| 释义 |
▪ I. swarming, vbl. n.|ˈswɔːmɪŋ|
[f. swarm v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of swarm v.1
1. The action of assembling in a swarm or dense crowd; spec. the gathering and departure from the hive of a swarm of bees; also transf. of persons (usually with off).
1550Bale Engl. Votaries ii. 77 b, A myddle swarmynge of Antichristes sectes in England. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 110 Watch bees in May, for swarming away. 1661J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 26 The chief time of the swarming (as one would say) of Pilchards about the shores of Cornwall, is from July to November. 1675J. Gedde New Discov. Bee-houses 16 When Bees are at the Swarming. 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 271 Observe what you can of the usual Signs that precede their Swarming. 1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xix. (1818) II. 167 Sometimes, when every thing seems to prognosticate swarming, a cloud passing over the sun calms the agitation. 1911J. H. Rose W. Pitt vii. 168 The divisions, by the process of swarming-off, rapidly extended the organisation.
2. Biol. The movement characteristic of swarm-spores; reproduction by swarm-spores.
1867Chambers's Encycl. IX. 234/2. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs's Bot. 673 The swarming of zoospores. 1882Vines tr. Sachs's Bot. 4 note, The term ‘swarming’ is applied to any apparently spontaneous motion imparted to a naked protoplasmic body by vibratile cilia.
3. attrib., as swarming-place, swarming season, swarming time.
Used spec. in names of apparatus for transferring a swarm of bees to a new hive, as swarming-bag, swarming-basket, swarming-box, swarming-hook (in recent Dicts.).
1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 270 In Swarming time the Hives that you are minded to use, rub with sweet Herbs. 1855Poultry Chron. III. 206/2 Watching and hiving for several weeks in the swarming season. 1892Zangwill Childr. Ghetto I. 3 At last it [sc. the Ghetto] becomes only a swarming-place for the poor and the ignorant.
▪ II. ˈswarming, ppl. a.
[f. swarm v.1 + -ing2.]
1. Assembling or moving in a swarm; forming a swarm or dense crowd; thronging; very numerous.
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 63 Those spoilefull Picts, and swarming Easterlings. 1725Pole Odyss. xiii. 179 The swarming people hail their ship to land. 1784Cowper Task iii. 555 Moisture and drought, mice, worms, and swarming flies. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam v. xxxviii, To see Earth from her general womb Pour forth her swarming sons to a fraternal doom. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. I. i. 40 Barges pursuing their now difficult way among the swarming steamers.
2. spec. of bees; also transf. of persons: see swarm v.1 1, 1 b.
1553N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices i. (1558) 69 Being swarming [orig. congregabilia] by kinde they work their combes. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. vii. 18 See..How black the Clouds of swarming Bees arise. 1713Young Last Day ii. 51 Swarming bees,..Charm'd with the brazen sound. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 147 Whence Ambigatus had sent forth his swarming colonists.
3. Filled with a swarm or multitude; densely crowded; thronged; very populous.
1810Montgomery West Indies ii. 117 That stock he found on Afric's swarming plains. 1842Tennyson Talking Oak 213 The swarming sound of life. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872) I. 16 A swarming city.
4. Biol. Emerging as swarm-spores, or moving in the way characteristic of them: see swarm v.1 1 c.
1864Reader 30 Apr. 548/3 The swarming-spores of certain Algæ. 1882Vines tr. Sachs's Bot. 232 In many of the more highly developed Thallophytes this power of motility is however limited to the male ‘swarming’ fertilising elements. |