| 释义 |
workman|ˈwɜːkmən|
Pl. workmen. Forms: see work n. and man n.1; also 4 werman, Sc. warman.
[OE. weorcmann = Du. werkman, OHG. werahman (MHG. werch-, wercman), ON. verkmaðr.]
1. a. A man engaged to do work or (usually) manual labour, esp. one employed upon some particular piece of work: an operative; often (contextually) a skilled worker; † occas. a worker (in a medium).
c888ælfred Boeth. xvii, He sceal habban ᵹebedmen & fyrdmen & weorcmen. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. ix. 37 Operarii, wercmenn. c1205Lay. 22892 A crafti weorc-man. a1225Ancr. R. 404 Iðen euentid, hwon me ȝelt werc-men hore deies hure. 13..Sir Beues (A.) 3230 A morwe þe barouns gonne arise Sum to honten and sum to cherche, And werk men gonne for to werche. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 91 Dignus est operarius mercede sua: Worþi is þe Werkmon his hure to haue. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurentius) 594 It mycht nocht suffice..at a met bred to be,..to warmen thre. c1450Mirk's Festial 39 He had so mony werkemen of dyuerse craftys, þat a man schuld not here his felow speke for dount of strokes. 1474Caxton Chesse ii. i. (1883) 22 A werkman in metall. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. ii. ix. (1867) 77 What is a woorkman, without his tooles? 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 306 A man is obliged in conscience to set on work upon all occasions the best workman. a1700Evelyn Diary 21 May 1645, This place has also been famous for lutes made by the old masters..; the workmen were chiefly Germans. 1725Watts Logic i. vi. §8 If I would learn the Nature of a Watch, the Workman takes it to pieces. 1842Gwilt Archit. Gloss. s.v. Beds of a Stone, In arching the beds are called summerings by the workmen. 1883W. D. Curzon Manuf. Industries Worcs. 48 There were under the hands of the workmen..some of the cylinders for the bridge across the Dubbo river.
b. Connoting a class or grade, or in correlation with ‘employer’, ‘capitalist’, or the like.
1704De Foe Giving Alms no Charity (1859) 38 The price of wages not only determines the difference between the employer and the work-man, but it rules the rates of every market. 1727― Eng. Tradesman I. Introd. 2 There are several degrees of people employ'd in trade below these, such as workmen, labourers, and servants. 1868Roney Rambles on Rlwys. 62 These companies issue what are called ‘work⁓man's tickets.’ 1872Ruskin Fors Clav. II. Index 27 By workmen I mean people who must use their heads as well as their hands for what they do; by labourers, those who use their hands only. 1875Act 38 & 39 Vict. c. 90 §10 The expression ‘workman’ does not include a domestic or menial servant, but save as aforesaid, means any person who, being a labourer, servant in husbandry, journeyman, artificer, handicraftsman, miner, or otherwise engaged in manual labour,..has entered into or works under a contract with an employer. 1906Economist 15 Dec. 2048/2 At the present time..there is a widespread tendency to consider that no one is a work⁓man unless he be engaged in manual labour. 1908Daily Chron. 12 Sept. 5/4 It was declared that the term ‘work⁓man’ should include clerks.
c. Of ants or bees: = worker 2 d (c). rare.
1870Duncan Blanchard's Transf. Insects 349 Besides the neuters, workmen, and soldiers, two sorts of nymphs.
2. a. A skilled or expert craftsman. Obs. exc. in Glassmaking, the first man of a ‘chair’.
1478Acta Dom. Conc. (1839) 4/2 Þe lordis..causit þe chenȝe to be weyt and prisit be werkmen, quhilkis prisit it to v li Scottis. 1496Cov. Leet Bk. 574 There shall no persone of þe Craft set no straunge Journeyman on warke without license of þe Maisters of þe Craft, and they to see that he be a warkman. 1530Palsgr. 472/2 This kote was never made of a workeman, it is but boungled up. 1553R. Ascham Rep. Germany A iij b, Here is stuffe plenty to furnish well vp a trimme history if a workeman had it in handlyng. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 88 By working we become workemen. 1657Worthington Diary etc. (Chetham Soc.) I. 100 He was not satisfy'd in William Pope, because he was not a workman of his trade. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 71 From whence one may reasonably infer, that he's himself no Work-man. 1721Perry Daggenham Breach 68, I had answer'd them like an Artist, and like a Workman. 1849[see servitor 5].
b. transf.; e.g. applied to a rider, esp. in hunting, who manages his horse well or is conversant with the technique of the field; also to a horse that takes its fences well, etc.
1832Q. Rev. XLVII. 238 The Squire having hit off his fox like a workman. 1840J. C. Whyte Hist. Turf II. 577 Although so splendid a rider over a race-course, Old Chifney by no means shone as a workman across a country. 1868G. J. Whyte-Melville White Rose I. xiv. 177 ‘I'm blessed if the young 'un isn't a workman!’ he mutters, while he marks Gerard's easy seat. 1887F. Gale Game Cr. 63 [Our opponents] were all ‘workmen’,..and a tough job, clearly, was cut out. 1891‘R. Boldrewood’ Sydney-side Sax. xii, A fine, solid, but active-looking horse,..looking more of a workman over timber than the other.
†3. The Creator; = worker 1 a. Obs.
1551T. Wilson Logike P j b, The greate workeman of thynges god almightie himselfe. 1560B. Googe tr. Palingenius' Zodiac iii. (1561) G j, That workman first, that made y⊇ skies the earth, and seas also. 1587Golding De Mornay vi. (1592) 64 This Speech [= Logos] being the workeman of God the Lord of the whole World. 1616T. Scot Philomythie D 7 b, Darknes was not created; tis as old As that great workman which the whole doth mold.
4. One who works or practises his craft or art (in some specified manner).
1484Caxton Fables of Alfonce xiii, As good a workman of his craft as ony was at that tyme in alle the world. 1620I. C. Two Merry Milkmaids iv. i. L 4 b, And thou beest so good a workeman, thou shalt draw my Picture. a1633G. Herbert Outl. Prov. 67 Never had ill workeman good tooles. 1668Evelyn tr. Freart's Idea Perfect. Paint. Advt. to Rdr. a 2, Albert Durer, a German Painter, and a most incomparable Workman. 1849Parker Gothic Archit. 88 It being one of the characteristics of a good workman not to waste his material. 1868Darwin in F. Darwin Life & Lett. (1887) III. 98 My health makes me a very slow workman.
5. attrib.
1549Compl. Scot. vii. 69 Mony politic verkmanlumis for mecanyc craftis. 1803Heber Palestine 199 No workman steel, no ponderous axes rung. 1908Westm. Gaz. 7 Feb. 5/2 The workmen-shareholders.
6. Comb. in the possessive, denoting things (esp. transport) provided for workmen (sense 1), as workman's (or workmen's) bus, workman's club, workman's compensation, workman's train, workman's tram.
1965A. Prior Interrogators xi. 198 An early morning workman's bus roared and rumbled. 1980‘D. Grant’ Emerald Decision i. 20 Workmen's bus, heading for the harbour.
1911G. B. Shaw Doctor's Dilemma i. 22 Except for the workmen's clubs, my patients are all clerks and shopmen. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 12 Mar. 6/4 Compensation was paid to him by the Workmen's Compensation Board and he was later discharged as having recovered. 1940Economist 3 Feb. 198/2 An all-round increase in the rates payable for workmen's compensation.
1872Jerrold London p. ix, The workman's train and the crowds pressing over London Bridge. 1975P. McCutchan Very Big Bang xi. 105 ‘They'll call back when the current's off.’ ‘No more workmen's trains?’.. ‘Not on this section.’
1906Jackson's Oxford Jrnl. 8 Sept. 6/6 At 5.10 the workmen's tram joined in the procession. 1970S. Alexander St. Giles's Fair 19 The workman's tram passed through St. Giles at five ten a.m. |