| 释义 |
▪ I. hover, n.|ˈhɒvə(r), ˈhʌvə(r)|
[f. hover v.1]
1. a. An act of hovering, as of a bird or other winged creature. Also, a state of hovering.
1893G. D. Leslie Lett. to Marco xvi. 105 A circular sort of hover. a1899Mod. Newspaper, The hover of a hawk's wing is dimly sighted far away upon the horizon. 1961Hovering Craft & Hydrofoil Oct. 32/2 Floatation and sea-keeping capability while floating and during transition from hover to high forward speed. 1962Air-Cushion Vehicles July 16 The skirts have withstood the early trials well, most of the wear having occurred during tethered hovers on hard standing. 1967B. W. McCormick Aerodynamics of V/Stol Flight v. 106 The helicopter rotor in hover or in vertical climb is relatively easy to analyze. 1969I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam iii. 61 Major Bracken eased back on the cyclic..and our speed dropped until we were almost in a hover. 1971Physics Bull. Nov. 655/3 With careful design the tilting rotor propeller can be efficient in both hover and cruise.
b. A hovering host (of birds).
1826J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) II. 328 A mile-square hover of crows darkens air and earth.
2. The action or condition of remaining in suspense.
1513Douglas æneis xii. xiv. 129 Abydand lang in hovir quhat he suld do. c1565Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 537 (Jam.) They stood in hover, and tuik consultatioun quhat was best to be done. 1727E. Erskine Serm. Wks. 1871 I. 295 They are in a hover and suspense. 1883E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 136 Without even a hover of hesitation.
3. Any overhanging stone or bank under which a fish can hide; also any kind of overhanging shelter, especially a hollow in the side of a hedge; a shelter used in the brooding of chickens. (Elworthy W. Som. Word-bk.) Chiefly south. dial.
1602Carew Cornwall 105 (R.) Boughs of trees..were cast in thither to serue as a houer for the fish. 1858E. W. L. Davies in Dartmoor Days (1863) 137 Every holt and hover which could harbour a fox or an otter. 1863Kingsley Water-Bab. iii. 116 Dark hovers under swirling banks, from which great trout rushed out. 1886R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log 207 The confidence of the trout in the security of his haunt or hover. 1907Elem. Sch. Teacher Mar. 410 A hover which was made of felt was hung in the brooder. 1936Nature 3 Oct. 583/1 The merits of the various systems of hovers and battery brooders are discussed.
4. ‘A floating island, or bed of reeds’ (E.D.D.). Chiefly Norfolk dial.
1892P. H. Emerson Son of Fens xiv. 120 ‘Have you got enough damming boards for another dam?’ ‘Yes... We shan't want many; there's a hover there.’ 1893H. T. Cozens-Hardy Broad Norfolk 77 Hover, a floating island. 1955Times 3 Aug. 10/2 Now the lesser bulrush which grows on the ‘hover’ (excellent word to denote a table of floating vegetation) round the edge of the open water is all a-quiver.
5. Comb. hover-fly, a dipterous insect of the order Bombyliidæ, which hovers over flowers without settling.
a1887Jefferies Field & Hedgerow (1889) 14 Countless..hosts of the yellow-barred hover-flies come to them.
▪ II. hover, a. (n.) dial.|ˈhɒvə(r)|
[perh. related to hove v.2]
Of loose texture or composition; in Kent, said of hops loosely packed. b. as n. Light loose soil.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 327 Hover-ground, Light-ground. 1674in Ray S. & E.C. Words 68. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 189 To draw all the loose and hover Sand..into the empty part of the Mold. 1848Rutley in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IX. ii. 547 The hops were generally small, loose, and hover. 1851Ibid. XII. ii. 487 Black light mould (provincially black hover). 1887Kent. Gloss., Hover, light; puffy; raised; shivery; hunched-up. Hence, poorly, unwell.
▪ III. hover, v.1|ˈhɒvə(r), ˈhʌvə(r)|
Also 6 hoover.
[Not known bef. 1400, and app. not much used bef. 16th c., when it took, in sense 1, the place of hove v.1 Of this it may have been an iterative derivative (cf. flutter, shatter, etc.), esp. if the historical pronunciation is (ˈhʌvə(r)).]
I. intr.
1. a. Of a winged creature: To hang or remain suspended in the air over or about a particular spot, as by flapping the wings (to which action the word is sometimes restricted by naturalists: cf. 4), esp. when preparing to dart or swoop in some direction. Also with indirect passive.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiv. 153 Fewles..commez þider and houers abouue þam. 1530Palsgr. 588/1, I hover, I flyker..This hauke hovereth to longe above, she is nat disposed to stoupe. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. Ep. Ded. ⁋ij b, At one time or other it is meete to hoover with the winges. 1597Shakes. Lover's Compl. 319 The tempter..like a cherubin above them hover'd [rime cover'd]. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. ii. (1848) 174 Larks ..hovering and singing a while over our Heads. 1745De Foe's Eng. Tradesman (1841) II. li. 237 Like bees unhived, they hovered about. 1847Lytton Lucretia i. i. 31 The dragon-fly darted and hovered in the air. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. xxi. 180 Nearer hover Jay and screech owl, and the plover. 1885Stevenson Dynamiter 171 Rocky islets, hovered about by an innumerable cloud of sea-fowl. 1894[see hovering vbl. n. a].
b. Said of clouds, etc., that float or remain suspended in air or on water.
1578Banister Hist. Man i. 30 Nature caused the same Processe of the viij bone, to hang, and hover inwardly like a seeled vawlte. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa i. 3 Cloudes alwaies hovering about the tops thereof. 1664Power Exp. Philos. iii. 163 The smallest Mote or Atom, which we see to hover and play in the Sun's beams. 1718Freethinker No. 16 ⁋4 The Bowl would stop in the Current, and hover over the Dead Body. 1818M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834) 297 The waves..hovering for a while over the ship, and then coming down upon us. 1877Black Green Past. xl, Large schooners..hovering in the white light.
c. Of a helicopter or other aircraft: to remain stationary in the air, relative to the ground.
1892Railroad & Engin. Jrnl. Nov. 508/2 With 60 turns of the rubber the apparatus would just hold its own—i.e., hover in the same spot, against a wind of 9 ft. per second. 1926J. L. Pritchard Bk. Aeroplane ix. 177 It had distinct possibilities of achieving what the helicopter sets out to achieve, rising, descending vertically in still air and hovering. 1935P. H. Sumner Aircraft ii. 63 To be of any practical use the helicopter aircraft must be capable of forward motion in addition to rising vertically and hovering. 1972Daily Tel. 3 July 2 (caption) A Sea King helicopter..hovering over Rockall in the Atlantic.
d. Of a hovercraft: to be supported on its air-cushion, esp. while stationary; also transf., to travel in a hovercraft.
1962Hovering Craft & Hydrofoil Aug.–Sept. 20/1 Hovering at speeds below 10 knots..over water, the depression in the water surface beneath the craft gives a measure of ‘keel’ effect. 1962Air-Cushion Vehicles Oct. 81/2 The rudder, however, is ineffective at low speeds or while hovering. 1967Jane's Surface Skimmer Systems 1967–68 31/2 Echo sounding transducers..will remain immersed whether the craft is ‘hovering’ or underway. 1968Nature 10 Aug. 549/1 (heading) Hover over from Dover. 1970Motoring Which? July 111/2 A control stick adjusted the airflow from the fan, to make the craft hover or go forwards.
2. transf. and fig. To keep hanging or lingering about (a person or place), to wait near at hand, move to and fro near or around, as if waiting to land or alight; also said of things intangible (where the idea is sometimes nearer to 1).
1581Savile Tacitus' Hist. ii. xiv. (1591) 60 The fleete..lay houering and ready to assaile the prouince of Narbon. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. iv. Wks. 1856 I. 44 His spirit hovers in Piero's court. 1686Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 376 The French..lie hovering before Cadiz, Gibralter, and those parts. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. viii. 222 We were obliged to keep hovering about the Island. a1754J. McLaurin Serm. & Ess. 77 Vengeance was hovering over their guilty heads. 1803J. Porter Thaddeus viii. (1831) 75 His thoughts continually hovered about his mother. 1838Thirlwall Greece III. 297 Leaving a small part of their force to hover on the rear of the Greeks. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola iii. x, Pestilence was hovering in the track of famine.
3.
†a. To remain waiting; to tarry, linger; to hesitate before taking action. Obs.
b. To continue in a state of suspense or indecision; to waver as in an indeterminate or irresolute state; hence, to hang or remain on the verge of (a condition, etc.).
c1440York Myst. ix. 252 A twelmo[n]the bott xij weke Have we be houerand here. Ibid. xi. 352 It may not helpe to hover na hone. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 417 He huit and he houerit quhill midmorne and mair. 1573–80Baret Alv. H 674 To houer over a thing to buy it, emptioni imminere. c1620A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 2 Quhil I thus hovered betueen hope and despare. 1651Cleveland Poems, Senses Festivall, When Bodies whine, and victory hovers Twixt the equal fluttering Lovers. 1712Addison Spect. No. 441 ⁋9 When the Soul is hovering in the last Moments of its Separation. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton iii, He even hovered on the verge of rudeness. 1874L. Morris Organ-boy 75 Sweet music hovering 'Twixt pain and 'twixt pleasure. Mod. A mind hovering on the verge of madness.
II. trans.
†4. Of a bird, etc.: To flap or flutter (the wings) so as to maintain itself in the air. Obs.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 1054 Somtimes her wings she hovers. 1687A. Behn Lucky Chance i. i, Some blest sun-shine to warm me..and make me hover my flagging wings.
5. To brood over; to cover (the young) with wings and body: cf. hovering vbl. n. b.
1776G. White Selborne xxxiii. (1875) 230 Capons..hover chickens like hens. 1895in Daily News 23 July 6/1 Cholera, that foe we have so often to face in India, hovered the ridge.
6. To maintain in a hovering state.
1967B. W. McCormick Aerodynamics of V/Stol Flight v. 162 The gross weight that can be hovered at the power available is found by correcting the thrust for download..and for overlap. 1969Aeroplane LXXIII. 708/2 In the case of the rescue system preferred by the USA Coast Guard..the helicopter is hovered in contact with the water and a working platform is extended from the craft.
▪ IV. ˈhover, v.2
[f. hover a.]
dial. (See quots.)
1847–78Halliwell, Hover..(2) To pack hops lightly, in order to defraud the measure. Kent. 1887Kent. Gloss. s.v., One of the pickers..then comes to hover the hops; this is done by putting both hands down to the bottom of the great basket..as soon as they [the hops] reach the top, they are quickly shot out into the green bag before they have time to sag or sink;..hovering is nothing more than a recognized system of fraud. 1897Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Mar. 63 The practice of hovering and turning is..most objectionable. |