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P. R. iv. iii. (1495) e vj b, Soo the vtter partyes ben vneuyn wyth holownes sonke and had partes areryd. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster Sec. Sounding 4 This is it, That our sunke eyes haue wak't for. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Elevatoire, The broken, and sunk-in parts of the scull. Ibid. s.v. Have, Hollow, sad, or sunke-in eyes. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 646 Sunk were his Eyes, his Voice was harsh and loud. a1734North Lives (1826) II. 131 He went about as a ghost, with the visage of death upon him. Such a sunk, spiritless countenance he had. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xxviii, Her temples were sunk, her forehead was tense. 1823Scott Quentin D. ii, His strong features, sunk cheeks, and hollow eyes. 1833J. Davidson Embalming 14 Many of their Mummies..are of a dark tanned colour,..the features distinct, the belly sunk. 1891Hardy Tess xxxvi, The sunk corners of her mouth.
Comb.a1601? Marston Pasquil & Kath. (1878) i. 9 The yellow tooth'd, sunck-eyed, gowtie shankt Vsurer. 1624Massinger Parl. Love iv. iii, We'll show these shallow fools sunk-eyed despair.
2. Lowered in character, intensity, value, etc.
a. Depraved, degenerate. Now rare or Obs.
1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 97 A thing that sunk flesh and blood are too incredulous of. 1681― in Glanvill's Sadducismus Postscr. 38 The vilest reproach against the God of Israel..that..the dulness of any sunk Soul can stumble upon. 1868W. R. Greg Lit. & Soc. Judgm. 132 She is punished..as the most sunk of sinners.
b. Degraded or reduced in status or value. Now rare or Obs.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 274 Who raised again their sunk ancient Family..by their valour only. 1731Swift Presbyt. Plea of Merit Wks. 1841 II. 241/2 A sunk, discarded party. 1893Daily News 10 May 5/2 The Bank of New Zealand, some time ago, cut adrift its sunk investments.
c. Of the spirits: Depressed, low. Now rare or Obs.
1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 471, I was exceedingly sunk in my Spirits. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxxviii, I saw his daughter's form once more before me in flesh and blood, though with diminished beauty and sunk spirits.
d. colloq. Of a person: in a hopeless position, in trouble, in a mess. Freq. hyperbolical.
1922[see spurlos versenkt]. 1934A. P. Herbert Holy Deadlock 103 ‘Hell!’ thought Mr. Ransom, ‘we're sunk!’ 1941M. Allingham Traitor's Purse xx. 231 You can't say you're afraid we're sunk... Everyone's relying on you. 1951J. Frame Lagoon 56 If visitors come tonight I am sunk. 1960G. Sanders Mem. Professional Cad ii. v. 136 If you go to a party with the impedimenta of a date, an overcoat or a hat, you are sunk.
3. a. = sunken 1.
1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. 40 Arresting by their initial softness the various sunk woods and such other vegetable or animal substances. 1806Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 20 It has a sandy shore, with sunk rocks. 1828J. Macdonald in Tweedie Life ii. (1849) 93 Here is the sunk rock of legalism. 1829T. Castle Introd. Bot. iii. §i. 56 Nomenclature of the leaf... Sunk—submerged or immersed, entirely under water. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. v. vi, So has History written..of the sunk Vengeur. 1898H. Newbolt Isl. Race 14 The sunk torpedoes lying in treacherous rank.
b. spec. applied to submerged tracts of land.
1830Act 11 Geo. IV & 1 Will. IV, c. 59 §20 A certain Estate called Sunk Island, situate in the River Humber. 1849Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 236 The ‘sunk country’..extends along the course of the White Water and its tributaries. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sunk Land, shallows and swamps. 1915Contemp. Rev. Dec. 770 Wide areas..collapsed into sunklands and inland seas.
4. a. Placed on a lower level than that of the surroundings.
1633Stafford Pac. Hib. i. iv. 30 Captaine Iohn Bostocke..espied the Morians of some of the suncke ambush in the Glinn.
b. In modern technical use, applied to a surface or area lowered, or to an object let in, so as to lie below the general surface, or to work of which depression of level is a principal feature; as sunk carving, sunk cistern, sunk panel, etc.
sunk band, sunk cord, a strip of cloth or string on which a binding is constructed, fitted in to furrows across the spine of the book. sunk cell, a cavity in a microscopic slide, to receive the object examined. sunk coak, a groove in the face of a timber, into which a coak or tenon is fitted to form a joint (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875). sunk-enamel, champlevé. sunk fence, = ha-ha n.2 sunk garden, a (portion of a) garden created below the natural level of the surrounding land, a sunken garden (sunken ppl. a. 4). sunk-head, (Typogr.) the blank space at the head of a chapter (Knight). sunk key, a pin or cotter fitting into a groove on the shaft in which it is used. sunk shelf, a shelf with a groove to prevent plates or dishes slipping off when stood on their edges (Gwilt Archit. Gloss. 1842). sunk storey, a storey below ground level, a basement. sunk work (Masonry): see quot.
1889W. Matthews Mod. Bookbinding 27 [Raised-band sewing] is three or four times the cost of the ordinary, or *sunk-band, sewing... Sunk-band is the ordinary style of the book sewing of our time. Here the sheets are sawed with three or five furrows to admit the bands of twine. 1959L. M. Harrod Librarians' Gloss. (ed. 2) 268 Sunk Bands (Cords)... Cords or bands..placed in grooves sawn into the backs of sections of a book.
1875T. Seaton Fret Carving 143 It may be called *Sunk Carving; for, contrary to the usual method, the carving is sunk, whilst the ground is left at its original level.
1890Science-Gossip XXVI. 163 The object may be placed..in a watch-glass, or a *sunk cell.
1839Ure Dict. Arts, etc. 1203 The earthen floor is excavated to form the molasses reservoir...The bottom holes..allow the molasses to drain slowly downwards into the *sunk cistern.
1959[see sunk-band]. 1965L. S. Darley Introd. Bookbinding 61 (caption) Sawing for *sunk cords.
1929Times 2 Nov. 10/4 The coral inlay, and red *sunk-enamel (champlevé) on the handle.
1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 288 The contiguous ground of the park without the *sunk fence was to be harmonized with the lawn within. 1803[see ha-ha n.2]. 1845Dickens Chimes iii. 119 You may see the cottage from the sunk fence over yonder.
1922J. Buchan Huntingtower v. 93 A path which wound down to the *sunk garden. 1973Country Life 15 Nov. 1591/1, I bask on a stone seat in the sunk garden.
1835R. Willis Archit. Mid. Ages vi. 65 A row of small *sunk pannels upon the space between the dripstone and window head.
a1835Rickman Styles Archit. (1848) 127 The interior is..ornamented with *sunk panelling.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 254 With a *sunk seconds the hour hand may be closer to the dial than it otherwise could.
1791Bentham Panopt. i. 89 Staircases..from the *sunk story below the Cells to the upper story of the Cells. 1840Mrs. Carlyle Let. to J. Forster Aug., The sunk-story of this respectable, æsthetic house.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1104 The door..to have a *sunk thumb sneck.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Builder 316 *Sunk-work is that which has been partly chiselled away, as the tops of window-cills, &c.
5. Of the sun: = sunken 3 b. rare.
1908Rider Haggard Ghost Kings xvii. 239 The light from the sunk sun.
▸ sunk costs n. Econ. financial outlay which has already been incurred; costs which are unavoidable when embarking upon a particular commercial endeavour.
1916H. G. Brown Transportation Rates & their Regulation i. 11 These *sunk costs represent the amounts already invested in terminals, way, construction, and equipment. 1999Financial Times 1 Nov. (Mastering Strategy Suppl.) 10/3 The simple decision rule for a potential entrant is this: enter the market if the post-entry profits are expected to be greater than the sunk costs of entering. |