| 释义 |
▪ I. escort, n.|ˈɛskɔːt|
Also 6 eskert (eskart), 8 escorte.
[a. Fr. escorte, ad. It. scorta, f. scorgere to conduct:—late L. type *excorrigĕre, f. ex out + corrigĕre to set right.]
1. a. Mil. A body of armed men accompanying a traveller or travellers (whether for protection or surveillance, or as a mark of honour), or serving as a guard or convoy for baggage, provisions, treasure, etc.
1579Fenton Guicciard. xviii. 1077 The bands..had ouerthrowen the eskert [ed. 1599 eskart] or garde [orig. scorta] of victuals. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4458/2 The Horses and Waggons..began their March with an Escorte of 2000 Foot and 800 Horse. 1802C. James Milit. Dict., Escort of Deserters consists..of a corporal and three rank and file. 1810Wellington in Gurw. Disp. VI. 470 And Colonel Trant with his division attacked the escort of the military chest. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 496 Not with an army but with a mere escort of strangers.
b. Naut. A warship, or group of warships, accompanying merchant ships or other vessels for protection. Also used of aircraft in a similar role. Freq. attrib., as escort carrier, escort destroyer, escort vessel; so escort duty, escort work. Also with defining word, as convoy escort, surface escort.
1914Sphere 31 Oct. 121/2 Numerous letters have now been received from men in the torpedo boat destroyers. One writes: ‘We are doing patrolling duties...’ Another says: ‘After a period as escorts for transports we are now having a change.’ 1918Ibid. 9 Mar. 223 (caption) Some British battleships at sea with their escort of protecting destroyers. Ibid. 30 Mar. 273 (caption) A convoy escort returning to port. Ibid. 29 June 234/2 Two British destroyers..which formed the anti-submarine escort, at once engaged the enemy vessels. 1919L. Freeman Sea-Hounds v. 129 As I heard one of the men put it, it was the ‘bruisiest’ bit of escort-work they had ever been..called upon to face. 1923W. S. Churchill World Crisis I. xxi. 496 The First Cruiser Squadron..had been..employed on escort duties at sea. 1938Jane's Fighting Ships p. v, The heavily armed escort vessel Egret obviously designed to protect convoys against air attack. 1944Jane's All World's Aircraft 1943–44 25a/2 The new class of Escort Carriers..adapted for flying operations by installing a ‘flat top’ deck. 1948Jane's Fighting Ships 1947–48 222 New Construction Programme, 1948–50. Six escort destroyers to be laid down. 1954S. W. Roskill War at Sea 1939–1945 I. xvii. 358 The tactical employment of air escorts was now being improved steadily. Ibid., Aircraft employed as convoy escorts or on anti⁓submarine patrols. Ibid., Surface escorts..were being formed into Escort Groups in the Western Approaches Command. Ibid. xxi. 464 It was now possible to provide convoys with an average strength of five anti-submarine escorts.
c. Aeronaut. A fighter aircraft used to accompany bombers; usu. attrib., as escort fighter.
1946A. Lee German Air Force i. 11 Messerschmitt 110..As a long-range day escort fighter it was to fail. 1965New Statesman 30 Apr. 690/3 The rapid conversion of the Mustang into a long-range escort.
2. transf.
a. A number of persons, or often a single person, accompanying any one on a journey for the purpose of protection or guidance, or for courtesy's sake.
1745Fortunate Orphan 33 Five Women, who had no other Escorte than a Recollet, this Jeweller, and a Youth of sixteen. 1754Richardson Grandison (1760) V. 61, I could not be so welcome to you as your escorte, as..I should be to Miss Byron and her friends, as her guest. 1847James J. Marston Hall xii, The encounter with the courier and his escort had taken place. a1860Wraxall tr. R. Houdin xviii. 263 The ladies in waiting and the lady patronesses formed the royal escort.
b. A person (usu. a man) accompanying a woman to a dance, party, etc.
1936Lit. Digest 12 Dec. 29/1 The escort merely announces himself downstairs at the client's address and presently she appears. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xvii. 267 Miss O'Shea was drinking ginger-beer and her escort had a shandy. 1955T. Sterling Evil of Day viii. 95 The forget-me-not corsage..she had bought for herself, explaining to her escort that gardenias gave her a headache. 1955J. P. Donleavy Ginger Man (1956) xi. 95 I've just walked into a bar, and I was frightened to death that the barman would tell me that women without escorts couldn't come in.
3. abstr. Attendance in the capacity of an escort.
1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. v. 97 To make him desire Cooper's escort. 1858J. Martineau Studies Chr. 221 The elder deities were compelled to..attend in escort to the Eastern idol.
▸ A person hired through an agency to provide companionship or (esp. in later use) to act as a sexual partner; (euphem.) a prostitute. Freq. attrib., as escort agency, escort girl, escort service, etc.
1874Bucks County (Pa.) Gaz. 14 May 2/3 She must go to the Escort Bureau and pay the price... A first-class dancing man brings five dollars... A theatre escort brings only two dollars. 1924Los Angeles Times 9 Jan. iii. 1/4 When a damsel is seized with a sudden desire to attend a cabaret or hotel dinner-dance, all she will have to do is call the nearest escort agency. 1941Los Angeles Times 27 May ii. 20/6 Another member of the [vice] squad, also had an escort girl sent to the hotel... She..took off all her clothes and got into bed. 1953Chicago Daily Tribune 14 Sept. i. 2/5 Some of the ring's female ‘escorts’ were young women who held jobs as stenografers and typists during day hours, and turned to prostitution at night. 1997E. White Farewell Symphony (1998) vi. 257, I was so desperate..that I ordered up a hustler. In a gay paper I'd seen an ad for an escort agency. 2004Federal Reporter (U.S.) (3rd Ser.) 3781286 A web-based escort service which allowed customers to select a particular prostitute from pictures posted on a website.
▪ II. escort, v.|ɛˈskɔːt|
[f. prec. n.; cf. Fr. escorter, It. scortare.]
trans. To act as escort to. a. Mil. of armed men; Naut. of a convoy. b. In wider sense: To accompany for the purpose of protecting or conducting, or of showing civility.
a.1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4478/3 Yesterday the Troops that escorted our Foragers, met with several of the Enemy's Parties. 1761–2Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lx. 539 The herring busses were escorted by twelve men of war. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 636 He was escorted by a body⁓guard under the command of Sarsfield.
b.1742Dunkin in Francis Horace's Sat. i. ix, In private haunt, in public meet, Salute, escort him through the Street. 1754Richardson Grandison II. iv. 50 To escorte and guide me through this wood. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxi, Catharine, escorted by old Henshaw and a groom of the Knight of Kinfauns. 1888M. E. Braddon Fatal Three i. ii, He had escorted her to the first of her parties.
c. To ‘keep company’ or ‘walk out’ with (a woman). U.S.
1890Harper's Mag. Oct. 716/2 A whisper also went the rounds that Dick Jones was escorting Miss Turner.
Hence eˈscorting ppl. a., that escorts. eˈscortment, the action of escorting.
1870Pall Mall G. 7 Nov. 7 The official list of the escorting officers. 1775Adair Amer. Ind. 303 One of the warriors was sent to accompany me..by way of escortment. |