| 释义 |
swimmer|ˈswɪmə(r)|
[f. swim v. + -er1. Cf. MLG. swemmer, also swommer, MHG. swimmer (G. schwimmer), Du. zwemmer.]
1. A person (or animal) that swims in the water.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 167 Þe swymmere þat is sauf bi so hym-self lyke. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xvii. (Bodl. MS.), Swymmers beþ ofte yperissched in swalowes. 1578H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 135 Y⊇ swimmer Leander. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 1098 The other wild, Like an vnpractiz'd swimmer plunging still, With too much labour drowns for want of skill. 1663Dryden Rival Ladies Ep. Ded., Ess. (1900) I. 4 Like an ill swimmer, I have willingly staid long in my own depth. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxvii, The swimmer plied each active limb. 1908Animal Managem. 140 The horse is a powerful natural swimmer.
2. a. An animal that (habitually) swims, or whose structure is adapted for swimming; spec. a bird of the order Natatores, a swimming bird.
1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 86 Thanne sighed þe swymmers ffor the swan ffailed. 1599T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 44 The whitest Swimmer nature e're begate, Suspition blacke and iealousie defiles. 1630Drummond of Hawthornden Flowres of Sion, Shadow of Judgem. 246 The Woods wilde Forragers doe howle and roare, The humid Swimmers dye along the shoare. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. i. 234 In latirostrous or flat bild birdes, which being generally swimmers, the organ is wisely contriv'd unto the action, and they are framed with fins or oares upon their feet. 1718Rowe tr. Lucan ix. 1214 The Swimmer there the crystal stream pollutes. 1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 269/2 The Swimmers [sc. Natatores]..are..recognizable by the structure and position of their oar-like feet. 1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 14 Among swimmers, the body is always more or less depressed, or flattened horizontally.
b. Entom. (a) One of a tribe of spiders (Araneidæ natantes) which live in water; a swimming spider, water-spider. (b) A swimming beetle of the group Hydradephaga or Hydrocanthari.
1815Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xiii. (1818) I. 427 Walckenaer's Swimmers, the last of his grand tribes of spiders.
3. a. The swimming-bladder of a fish. Now dial.
1579T. Stevens in Hakluyt Voy. (1599) II. ii. 99 Which combe standeth vpon a thing almost like the swimmer of a fish in colour and bignesse. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Swimmer, the air-bladder of a fish. (Always.) In bloaters this silvery-looking purse is very conspicuous.
†b. Farriery. A protuberance on the leg of a horse. Obs.
1726Farrier's Dict. (Johnson), The swimmer is situated in the fore legs of a horse, above the knees, and upon the inside..; this part is without hair, and resembles a piece of hard dry horn.
c. A swimming organ of an animal; esp. an anal appendage in certain aquatic insect larvæ. (Cf. swimmeret.)
1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxii. (1818) II. 295 There are two descriptions of larvæ of Hydrophili, one furnished with swimmers or anal appendages, by means of which they are enabled to swim. 1828J. Fleming Hist. Brit. Animals 29 In this animal [sc. the sea-cow], the fore-swimmers (fins or paws) are furnished with the rudiments of nails.
d. An appliance for buoying up or supporting something in the water.
1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 21 How to make Water-rockets, Water-brands, Water-cats, Water-ducks, &c., that turn themselves in the Water... Having fixed a wooden swimmer below the neck, it [sc. the water-brand] is dipped in wax and pitch, and is ready for use.
4. a. A thing which floats upon the surface of a liquid; spec. an angler's float; see also quot. 1854.
a1609Dennis Secrets Angling i. xiii. (1613) B iij, Then take good Corke, as much as shall suffice, For every Line to make his swimmer fit. 1664Evelyn Sylva vii. 24 Let the Nuts be first spread to sweat;..a Moneth being past, plunge them in Water, reject the Swimmers. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. i. iii, Shall we say, the Revolution-element works itself rarer and rarer; so that only lighter and lighter bodies will float in it; till at last the mere blown-bladder is your only swimmer? 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Swimmer, a wooden trencher, or two short pieces of flat wood nailed across floating upon a bucket of water to prevent its washing over as it is carried along.
b. Brewing. A vessel containing ice or iced water floating on the wort in a fermenting-tun. (Cf. G. schwimmer.)
1881Wershoven Techn. Voc. Eng.-Fr. 263 The fermenting tun, the gyle-tun, la cuve guilloire, the swimmer, le flotteur.
†5. A cup or goblet ‘swimming’ or brimming over; a ‘bumper’. Obs.
1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin i. 180 [He] takes himself a lusty Beer-bowl brimmer Of Racy Claret, and Commends a Swimmer To the good Company. 1706Barnes in Hearne Collect. 18 July (O.H.S.) I. 273 Some Brimmer And Swimmer, Wth Nectar shall flow.
†6. slang. (See quots.) Obs.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Swimmer, a Counterfeit (old) Coyn. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Swimmer, a guard-ship, or tender; a thief who escapes prosecution, when before a magistrate, on condition of being sent on board the receiving-ship, to serve His Majesty, is said by his palls to be swimmered.
7. slang. A swimming costume. Now (Austral.) pl. const. sing. Cf. bather 3.
1929Daily Tel. 3 June 7/1 Two coloured swimmer with brassiere attached. 1967Sunday Truth (Brisbane) 23 July 1/1 Bikini girls at Parliament House..when a parade of new season's swimmers..will be on show. 1978Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 22 Feb. 1/9, I am not an exhibitionist and if I go swimming on the main beach, I would wear swimmers.
8. Special combination. swimmer's itch Med., a painful dermatitis caused by the cercaria of certain species of blood flukes, notably Schistosoma mansoni, which penetrate human skin (or mucous membrane) during swimming.
1928Minnesota Med. XI. 573/1 There has been reported from several lake regions in Minnesota a peculiar type of skin eruption locally called ‘swimmer's’ itch. 1969Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. & Hygiene LXIII. 557 Visitors to that camp suffered severe swimmer's itch when bathing in one of the rock pools.., and subsequently developed schistosomiasis.
Hence † swimmer v. (see quot. 1812 in sense 6 above). |