| 释义 |
whetter|ˈhwɛtə(r)|
[f. whet v. + -er1.]
1. A sharpener of an instrument.
1556Withals Dict. (1562) 20 a/2 A whetter, acutor, qui instrumenta acuit. 1611Cotgr., Affileur, a whetter, or sharpener of edg'd tooles. 1781J. Moore View Soc. It. lxxi. II. 363. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Whetter, a sharpener; as a whetstone, hone. 1881Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 45 Blade Whetter.
†2. fig. One who urges on. Obs.
1579Fenton Guicciard. xviii. 1096 The blacke bands..serued as good examples and whetters on of the residue of his armye.
3. fig. One who or that which sharpens, stimulates, or incites the intellect, desires, appetite, etc.
1617Fletcher Valentinian iv. i, You whetters of my follies. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. ii. xii. Wks. (1712) 82 Sympathy and Antipathy..are notable whetters and quickeners of the Spirit of Life in all Animals. 1695Congreve Love for L. i. i, The Air upon Banstead Downs is nothing to it for a Whetter. 1742Fielding J. Andrews iii. ii, Love, like other sweet things, is no whetter of the stomach. 1830Scott Jrnl. 11 July (1890) II. 348 No whetter of genius is necessity, though said to be the mother of invention.
b. spec. A habitual drinker of ‘whets’ (whet n. 2 b); a dram-drinker. ? Obs.
1709Steele Tatler No. 138 ⁋4 A sort of Persons commonly known by the Name of Whetters, who drink themselves into an intermediate State of being neither drunk or sober before the Hours of 'Change. 1725View Lond. & Westm. 38 Here is likewise a religious Ambulatory for the Whetters and Wenchers.
c. = whet n. 2 b. ? Obs.
1755Connoisseur No. 87 ⁋1 They frequently have recourse to whetters and provocatives, to anticipate the call of hunger. 1824in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825) 205 Fifty verses we've sung—and we scarce can do better, Than to finish our ditty by taking a whetter. |