| 释义 |
feeder|ˈfiːdə(r)|
[f. feed v. + -er1.]
One who or that which feeds.
1. a. One who feeds or supplies food to (a person or animal); formerly often in contemptuous use, one who maintains (a parasite, a spy, etc.).
1579Twyne Phisicke agst. Fort. i. lxiv. 88 b, Often calling his Feeder by his name, and the better to perswade hym, flatteryng hym with [etc.]. 1616Rich Cabinet 130 The horsse remembers..his feeder. 1653Milton Hirelings Wks. (1851) 387 Idleness, with fulnes of Bread, begat pride and perpetual contention with thir Feeders the despis'd Laity. 1683Loyal Observator 11 His feeders..have..put him upon another jobb. 1725Pope Odyss. xiv. 461 Those who..Blaspheme their feeder. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. xv, Your Playing-up toady, who, unconscious to its feeder, is always playing up to its feeder's weaknesses. 1834Brit. Husb. I. viii. 203 The feeder should be provided with an elastic ramrod. 1865Kingsley Herew. (1866) I. x. 229, I am Hereward, the land-thief—sea-thief—the feeder of wolf and raven. 1868Geo. Eliot Sp. Gipsy 269 A handsome steed..Neighs to new feeders.
b. Sport. A trainer (of cocks or horses). ? Obs.
1781P. Beckford Hunting (1802) 57, I have inquired of my feeder..how he mixes up his meat. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 55 The long main between the gentlemen of Staffordshire, Gosling feeder, and the gentlemen of Lancashire, Gilliver feeder, was won by the former.
c. transf. and fig.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. v. 66 The Tutor and the Feeder of my Riots. 1616Hayward Sanct. Troub. Soul i. ii. (1620) 30 The comforts thereof are..feeders thereof with sweet poison. 1634M. Sandys Prudence 176 Flattery..is the poysoning of Mans vnderstanding, the Feeder of humors. 1824Lamb Elia ii. Blakesmoor in H―shire, The solitude of childhood..is the feeder of love. 1849The Florist 319 Numerous fibrous roots..act as feeders. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 291 Feeders, in pilot slang, are the passing spurts of rain which feed a gale. 1887Garnsey tr. De Bary's Fungi 358 The plant or animal on which a parasite lives is termed its host or feeder.
2. a. One who or that which eats or takes food; an eater; usually with adj. prefixed, as large, quick, etc. Also, feeder upon (a specified food).
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 106 Thone beyng an eater greedy and greate, Thother a weake feeder. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 392 He..was a very large feeder. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. vi. 98 The missell thrush, or feeder upon misseltoe. 1655Walton Angler (ed. 2) 277 He [the barbel] is a curious feeder. 1718Rowe tr. Lucan 302 The rav'nous Feeders riot at their ease. 1733Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. vii. §2 (1734) 186 No..full Feeder was ever opened, but he was found with some gross Fault in his Liver. 1798R. Parkinson Experienced Farmer I. 175 They [Downs Sheep] are..quick feeders. 1847F. Parkman Oregon Trail xxv. (1872) 352 The carcass was completely hollowed out by these voracious feeders. 1885Clodd Myths & Dr. ii. iv. 165 The New Zealanders..were systematic feeders on human flesh.
b. One who eats at another's expense; a person dependent upon another for his food; a servant.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iv. 99, I will your very faithfull Feeder be. a1625Fletcher Nice Valour iii. i, Now servants he has kept, lusty tall feeders.
c. transf. Of a plant; also of a flame.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 133 The latter [potato] being a more tender feeder. 1878Browning Poets Croisic 1 Flame the stealthy feeder! 1882The Garden 4 Feb. 87/3 The Fig..is a gross feeder.
d. pl. Cattle for feeding off or fattening.
1796W. Marshall Midland Counties Gloss., Feeders..fatting cattle. 1881Chicago Times 1 June, Stockers and feeders were dull.
e. dial. One who grows abnormally fat.
1886S.W. Linc. Gloss., The whole family of them are feeders.
3. An instrument, organ, or appliance for feeding (senses 1 and 2):
a. a spoon (slang); a child's feeding bottle; a bib;
b. Entom. one of the organs composing the mouth-parts.
a.1811Lexicon Balatronicum, Feeder, a spoon. To nab the feeder; to steal a spoon. 1821D. Haggart Life (ed. 2) 69, I do not remember what became of the feeders. Ibid. 73, I bought two wedge table-feeders. 1886S.W. Linc. Gloss., Feeder, a child's bib; also a feeding-bottle, or cup with a lip. 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 80/1 Children's Feeders..fancy printed designs... Size 10 × 12. 1932D. C. Minter Mod. Needlecraft 246/1 Feeder. Oblong 9{pp} × 12{pp} with neck hollowed out..plaited cord sewn on for tying. 1966Price List (Olney Amsden & Sons) 1 Bibs and Feeders. Plastic..Feeders..12/- dozen.
b.1826Kirby & Spence Introd. Entom. IV. 308 Feeders retracted (Trophi retracti) when in a perfect mouth the Trophi are not capable of being much pushed out or drawn in. Feeders retractile, when..the Trophi can be considerably pushed forth or drawn in.
4. a. One who attends to the feeding of a flock; a herdsman, shepherd. ? Obs.
1611Bible Gen. iv. 2 Abel was a keeper [margin feeder] of sheep. 1710Philips Pastorals v. 9 When, with the Flocks, their Feeders sought the Shade. 1807G. Chalmers Caledonia I. ii. vi. 309 They had only advanced..from being hunters, to being feeders of flocks.
b. fig.
a1400–50Alexander 2961 Is þis noȝt Philip son þe firs þe fedare of grece? 1413Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxix. (1859) 62 O thou wretchyd herd and fals feder of the hows Israel. c1430Life St. Kath. (1884) 98 He ys my God my louer and my feder. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxxi. (1611) 438 They are commanded to bee..leaders, feeders, superuisors amongst their owne. 1659Torriano, Pastóre..a Pastor or a Preacher, as it were a Feeder of souls.
5. a. One who feeds up or fattens (an animal), esp. one whose business it is to feed cattle for slaughter.
c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. iv. (1869) 2 A foulere oþer a feedere of briddes. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 176 In fatting of Geese..The Jews.. are esteem'd the skillfullest Feeders that be. 1893Daily News 15 Feb. 5/8 The trade would become paralysed and both feeders and labourers suffer immensely.
†b. humorously. A crammer, tutor. Obs.
1766Goldsm. Vic. W. vii, Mr. Thornhill came with..his chaplain and feeder. 1787Gentl. Mag. LVII. 869/2 A Feeder, by which is meant a person who..crams into the head of a candidate for a degree certain ideas which [etc.]. [1848Dickens Dombey Mr. Feeder, B.A.]
6. a. A stream which flows into another body of water; a tributary; also attrib., as feeder-stream.
1795J. Phillips Hist. Inland Navigation Addenda 94 To make navigable the cut or feeder from the town of Wendover, to join the canal at Bulbourne. Ibid. 97 No water to be taken from the feeders of the river Witham. 1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. IV. 249 An immense torrent..becoming one of the feeders of the Lake. 1826J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 48 Just as I had cleared the feeder-stream..up springs a reindeer. 1832Act 2–3 Will. IV, c. 65 §5 The point at which a burn or feeder joins a loch. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 37 The Kennet..is one of the main feeders of the Thames.
transf. and fig.
1817J. Scott Paris Revisited (ed. 4) 12 The downfall of great states has usually been produced by a disregard of the sources of alienation, and the feeders of discontent. 1861Max Müller Sc. Lang. ii. 49 Dialects have always been the feeders rather than the channels of a literary language. 1868J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 71 As a feeder to this great college, Wolsey founded another. 1893Times 27 Apr. 9/5 The Post office actually increases the business of the banks by acting as a feeder.
b. spec. ‘A water course which supplies a canal or reservoir by gravitation or natural flow’ (W.).
1825Beverley Lighting Act ii. 11 Canal, aqueduct, feeder, pond. 1837Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 201 The feeder is constructed so as to promote a current in its waters to the head of the reservoir. 1866Cornhill Mag. Mar. 367 Another sweet-water canal, which is to be an essential feeder of the principal channel.
c. In wider sense: A centre or source of supply. In quots. fig.
1817Coleridge Lay Serm. 377 Our religious opinions, out of which..all our other opinions flow, as from their spring-head and perpetual feeder. 1872O. W. Holmes Poet. Breakf.-t. iii. (1891) 80 The sources from which a man fills his mind,—his feeders, as you call them.
attrib.1892Pall Mall G. 26 Sept. 5/1 Looking down..from the edge of the great glacier-feeder basin.
d. A branch road, railway line, air service, etc., linking outlying districts with the main lines of communication. Freq. attrib. (see 12).
1855Chicago Times 25 Jan. 2/3 This road has many lateral roads as feeders to it. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Feeder,..a branch railway, running into the main⁓trunk line. 1882Daily Tel. 8 Nov. 5/7 It is proposed to construct lines of a less substantial character, to act as feeders to the main lines. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 445/1 The construction..of branch [railway] lines..forming feeders. 1904Belloc Old Road 105 It was a branch track..one of the many ‘feeders’ which confuse the record of the Old Road. 1961Guardian 29 Apr. 12/1 The airport [at Birmingham] will act as a feeder for Manchester and London.
7. Mining.
a. A smaller lode falling into the main lode or vein.
1728Nicholls in Phil. Trans. XXXV. 403 Small Branches opening into them in all Directions; which are by the Miners term'd, the Feeders of the Load. 1805Mushet ibid. XCV. 165 Towards the feeder it seemed loose and crumbly. 1869R. B. Smyth Goldfields Victoria 610 Feeder, a spur falling into a reef increasing..its size and richness.
b. An underground spring or runner of water.
1702Savery Miner's Friend 35 When once you know how large your feeder or spring is. 1789Brand Newcastle II. 679 They know when any feeder of water is pricked. 1892Daily News 16 Mar. 5/7 Abnormally heavy feeders of water.
c. A stream of gas escaping through a fissure in the ground; a blower.
1881in Raymond Mining Gloss. 1883in Gresley Coal-mining Terms 104.
8. One who or that which supplies material for consumption or elaboration.
a. One who ‘feeds’ material to a machine.
1676Beal in Phil. Trans XI. 584 By this..may two work⁓men, and one feeder, grind 20 bushels of Apples in an hour. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 155 The person who attends this machine..is called the feeder. 1886Pall Mall G. 18 June 5/1 On a raised platform stands the feeder, with his spade, and it is his duty to shovel the quartz into the hopper. 1888Jacobi Printers' Voc. 43 Feeder, the lad who lays on the sheets in a printing machine.
b. The player who tosses the ball to the batsman (in ‘Rounders’ and similar games). Hence, the name of a particular game resembling rounders.
1844Boy's Treasury 17 The players next toss up for the office of feeder. Ibid. 18 This game [Rounders] differs from feeder only in the following particulars. 1875‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports iii. i. iv. §1. 686 The feeder is allowed to feign a toss of the ball.
c. An apparatus or a portion of an apparatus, often in the form of a hopper, into which the material to be treated is placed in order to be supplied to the machine in regulated quantities.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 51 Observe whether it will hold out..and accordingly proceed and rectifie the Feeder. 1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 79 The feeder, which coming from an air-tight vessel..full of oil, it drops slowly into the centre of the iron vessel. 1870Public Opinion 16 July 81 The new feeder is a single-acting plunger pump. a1877Knight Dict. Mech. I. 829/1 Feeder,..a device with fingers which take the top sheet from a pile and lead it into the press where it is printed, [etc.]. Also a device by which blanks are taken successively from a pile and carried into an envelope-machine, [etc.]. 1892P. Benjamin Mod. Mech. 859 Automatic..feeder..to feed the grain easily. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 326/1 Feeder, a mechanical appliance for supplying broken rock or crushed ore..to some form of crusher or concentrator.
d. The lower chamber in an organ bellows which supplies the upper chamber or reservoir with wind.
1852Seidel Organ 36 The lower one, called the feeder..when pressed down, produces the wind. 1870E. J. Hopkins Organ 14.
e. Naut. A reserved compartment between decks for filling up the vacancy in the hold caused by the settling down of grain, etc.
1890Daily News 10 Dec. 5/8 The cargo was secured in the usual way..seven large feeders in the 'tween-decks.
9. Metal-casting.
a. (See quot. 1858.) Also attrib., as feeder-head.
b. ‘The opening made in a foundry mould for the introduction of the feed rod’ (Lockwood).
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade 149/2 Feeder..a large head or supply of fluid iron to a runner or mould in heavy castings. 1892Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. Terms 136 Feeder head..a mass of metal which has been utilised for feeding a mould. 1928W. Rawlinson Mod. Foundry Op. & Equip. xviii. 255 For heavy castings, a feeder (or feeders) of suitable size and shape..is employed, this feeder being located to connect to the top of the casting or to the part of thickest section. 1928Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CXVII. 404 A refractory-lined feeder head is invariably used. 1958Ibid. CLXXXIX. 263/2 It is generally held that the feeder head is useful because products of flotation from the ingot body rise into that part, which is eventually scrapped. 1960R. Lister Decorative Cast Ironwork ii. 24 Another reason for the presence of the sprue and pouring basin is to provide a reservoir to ensure that there is sufficient metal to fill out every part of the mould cavity. For the same reason a riser, feeder, feeding head, or shrink head may be used.
10. Electrical Engineering.
a. A heavy untapped main for carrying electrical energy to a distribution point or system.
b. A branch-wire to supply a house, etc. An electrical connection between an aerial and a transmitter or receiver of electromagnetic waves.
1886G. Kapp Electric Transm. Energy viii. 213 Another kind of junction..is the so-called ‘junction safety catch box’, designed for connecting so-called ‘feeders’ with certain points in the network of mains. 1892Electrical Engineer 16 Sept. 287/2 The Northampton Electric Light and Power Company have equal weights of distributing mains and feeders. 1928Sterling & Kruse Radio Man. xiv. 529 The single wire transmission line type of feeder requires that the feeder be connected to the antenna at a voltage loop. 1930H. P. Seelye Electrical Distribution Engin. vi. 82 In the general distribution in the built-up districts of a large town or city, it is usually advantageous to divide the territory served into distinct feeder areas. 1954E. Molloy Radio & Telev. Engin. Ref. Bk. xxi. 24 Co-axial and twin feeders in general communication use for television reception will reduce the signal by about half (6 db) if 200 ft. is used. 1962B.S.I. News Sept. 21 Two-pin connectors for balanced television feeders. 1968‘E. McBain’ Fuzz xii. 188 Into this substation ran high⁓voltage supply cables (‘They're called feeders,’ Ahmad said) from a switching station.
11. Theatrical. (See quot. 1886.)
1866W. Davidge Footlight Flashes xvii. 220 Not a scene that wasn't a complete feeder from beginning to end. 1886Stage Gossip 70 A part or character that is constantly giving cues for another character to ‘score off’ or ‘cannon off’ is known as a ‘feeder’. 1957Oxf. Compan. Theatre (ed. 2) 106/1 The comedian..was assisted also..by..the straight man or ‘feeder’, who was dressed in perfect evening attire.
12. attrib. and Comb. (sense 6 d) feeder airport, feeder line, feeder liner, feeder plane, feeder railway, feeder road, feeder service; feeder ear, a metal fitting attached to a tramway contact wire. Also, feeder-head (see sense 9 a), -stream (sense 6).
1962Aeroplane CIV. 13/1 Colchester industrialist, Mr. Geoffrey Woods has purchased the disused R.A.F. airfield at Wormingford and is to hold it in trust for the town for future development as a ‘feeder’ airport. 1970Daily Tel. 10 July 12 The Plymouth City Council is proposing to construct a ‘feeder’ airport in a beautiful situation only a mile from the edge of the town.
1924Roget Dict. Electr. Terms 87/2 Feeder ear, a special type of trolley wire ear to which a feeder is connected.
1895Westm. Gaz. 6 June 6/2 The policy of building what are known as feeder lines is one that is much advocated by politicians who take an active interest in the future of India. 1903Earl of Cromer in Daily Chron. 30 Jan. 5/5, I want feeder lines to Kassala. 1922Flight XIV. 198/1 Once the airship service was started, branch or feeder lines operated with aeroplanes or seaplanes would be established almost at once. 1969Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 452/1 Lighter feeder-line transport in production and world-wide service.
1946Aeroplane Spotter 16 Nov. 266/1 Twenty de Havilland Doves have been ordered by the Argentine Government; these will be used as ‘feeder liners’, operating in conjunction with the Vickers Vikings operating the main routes. 1949Flight 24 Nov. 683 The C.A.S.A. group in Spain has developed the Type 201 Alcotan, as a feederliner and crew trainer. 1971J. Stroud World's Airliners xiii. 109 Switzerland has produced a successful feederliner.
1934Flight 15 Feb. 148/2 The company will operate without a Government subsidy and will employ..two feeder planes.
1959Observer 8 Nov. 5/1 You start at a roundabout..on a strange feeder road..only two lanes in width. 1961Architect & Building News 21 June 813 It is possible to drain traffic smoothly away into great feeder roads and motorways.
1933Meccano Mag. Feb. 111/1 ‘Feeder’ air services are now being operated in conjunction with both the Indian and African Empire air mail services. 1934Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVIII. 508 Small in total prospect, but first in present availability, comes airport feeder service. Vertical flight would enable air travellers to take off from the centre of the city for transfer to air liners at the outlying airports. 1958Times 21 Apr. 14/5 Special road feeder services were provided on numerous occasions for long distance rail excursions. 1971Nature 19 Feb. 518/2 The best arrangement yet for using super⁓sonic transports—a shuttle service between Newfoundland or Maine and Ireland, with subsonic feeder services from the terminals. |