| 释义 |
ˈwire-tapper
[f. wire n. + tapper1. Cf. tap v.1 2 c.]
One who makes a (usually secret) connection to a telephone or telegraph circuit in order to intercept messages or eavesdrop.
1893Blue & Gray Apr. 313/2 In that band of wire⁓tappers I had the honor to serve for four years. In 1863 I was appointed or employed as a telegraph operator in the field. 1894Columbus (Ohio) Disp. 5 Jan., An attempt to tap the wires and ‘work’ the bookmakers..has been foiled... The wire tappers escaped. 1906N.Y. Tribune 1 Feb. 8/2 On the day he bet his money, the wiretappers made it appear to Felix..that such sportsmen as James R. Keene and John W. Gates were betting thousands on Old Stone, through them, and advised him to ‘get in on the good thing’, too. 1910‘O. Henry’ Strictly Business 36 Who wears the diamonds in this town? Why, Winnie, the Wiretapper's wife. 1929U.S. Rep. CCLXXVII. 453 The wire tapper destroys this privacy... Does not wire tapping involve an ‘unreasonable search’ of the ‘house’ and of the ‘person’? 1953‘S. Ransome’ Drag Dark (1954) xv. 146 A call..couched in cryptic terms calculated to fool a wire tapper. 1969N.Y. Rev. Books 2 Jan. 41/2 In the process, Macdonald proves himself more reprehensible than a wiretapper, for he uses intimacy, rather than electronics, to do his dirty work. 1977‘J. D. White’ Salzburg Affair vi. 52 He could only drive on, find another telephone, in case the M.F.S. wire-tappers had traced the first call.
So wire-tapping vbl. n., the practice or activity of a wire-tapper; (as a back-formation) ˈwire-tap v. trans., to tap the telephone line of; to monitor (a call) by means of a wire-tap.
1904Outing Dec. 334/1 Despite the habitual exposure in American newspapers of the..‘wire-tapping’ swindle, the victim continues to be parted from his thousands with painful frequency. 1929U.S. Rep. CCLXXVII. 474 The progress of science in furnishing the Government with means of espionage is not likely to stop with wire-tapping. 1952W. R. Burnett Vanity Fair vi. 56 Chad Bayliss did not want to discuss anything as important..over his apartment house phone... There had been a rash of wire-tapping. 1959A. Harrington Life in ‘Crystal Palace’ (1960) iv. 75 The private citizen is..being wire⁓tapped while he is looking for a job. 1973Times 23 May 8/4 His telephone calls had not been wiretapped. 1973Black Panther 21 July 2/3 The FBI, through their wire⁓tapping,..was practicing electronic surveillance. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 27 Mar. 2/4 The U.S. Army may not wire tap American civilians in foreign countries unless it first gets a warrant from an American judge. 1978R. Nixon Memoirs 388, I authorized Hoover to take the necessary steps—including wiretapping—to investigate the leaks. 1985Sunday Times 20 Jan. 9/4 The U.S. customs officials say that his allegation of illegal wiretapping has been totally disproved. |