| 释义 |
gadget|ˈgædʒɪt|
Also formerly gadjet.
[Origin obscure. First known in use among seafaring men, and said by several correspondents to have been current c 1870, and by a few as far back as the fifties of the nineteenth century, but not found in print before 1886.
One of the most plausible etymological suggestions is F. gâchette, which is or has been applied to various pieces of mechanism, e.g. in a lock and in a gun; it is a dim. of gâche staple (of a lock), wall-staple or hook. The possibility of connexion with F. engager to engage (one thing with another) has also been suggested; cf. dial. F. gagée tool, instrument. Derivation from gauge is improbable.]
Used as an indefinite or general name for: a comparatively small fitting, contrivance, or piece of mechanism.
1886R. Brown Spunyarn & Spindrift xxxi. 378 Then the names of all the other things on board a ship! I don't know half of them yet; even the sailors forget at times, and if the exact name of anything they want happens to slip from their memory, they call it a chicken⁓fixing, or a gadjet, or a gill-guy, or a timmey-noggy, or a wim-wom—just pro tem., you know. 1902Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 179 Steam gadgets always take him that way. Ibid. 190 You've certainly got the hang of her steamin' gadgets in quick time. 1907Motor Boat 4 July 439/1 There will be no harm in pointing out a few of the requirements of a Whitehead torpedo, which will enable the reader to appreciate the number of ‘gadgets’ which are involved. 1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling ii. 30 He had known every stick in their sides and every gadget on their decks. 1914Kipling New Army (1915) 39 They have installed decent cooking ranges and gas, and the men have already made themselves all sorts of handy little labour-saving gadgets. 1918Glasgow Even. News 14 Sept. 6 There are a variety of gadjets connected with a motor-car; an aeroplane is replete with them—thermometer, barometer, altimeter, and the pilot only knows what besides. 1923‘B. M. Bower’ Parowan Bonanza i. 12 Solid ledge of gold... Knock it off in chunks with a single-jack and gadget. 1927Glasgow Herald 18 Aug. 9 Innumerable motor car and wireless gadgets. 1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 46/1 Too many kitchen gadgets are discarded because so much time is required for their cleaning.
b. spec. in local use. A winch or similar mechanical gear for discharging vessels; also, a craft equipped with such gear.
1899Bristol Times & Mirror 10 June 3/8 The gadget which was used in the discharge of vessels was being towed down the Harbour... The man who was steering the gadget rather lost his head... There was ample room for the gadget to have passed through if it had been steered properly. 1931Ibid. 16 May, Pulley gear was rigged to the stays or spars of the sailing ship over the hold, and the heaving rope passed to the winch drum of the gadget lying alongside.
c. transf. and gen. An accessory or adjunct; a knick-knack or gewgaw.
1915‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occas. 142 Look here, old lady, here's a gadget I got for you—he fumbled with the tissue paper enclosing a little leather case. 1922Blackw. Mag. Apr. 421/1, I had to work with concordances, glossaries, all sorts of gadgets. 1925Ibid. Sept. 423 Another waiter offered a selection of ‘gadgets’, —the appetising morsels of anchovy, stuffed-olive, or pâté.
d. Glass-making. A spring-clip used for gripping the foot of a wine or other footed glass when it is being shaped.
1918P. Marson Glass & Glass Man. 83 The servitor has now done his part of the work, and the glass is handed to the workman. It is then cracked off, and the foot caught by a spring clip arrangement attached to a pontil, called a ‘gadget’. 1923H. J. Powell Glassmaking in England 43 Gadget, a spring-clip, attached to a puntee, to hold foot of wine glass, while the bowl is being finished, in order to prevent puntee-mark.
2. attrib. and Comb.
1924Illustr. London News 24 May 931/2 A paradise for the ‘gadget-loving’ boy. 1941Amer. Speech XVI. 316/2 Gadget bag, a case for camera accessories. 1945Gadget-ridden [see chromium-plated s.v. chromium 2]. 1946Consumers' Guide (U.S.) May 16/1 Job-hungry GI's and gadget happy housewives make shining targets for swindlers. 1949‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar i. 8 Ulysses..was ‘without doubt..a gadget-contriver’. 1964E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Transl. xii. 252 Of course, MT does capture the imagination, especially of the gadget-minded public.
Hence gadgeˈteer, a person given to the use or invention of gadgets; ˈgadgetry, gadgets collectively; the use of gadgets; ˈgadgety a. having the qualities or characteristics of a gadget; fitted with a gadget or gadgets.
1920Christian World 19 Aug. 4/1 The door of my bedroom in one great American hotel was a blazing triumph of sheer gadgetry. 1937Night & Day 26 Aug. 24/1 The Tanova self-supporting sock looked pathetically gadgety on the plaster legs in the window. 1938Reader's Digest Mar. 93/1 Such Yankee ingenuity usually brings the gadgeteer to grief. 1957London Mag. Aug. 52 It is a scarcely individualized appetite that desires gadgetry and goods, and calls them Utopia. 1958Times 22 July 9/7 The temple of gadgetry known as the underground control room. 1962Punch 19 Sept. 397/1 A good gadgety camera. 1964M. Gowing Britain & Atomic Energy ii. 82 They did not even commit the error ascribed to ‘gadgeteers’, of believing they had a monopoly of their invention. 1967Daily Tel. 29 Mar. 12/7 Despite the latest gadgetry—echo-sounders, freezer trawlers, automatic gear—the commercial sea fisherman remains basically a hunter. |