| 释义 |
▪ I. taper, n.1|ˈteɪpə(r)|
Also 1 tapor, -ur; 3–5 tapere, 4–5 tapre, -ur, -ir, 5 -yr, 5–7 tapper, 6 tapar, -ire, 7 tapor, -our.
[OE. tapur, -or, -er: not in the cognate langs. According to Kluge, Engl. Stud. XX. 335, a dissimilated form of *papur, ad. L. papyrus, which in glossaries (a 1100) is rendered ‘taper’, and in some Romanic forms has the sense ‘wick of a candle’, for which the pith of the papyrus was used. See Körting No. 6852.]
1. a. Originally, A wax candle, in early times used chiefly for devotional or penitential purposes; now spec. a long wick coated with wax for temporary use as a spill, etc. to hold a taper to the devil: cf. candle n. 5 b.
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxvi. 258 He hiene onælð mid ðæm tapore [Hatton MS. tapure] ðæs godcundan lieᵹᵹes. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 202 Wex oððe taperas, ᵹesihð blisse hit ᵹetacnat. a1100Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 267/12 Lampas, leohtfæt. Candela, candel. Papirus, taper. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 47 On ure honde beren candele berninde, taper oðer candele. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 19/12 Seint Dunstones moder taper a fuyre werth a-non. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 203 To a torche or a tapre þe trinitee is lykned. c1460Brut 508 She was enioyned to open penaunce, forto go thrugh Chepe, bering a tapere in hir hand. a1512Fabyan Will in Chron. (1811) Pref. 4 That they doo purvay for .iiii. tapers of iii lb. evry pece, to brenne aboute the corps and herse for the forsaid .ii. seasons. 1530Palsgr. 279/1 Tapar of waxe, cierge. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 275 How ill this Taper burnes. 1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory 153 Very many Tapours were burning in the Church. 1653Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 36 To stoop so low, as to bear a taper before the Divel. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), Taper, a long and large siz'd Light made in form of a Pyramid made of Wax, and made use of in Churches for the most part. 1742Young Nt. Th. v. 720 Our birth is nothing but our death begun; As tapers waste, that instant they take fire. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 115 The number of tapers, which,..on festivals, were lighted in all parts of it [a church]. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 79 A glowing taper bursts into flame when plunged into oxygen.
b. fig. Something that gives light or is figured as burning; in modern use esp. a thing that gives a feeble light.
a1000Phœnix 114 in Codex Exon., Sweᵹles tapur. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 267 Tapers they are, with your sweete breathes puft out. 1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory 8 The Apostles, those holy Tapours of the primitive Church. 1646J. Hall Horæ Vac. 8 The Tapour of Devotion burnes but dimly. 1646W. Jenkyn Remora 22 God may suffer the taper of the opportunity to burn out. 1699Pomfret Poems (ed. 11) 44 The twinkling Tapers of the Night. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 87 To husband out life's taper at the close. 1808Skurray Bidcombe Hill 23 Whilst from the sky, the new-born moon display'd Her feeble taper, twinkling thro' the gloom. 1821Shelley Adonais v, And happier they..Whose tapers yet burn through that night of time In which suns perished.
2. attrib. and Comb., as taper-candlestick, taper-flame, taper-fly, taper-light, taper-spark, taper-stand, taper-stick; taper-bearer, taper-holder, taper-maker; taper-lighted adj.; † ˈtaperwort, the Great Torch Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus).
c1450in Aungier Syon (1840) 342 They schal reuerently holde them styl in ther handes, ȝe also the *taperebererars as moche as they may,..in to tyme they haue offred hem at autyr to the preste.
1847Gough & Parker Gloss. Terms Heraldry 70 The *taper-candlestick, borne in the arms of the Founders' Company..has a spike, or..a pricket, upon which the taper is placed.
1818Keats Endymion iii. 116 Like *taper-flame..He rose in silence.
1616Drummond of Hawthornden Song Poems (1656) 60 Like a *Taper-fly there burne thy Wings.
1907Daily Chron. 11 Apr. 3/7 A little pierced *taper-holder, with gadrooned edge, dated 1764.
1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 103 Let..no man sette pearchers or *taper light before the Gods. 1595Shakes. John iv. ii. 14 With Taper-light To seeke the beauteous eye of heauen to garnish, Is wastefull, and ridiculous excesse. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. viii, A taper light gleams on the floor. 1913W. de la Mare Peacock Pie 119 Lantern-light, taper-light, Torchlight.
1850Allingham Poems, Light[house] ii, Our fire and *taper-lighted room.
1396–7Abingdon Acc. (Camden) 66 Johannes *Tapermaker ‘pro Rectore de Appleton’.
1877Allingham Songs, Ball. & Stories, Pilot Boat ii, A cottage by the strand With its feeble *taper-spark.
1837Lockhart Scott vi. (1839) I. 253 His first fee..was expended on a silver *taper-stand for his mother.
1546in Hardiman O'Flaherty's Iar Connaught (1846) 230 Two candell or *tapire styckes of Shylver. 1956G. Taylor Silver v. 114 Taper Sticks. Examples do not occur in silver until the later part of the period, and are generally miniature candlesticks. 1982Nat. Art-Coll. Fund Ann. Rep. 1981 39/1 Taper-sticks were made to hold tapers for lighting candles or pipes, and generally have flat circular bases and narrow sockets.
1601Holland Pliny II. 274 The great Mullen or *Taperwort. [Cf.1578Lyte Dodoens 118 The whole top with his pleasant yellow floures sheweth like to a waxe candell or taper cunningly wrought.]
▪ II. taper, n.2|ˈteɪpə(r)|
[In sense 1, app. f. taper n.1; in other senses, app. from the vb. or adj.]
I.
1. A spire or slender pyramid; a figure which tapers up to a point.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xi. (Arb.) 108 Of the Spire or Taper called Pyramis. The Taper is the longest and sharpest triangle that is, and while he mounts vpward he waxeth continually more slender, taking both his figure and name of the fire, whose flame..is alwaies pointed.
II.
2. Gradual diminution in width or thickness in an elongated object; continuous decrease in one direction; spec. in Forestry (see quot. 1957); fig. gradual decrease of action, power, capacity, etc.
1793Smeaton Edystone L. §81 From thence its taper diminishing more slow, its sides by degrees come into a perpendicular. Ibid. §303 Iron plugs..upon a very gentle taper. 1840J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 145 They should be square, with a gradual taper to the point. 1875R. F. Martin tr. Havrez' Winding Mach. 22 To try and manufacture steel ropes with a continuous taper. 1893P. J. Carter Treatise Mensuration Timber i. 5 Long logs should be measured in two or more sections..the sections increasing..with the taper of each log. 1945G. B. Grundy Fifty-Five Years at Oxford vii. 132 A scale of taper which means the number of inches a tree decreases in girth between its base..and a point in its circumference ten or twenty feet above that. 1957Brit. Commonwealth Forest Terminol. ii. 194 Taper, the decrease in diameter of a tree bole or log from the base upwards.
3. Anything that gradually diminishes in size towards one extremity, as a tapered tube.
1882Worc. Exhib. Catal. iii. 16 Sanitary tubes, bends, junctions, tapers, sluice valves.
4. Comb., as Taper-Lock, taper-lock Mech., a proprietary name in the U.S. for a type of tapered bush (bush n.2 1 b) inserted into a pulley, sprocket, etc., to enable it to be mounted rigidly on a shaft; taper tap Mech., a tap (tap n.1 4) tapered lengthways for about two thirds of its length, used to begin the process of cutting a screw thread in a hole; taper-vice, a vice adapted to hold objects which have not parallel sides.
1954Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 4 May 31/1 Dodge Manufacturing Corporation, Mishawaka... *Taper-Lock... For machine elements to be mounted on shafts and bushings therefor. 1971Engineering Apr. 4/2 Pulleys..complete with Taper-Lock bushes for fast, easy fixing. 1971Power Farming Mar. 75/2 The new pulley illustrated incorporates the quick-fit taper-lock centre.
a1877Knight Dict. Mech. III. 2495/1 The process of screw-cutting was greatly improved by Maudslay, who introduced the practice of having three cutting edges, and using three taps, the entering *taper tap, the middle tap, and the plug tap. 1964S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes i. 24 The taper tap has a chamfer or tapered lead for a length of 8–10 threads.
1877Knight Dict. Mech. 2495 *Taper-vise.
▪ III. taper, n.3 Cotton-weaving.|ˈteɪpə(r)|
[f. tape v. + -er1.]
a. (See quot. 1891.) Also tape-sizer.
1881Instructions to Census Clerks (1885) 68 Looming and Taping Room [in Cotton Manufacture]:..Taper. Beam Flanger. Beamer. 1891Labour Commission Gloss., Tapers, those in the cotton mills who take a number of ‘beams’ or bobbins as they come from the warper,..and run them through the ‘size’ upon another beam (called the weaver's beam). When this process is complete the produce is called a ‘warp’. 1904Dundee Advert. 5 July 10 The late Mr. Eli Higham, originally a taper at a cotton mill at Sabden.
b. One who tapes or deals with tape in other occupations.
1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §304 Coil taper,..binds coils with tape. 1927Daily Express 2 Dec. 2/4 Taper,..[an] operator in charge of the insulation of armature.
Restrict Cotton-weaving to sense a in Dict. and add: c. One who records material on audio- or videotape, esp. illegally.
1980Washington Post 15 June g2/1 A study by the federal government's Copyright Royalty Tribunal reported that..the 10–17 and 18–29 age brackets each represent about a third of home tapers. 1980Economist 13 Dec. 62/2 About 10,000 British tapers were, until this year, acting legally. They had paid {pstlg}1.50..a year for a home recording licence. 1987New Yorker 6 Apr. 48/3 Griffiths would be..called to testify about his activities as a taper, and the court, if Universal had its way, would find him to be a copyright infringer. 1990Chicago Tribune 17 June 13 OK, all you home tapers: On your marks, get set, go. The Met's new ‘Der Ring der Nibelungen’, airing this week.
▪ IV. taper, n.4
see Tadpole2.
▪ V. taper, a.|ˈteɪpə(r)|
Also 5 tapre.
[f. taper n.1: perh. through the earlier taperwise: cf. quot. 1496.]
a. Diminishing gradually in breadth or thickness towards one extremity (originally, upward); becoming continuously narrower or more slender in one direction; tapering.
1496Bk. St. Albans, Fishing h j b, Thenne shaue your staffe & make hym tapre wexe [a 1450 Fysshynge with an Angle, ‘tapur wyys waxing’]. a1625Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301), Taper bore, is when a Peece is wider at the Mouth than towards the Breech. 1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. v. (1653) 24 Make thy Drain, or Trench, somewhat Taper (viz.) Narrower and Narrower downwards. 1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. vi. 113 All sorts of Stuff or work that are smaller at one end than at the other, and diminish gradually from the biggest end, is said to be Taper. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 318/1 The lower part [of a drawing iron is] Taper, ending in a point. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. vii. 54 Fair Galatea,..Tall as a Poplar, taper as the Bole. 1706Phillips (ed. 6), Taper or Tapering,..like a Cone, or Pyramid. 1758Vacation in Dodsley Collect. Poems VI. 151 If Marian chance to shew Her taper leg and stocking blue. 1770Chron. in Ann. Reg. 152/1 The body runs taper to the tail. 1821Combe Wife iii. (Chandos ed.) 330 To the fine taper fingers' ends. 1888Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. (1900) 38 The piston-head has a taper hole through it, into which the tapered end of piston-rod is forced.
b. fig. Of resources: Diminishing, becoming more and more ‘slender’. colloq. or slang. † Also, of a person: reduced in funds, short (of money).
1789J. Byng Torrington Diaries (1935) II. 88 So now, being taper of the said necessary commodity [sc. cash], I was obliged to recruit from M. Oliver. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 224/1 Just in the critical time for us, as things was growing very taper. Ibid. (1861) II. 237/1 That sort of thing soon makes money show taper.
c. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic in -ed2, as taper-bored, taper-headed, taper-limbed, taper-moulded, taper-pointed (but in some of these taper may be n.); also with a participle, as taper-grown; taper roller bearing, a roller bearing in which the rollers are tapered slightly and lie at an angle to the axis of the bearing, so as to provide resistance to thrust along the axis as well as at right angles to it.
1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 32 To know whether she be equally bored, camber, taper, or belbored. 1634–5Brereton Trav. (Chetham) 165 They are called drakes. They are taper-bored in the chamber. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 13 Bristles or prickles like whin-pricks perfectly taper-grown. 1678Phillips (ed. 4), Taper-board, in Gunnery, is when a piece is wider at the mouth than towards the breetch. 1725Philips To Miss Carteret 41 Then the taper-moulded waist With a span of ribbon brac'd. 1828J. E. Smith Eng. Flora II. 12 Leaves broad, taper-pointed, angular rather than toothed. c1843Carlyle Hist. Sk. (1898) 270 The taper-limbed Apollo figure. 1930Engineering 7 Feb. 169/3 The driving wheels..are mounted on taper-roller bearings. 1971Power Farming Mar. 50/1 The Benedict Soilmaster takes care of seed bed cultivations—and your tractor... No gears, no cranks and adjustable taper-roller bearings result in minimal maintenance.
▪ VI. taper, v.|ˈteɪpə(r)|
[f. taper n.1: cf. also taper n.2 1, of same date.]
1. a. intr. To rise or shoot up like a flame, spire, or pyramid (obs.); fig. to rise or mount up continuously in honour, dignity, rank, etc. Obs.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xi. (Arb.) 109 Like as this faire figure Of tall comely stature By his kindly nature Endeuors soft and faire To Taper in the ayre. c1645Howell Lett. I. i. ii, Sir George Villiers..tapers up apace, and grows strong at Court. 1697Wars Eng. & Fr. in Harl. Misc. (1810) X. 298 The Black Prince, having now won his spurs, and being tapered up to his full growth. 1887Pall Mall G. 7 Mar. 2/1 Might it interest him..to watch the workings of Synods all over Prussia, tapering up (if I may use the term) by a process of elimination into a General Synod and its standing committee?
†b. (?) nonce-use. ? To talk loftily. Obs.
1683E. Hooker Pref. Pordage's Mystic Div. 103 How magnificously soever wee bragg and vapor and taper of our Reason, or Faith, Intellect, intelligibl Ideas and æternal Verities.
2. a. intr. To narrow or diminish gradually in breadth or thickness towards one end; to grow smaller by degrees in one direction. Const. away, off, etc.
1610[see tapering vbl. n.]. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 27 The Castle,..situated on a little hill of an oval figure, that tapers from the bottom to the top. 1797S. James Narr. Voy. 164 A beautiful river, which tapers away..into a pleasant rivulet. 1815Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1842) I. 127 Peaks of great height and magnitude, which do not taper to a point. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 420 The bundles taper off gradually and terminate below the apex of the leaf. 1886Law Rep. 32 Chanc. Div. 72 A strip [of land] tapering from a width of twelve inches to a point.
b. fig. to taper off (taper away, taper down): To become gradually less in intensity, etc.; also colloq. to leave off a process or habit by degrees, esp. to diminish gradually the quantity or potency of one's drink.
1848J. F. Cooper Oak-Openings I. iv. 66 It's hard to give up old habits, all at once. If I could only taper off on a pint a day, [etc.]. 1848Webster Let. 18 Sept., in Corr. (1857) II. 285 My catarrh has been..severe. I hope it will soon begin to taper off. 1860Russell Diary India II. xii. 218 We saw him tapering away till he appeared a mere speck, as he went down the mountain-side, and finally disappeared altogether. 1871G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. iii. 109 He makes..an unavailing effort to ‘taper off’ [from the use of ardent spirits]. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 947 If [the murmur] begin with the diastole of the heart and taper off during the pause, it is an easy sign to interpret. 1903Smart Set IX. 12/2, I had been drinking hard for six months, and there was no such thing as clipping it short all at once. I had an idea of tapering off. 1960Wall St. Jrnl. 18 Nov. 13/1 Carloadings ‘taper down’ starting in mid-November, when the bulk of Christmas shipping has been completed. 1971Daily Tel. 4 Aug. 2/7 The deal is worth nearly {pstlg}4-a-week more to the lower grades tapering down to {pstlg}2 at the top end.
3. a. trans. To reduce gradually and regularly in breadth or thickness in one direction; to make tapering.
1675Hobbes Odyssey 106 They smooth'd and taper'd it, as I would have it. 1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 315 This Bar..is tapered away. 1802Beddoes Hygëia vii. 42 As if the narrow chest had been lengthened or tapered out into neck. 1860All Year Round No. 57. 159, I taper the point of my pencil. 1875R. F. Martin tr. Havrez' Winding Mach. 26 A specimen of this sort of rope..was tapered in a length of 25 metres from ·30 metre at one end down to ·18 at the other.
b. fig. To reduce gradually in quantity; to diminish by degrees: esp. with off, down.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 419 The best method..would be to ‘taper off’ the daily amount of drink. 1971Daily Tel. 2 Aug. 7/8 There is speculation that the Government investment..in tracked hovercraft is to be tapered off. 1977Lancet 23 Apr. 909/2 Oral prednisolone, 1 mg/kg/day, was resumed and rapidly tapered down to 0·5 mg/kg/day. |