| 释义 |
▪ I. traffic, n.|ˈtræfɪk|
Forms: α. 6 traffigo, -ygo. β. 6 trafycke, (Sc. trafek, -eque, -eck); 6–7 trafick, -icke, 7–9 trafic. γ. 6 traffyque, -yk(ke, -icc, (Sc. traffeck, treffik, trefique), 6–7 trafficke, -ike; 6–8 trafficque, -ique, (Sc. traffect), traffick, 6– traffic.
[In use soon after 1500, in various forms, cognate with the 15–16th c. F. trafique (1441 in Godef.), trafficque (fem.), mod.F. trafic (m.) (Amyot 1559–74); Prov. trafec, trafey; Sp. tráfico, in 16th c. tráfago; Pg. tráfego, tráfico; It. tráffico, also, in 15–16th c. trafico (Florio), Venetian (c 1500) traffigo. The earliest Eng. forms are traffykke and traffigo (the latter as an alien word); the ordinary forms from 1549 to c 1680, trafficque, -ique, -icke, -ike, less usually traf-, were from the French of the same period; traffick, rare before 1600, became frequent in the 17th c. and in the form traffic the prevalent one in the 18th c. Some curious Sc. forms occur in the 16th c. The F. traf(f)ic was ad. It. traffico, which occurs in Pisan documents as early as 1323 (Bonaini, Statuti inediti della citta di Pisa dal xii al xiv secolo (1847) III. 457). OF. had also trafit, pl. -itz (1440 in Godef. Compl.). The n. appears to have been the noun of action from the verb, It. trafficare, Sp. trafagar, Cat. trafegar to traffic, the ultimate source and etymology of which present difficulties: see Note below.]
1. a. The transportation of merchandise for the purpose of trade; hence, trade between distant or distinct communities; commerce.
1506Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 61 We founde also at Candy .ij. other galyes, Venysyans, ladynge maluesyes, called the galeys of Traffygo. Ibid., We made sayle ayen, and so dyde the other .ij. galeys of Traffigo also in our company. 1549Thomas Hist. Italie A j b, How commodious the countrey is..to the trafficque of them that liue by merchaundise. 1568Grafton Chron. I. 129 That passage and traffique of Marchaunts was forboden. 1596Spenser F.Q. vi. xi. 9 Merchants..wount To skim those coastes for bond⁓men there to buy, And by such trafficke after gaines to hunt. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 38 A citie..to quhilke the frenche men and Spaniȝeards oft because of thair treffik sailed ouir. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xix. 180 The greatest part of the habitation of the coast entertaines all the traffike of Spaine by sea. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 43 Vessels of Traffique and Warre. 1651Howell Venice 83 That the Venetians shold have free and safe trafic into the Pontick Seas. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. 296 It was not the Way to or from any Part of the World, where the English had any Traffick. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 7 Cadiz,..where the ancient and modern systems of traffic were blending like the mingling of the two oceans.
†b. (with pl.) A trading voyage or expedition.
a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 241 Thether was one of their common trafficques and ventes of all their Merchaundice. 1598Hakluyt (title) The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiqves and Discoueries of the English Nation.
2. a. In wider sense: The buying and selling or exchange of goods for profit; bargaining; trade.
1568Grafton Chron. I. 4 The honest and simple doings that before tyme had bene vsed..in their exchaunges and traffiques. 1604R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Traffique, bargayning. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. iii. 210 The maner of the Indians trafficke..was to exchange, and give things for things. 1697Evelyn Numism. i. 3 Antient Moneys..first used in Trafick. 1727W. Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 396 Traffick then is the Bartering, Bargaining, or Exchanging of one Man with another. 1786Burke W. Hastings Wks. 1813 XII. 202 Engaged in a low, clandestine traffick, prohibited by the laws of the Country. 1844Wilson Brit. India III. 128 After a brief interval, Prome again became the seat of industry and traffic.
b. With a and pl.
1578T. Ellis in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 40 We did coniecture, that they had either Artificers amongst them, or els a traffike with some other nation. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. xxx. 426 Those which made it a trafficke to buy and sell slaves. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxii[i], She..had now, under pretence of a trifling traffic, resumed predatory habits.
c. fig.
1505Killingworth in Lett. Rich. III & Hen. VII (Rolls) II. App. D. 381 As for K[ing] H[enry's] traffykkes they knewe theym wele ynough and better than ye did. 1570Buchanan Chamæleon Wks. (1892) 46 The ouersey trafficque of mariage growing cauld. 1633Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) 139 Surely this very traffic of faculties is that, whereby we live;..one man lends a brain; another an arm: one, a tongue; another, a hand. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 227 The bees have common cities of their own,..beneath one law they live, And with one common stock their traffic drive. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xli, I am stout enough to exchange buffets with any who will challenge me to such a traffic.
d. With sinister or evil connotation: Dealing or bargaining in something which should not be made the subject of trade.
1663Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxi. (1687) 220 Their courtesies are meer traffique, and they always expect to gain more than they give. 1702Eng. Theophrast. 105 They make a Traffick of Honour, and pay for it with the wind of fair Words. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 60 In this political traffick the leaders will be obliged to bow to the ignorance of their followers. 1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 686 It is notorious, that seats in the House of Commons are an article of traffic. 1880Mrs. Forrester Roy & V. I. 19 You make the most shameless traffic and barter of yourselves and each other. 1903Westm. Gaz. 31 Dec. 2/3 Fruits of ‘the traffic’ occupy a prominent place in to-day's Metropolitan police-court reports. Mod. The white slave traffic; a traffic in souls and bodies.
e. In phr. (as much as) the traffic will bear or stand and varr.: (as much as) the trade or market will tolerate, as much as is economically viable. Also fig.
1931L. Steffens Autobiogr. v. ii. 853 His wage-earners had their rents raised to all the traffic would bear. 1936L. C. Douglas White Banners vii. 155 We've had all the worry about you that the traffic will stand. 1964L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin xlvii. 294 How much? That's difficult. What do you think the traffic will bear? 1972Guardian 22 May 14/5 The landlord demands a deposit of anywhere from {pstlg}3 to {pstlg}150: this is based on what he thinks the traffic will stand. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 4 July 2-e/2 The invariable custom is to hire as many deputy superintendents, associate superintendents, assistant superintendents and administrative assistants as the traffic will bear. 1982T. Fitzgibbon With Love i. v. 32 The small neighbourhood shops were..willing to give credit up to a pound, but no more. They knew to a penny what the traffic would bear.
3. fig. Intercourse, communication; dealings, business. Now rare.
a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 240 The quotidiane entercourse, trafficke and commutacion, which no smal season had ben practised, frequented, & excercised. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 339 b, That secreat trafficke, that thou haste with infidels. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. Prol. 12 The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love..Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage. a1628F. Grevil Let. to Hon. Lady v. Wks. 1870 IV. 285 Shee there vseth the traffique of wit. 1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. i. xv. (1821) 173 The President..returned him no Answer.., utterly refusing any further traffique with him. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 62 Perhaps they were not hardened enough at first for the carrying on such a traffick [intercourse with Satan]. 1825Jamieson, Traffeck, intercourse, familiarity. 1893Stevenson Catriona xxviii, Our traffic is settled.
†4. transf. Goods or merchandise in which trade is done; saleable commodities. Also pl. (quot. 1604) in same sense. Obs.
1555Eden Decades 157 They bowght them by exchaunge of golde and other of their trafycke. 1560in Marsden Sel. Pl. Crt. Admir. (Selden) II. 119 In which shipps there be any merchaundizes or traffick apperteining to the ennemies. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxii. 271 The Cacao..is so much esteemed amongest the Indians (yea and among the Spaniards) that it is one of the richest and the greatest traffickes of new Spaine. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 36 A Considerable ffaire is kept.., ye Traffique mostly hopps. 1716Gay Trivia ii. 10 You'll see a draggled damsel, here and there From Billingsgate her fishy traffic bear. 1778R. Lowth Transl. Isaiah xxiii. 18 Her traffic and her gain, shall be holy to Jehovah: It shall not be treasured, nor shall it be kept in store.
†b. Baggage. Obs. rare.
1538Elyot, Impedimenta, is the caryage and trafyke, that goth with the hooste.
†c. A prostitute. Cf. trader 1 b. Obs. rare.
1591Greene Disc. Coosnage (1592) 15 These trafickes, these common truls I meane, walke abroad.
d. Worthless stuff, rubbish, trash; also, rascally people; rabble. dial.
1828Craven Gloss., Traffick, lumber, trash. ‘There wor a deal of oud traffick to sell’... Rabble, low, rascally people, the canaille. 1869Lonsdale Gloss., Traffic, (1) lumber, rubbish. (2) Rabble, low, rascally people.
5. a. The passing to and fro of persons, or of vehicles or vessels, along a road, railway, canal, or other route of transport; also with reference to air travel (usu. prefixed by air, and in Comb.: see sense 6 below); and concr., the vehicles, etc., collectively.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Traffic,..passing and re⁓passing on a high road. Ex. ‘There is a great deal of traffic on this road’. 1832H. Martineau Weal & Woe ix, He sauntered along the pier, around which there was no busy traffic. 1886C. E. Pascoe London of To-day xxvi. (ed. 3) 239 The traffic of omnibuses, cabs, carriages, and carts at this point is greater and more confusing than in any other part of London. 1894Sala London up to Date 73 We have long since agreed to call street movement ‘traffic’. 1911E. H. Hodgkinson Tyranny of Speed viii. 107 He should hear the traffic coming behind him. 1920H. B. Pratt Commercial Airships vii. 72 Terminal Stations will comprise a landing ground or aerodrome, and will be provided with housing sheds, mooring towers.., with traffic offices, gas generating and storage plant, [etc.]. 1930W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale ii. 34 There was none of the congested traffic of Jermyn Street. 1935C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 136/1 The cheaper way at intermediate towns or where traffic is light, is to assemble the passengers at a central point, and deal with them at the airport. Ibid. 402/2 They were convinced that air traffic would only succeed as a new means of transport if..international co-operation existed. 1938[see traffic control, sense 6 below]. 1951R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse xvi. 223 The traffic used to collect [in London], like lumber on a river. 1974J. A. Foster in G. P. Howard Airport Econ. Planning 5 The data to be collected should not only cover the physical facilities of the airport, but should also indicate the degree of utilization, the volume and composition of traffic, [etc.]. 1982S. Spender China Diary 104 There was only one line of traffic in each direction.
b. The amount of business done by a railway, etc., in the transport of passengers and goods; the account of or revenue from this.
1858[implied in traffic-return: see 6]. 1883Pall Mall G. 30 Nov. 5/2 It is obviously advisable that all the railways should adopt the same course, otherwise comparisons of traffic will become even more misleading than they are now. 1885Ibid. 21 Nov. 5/2 Traffics are still decreasing, and this fact is all the more discouraging from the fact that the comparison is with decreased traffics. 1905Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 9/1 Satisfaction is again expressed with this week's batch of Home Railway traffics.
c. A railway traffic-rate (rate n.1 6 b).
1899Daily News 14 Mar. 9/1 The Grand Trunk Railway unconditionally withdrew the local traffics of January 6th, and agreed for the present to revert to former rates.
d. Telecommunications. The messages, signals, etc., transmitted through a communication system; the flow or volume of such business.
1878Telegraphic Jrnl. VI. 15/2 A monopoly of cable traffic to America. 1889Telephone 15 Oct. 476/2 A Pacific Cable... The line..would find traffic enough to pay a fair interest on the investment. 1922W. F. Friedman in Bull. U.S. Signal Office Signal Corps 1 Oct. 15 In modern military operations, a considerable volume of traffic is available for interception by the enemy. 1935Times 26 Oct. 18/7 These are the busiest hours of the day, during which more than two-thirds of the daily traffic is handled. 1947, etc. [see Erlang 2]. 1977Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Feb. 222/5 British Intelligence could decipher German high-grade cipher traffic. 1978T. Allbeury Lantern Network iii. 39 He's got his own W/T operator, but sometimes you may have to take his traffic.
6. attrib. and Comb., as, in sense 2, traffic fellow, traffic instinct; in 5, traffic area, traffic block (block n. 19 a), traffic board (board n. 8 b), traffic congestion, traffic consciousness, traffic-entrance, traffic flow, traffic noise, traffic-privilege, traffic-rate, traffic return (return n. 9 c), traffic-road, traffic stack, traffic staff, traffic stream, traffic value; traffic-conscious, traffic-free adjs.; instrumental, objective, and obj. genitive, as traffic-manager; traffic-choked, traffic-congested, traffic-crammed, traffic-furrowed, traffic-laden, traffic-regulating, traffic-thronged adjs.; traffic analysis U.S., in Cryptography, the obtaining of information through analysis of patterns of communication without the decipherment of individual messages; hence traffic analyst; traffic artery orig. U.S., a main or arterial road; traffic circle orig. and chiefly U.S., a traffic roundabout; traffic cone: see cone n.1 9 b; traffic control, the regulation of traffic movement through the use of signals or direct commands from authorized persons; a service with this responsibility; in Aeronaut., also as air traffic control (see air n.1 III. 1); hence traffic controller; traffic cop colloq. (orig. U.S.) = traffic policeman below; traffic court orig. U.S., a court of law with jurisdiction over motoring offences; traffic density, the number of passengers and of tons of freight carried over any section of a railway in a given period (Webster 1911); traffic engineer orig. U.S., one who deals with the design and planning of roads and the control of traffic; hence traffic engineering; traffic island, a raised or marked area in a road to direct traffic and provide refuge for pedestrians crossing the road; traffic jam orig. U.S., a condition in which road traffic cannot proceed freely and comes to a standstill; a stoppage of traffic caused by this, or the vehicles caught in it; also fig.; hence traffic-jammed a.; traffic lane, a road carriageway for a single line of moving vehicles; an air or sea route designated as a set course for traffic in order to avoid collisions; traffic light, † (a) a light used for the guidance of aircraft (obs. rare); (b) freq. in pl., (one of) a set of lights (usu. red, amber, and green) used for automatic control of road traffic, esp. at junctions; traffic mile: see quot.; traffic offence, an infringement of the law by the driver of a motor vehicle; traffic officer = traffic policeman below; traffic pattern, (a) Aeronaut. (see quot. 1956); (b) the characteristic distribution of traffic on a route; also fig.; traffic police, that branch of the police force concerned with road traffic control; hence traffic policeman; traffic-proof a., of a horse or pony: that can be ridden safely in traffic; so traffic-proof v. trans.; traffic sign, a roadside sign conveying information, warnings, etc., to drivers of motor vehicles; traffic signal(s = traffic light (b) above; traffic snarl: see snarl n.1 2 b; traffic-taker, a railway official whose business is to compile traffic returns; traffic ticket U.S., an official notification of a traffic offence, issued by a traffic warden or the police; traffic warden, a person employed to enforce regulations about the parking of motor vehicles and the use of parking meters.
1937Hist. Communications Intelligence in U.S. (Naval Cryptologic Veterans Assoc.) (1982) 29 Information is obtained from communications by..methods short of cryptanalysis, i.e., *traffic analysis. 1979W. J. Holmes Double-Edged Secrets iii. 18 But until the way was cleared by Rochefort we never discussed the subject of traffic analysis.
Ibid. Traffic intelligence summaries were produced each day by two *traffic analysts.
1933Act 23 & 24 Geo. V c. 53 §27 It is expedient that the existing *traffic areas under the Road Traffic Act, 1930,..should be varied. 1977Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. xi. b (Advt. Suppl.) 7/4 Washable—great for traffic areas.
1927New Masses June 7/4 In a side street, close to one of the main *traffic arteries of the city of the Angels. 1969New Scientist 13 Mar. 560/1 These additional costs of assimilating a traffic artery into an existing urban area are themselves a massive community burden. 1977E. V. Cunningham One-Penny Orange (1978) xi. 180 In the twenties..Sunset Boulevard was a quiet carriage road and not the major traffic artery it is today.
1896Chambers's Jrnl. 26 Dec. 822/2 The slow speed and *traffic blocks in crowded streets are apt to tell considerably against electricity. 1904Daily Chron. 17 Feb. 7/2 Traffic blocks are almost unknown.
1905Westm. Gaz. 18 July 8/2 The authority which the Commission recommend to be established is a *Traffic Board.
1977Listener 23 June 809/3 An uneventful march from Speakers' Corner to a rally in Trafalgar Square. No one who took part that day was ever out of sight of one or more of the scores of so-called *traffic cameras that blanket central London and, on these occasions, are connected to the Operations Room [at Scotland Yard].
1886Pall Mall G. 19 Aug. 3/2 The *traffic-choked streets. 1971New Scientist 1 July 5/1 In traffic-choked cities the slender bike is the fastest means of getting from A to B.
1942Policy on Rotary Intersections (Amer. Assoc. State Highway Officials) 1 The name ‘*traffic circle’ is commonly applied to any intersection design based on the one-way movement of vehicles around a central area. 1970Rand Daily Mail 28 Feb. 7/5 When South Africans say ‘traffic circle’ for the Englishman's ‘roundabout’, they give precision to the language.
1934Punch 6 June 634/3 Sir William..urged *traffic-congestion which six-line bridge would bring about in Strand, and reminded his adversaries that old bridge was as much national monument as Cenotaph. 1968E. A. Powdrill Vocab. Land Planning iii. 55 The case for urban renewal might be based on one or more of the following factors:..traffic congestion, [etc.].
1948C. Greatrex in B. Vesey-Fitzgerald Bk. of Dog i. 116 The problem of making a dog *traffic-conscious is exceedingly difficult to solve... Far more dogs now possess an inborn instinct of some practical dimension, and as a result show caution and traffic consciousness. 1979G. N. Knight Indexing xiii. 176 An entry such as ‘London, its happiness before the invention of Coaches and Chairs’ induces a wry smile in our traffic-conscious age.
1936Spectator 10 Jan. 56 The British vice-consulate at Varna, Bulgaria, protests that ‘*traffic-consciousness’ is a horrid word.
1931Hansard (Commons) 6 May 385 Installations of automatic *traffic control signals. 1935Discovery Jan. 2/2 Col. O'Gorman appeals to Science for aid in assessing the improvement due to any change of traffic control, of road layout, or of road code, etc. 1938Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Year 33/1 Increasing volume of traffic forced the development of airport traffic control systems... Experiments in traffic control began almost 20 years ago (using signal lights). 1962E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) lxxi. 548 How many policemen do you have in New York? Most of ours are for traffic control. 1971Flying Apr. 13/2 With 10 airplanes on the hook in a traffic-control sector that usually has a couple. 1978L. Deighton SS-GB xxiv. 225 The six-ton mobile command-centre—on hand for traffic control during the funeral procession.
1930Engineering 25 July 106/3 Highfield automatic *traffic controller... At present the three-light system appears to be most widely favoured. 1938Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Year 33/1 A glass-enclosed tower is usually provided..to give the traffic controller a full view of the airport and its surroundings. 1963Times 20 Feb. 14/6 As a contrast to her decorative elegance there was the traffic-controller—I hesitate to say policewoman. 1973Times 20 Mar. 8/4 The statement also referred to the month-long strike by French air traffic controllers. 1977G. Markstein Chance Awakening lxvii. 209 ‘Some big shot?’ asked the RAF squadron leader... ‘Guess so,’ said the traffic controller.
1908S. Ford Side-Stepping with Shorty xiv. 227 It'll be some time before Langdon'll be pestered anymore by the *traffic cops. a1930D. H. Lawrence Phoenix II (1968) 425 One God is relative to another God until he gets into a machine; and then it's a case for the traffic cop! 1961B. Crump Hang on a Minute, Mate 23 They..returned to the truck to find a traffic cop standing by it. 1975R. Butler Where all Girls are Sweeter vi. 63 There was the usual jam on Putney Bridge... A traffic cop sorted us out.
1919Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) 11 Mar. 24/1 Approval was given last night..to the plan..to establish a *traffic court in this city. 1972R. Hood Sentencing Motoring Offender v. 105 The remainder [sc. motoring offences] would be dealt with at Traffic Courts. 1973Times 17 Oct. 20/3 A traffic court is where a motorist pays to give harmless vent to his frustrations with his car, with traffic jams and wardens, with parking regulations and with authority in general.
1959P. Bull I know Face ix. 164, I arrived at dusk in Casablanca and was driven at breakneck speed to Marrakesh along a *traffic-crammed road, stiff with the results of accidents.
1916Proc. 8th Nat. Conf. City Planning (U.S.) 69 The *Traffic Engineer's duties are along two definite lines. 1959Daily Tel. 8 May 23/3 All the committees were acting independently or their work overlapped. None was able to use the traffic engineers who were being used so effectively in the United States... There seems to be lacking in London the kind of adequately-staffed traffic engineering department which has proved essential in our large cities. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 425/1 Increasing the throughput of vehicles on an existing highway..is a field in which traffic engineers have notched up considerable successes as the demand has increased.
1931Roads & Streets Dec. 506/1 A new..occupation has been created in the last few years—that of *traffic engineering. 1959Traffic engineering [see traffic engineer above]. 1970P. Laurie Scotland Yard ii. 54 They are initiated into the mysteries of traffic engineering.
1886T. Hardy Mayor Casterbr. ix, They..entered..by the back way or *traffic-entrance.
1590Greene Royal Exchange Ded., Wks. (Grosart) VII. 223 Merchaunts wyth theyr freendes, and *traffique fellowes.
1940R. S. Lambert Ariel & all his Quality vi. 146 Broadcasting House..is responsible for a big inward and outward *traffic flow; yet there is nowhere to park a car. 1978Dumfries Courier 20 Oct. 10/3 The traffic operation and parking areas have been designed to ensure maximum traffic flow at all times.
1968R. K. Cox Retail Site Assessment xii. 140 The unfortunate word pedestrianization means the stopping-up of existing streets..and their conversion into *traffic-free areas for use by pedestrians. 1979R. Perry Bishop's Pawn viii. 137 Dieter was taken..towards Zurich along..relatively traffic-free roads.
1898G. Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 46 Their *traffic instincts hooded their live wits To issues.
1931E. E. Cummings Let. 7 Jan. (1969) 119 I've just returned from the place de la Concorde..where waited on a *traffic-island for 2½ hours. 1935L. MacNeice Eclogue for Christmas in Poems 16 On all the traffic-islands stand white globes like moons. 1982‘C. Aird’ Last Respects x. 101 The driver negotiated the traffic islands with impatience.
1917I. Crump Boys' Bk. Policemen iii. 55 He plunged into the *traffic jam at the next street. 1926Sunset Mar. 38 (heading) Traffic jams: how Western cities are trying to reduce congestion on down-town streets. 1939W. Plomer Dorking Thigh (1945) 20 With a traffic-jam outside (for they turned up in scores). 1957Economist 21 Dec. 1038/1 The Home Universities conference could hardly have chosen a more important subject for discussion last week than the traffic jam of students which piles up every summer when school leavers put in their bids for university places. 1976Liverpool Echo 7 Dec. 1/1 A Buckingham Palace spokesman said she had travelled from Sandhurst and there had been heavy traffic jams.
1964Economist 1 Aug. 476/1 They sit *traffic-jammed in the intractable streets. 1983Listener 1 Sept. 16/1, I was still sitting in my traffic-jammed car five minutes later.
1871Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 254 The stream athwart which the ferries sped their swift *traffic-laden shuttles.
1905Kipling Actions & Reactions (1909) 150 You could not hoist the necessary N.U.C. lights on approaching a *traffic-lane because your electrics had short-circuited. 1937Times 13 Apr. p. x/1 An elaborate Memorandum on the Construction and Lay⁓out of Roads, covering many subjects, including safety, standard widths, curves, gradients, traffic lanes. 1948Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LII. 90 The American omni⁓directional range which defines..traffic lanes..between zones of air traffic control at the airports of departure and arrival. 1972Daily Tel. 5 May 3 The Government is taking powers to prosecute masters of British ships caught travelling the wrong way in traffic lanes through the Straits of Dover.
1912*Traffic-light [see landing-tower s.v. landing vbl. n. 8]. [ 1920W. P. Eno Sci. Highway Traffic Regulation viii. 19 (heading) Traffic regulation lights.] 1929Sat. Even. Post 16 Nov. 145/1 T is for Traffic Light, bane of all motorists. 1934N. & Q. 3 Nov. 314/1 These signals somewhat resembled our current traffic lights. 1958J. Cannan And be a Villain i. 5 Pulling up for the traffic lights at the turning into the High Street. 1973D. Barnes See Woman i. 111 Stryker travelled northbound, cursing the traffic engineer who had planned the traffic-light sequence. 1978S. Wilson Dealer's Move vii. 116 There were road works ahead, with temporary traffic lights.
1862Helps Organiz. Daily Life 30 A skilful *traffic-manager has been suffered to be too despotic in matters of traffic.
1911Webster (citing Hadley), *Traffic mile is a term designed to furnish an excuse for the erroneous practice of adding together two things (ton miles and passenger miles) which, being of different kinds, cannot properly be added.
1971‘G. Black’ Time for Pirates vii. 112, I.. paused to listen, hearing nothing but *traffic noises.
1960Daily Tel. 29 Jan. 23/4 A ‘ticket’ system of optional fixed fines for minor *traffic offences. 1981C. Dexter Dead of Jericho xxxii. 176 Cheque for {pstlg}6, being the penalty fixed for the traffic offence detailed on the ticket.
1915Policeman's Monthly Oct. 5/1 *Traffic officers in the center of the street are subjected to many hardships. 1971Rand Daily Mail 4 Sept. 5/2 Johannesburg traffic officers will still attend motor accidents in which there is only minor damage.
1956W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 531/1 *Traffic pattern, a pattern in the air above or about an airdrome, which is normally followed under visual conditions either by aircraft prior to touchdown or by aircraft after takeoff. 1968L. O'Donnell Face of Crime viii. 106 They landed at Kennedy at 8:32..having been delayed half an hour in the traffic pattern. 1977Mod. Railways Dec. 461/3 These gentlemen cannot both be correct so, for the benefit of those of us who are not familiar with traffic patterns of these routes, would somebody please produce some evidence to prove the point one way or the other? 1977Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. xi. 14/3 But the ‘island’ arrangement—placing furniture in the middle of a room (if it's large enough), thereby leaving space to walk around it—is a good way to create a traffic pattern. 1978S. Sheldon Bloodline vi. 87 The private Boeing 707-320 was making its final approach to Kennedy Airport, gliding out of the stacked-up traffic pattern.
1906Collier's 20 Jan. 22/3 The effort to find out how it feels to be ‘regulated’ by the *traffic police of New York. 1959New Statesman 3 Jan. 6/3 He also disliked anything that gave traffic police more discretion or wider powers. 1980E. Leather Duveen Let. xi. 134 The Renault..would most certainly receive the attentions of the ever alert Traffic Police.
1917Wells Fargo Messenger Mar. 115/3 The *traffic policeman at Norman is still in doubt as to what it was that went by. 1940Auden Another Time 91 Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. 1980Listener 13 Nov. 653/1 Some of my best friends are traffic policemen.
1971Pony Mar. 347/1 A few months ago I was given the task of *traffic-proofing a pony. 1977Horse & Hound 14 Jan. 40/4 (Advt.), Gelding..Viceless, traffic proof.
1901Academy 22 June 540/1 One sight amazes him..the effect produced when the *traffic-regulating policeman raises his hand.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Traffic-return, a periodical statement of the receipts for goods and passengers on a railway line. 1912Times 19 Dec. 16/5 Canadian Pacific Railway shares opened above parity on the satisfactory traffic return.
1915Policeman's Monthly Oct. 5/1 Certain of the cities have given a great deal of thought and attention to *traffic signs and signals. 1936C. Day Lewis Noah & Waters 15 Do not be deceived by the two-faced traffic signs. 1973J. Wainwright Devil you Don't 42 McGuire threaded the Jag. through the city streets. He obeyed every traffic sign.
1917Harper's Mag. June 70/2 The Bostonian, supposedly sesquipedalian of speech, has reduced ‘a pedestrian who crosses streets in disregard of *traffic signals’ to the compact jaywalker. 1934Archit. Rev. LXXV. 184 Traffic signals did not come to Hyde Park Corner until 1932. 1981‘J. Ross’ Dark Blue & Dangerous x. 57 A traffic signal which turned red as he approached it.
1963L. Deighton Horse under Water lii. 219 It's the Seville Traffic Control Zone... If it [sc. a plane] gets mixed into that *traffic stack I'm not sure that I'll be able to sort it out.
a1930D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 264 The minorities that still see the gleam of life Submit abjectly to the blind mechanical *traffic-streams of..The stone-blind bourgeois, and the stone-blind bolshevist. 1981H. R. F. Keating Go West, Inspector Ghote xiii. 155 The monster car, slipping easily from one traffic stream to another.
1950J. D. MacDonald Brass Cupcake iii. 31 Every time you get into that car of yours, you'll get a *traffic ticket. 1979Tucson Mag. Apr. 33/2 The typical suburbanite..never goes downtown except for an occasional Community Center event or a traffic ticket to contest. 1984Miami Herald 6 Apr. 18a/1 The judge's bill suggests that, by putting a thumb print on the traffic ticket, the scofflaw might be more easy to trace.
1959Punch 25 Feb. 274/1 Any supposed similarity of function between the police and the newly-proposed *traffic wardens vanished with the official statement that the wardens ‘would help motorists to find parking space’. 1980J. McNeil Spy Game xx. 197 It was a Ford, parked by the opposite kerb on..double yellow lines. A traffic warden was..preparing to write a ticket.
Hence ˈtrafficful a., nonce-wd., fully occupied with traffic; ˈtraffickery nonce-wd. [-ery], underhand dealing, intrigue; ˈtrafficless a., devoid of traffic.
a1628F. Grevil Sidney ix. (1652) 107 Her *traffiquefull, and navigable river.
c1810Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 387 This indiscreet *traffickery with Romish wares. 1892Black & White Jan. 134/2 Stilled and *trafficless streets. [Note. It is clear that the verb and n. arose in the commerce of the Mediterranean, and in the language of one of the nations by or with whom this was carried on. The earliest uses yet found are trafficare and traffico in the Pisan Breve dell' ordine del mare, cited above, which show both vb. and n. in full established use in 1325. Etymologists are generally agreed in regarding the word as Romanic, and in seeing in the first element tra the regular It. repr. of L. trans across. Italian scholars also see in -ficare the derivative form of L. facĕre to do, make; transficare would thus be parallel to transigĕre to transact, or engage in transactions. But there are difficulties: see Diez, traffico, Körting, transvicare, etc. Some have suggested for the word an origin in Arabic, referring it to the verb taraffaqa, which sometimes means ‘to seek profit’.]
Add:[5.] e. The division of an organization responsible for traffic management; a traffic department. Chiefly U.S.
1898Times 22 Feb. 13/6 In America..what with us is a single department is split into ‘traffic’ and ‘operation’. 1983‘D. Shannon’ Exploit of Death (1984) iii. 49 He called down to Traffic—they would have the records of what went on in all the beats in Central Division.
f. Sport. A crowding or bunching together of participants in a team game, race, etc. orig. U.S.
[1974Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 27 Oct. 11-c/1 If there are no race withdrawals, 16 fiery chargers will battle it out in what promises to be fierce traffic.] 1976Webster's Sports Dict. 458/2 Traffic, a concentration of participants or players and especially defensive players. 1977Time 16 May 42/3 Jockey Jean Cruguet drove him deftly through tight traffic, then settled into a rousing back-stretch struggle with For the Moment. 1980Hoy & Carter Tackle Basketball vii. 117 The aim of the move is to lose defenders in the ‘traffic’ so that a player may drive or jump shoot. 1987Kart & Superkart Oct. 21/1 Off the line it was Bogan, Blair and Yeates who got the jump on pole man Wall, slow away and caught up in the traffic.
Add:[6.] traffic calming [tr. G. Verkehrsberuhigung], the deliberate slowing or restriction of road traffic, esp. through residential areas, by means such as narrowing or obstructing roads, or limiting use of some thoroughfares to certain vehicles (such as bicycles or public transport).
1987Abstr. European Conf. Laboratoire Théorie des Mutations Urbaines de l'Inst. Français d'Urbanisme 29 We also have very limited research on how *traffic calming does affect house prices, rents and retailing in such areas. 1987Environment Now Oct./Nov. 29/1 Traffic calming, as it is known in Britain, also involves reduced speeds and environmental improvements, but here speeds are allowed up to about 20 mph. 1988Independent 19 Dec. 17/3 The introduction of the ‘traffic-calming’ techniques now widely practised on the Continent. 1991Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 7 Mar. 14/4 Traffic calming works, residents of Red Hill said yesterday.
▪ II. traffic, v.|ˈtræfɪk|
Inflected trafficked |-ɪkt|, trafficking. Forms: see the n.
[ad. OF. trafiquer (1441 in Godef. Compl.), F. traffiquer (1529 in Hatz.-Darm.) = Cat. trafegar, Sp. traficar (in 16th c. trafagar), Pg. traficar, trafeguear, It. trafficare (known in 1325), traficare (Florio). As to etymology, see traffic n. and Note there.]
I. Intransitive senses.
1. To carry on trade, to trade, to buy and sell; to have commercial dealings with any one; to bargain or deal for a commodity. Sometimes, To resort to a place for the purpose of trade: = trade v. 6 a.
1542in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 410 They that so would bargayn or trafique pertly or oppenly with any such merchauntes. 1555Eden Decades 317 They do not gladly permitte the Portugales to trafike in theyr kyngedome. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xi. 123 b, Vnto the ports..come to traffick, the merchants of Cambaia. 1613H. Spelman Relat. Virginia in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) p. civ, Powhatan..carried our English to their store⁓house where their corne was, to traffique with them. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 53 Many Carrauans..traffiquing to the Portugall[s]. 1716Royal Proclam. 18 Oct. in Lond. Gaz. No. 5480/1 Their Factors..should..Traffick, or Adventure into or from the..East-Indies. 1769Cook Voy. round World i. ix. (1773) 93 They trafficked with us for cocoa-nuts and other fruit. 1800Wordsw. Brothers 293 He was..A thriving man, and trafficked on the seas.
b. In a disparaging sense, or said of dealing considered improper: = trade v. 6 c: cf. prec. 2 d.
c1657in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 120 [He had made more money] than any man who trafficked in that desperate commodity—rebellion. 1696Phillips (ed. 5), Trafic,..us'd figuratively in an ill Sense, for trading in Simoniacal Contracts, and making an unlawful Gain of Spiritual things. Such a one has long Traffick'd in buying and selling his Countrey. 1853J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. ii. 82 He observed that it was somewhat more honourable to destroy idols than to traffic in them. 1854J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) I. iv. 80 Beautiful and dissolute females..trafficking in their charms.
†2. fig. To have dealings or intercourse (with a person); to carry on negotiations; to be concerned, to busy or exercise oneself (in some matter). Obs.
1583Golding Calvin on Deut. cxxi. 743 But there are meanes to trafique man with man. 1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 13 (1619) 483 Who while they liue in earth, yet traffique and haue their conuersation in heauen. 1656Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 173/2 Hermodorus, of whom the Proverb, Hermodorus traffiques in Words. c1721Mrq. Tullibardine Let. 24 Jan., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 126 On no pretence I trafick in any tainting politique. 1882Jamieson, Trafeque, to hold familiar intercourse. Banffs.
b. To have dealings of an illicit or secret character; to deal, intrigue, conspire (with some one, in, for, or to do something); to practise. (Cf. 1 b.)
1567Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 569 Trafficquand with the Papis Nunce. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Scot. (1655) 164 He also trafficked by the friends of..the Dowglasses and Humes to perswade them to a Return. 1681,1735[see trafficking below]. 1852C. M. Yonge Cameos II. ii. 17 Jeanne discovered that he was trafficking with her enemies and tampering with her friends.
3. dial. (See 4 b.)
II. Transitive senses.
†4. To traverse or frequent for the purpose of trading; to carry on trade in (a place). Obs.
1547Acts Privy Counc. (1890) II. 130 The Kynges Majestes subjectes trafeking the seas. 1561Queen Elizabeth in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 362 Trade of marchandize with your Subiectes, and with other strangers traffiking your Realmes. 1611W. Sclater Key (1629) 36 Rome,..the seate of the Empire, traffiqued by all Nations.
b. To pass to and fro upon, to frequent (a road, etc.); to traverse. Also intr. To pass to and fro, walk or run about. dial.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Traffic, to frequent... ‘The new road will soon be trafficked’. 1850Merryweather Glimmerings 52 Some would venture to traffic them in the day, but few would risk such perilous thoroughfares by night. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Traffic, v. (1) To walk about without settled purpose. (2) To trespass upon other people's land. A correspondent writes, ‘Our nurse used to scold us when children for trafficking up and down stairs.’
5. To carry on a trade in, to buy and sell; to dispose of (or † acquire) in the way of trade; to deal in; often with sinister implication; in quot. 1879, to barter away. Also fig. Now rare.
1597Daniel Civ. Wars vi. xviii, Whil'st wee..Ryot away..whole Prouinces;..Traffique important Holdes, sell Fortresses. 1598Dallington Meth. Trav. N iv b, Non patiar mercatores potestatum, I will suffer none to traffique Offices. a1628F. Grevil Religion Wks. 1870 I. 272 The world doth build without, our God within; He traffics goodness, and she traffics sin. 1808Sporting Mag. XXXII. 7 An assertion..that his Lordship had trafficked a seat for the Borough of Malton. 187919th Cent. No. 32. 673 The honour of the proud house of Este was being basely trafficked away. 1893S. Lane-Poole Aurengzib xii. 200 The young Prince was suspected of trafficking the Imperial honour with the Marathas.
†6. To negotiate (a matter). Obs. rare.
a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Scot. (1655) 28 He trafficked the return of King James. Ibid. 207 Whilst they traffique this Marriage, many false accusations (as Plots laid against his person) are intended one after another at the Court.
Hence ˈtrafficking vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1570in Tolstoy 1st 40 Yrs. Interc. Eng. & Russ. (1875) 103 Kept from traffiquing. 1580Nat. Covt. Ref. Princ. Re-exhibited (1787) 56 Trafficking Papists to be punished. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Scot. (1655) 11 The trafficking of a Marriage between Lewis the Daulphine..with Margaret Daughter to King James. 1681in Acts Parlt. Scotl. (1875) XII. 44/1 They..shall never tolerate priests Jesuits nor traffecking Papists to abide in this Kingdome. 1735in Tablet 19 Mar. (1910) 446/2 Trafficking Papists, I mean such as are continually employed in making Proselytes. 1835Marryat Pirate ii, Grief is worth nothing in this trafficking world unless it is paid for. 1863Froude Hist. Eng. VIII. viii. 132 Thus the antagonism went on, irritating Elizabeth..into dangerous traffickings with the Bishop of Aquila and his successor. 1903W. N[eville] Penal Servitude xiii. 170 Any officer found guilty of passing a letter out of prison would be liable to instant dismissal, as this comes under what is called ‘trafficking’—an unpardonable offence. |