| 释义 |
▪ I. motor, n. and a.|ˈməʊtə(r)|
Also 7 moter.
[a. L. mōtor (whence F. moteur, Sp., Pg. motor, It. motore), agent-n. from L. movēre to move.]
A. n.
1. One who or something which imparts motion.
a. first motor or prime motor [= med.L. primus motor]: † (a) in mediæval astronomy, = primum mobile 1; (b) applied (allusively) to God, as the cause of the motion of the heavens; † (c) the first instigator, or the chief director, e.g. of a plot, a political organization, etc.; † (d) the part that initiates motion in a piece of mechanism. (Cf. prime mover.)
(a)1586B. Young Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iv. 197 b, How the Heauens and Planets make their neuer ceasing course, Vnder their Motor first and great, from whence they had their source. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. vi. 136 The earth is not mooved, by reason of her heavinesse,..being far from this first motor.
(b)1620Melton Astrolog. 26 From God, that is the true Prime Moter. 1678Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. iii. iii. 51 Al our movements or motions are from God as the prime Motor... Is he not then the first Cause and Motor of al our motions? Doth not Aristotle..strongly demonstrate, That al our natural motions must arise from one first immobile Motor? 1952G. Sarton Hist. Sci. I. xix. 498 God exists, for it is the necessary principle and end of everything, the first motor.
(c)1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 187 One of the first moters of this popular humour which made him king. a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) I. 93 Bagnall that was prime motor in the counties of Katarlagh and Kilkeny. 1685Cotton tr. Montaigne (1711) I. xxii. 149 The Fruits of publick Commotion are seldom enjoyed by him who was the first Motor.
(d)1656Artif. Handsom. 41 Whose prime moter or spring..being set true,..the outward wheeles, motions and indications cannot go amisse.
b. An agent or force that produces mechanical motion.
1644Digby Nat. Soul x. §4. 426 In heauy thinges, their easy following..an other way then downewardes, testifyeth that their motion downewardes hath an extrinsecall motor. 1674Grew Anat. Trunks i. vi. §6 Convolvula's do not wind by any peculiar Nature..but because their Parts are disposed so, as to render them more sequaceous to the external Motor. 1685Boyle Effects of Mot. Suppl. 147 The heavier part of the Stople broke off from the other..and was carry'd from it by invisible motors to a great distance. 1839Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 405/1 The true motor of the system would..be the weight of the atmosphere.
c. fig. in various applications.
1594Lodge & Greene Looking Glass (1598) G, Thine eyes the motors to command my world. 1641Gauden Love of Truth 22 Love is the weight and motor of the soul. 1847Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) I. 182 Happiness was the aim..of all men—the motor of all action.
2. Anat.
a. A muscle designed to move a particular part of the animal frame.
b. A nerve whose function it is to excite muscular activity in a particular part of the animal body.
1808Barclay Muscular Motions 300 In every motion..there must always be a number of muscles employed, some as motors, some as directors, some as moderators. 1824C. Bell Nerves 33 We cannot forget that this nerve is entirely devoted to the muscles of the tongue; that it is the motor of the tongue. 1840Elliotson Hum. Physiol. 323 Three [nerves] conveying volition to the muscles of the eyes, the common motors [etc.]. 1846Worcester, Motor..(Anat.) a moving muscle.
c. A person in whom motor representations of perceptions predominate over auditory or visual ones.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xviii. 62 The young savage was a motor. 1902― Var. Relig. Exper. xiv. 347 The shrew-type is defined as possessing an ‘active unimpassioned temperament’. In other words, shrews are the ‘motors’, rather than the ‘sensories’. 1929J. Adams Everyman's Psychol. vii. 155 Men fall into two classes of sensories and motors... Motors have to receive sense impressions, and sensories have to send out messages leading to actions. Ibid. 156 The motor is often on the edge of action, eager to go.
3. a. An apparatus for employing the energy of some natural agent or force for the impulsion of machinery; a machine that supplies the motive power for the propulsion of a vehicle or vessel. In recent use also in a narrower sense excluding steam engines.
1856Emerson Eng. Traits v. 91 They adopt every improvement in rig, in motor, in weapons; but they fundamentally believe that the best strategem in naval war is to lay your ship close alongside of the enemy's ship. 1881Eng. Mechanic 27 May 286/1 A water-motor sufficient to drive a sewing-machine would not be reliable to drive a lathe. 1884Cotterill Appl. Mechanics 482 Hydraulic motors are classed according to the mode in which the water operates upon them. 1892Electrical Engineer 16 Sept. 284/2 There is little difficulty in designing a cart to be driven by a motor, the motor also being able to be used for other purposes, such as winding a drum.
b. Short for motor car and motor carriage.
1900Chamb. Jrnl. 28 Apr. 344 The purchase by the Prince of Wales of a six horse-power Daimler motor should still further..popularise automobilism. 1902A. C. Harmsworth Motors & Motor-driving 64 Many doctors who use motors have joined the Automobile Club. 1912E. M. Forster Let. 25 Dec. in Hill of Devi (1953) 17 The Luards..got the Maharajah of Indore's motor. 1929M. de la Roche Whiteoaks xxviii. 381 They were going by motor to the lakes.
4. Math. An operator of quantity which represents the displacement of a rigid body.
1873Clifford Math. Papers (1882) 183, I propose to call this quantity a motor; the simplest type of it being the general motion of a rigid body. And we shall say that in general the sum of rotors is a motor, but that in particular cases it may degenerate into a rotor or vector. 1878― Elem. Dynamic i. 125 A quantity like a twist-velocity, which has magnitude, direction, position, and pitch, is called a motor, from the twist-velocity which is the simplest example of it.
5. attrib., designating a vehicle driven by a motor, as motor-ambulance, motor bicycle, motor cab, motor carriage, motor-hearse, motor-landau, motor-lorry, motor-plough, motor-sledge, motor toboggan, motor-tractor, motor tricycle, motor-truck, motor vehicle, motor-wagon etc.; also designating sea vessels, aircraft, and other devices driven or powered by a motor, as motor-cannon, motor-craft, motor-cruiser, motor-launch, motor-liner, motor meter, motor-mower, motor-ship, motor-sloop, motor torpedo-boat, motor-vessel, motor yacht.
1915Motor-ambulance [see joy-ride n.]. 1917W. Owen Let. 25 Mar. (1967) 447, I went a joy ride on a Motor Ambulance, a Daimler. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 18 June 478/4 The occasional British practice of sending on billeting-parties in motor-ambulances.
1894Westm. Gaz. 14 June 7/2 A newly-invented motor-bicycle.
1904Daily Chron. 8 Jan. 9/5 A motor-cab costs twice as much to build as an ordinary hansom.
1889F. R. Stockton Great War Syndicate 79 She carried one motor-cannon of large size. 1939War Illustr. 9 Dec. 390 It was to a similar type of French engine that the first successful ‘motor-cannon’, or shell gun, firing between the arms of the ‘V’, was fitted.
1896Daily News 5 Feb. 5/3 The first International Motor-Carriage Exhibition will be held at the Imperial Institute in May.
1905Daily Chron. 17 June 9/1 The latest regulation that no small boat should ‘lock’ with a motor-craft appears to have caused considerable surprise. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Oct. 23/2 The motor cruiser Speejacks was reported safe last night. 1936Discovery Sept. 272/2 Charting the coast from a small motor-cruiser. 1975Times 19 Sept. 4 (Advt.), A boat test on the fast 33′ motor cruiser Cleopatra.
1904Daily Chron. 8 Jan. 9/5 The County Council insists that the motor hansom shall also be registered.
1924P. Creswick Beaten Path xxxiii. 180, I see there are motor-hearses now. 1973‘R. MacLeod’ Burial in Portugal i. 23 An elderly motor hearse with black paintwork and tarnished chrome..carried a polished oak coffin.
1916‘R. Dehan’ Earth to Earth 73 The motor-landau in waiting for him at Covertsham Station, Deershire, was destined to receive a second passenger.
1912W. Owen Let. 31 Aug. (1967) 158, I was asked to accompany them & Vicar on a motor-launch-trip. 1935Discovery Dec. 372/2 A little undecked motor-launch for inshore work. 1975‘D. Rutherford’ Mystery Tour iii. 40 The trip by motor launch through the canals.
1913Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 31/1 The motor-liner above mentioned and her two sister-ships were built. 1931Evening Standard 16 Jan. 9/1 (caption) The new motor-liner Warwick Castle leaving Belfast for her final trials.
1902Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 391 There's a heavy load of grist just in from Lamber's Wood. Eleven miles it came in an hour and a half in our new motor-lorry. 1926Daily Chron. 13 May 2/6 Three men were each sentenced to three months hard labour for inciting a crowd of people to set fire to a railway motor lorry in the city. 1934Discovery Apr. 94/1 In most portions of the globe explorers under the new order have the valuable aids of aeroplane and motor-lorry.
1903L. C. Reed Amer. Meter Practice iii. 37 These ten watts are the input into the motor meter, and the efficiency of this motor meter will give the ratio of the torque exerted on the armature. 1971Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) i. iv. 12 Motor meter, meter incorporating a motor.
1923Punch 15 Aug. 165 (caption) The motor-mower takes charge. 1959Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 1 Dec. 345/2 One new motor-mower was acquired in replacement of an old one now worn out and for which spare parts are no longer available. 1972‘H. Carmichael’ Naked to Grave vi. 74 Through the window he saw a motor mower, cans of paint, fertilizer in paper sacks.
1896Beaumont in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 10 Jan. 161 The motor omnibus shown by Fig. 48.
1901Chambers's Jrnl. Nov. 764/2 Great things are anticipated of a new method of land culture by means of a motor-plough. 1916Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 25 July 11/3 The motor-ship City of Portland..has been given her trial trip. 1929Times 2 Nov. 10/2 The Tuscan Star..is the first motor-ship ordered by the Blue Star Line. 1955Times 3 May 15/6 The construction of two motor ships of about 1,300 tons deadweight, designed to operate in our short sea services.
1910Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 546/2 The ‘final dash’ [to the Pole]..will be made with the help of motor-sledges. 1936Discovery July 215/1 Captain Scott took motor-sledges to the Antarctic in 1910.
1931Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Jan. 33/3 M. Knut Stubbendorff..chartered the motor-sloop Isbjörn. 1948New Deal for Saskatchewan Fisheries 20 Motor toboggans..manoeuver in almost any kind of terrain.
1940Motor torpedo-boat [see E-boat].
1928Punch 29 Feb. 248/3 The world is still a stage; the ruling factors Are petrol and pink legs and motor-tractors. 1934Discovery June 143/2 Although aircraft and motor tractor have been used they are in no sense in competition with the dog-sledge.
1896Beaumont in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 10 Jan. 152 The motor tricycle shown by Fig. 34 is an oil motor cycle made in 1883.
1916Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 2 July 15/5 The iron-shod war horse of former days has evolved into the padded wheel motor car, motor truck, and motor cycle of 1916. 1937Discovery Nov. 359/1 The sandy wastes of the Gobi are being cut to ribbons by motor-truck tyres.
1898Daily News 2 Apr. 2/6 The Post Office and Motor Vans.—A motor van service for the conveyance of the mails.
1890J. W. Quinn U.S. Pat. 431,993, I..have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Motor-Vehicles. 1937Discovery July 194/2 The noise from motor vehicles. 1959P. Bull I know Face ix. 148 He was referring to his motor-vehicle.
1931Daily Tel. 21 May 7/5 Pioneers of motor-vessels to the East. 1969Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 394/1 This service is carried out by motor-vessels of 600–1,500 tons.
1909Chambers's Jrnl. June 343/2 Large warehouses have their veritable fleets of motor-wagons. 1929J. Buchan Courts of Morning iii. i. 320 The raiders..helped themselves..loading the loot into light motor-wagons.
1905Outing May 218/2 A 90 foot motor yacht was launched late last season. 1973‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog i. 31 A fast, low-profile motor yacht five miles out to sea.
b. Of, pertaining to, or designed for use in motors, motor vehicles, or motoring, as motor accident, motor age, motor bonnet, motor cap, motor-chassis, motor club, motor-coat, motor-dealer, motor-driver, motor fitter, motor garage, motor-goggles, motor-hooter, motor horn, motor-house, motor insurance, motor lantern, motor licence, motor-mania, motor-mask, motor mechanic, oil motor, motor race, motor-racing, motor-ride, motor-road, motor run, motor salesman, motor scarf, motor show, motor-smash, motor-spectacles, motor-tour, motor track, motor traffic, motor transport, motor-travel, motor-travelling, motor trip, motor trouble, motor tyre, motor-veil.
1910‘Saki’ Reginald in Russia 17 What I had mistaken for a motor accident was evidently a case of savage assault and murder. 1972M. Yorke Silent Witness vi. 123 Roy's father had been killed in a motor accident.
1937Amer. Speech XII. 317/1 The influence of..the motor age. 1963Daily Tel. 28 Nov. 16/2 The root of the trouble is that our cities were never built for the motor age.
1910Blackw. Mag. Nov. 604/2 My wife..had been patiently sitting in the hall wearing a new motor-bonnet. 1937J. Laver Taste & Fashion x. 151 The latest trimming for these motor bonnets.
1906Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 5 Jan. 3/4 (Advt.), Motor Caps. 50c, 75c, $1.00 reduced to 40c. 1907Motor cap [see ear-flap]. 1915Pearson's Mag. Jan. 25 Great lines of these old motor-chassis, mounted with a serviceable lorry body, are to be met with on all the roads of France. 1934Amer. Speech IX. 111/1 Such motor clubs as the A.A.A., the A.M.A., and the Automobile Club of Southern California.
1909W. J. Locke Septimus iv. 57 Shrugging himself into his motor-coat, which the chauffeur brought him. 1910Blackw. Mag. Apr. 480/1 A long leather motor-coat. 1937Discovery May 164/1 Motor dealers in South America..order what they need by air mail.
1902Pall Mall Mag. XXVIII. 410/1 Should motor drivers be subject to an examination as to proficiency? 1968J. H. Burn Lect. Notes Pharmacol. (ed. 9) 7 It is good for a motor-driver driving through the night.
1961Evening Standard 26 July 22/6 Skilled..motor fitter required. 1973Times 16 Oct. 6/8 Christopher Smart, aged 25, a motor fitter. 1974P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry ix. 77 He's a mechanic, but he'd rather be called a motor fitter.
1902Motor garage [see garage n. 1]. 1922W. J. Locke Tale of Triona xxiv. 273 An ex-officer..who has just set up a motor garage.
1914Beerbohm Seven Men (1919) 127 He did not wear motor-goggles. 1922Joyce Ulysses 483 In motor jerkin, green motorgoggles on his brow.
1911Beerbohm Zuleika D. xix. 291 All along the soaked towing-path lay strewn the horns, the rattles, the motor-hooters, that the youths had flung aside.
1909Chambers's Jrnl. June 401/1 The predominant sounds..were not those of wheels or whistles or motor-horns. 1931M. Allingham Look to Lady x. 105 The squawk of a motor-horn. 1970V. Canning Great Affair xii. 211 A chorus of motor horns began to blow in anger at some road block.
1902D. Salomons in A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors vi. 84 A well-built motor-house should cost nothing in the up⁓keep. 1971Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 18 June 33/4 There is the medium-sized house with its own tennis court and ‘motor house’, as garages were first called.
1955Times 3 May 16/1 Motor insurance, which constitutes a substantial portion of our Accident business. 1975Times 24 Sept. 3/2 The estimated cost of motor insurance premiums in 1975 was {pstlg}580m.
1914Chesterton Flying Inn xxi. 248 Humphrey had hung one of the motor lanterns on to a branch.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 413/2 The motor licence case. 1957Railway Mag. June 392/1 The beginnings of a reaction from the worst of motor-mania are bringing the uninitiated back on to the narrow gauge. 1966Punch 16 Feb. 232 The ingenuity, energy and wealth that mechanised intellectual Peter Pans devote to indulgence of their motor-mania.
1916War Illustr. V. 451/3 Our goggles..are shaped like a motor-mask. 1930Daily Express 6 Oct. 7/4 James Horn, aged thirty-one, a motor mechanic. 1961Evening Standard 25 July 15/1 (Advt.), Motor Mechanics required.
1939G. B. Shaw Geneva ii. 45 Motor oil is a sanction when you withhold it. Castor oil is a sanction when you administer it.
1900Racing Rules & Regulations (Motor Car Club) 11 In all Motor Races held under the Rules of the Motor Car Club it must be stated on all Entry Forms..that they are so held. 1936J. B. Priestley They walk in City iii. 41 An aeroplane parade, a motor race, a parade of cadets.
1905Official Programme Internat. Tourist Trophy 4 A new departure in the history of motor racing. 1956Nature 11 Feb. 246/2 The establishment of a motor-racing circuit on public roads in the Peak District National Park. 1974J. Gardner Corner Men. ii. 19 Most of the books were..concerned with motor cars or motor-racing.
1914Chesterton Flying Inn xx. 241 You owe me a motor-ride, you know. 1919G. B. Shaw Inca of Perusalem Prologue in Heartbreak House 234 Dresses, hats, furs, gloves, motor rides: one bill after another.
1909Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 2/2 Of more dramatic interest is the second part of the Bill, with its proposal for the creation of motor-roads. 1926T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (1935) vii. lxxxii. 457 Gilman and Dowsett..had spent months in Wadi Itm, building, like engineers, a motor road through the gorge. 1949Archit. Rev. CV. 118/1 The average speed of 30 m.p.h. here allowed for the surface plan is high, but, even allowing this figure, the advantage of elevated motor-roads is obvious. 1975Listener 14 Aug. 199/1 A new motor road roaring past their windows.
1936Joyce Let. 18 Nov. (1966) III. 393 Perhaps you could make your suggested motor run to the school at Zug? 1936J. B. Priestley They walk in City i. 17 Mysterious and vaguely amorous gentlemen friends, usually commercial travellers or motor salesman, loom and soar and suddenly vanish. 1973A. Behrend Samarai Affair vi. 65 That Bromborough motor salesman chap separated from his wife.
1899in A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping (1964) xxii. 261 Motor scarves. 1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 28 Apr. 20/6 Waterproof Motor Scarf of good size..each 75¢.
1905S. A. Barnett Let. 2 Dec. in H. Barnett Canon Barnett (1918) II. 194 We have been to the Motor Show, when vast Olympia was crammed by a fashionable crowd. 1965A. Christie At Bertram's Hotel i. 13 He could talk racing shop, cricket..give Motor Show information. 1972Nature 31 Mar. 193/1 It is difficult to believe that international motor shows are instrumental in selling cars.
1916W. Owen Let. 3 July (1967) 398, I was so happy to learn that your motor-smash came to no harm. 1931R. Lehmann Letter to Sister 22 Things happen to you... You have been in a motor smash.
1911D. H. Lawrence White Peacock ii. iii. 262 She disengaged her arms to take off his disfiguring motor-spectacles.
1909London Mag. Sept. 18/2 Excursions through the sky..are to become as common as motor-tours. 1915J. Buchan 39 Steps iv. 90 That's the end of my Scotch motor tour. 1928Manch. Guardian Weekly 19 Oct. 301/2 Motor traffic and the urbanisation of large rural stretches are producing a hideous outbreak of advertisement hoardings, petrol pumps..and gaunt new motor-tracks. 1933G. Robey Looking Back on Life xxviii. 306 Lord Dewar..made the famous epigram about there being only two classes of pedestrians in these days of reckless motor traffic—the quick, and the dead.
1926Brit. Gaz. 12 May 2/4 At Liverpool there have been a few cases of interference with motor transport, for which heavy sentences have been inflicted. 1936Discovery June 189/1 An ever-extending network of good macadamised roads is increasingly introducing the use of motor transport.
1923A. E. Housman Let. 18 Aug. (1971) 215 Blazing hot all the time while motor-travel could temper it [sc. the weather].
1909Chambers's Jrnl. June 342/2 Putting the accidents on railways and on the roads together, motor-travelling included. 1934Joyce Let. 25 Apr. (1966) III. 304, I was swept off..to make my first motor trip. 1950M. Laski in Contact May–June 26/1 It is, of course, possible to take an extended motor-trip abroad without ever coming into contact with the Art of Navigation.
1911Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 55/1 Cleaver and Latham dropped into the Mediterranean..because of motor trouble.
1907Nature 14 Feb. 383/1 Chemical composition of some motor-tyre rubbers. 1937Discovery June 186/1 The wayside was strewn with motor tyres and broken down cars. 1970Y. Carter Mr. Campion's Falcon vii. 59 Packing-cases, old motor tyres, drums of paint.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 320 d/3 Motor veil. In Crêpe de Chine. 1926W. de la Mare Connoisseur 70 She was a rare one for the fashions: scarves and motor-veils, and that kind of thing.
c. Instrumental, as motor-assisted, motor-driven, motor-dusted, motor-infested, motor-mad, motor-paced adjs.
1954Highway Code 32 To motor cyclists and riders of motor-assisted pedal cycles..you must not carry more than one passenger on a two-wheeled machine.
1904Motor Cycle 6 June 551 A motor-driven roundabout. 1937Discovery Dec. 387/1 The motor-driven fan. 1967Karch & Buber Offset Processes v. 168 Motor-driven lenses, or hit-or-miss methods involving tricky out-of-focus photographic and lighting techniques are used. 1974H. R. F. Keating Bats fly up for Inspector Ghote iii. 31 A powerful motor-driven dhow.
1909M. B. Saunders Litany Lane iii. xviii. 236 His eyes were fixed on the white, motor-dusted hedges. 1909Q. Rev. Jan. 143 This singularly congested and motor-infested country. 1931T. H. Pear Voice & Personality 43 Today's world of motor-infested ‘beauty-spots’.
1922W. J. Locke Tale of Triona xxvi. 292 England ran motor-mad that summer. 1938Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Year 100/1 Mills also set up a new record of 2 mins. 11/5 secs. for the mile, standing start, unpaced; while Albert Marquet did the distance in 412/5 secs. from a flying start and motor paced. 1973Observer 16 Sept. 26/6 Instead of winning a motor-paced race by 10 laps, he would come from behind in the final lap to take it on the line.
6. motor-bandit Obs., a thief who uses a motor car; motor-bicycle v. intr., to travel on a motor bicycle (rare); so motor-bicycling vbl. n., motor-bicyclist; motor-bike = motor-cycle n.; hence as v. intr., to travel on a motor-bike; so motor-biking vbl. n.; motor-bus, a motor-driven omnibus; hence as v. intr., to travel by motor-bus; motor camp orig. U.S., a place where a motorist may park his car and set up camp; motor caravan, (a) a caravan designed to be towed by a motor car; (b) (see quot. 1964); motor-coach, (a) a single-decker motor-bus; (b) (see quot. 1940); motor-coaster, (a) a motorized vessel employed in sailing along the coast; (b) a type of big dipper at a fun-fair; motor cop U.S. colloq. = motor-cycle cop; motor court U.S., (a) (see quot. 1936); (b) a motel; motor-drive, (a) a drive or journey in a motor-car; (b) driving power provided by a motor or engine; motordrome Obs., a course for motor-racing; motor generator Electr., an apparatus consisting of an electric motor and a generator with their armature shafts mechanically coupled which may be used to change the voltage, frequency, or number of phases of a supply; motor glider, an aircraft constructed like a glider but having an engine (now used in training glider pilots); motor-home N. Amer., a very large vehicle equipped as a self-contained home; motor hotel, a hotel designed particularly for use by motorists; a motel; motor inn = motor hotel; motor lodge, a motel; motor mate Obs., one who attends to the motor of an airship; motor mouth U.S. slang, a person who talks incessantly, and often to little purpose; motor park, (a) U.S. = motor court (a); (b) a car-park; motor-sailer, a boat equipped with both sails and a motor; motor-school, a school where the driving of motor vehicles is taught; motor-scooter, a two- or three-wheeled vehicle resembling a child's scooter, propelled by a small engine; hence motor-scooterist, one who rides a motor-scooter.
1913Punch 19 Feb. 133/3 On top of all this Motor Bandit business comes the news that two men have been charged..with breaking into a bakery and stealing a sponge-cake, value one penny. 1935Ibid. 6 Mar. 253/3 Returning from a jumble sale a man was held up by a motor-bandit. 1960J. Betjeman Summoned by Bells v. 49 He motor-bicycled his life away, Looking for orchids in the Wytham Woods.
1912W. Owen Let. 16 Aug. (1967) 155 Captain Wigan has had a motor-bicycling accident!
1908R. Brooke Let. 4 Aug. (1968) 136 Abercrombie..is a Metrical Motor Bicyclist, a mumbly Wump, but often splendid.
1903Work 18 Apr. 176/3 (Advt.), Motor Bike, 1½-h-p. 1911W. Elmhirst Freshman's Diary (1969) 20 He went over to Malvern yesterday on his motor bike. 1927H. G. Wells Short Stories 627, I remember my wild rush on my motor-bike to London. 1944F. Clune Red Heart 33 He motor-biked to Alice Springs. 1958J. Betjeman Coll. Poems 224 Along the village street the sunset strikes On young men tuning up their motor-bikes. 1972M. Gee In my Father's Den 27 That motor-bike gang.
1913G. B. Shaw Let. 21 Mar. in B. Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 100 It looked like a superb stroke of motorbiking.
1901H. G. Wells in Strand Mag. Dec. 623/2 ‘You really think such a thing is possible?’.. ‘As possible,’ said Gibberne, and glanced at something that went throbbing by the window, ‘as a motor-bus.’ 1914A. D. Godley Let. 10 Jan. in Reliquiae (1926) I. 292 What is this that roareth thus? Can it be a Motor Bus? 1915D. O. Barnett Lett. 39 We came on from our last stopping place, whither we motor-bused, in a car. 1972Daily Tel. 24 Mar. 15/1 Trolleys were a merger of motorbus and tram.
1925Sat. Even. Post 10 Oct. 98/1 The average motor camp is too well known to need any description. 1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 4 July 1/4 Motor Camp is Winning Favor. 1970N.Z. Listener 21 Dec. 8/3 Don't join a joker in a motor camp cabin for the night... Try yelling for help in a motor camp in the holiday season, mate.
1930Daily Express 1 Aug. 9/2 The most modern form of holiday transport—the motor-caravan, or trailer caravan. 1959Motor 7 Oct. 246 Motor Caravans as practical vehicles. 1964Which? Apr. 35/1 A motor caravan is basically an ordinary van that has been fitted with windows, beds and cupboards, a table, cooker and sink.
1923Motor coach [see coach n. 1 e]. 1926Times 6 May 3/5 Intimidation of owners and drivers of motor-cars and motor-coaches plying for public hire is reported to-day in several localities. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 559/2 Motor-coach, a passenger coach, equipped with its own motors, for use on electrified railways; it is commonly used in conjunction with trailer coaches to make up a multiple-unit train. 1958J. Betjeman Coll. Poems 153 Then the mystery tour By motor-coach inland this afternoon. 1972Modern Railways Sept. 334 Bob [sc. Berner Oberland Bahn] trains are motorcoach-hauled and not fitted for push-pull operation. 1973J. Porter It's Murder with Dover v. 42 All the cars and motor coaches..streaming through the village.
1928Daily Express 5 Dec. 11/4 It is feared that the London motor-coaster, Wander (82 tons), has been lost, with a crew of five. 1974Amer. Speech 1971 XLVI. 84 Fast-moving amusement rides on elevated rails: toboggan, high rides,..shoot the chutes, motor coasters.
1915Policeman's Monthly Oct. 14/1 The motor cops were brought in on the ‘carpet’. 1918R. Wagner Film Folk 23 If one goes home some afternoon and finds an ambulance or a motor cop outside the door, he instinctively looks for the camera. 1936Pop. Mechanics LXVI. 674/1 The motor court is a recent development of the motor age. It's not a tourist park, it's not an auto camp... It's a collection of miniature homes clustered around a central service and administration building. 1962I. Fleming Spy who loved Me i. 15 ‘Motel’ isn't a good word any longer. It has become smart to use ‘Motor Court’ or ‘Ranch Cabins’.
1906Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) II. 221 The details of the motor-drive are quite plausible. 1936Discovery Apr. 113/2 The compressor, or vacuum pump, has an independent motor drive. 1971Amateur Photographer 13 Jan. 51/1 The exposure system is powered by the motor drive batteries but a bridge circuit makes it independent of their precise voltage as they run down.
1908Westm. Gaz. 4 Aug. 4/3 Mr. Locke-King has spent a large fortune in building this wonderful motordrome.
1887Electrician 2 Dec. 74/1 We are enabled to reproduce photographs and sectional drawings of the Paris and Scott motor generator which recently underwent some tests at the Newcastle Exhibition. 1907Parshall & Hobart Electr. Railway Engin. ix. 351 The locomotive is equipped with a motor-generator set comprising a single-phase motor directly connected to a continuous-current generator. 1930Engineering 28 Feb. 278/2 The electrical load is consequently divided between the steam-driven sets and motor-generator sets in accordance with the demand for heating steam. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. VIII. 617/1 Motor-generator sets are used for a variety of purposes, such as providing a precisely regulated dc current for a welding application, a high frequency ac power for an induction-heating application, or a continuously and rapidly adjustable dc voltage to the armature of a dc motor employed in a position control system.
1923Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXVII. 531 One of the things that instantly occurred to most people..was that the motor glider heralded the dawn of a new era in commercial aeronautics. 1969Sailplane & Gliding XX. 491/2 The flying training will be based on glider and motor glider experience. 1971D. Piggott Gliding (ed. 3) i. 8 The two-seater motor glider has proved an unqualified success for all stages of training.
1966Economist 15 Jan. 181/1 There is the ‘motor home’, especially built on a lorry or bus chassis, an elaborate ‘land yacht’. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 38/9 (Advt.), Wanted Motor home, used, good condition. 1973Sci. Amer. Apr. 1/1 (Advt.), These air springs are the only ones of their kind on motorhomes. 1974Trailer Life Nov. 92 Writers, editors and publishers, who formerly had only the word trailer to contend with when referring to recreational vehicles now had to wrestle with trailers, pickup campers, chassis-mounts and the few then-existing motorhomes.
1965Punch 1 Dec. 798 They call themselves motor lodges, motor courts, motor hotels, even tourtels and autotels, but motel is the word that blisters the night sky of the American suburbs. 1967Autocar 5 Oct. 44/1 (caption) New motor hotels—not motels—specially designed for motorists, are being opened by the Trust House group.
1967Time 21 Apr. 25, 46 restaurants and six motor inns. 1974Country Life 21 Mar. 693/2 This privately owned Motor Inn situated on the water's edge.
1965Motor lodge [see motor hotel]. 1975Globe & Mail (Toronto) 24 May 10/2 Judge Dunlap dismissed two charges of procuring, one of attempting to procure and a charge of keeping a common bawdy house in a motor lodge here.
1928C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station xxii. 411 One of the motor-mates of the amidships gondola raised the black curtain.
1971Soaring July 6 (caption) The motormouth..can be heard broadcasting across three states any weekend. 1977National Observer (U.S.) 22 Jan. 12/1 The increasing number of ‘motor mouths’ posing as sports broadcasters,..statisticians and whatever. 1986Washington Post 22 May d11/1 [They] have been cut from the same inspirational motormouth mold...They'll invite you into their office..and break every bone in your inner ear.
1939New Yorker 14 Oct. 72 The usual phrase for cabin colonies in California is ‘auto court’; ‘motor park’, perhaps copied from ‘trail park’. 1965W. Soyinka Road i. 1 The motor-park lay⁓abouts are sprawled on the floor and on benches. 1972C. Achebe Girls at War 60 Everybody, even a motor-park tout, knows what school fees are for.
1934Yachting (N.Y.) Jan. 39 A consideration of the motor-sailer. 1937[see fifty-fifty adv. and a.]. 1971J. R. L. Anderson Reckoning in Ice vi. 111 His boat was what is called a motor-sailer, which generally means..more engine than sail. 1974Country Life 24 Jan. 153/1 We have pure sailing craft, motor sailers and motor yachts, excellently crewed..from {pstlg}15 to {pstlg}100 per person per day.
1909Chambers's Jrnl. June 342/1 The..gentleman..is now getting his country grooms trained at a motor-school. 1919Motor-scooter [see buller n.4]. 1938Times 28 Feb. 12/2 He then tears down the course on a motor-scooter. 1956Railway Mag. Nov. 722/2 Goods agents..have been provided with motor scooters, to enable them to cover ground more quickly. 1957J. I. M. Stewart Use of Riches 58 The age of the motor-scooter had brought little of modernity to Castelarbia as yet. 1960News Chron. 22 Mar. 7/8, I saw White running behind one of the motor-scooterists. 1965J. Creasey Toff & Spider ii. 22 The motor-scooterist had turned into the Square and was slowing down.
B. adj. [After F. moteur, motrice, which like other agent-nouns in Fr. is often used as adj.]
1. Giving, imparting or producing motion.
1872Lyell Princ. Geol. (1875) I. ii. xx. 506 The accelerating force produced..would be inefficient as a motor power. 1880Kinglake Crimea VI. iv. 75 The second of the three motor forces had its origin in the same puissant will. 1899Daily News 15 June 6/5 The motor power of the future was not to be steam..but electricity.
2. Phys. Of nerves (opposed to sensory), muscles, etc.: Conveying or imparting an impulse which results or tends to result in motion. So motor area (motor region, motor zone): that part of the cortex of the brain from which motor impulses are directed to the various parts of the animal body; motor cortex, the part of the cerebral cortex which has a motor function; motor neurone, a neurone having a motor function; motor root, the anterior or ventral root of spinal or certain cranial nerves, containing axons of motor neurones; motor unit, a neuroanatomical unit which comprises a single motor neurone and the muscle fibres on which it acts.
1824C. Bell Nerves 30 The motor nerves. 1836–9Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 372/1 Those [sc. ganglia] which have connected with them both motor and sentient nerves. 1839–47Ibid. III. 720/2 A nerve may contain sentient and motor fibres. 1840E. Wilson Anatomist's Vade Mecum viii. 387 There are thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves, each arising by two roots, an anterior or motor root, and a posterior or sensitive root. 1848E. Forbes Naked-eyed Medusæ 3 The muscular system usually consists of a marginal motor ring. 1878Jrnl. Nerv. & Mental Dis. V. 766 The largest nerves of the human body (sciatics) arise precisely from that point of the lumbar cord where we find the largest, so-called motor, cells. 1881Nature XXIII. 236 Reactions of the motor-zone of the brain. 1885McKendrick in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 41/1 The evidence, therefore, is strongly in favour of the view that there are definite motor areas of grey matter on the cortex. 1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. ii. 61 The motor cortex might be sensitive as well as motor. 1893W. R. Gowers Man. Dis. Nerv. Syst. (ed. 2) II. 4 This [parietal lobule] also forms part of the motor region. 1898Jrnl. Compar. Neurol. VII. 185 The neuraxis of the motor neuron loses its medullary sheath before piercing the sarcolemma. 1925Liddell & Sherrington in Proc. R. Soc. B. XCVII. 516 The experimental results suggest that a reflex maintains maximal response of the individual ‘motor-unit’ by a degree of central excitation which is commonly ‘supramaximal’. 1926J. S. Huxley Essays Pop. Sci. 286 The rest of the [spinal] cord, however, and in particular the motor areas and motor roots, show no increase in size, showing that the number of muscle-fibres to be supplied does not stimulate the growth of the supplying cells. 1942O. Larsell Anat. Nervous Syst. xxiv. 326 The upper motor neuron fibers of the pyramidal tract terminate in synaptic relation to large motor cells in the anterior column of the gray matter of the spinal cord. 1970M. Hollander tr. Monnier's Functions Nervous Syst. II. xxvi. 572 (heading) Functions of the motor cortex and pyramidal system. 1970J. G. Chusid Correlative Neuroanat. & Functional Neurol. (ed. 14) ii. 76/2 The motor unit is made up of the anterior horn cell of the spinal cord and the muscle group it innervates. 1973Gray's Anat. (ed. 35) 1002/2 The motor nucleus of the trigeminal nerve gives rise to the fibres of the motor root. 1974Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Studies III. xxxiv. 53/2 Motor neurone disease may present with any combination of upper and lower motor neurone signs.
3. Of, pertaining to, or involving muscular movement; based upon or received through the movement of parts of the body.
1878tr. Ziemssen's Cycl. Pract. Med. XIII. 474 Motor pareses and paralyses. 1880W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 163 Wundt says that were our motor feelings of an afferent nature, ‘it ought to be expected that they would increase and diminish with the amount of inner or outer work actually effected in contraction.’ 1884J. Sully Outl. Psychol. vii. 247 In general the motor representations are weak as compared with the sensory. 1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xix. 131 The facts shade off into the phenomena of motor automatism, trance, etc. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 790 Unilateral motor trigeminal palsy. 1899A. G. Whyte tr. Binet's Psychol. of Reasoning 24 When we think of the ball, this idea must comprise the images of these muscular sensations, as it comprises the images of the sensations of sight and touch. Such is the motor image. 1925C. Fox Educational Psychol. 228 Walking is not bringing into use unconscious motor-images. 1936Amer. Speech XI. 88/2 Speech responses are so complex that they can hardly be considered identical with motor reflexes. 1942A. T. Poffenberger Princ. Appl. Psychol. vi. 105 The fineness of motor control or coördination is..an essential factor in many forms of adjustment. 1951A. D. Woodruff Psychol. of Teaching (ed. 3) xvi. 270 Motor behavior that is guided by perceptual cues, such as playing the piano. 1951C. I. Hovland in S. S. Stevens Handbk. Exper. Psychol. xvii. 627/2 An important change with practice in motor learning is change in muscular tension. 1958M. Argyle Relig. Behaviour v. 56 Evidence drawn from actual studies of conversion shows that people converted at public meetings are more easily hypnotized, display more motor automatisms and can therefore be classified to some extent as hysterics. 1962Canadian Jrnl. Linguistics VII. 65 The assumption that the ability to speak is simply a motor-skill which can be measured by tests of imitation and reading aloud. 1969Miller & McNeill in Lindzey & Aronson Handbk. Social Psychol. (ed. 2) III. xxvi. 687 At the other [extreme] would be the so-called ‘motor theory’ of speech, which holds that a listener can recognize speech only by imitating (at least covertly) the motor movements that would produce it. 1971Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXV. 208 In the events intervening between stimulus input and motor output, there is ordinarily first the operation of cognition.
▪ II. motor, v.|ˈməʊtə(r)|
[f. the n.]
a. trans. To convey in a motor car; to traverse (a distance) in a motor vehicle; also intr., to travel or drive in a motor car.
1896Westm. Gaz. 10 Sept. 7/2 The cost of ‘motoring’ cotton to Manchester. 1898Autocar 11 June 379 On May 12th my wife and I motored. Ibid. 18 June 392 We motored back. 1919Wodehouse Damsel in Distress viii. 103, I motored down with a boy I know. 1928‘S. S. Van Dine’ Greene Murder Case xii. 141 Vance and Ada and I motored the few blocks to 18, Broad Street. 1932J. Buchan Gap in Curtain i. 31 Mayot had motored to Cirencester to meet a friend. 1972Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 27 Oct. 86/3 From Sidmouth I walked (though most people motor) to Salcombe Regis. 1972Listener 21 Dec. 849/1 If we were opening a show with a Boxing Day matinee, we should have finished rehearsing on Friday night and then have motored to our respective homes.
b. intr. To travel in a motor-boat; to use the engine in a sailing-boat.
1968‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Singing Bird xiii. 147 ‘You don't deny you were motoring?’ Johnson kept his voice reasonable. ‘We used the engine..to South Rona and back. At Portree, we changed over to sail.’ 1971P. M. Hubbard High Tide xiii. 134 There was no wind to sail with. I could motor down river and hope to pick up something of a sailing breeze outside. |