| 释义 |
▪ I. wrecker1|ˈrɛkə(r)|
[f. wreck v.1 + -er1.]
1. a. One who causes shipwreck, exp. for purposes of plunder by showing luring lights or false signals; a person who makes a business of watching for and plundering wrecked vessels; also, one who wrongfully seizes or appropriates wreck washed ashore.
1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1821) I. 27 The good people..thronged like wreckers to get some part of the noble vessel..driven on shore. 1843Times 20 Jan. 3/6 Although the officers of the coast-guard keep a sharp look-out, considerable depredation was carried on by the wreckers. 1882Farrar Early Chr. xxii, Cornish wreckers went straight from church to light their beacon-fires.
fig.1865Thoreau Cape Cod vi. 105 Are we not all wreckers contriving that some treasure may be washed up on our beach?
b. One who wrecks or ruins a structure, institution, concern, etc.
1882C. G. Walpole Short Hist. Irel. 441 The Defenders especially had begun to turn the tables upon the ‘wreckers’, and were the terror of the country side. 1889Gasquet Hen. VIII & Eng. Monast. II. 426 Like a swarm of locusts the royal wreckers went forth over the land.
fig.1883American VI. 37 Lawyers and agents, who might be described with fairness as ‘wreckers’ and who generally manage to absorb the assets. 1903Westm. Gaz. 28 Feb. 10/1 As a wrecker of Cabinets Ireland holds a proud position.
c. fig. One who wrecks, or successfully obstructs the passing of a measure, etc.
1892Pall Mall G. 12 July 1/2 If..they are not able to reckon more than 8 Parnellite ‘wreckers’. 1901Scotsman 20 Nov. 8/4 The wreckers in the Senate claimed for America the right of fortifying the Canal.
2. Stock Exchange. (See first quot.)
1876‘E. Pinto’ Ye Outside Fools! 359 Wreckers,..those who make a similarly-organized attack as bears upon some stock, rotten or good,..and force down the price by large and successive sudden sales. 1884American VIII. 84 The clamor of contending inflaters and wreckers at the stock exchange.
3. A demolition worker.
1958J. Thurber in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 52/1 Jacob Volk, a building wrecker..who tore down two hundred and fifty big structures in Manhattan. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 6/3, I was saddened to discover wreckers' hoardings surrounding the Royal Bank building at 10-12 King Street East. 1977H. Fast Immigrants vi. 352 He stood on the corner of California Street on Nob Hill watching the wreckers take the Seldon mansion apart, stone by stone.
▪ II. wrecker2 orig. (and chiefly) Amer.|ˈrɛkə(r)|
[f. wreck n.1 + -er1.]
1. A person engaged in salving wrecked or endangered vessels or cargo; a salvager, salvor.
1804M'Kinnon Tour West Indies ix. 137 Those persons called wreckers, who are licensed by the Governor of the Bahamas, and cruise amongst these islands for the benefit of salvage. 1819Edwards' Hist. W. Indies (ed. 5) IV. 225 The business of wreckers..consists in giving assistance to those who are wrecked, or in danger of being so, upon the almost endless rocks and shoals [of the Bahamas]. 1851Rovings in Pacific I. 173 Our own vessel..had heeled on to a sunken patch in the offing... It gave us wreckers a tremendous fright. 1875Talmage Old Wells 273 The wreckers shoot a rope out to the suffering men.
2. a. A ship or vessel employed in salvaging sunk, wrecked, or stranded vessels.
1789O. Equiano Life II. viii. 57 They met with this little sloop, called a wrecker; their employment in those seas being to look after wrecks. 1864Webster. 1868[see wrecking vbl. n.2 2]. 1898Westm. Gaz. 14 July 5/2 The Wreckers and Admiral Cervera's Vessels.
b. A railway vehicle with a crane or hoist for removing crashed trains or similar obstructions; also, a breakdown truck. Also attrib.
1904Booklovers' Mag. May 663 This special train has been dubbed the ‘Wrecker’. Really it is a relief train, ready to respond to any call for aid in case of accident. 1955V. Nabokov Lolita II. xxx. 188 Around midnight, a wrecker dragged my car out. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 31/6 (caption) Ward has picked Maggie up..in a wrecker! 1973Amer. Speech 1969 XLIV. 257 The wrecker train..has a flatcar with a crane. 1978Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. f8/10 (Advt.), Business offered... Car wash, wrecker service and..service station. 1980R. L. Duncan Brimstone vi. 126 A couple of police cars and a wrecker pulling apart three cars that had tailgated. |