| 释义 |
wish-bone
Also wishbone.
[f. wish n.1 + bone n.]
= merrythought (q.v. for reason of the name).
1860Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3), Wish-Bone. 1884Roe Nat. Ser. Story vi, If I bring you a canvas-back [duck], Amy, will you put the wish-bone over the door?
2. Naut. A boom composed of two halves that curve outward from the mast, on either side of the sail, and in again, the clew of the sail that lies between them being attached to the point where they meet aft. Freq. attrib., designating a sail or a boat with such a boom.
1934U. Fox Sailing, Seamanship & Yacht Construction i. 54 (caption) Wishbone gaff. 1935Yachting Monthly Feb. 306/1 The working sail area of the ‘wishbone’ ketch rig shown totals 2,794 sq. ft. 1954D. Phillips-Birt Rigs & Rigging of Yachts ii. 60 The wishbone ketch is the result of combining an unusual form of staysail ketch rig devised by Mr. F. Fenger..with the wishbone spar invented by Nathaniel Herreshoff. 1958Times 27 Oct. 10/6 The fishermen..were already launching their dug-out canoes, some under the traditional wish-bone sprit-sail. 1981B. Webb Schult's Sailing Dict. 327/1 Sailboards have wishbone booms. 1984Times 25 Aug. 11 The next stop was to pick a point to steer for, ease the rig (the mast, sail and wishbone) towards me until I was looking through the transparent panel in the sail.
3. A wishbone-shaped element in the independent suspension of a motor vehicle, the two arms of which are hinged to the chassis and their join hinged to the wheel; freq. attrib.
1934Automobile Engineer XXIV. 289/3 The American types..do not use the longitudinal radius links, and thus the wheel position depends entirely on the ‘wishbone’ link bearings. 1959Times 27 Apr. (Rubber Industry Suppl.) p. vi/1 Such bushes are now almost universally used for springs, torque arms, and in some forms of wishbone suspension. 1983‘D. Rutherford’ Stop at Nothing ix. 165 It took me an hour and a half to put the Saab to rights. The front wishbone had been seriously distorted.
4. U.S. Football. Used attrib. and absol. to designate an offensive formation in which the full back lines up ahead of the half-backs in an alignment that resembles the shape of a wishbone.
1972N.Y. Times 3 Nov. 48/2 Dartmouth's best hope lies in shutting off Yale's wishbone offense as engineered by Dick Jauron. 1974Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald-Jrnl. 21 Apr. 134/3 The white team ran the wishbone that UCLA used last year. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 10d/3 The fullback in the Santa Rita Wishbone has averaged nearly 30 carries per game in the first two contests. |