| 释义 |
▪ I. parachute, n.|ˈpærəʃuːt|
[a. F. parachute, f. para-2 + chute fall.]
1. An apparatus used for descending safely from a great height in the air, esp. from a balloon or, more recently, from an aircraft; it is constructed like a large umbrella, so as to expand and thus check the velocity of descent by means of the resistance of the air.
1785Europ. Mag. VII. 401 In Mr. Blanchard's late visit to this country, he brought his Parachute to England. 1837Gentl. Mag. Aug. 190/2 After the parachute was divided from the car, the balloon rose rapidly. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 613/1 Free parachute, a parachute to be released or opened by the falling person. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VII. 740/3 Sport parachutes have large holes that permit the air to escape and drive the parachute in the direction opposite the hole, much like a low-power jet engine.
2. gen. Any contrivance, natural or artificial, serving to check a fall through the air, or to support something in the air; e.g. the expansible fold of skin or patagium in the flying squirrel, etc. Also transf.
1796Stedman Surinam II. 17 These [flying squirrels] have..a membrane..which when they leap, expands like the wing of a bat, and by this, like a parachute, they rest on the air. 1833Sir C. Bell Hand (1834) 82 The Draco fimbriatus..dropping safely to the ground, under the protection of a sort of parachute, formed by its extended skin. 1876Beneden Anim. Paras. ii. 33 The medusa, when extended, forms for them a balloon with its parachute. 1879tr. Semper's Anim. Life 11 The parachutes of the flying reptiles. 1894H. Drummond Ascent Man 304 The fruits and seeds when ripe are..provided with wing or parachute and launched upon the wind. 1930R. Campbell Adamastor 50 The proud White gannet in his parachute of snow. 1947Auden Age of Anxiety v. 112 In pelagic meadows The plankton open their parachutes.
†3. Name given to a broad-brimmed hat worn by women late in the 18th century. Obs.
1885Fairholt's Costume in Eng. Gloss., Parachute, a ladies' hat, in fashion in 1779.
4. a. Mining. A contrivance, such as a safety-catch, to prevent a too rapid descent of a cage in a shaft, or of the boring-rod in a boring.
1881in Raymond Mining Gloss.
b. Watchmaking. A contrivance to prevent injury to the balance-wheel from a shock or blow.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 184 The idea of the parachute is that if the watch is let fall..the balance staff pivots may be saved from breaking by the yielding of the end stones.
c. Brewing. An apparatus made to slide up and down the side of a fermenting-vat according to the height of the fermenting wort.
1885Standard 14 Mar. 7/7 Brewery fermenting tuns..with parachutes and attemperators preferred.
5. attrib. and Comb., as parachute bearing adj.; dropped by or attached to a parachute, as parachute bomb, parachute flare, parachute mine, parachute pack, parachute rocket, parachute signal; designating part of a parachute, as parachute cord, parachute harness, parachute ring; using a parachute, as parachute drop, parachute jump (so parachute jumper, parachute jumping vbl. n.), parachute skiing vbl. n., parachute system, parachute troops; for, involving or consisting of parachute troops, as parachute aircraft, parachute attack, parachute battalion, parachute brigade, parachute landing, parachute regiment, parachute wing; resembling or acting as a parachute, as parachute garment, parachute spinnaker; used for making parachutes, as parachute nylon, parachute silk; parachute assembly (see quot. 1951); parachute course, a course of instruction in parachuting; parachute light, a bright light given by a burning composition contained in a small bomb (called a parachute light-ball) supported by a parachute so as to float in the air (the parachute being at first inclosed in the bomb, and set free by the explosion of a charge which also ignites the composition); used for observing the position or movements of an enemy; parachute tower, a tower from which one may make a parachute jump.
1962G. Chatterton Wings of Pegasus 32 There was a very limited number of tug aircraft and *parachute air⁓craft.
1951Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) iii. 14 *Parachute assembly, a parachute complete with all equipment for deployment and for harnessing a load. 1978T. Allbeury Lantern Network iv. 36 They clambered into the thick parachute assemblies.
1941Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 22 Jan.–18 Mar. 74 We must all be prepared to meet gas attacks, *parachute attacks, with constancy, forethought and practised skill.
1942*Parachute battalion [see para-ski s.v. para-3].
1883G. Allen in Knowledge 22 June 367/2 Other *parachute-bearing mammals.
1912Sci. Amer. 16 Nov. 422/1 A *Parachute bomb for Aeronautic Use... The bomb is provided with a small parachute which quickly destroys the horizontal velocity communicated by the airship. 1943Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 25 Nov. 1942–16 Feb. 1943 148 Groundstaff of the R.A.F. loading parachute bombs into Hampden aircraft.
1974Times 19 Apr. 15/4 The 1st *Parachute Brigade fighting in North Africa.
1941‘R. Crompton’ William does his Bit viii. 193 Robert's got a bit of German *parachute cord. 1976A. White Long Silence xi. 101 We checked ourselves for climbing. It was very similar to checking ourselves for a parachute jump... I had taken a loop of nylon parachute cord with me.
1946R. Capell Simiomata i. 13 Tzigantis, having got round rules excluding men of his age, obtained the privilege of a *parachute course. 1977D. Seaman Committee 151 Like every one else in the Department, Walters had done his parachute course.
1928Even. News 5 May 5/3 There will be wing walking and a *parachute drop by Miss June. 1974‘H. Carmichael’ Motive iii. 31 A sky-diver in a delayed parachute drop.
1918War Illustr. 13 July 372/2 We saw flashes far to the south—shrapnel, star-shells, and *parachute flares. 1941A. O. Pollard Bombers over Reich 46 So we dropped another parachute flare, which..showed wreckage lying all over the place. 1974S. Gulliver Vulcan Bulletins 130 Wire-guided missiles, small aerial incendiaries, parachute flares.
1912C. B. Hayward Pract. Aeronaut. 690 (heading) *Parachute garment as a safeguard. Ibid., A parachute garment has been devised to ease the shock of the fall.
1929F. P. Gibbons Red Napoleon 231, I made a last inspection of my *parachute harness. 1958G. Dutton in B. James Austral. Short Stories (1963) 292 His shirt clung..to..the parachute harness. 1978T. Allbeury Lantern Network iv. 36 He..checked all the straps on her parachute harness.
1970*Parachute jump [see jump n.1 1 c]. 1977Listener 28 July 104/3, I had hoped to be making my first parachute jump..that Saturday.
1912C. B. Hayward Pract. Aeronaut. 161 The *parachute jumper insisted on going up at least a thousand feet for the first trial. 1932Auden Orators ii. 71 The Mimosa's affair with the parachute jumper.
1952Chambers's Jrnl. May 261/1 *Parachute-jumping is the field of aviation in which the monopoly belongs to the Soviet Union. 1969Listener 20 Feb. 255/1, I won the Northern Junior Sky-Diving Championship, but have given up parachute⁓jumping at least for the time being. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VII. 741/1 The sport of parachute jumping is usually governed by the parachute branch of the national aeronautic club. 1976A. White Long Silence i. 14 Can he climb?.. Parachute jumping?
1940W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 222 If *parachute landings were attempted..these unfortunate people would be far better out of the way. 1942E. Waugh Put out More Flags 247 Parachute landings were looked for hourly.
1868Rep. to Govt. U.S. Munitions War 192 A *parachute light-ball..if it only burns for a few minutes, does not reveal the position of those using it. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) 285/2 Parachute light, a suspended light, invented by Colonel (now General) Boxer R.A., and which is used for the same purpose as ground light balls..viz. to light up the enemy's works and working parties. 1918E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 432 Parachute Lights, rockets or flares fired electrically from the pilot's seat, through a tube.
1897Willis Flower. Pl. & Ferns I. 110 Very perfect ‘*parachute’ mechanisms.
1940Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 20 Dec. 1939–13 Feb. 1940 2 When the ‘*parachute’ and magnetic mines were first used in the war, many people assumed that the Allies were taken by surprise. 1961B. Fergusson Watery Maze i. 44 The Germans dropped some parachute mines into the harbour. 1974N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 90 It was indeed difficult to see what a human agency could do, short of a few parachute mines.
1972J. Poyer Chinese Agenda (1973) v. 42 Mountain tents of very light-weight, close⁓woven *parachute nylon. 1977New Yorker 12 Sept. 101 Two parachute nylon traveling bags.
1975T. Allbeury Special Collection iv. 20 There was ample room for..the *parachute pack. 1977P. Way Super-Celeste ii. 57 Bosco..pulled the green apple on the oxygen cylinder attached to his parachute pack.
1899Westm. Gaz. 1 Aug. 4/1 A ‘*parachute’ parasol with the edge fringed with lace of the style..in vogue at the period of the Crimean War.
1972*Parachute regiment [see para7]. 1973New Statesman 28 Sept. 410/3 Reaction against the cloistered Hampstead life drove him into the Parachute Regiment. 1977R.A.F. News 11–24 May 20/6 The Dakota..stands outside the Parachute Regiment's museum at Aldershot.
1930C. Dixon Parachuting 53 He will then pull out the *parachute ring in the front of his harness which will open the pack to let the parachute fly out.
1935Discovery Feb. 43/2 The multi⁓tube *parachute rocket used for the Harz Mountain experiments. 1976Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon) 23 June 52/4 Since many rescues have to be performed at night or in darkened, stormy conditions, he suggested police and other officials involved in rescues carry illuminating parachute rockets.
1937Discovery June 187/2 The manufacture of marine signals,..*parachute signals,..railway flares.
1962M. Duffy That's how it Was xvi. 131 She was juggling with some pieces of *parachute silk she had been given, trying to shape them to a pair of cami⁓knickers. 1977J. Cleary High Road to China i. 28 A length of old parachute silk was a curtain that hid..our skimpy wardrobe.
1971Bahamanian Rev. Nov. 15/2 For those who like to be on the water as well as in it, water skiing is available at the larger hotel beaches. The more daring may wish to sample *parachute skiing. In this unique sport, the skiers use the wind and motion of the boat to climb on the lift of a parachute and soar perhaps a hundred feet in the air for a thrilling ride.
1932Yachting Oct. 68/1 That the ‘*parachute’ spinnaker—or ‘double’ spinnaker, if you prefer—has come to stay is pretty evident to those who have given it any kind of a fair trail. 1964M. Weeks Compl. Boating Encycl. 398/1 Parachute spinnaker, a large, wide spinnaker introduced in 1927 by the Swedish yachtsman Sven Salén.
1971Daily Tel. 1 July 30/6 After aerodynamically braking in the atmosphere the *parachute system was put into action and before landing the soft-landing engines were fired.
1946A. Lee German Air Force 37 This stage [in training, etc.] recalls the *parachute tower in the Park of Rest and Culture at Moscow.
1938Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLII. 840 It appears that the landing of *parachute troops will require special sighting devices. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 18 Apr. 29, 700 parachute troops were landed. 1978Listener 9 Mar. 307/1 Malthausen..held whole armies of capable men and women who hoped that Allied parachute troops..would drop on, or near enough to, the camps.
1958P. Kemp No Colours or Crest xii. 264 As a further precaution we had to remove our badges of rank and *parachute wings. 1973Times 18 Oct. 18 General Amin..arrived in Amman earlier this week wearing Israeli parachute wings.
Hence ˈparachutage, a drop of supplies, etc. by parachute; ˈparachutal a.; ˈparachutic a. (sense 2).
1905Spectator 14 Jan. 47/1 A parachutic arboreal serpent is not an impossible animal. 1930Flight 21 Feb. 240/1 The last part of the lecture was devoted mainly to a discussion of vertical descent and to the parachutal efficiency of the autogiro. 1945G. Millar Maquis iii. 38, I told myself it was risky to sleep in bed so near the parachutage. 1956R. Braddon Nancy Wake xiii. 141 Whenever a parachutage was due, the B.B.C. would issue the special code phrase.
▪ II. parachute, v.
a. trans. To convey by means of a parachute.
b. intr. To descend by or as if by a parachute; to use a parachute.
1807Colman Broad Grins, Reckoning w. Time vi, Thy pinions next..Balloon'd me from the Schools to Town, Where I was parachuted down, A dapper Temple student. 1860W. H. Russell My Diary in India II. ix. 174 And thus, with an able-bodied aborigen holding on by my tunic-tails behind,..I parachuted down. 1888Pall Mall G. 28 Aug. 5/1 The lady who ‘parachuted’ from Clifton Suspension Bridge. 1914G. B. Shaw Misalliance 46 Tarleton... Been up much? Lina. Not in an aeroplane. Ive parachuted; but thats child's play. 1930E. W. Hendy Wild Exmoor 245 Meadow⁓pipits parachuted down to the brink. 1946News Chron. 2 Mar. 3 Brig. Nicholls was parachuted into Albania in October, 1943. 1956‘C. Blackstock’ Dewey Death ii. 27 He was with the Resistance... They parachuted him down into France. 1971Sci. Amer. Sept. 230/1 It parachuted down over the open Pacific.
c. fig. Const. in or into. trans. To appoint or elect an outsider in such a way as to disregard the existing hierarchy; intr. to obtain a position in such a way.
1954[implied in parachuting vbl. n.]. 1968Listener 13 June 759/3 Too many of the existing hierarchy are civil servants ‘parachuted’ in from outside. 1968D. Stuebing Trudeau: Man for Tomorrow v. 39 Trudeau was accused of parachuting into Mount Royal, the term in this sense implying that the candidate was dropped into the riding under party sponsorship and over the objections of the riding association. 1973Globe & Mail (Toronto) 9 June 6/2 Mr. Roberts prudently concluded that local Liberals would resist if an officer from the Prime Minister's office parachuted into the riding to push aside a respectable candidate, and a woman at that. 1975Globe & Mail (Toronto) 4 Mar. 6/2 Competent French-Canadians develop a sense of frustration and inferiority. They move more slowly and in smaller numbers up through the middle ranks. To redress the balance, the Government has to parachute French-Canadians from outside the civil service into senior positions. This parachuting produces complaints from English Canada about ‘The French’ taking over the Government.
Hence parachuted ppl. a.; ˈparachuter, a parachutist; parachuting vbl. n.
1893Westm. Gaz. 21 Mar. 9/2 Thus Baldwin, having made a fortune by parachuting, was able to retire unscathed. 1938Britannica Bk. of Year 79/1 Parachuting..seems to be considered as a kind of popular amusement for everybody in Russia and France if performed with stiff parachutes on ropes from special jumping towers. 1940Parachuter [see chutist, 'chutist]. 1941R. Greenwood Mr. Bunting at War xvi. 221, I learnt it in case I meet any parachuters. 1945G. Millar Maquis xv. 316 One pair of the high brown American parachuting-boots. 1954B. & R. North tr. Duverger's Pol. Parties ii. iii. 357 The ‘parachuting’ of candidates, so developed in the first proportional elections when some deputies had never set foot in their constituency before being elected, was radically impossible in the arrondissement system. 1969N. Freeling Tsing Boum xvii. 130 They came out at night to steal parachuted supplies. 1971P. A. Allum Politics & Society Post-War Naples (1973) vi. 180 A controversial example of the ‘parachuting’ of a candidate into the constituency was the transfer and inclusion in the list in 1968 of the Parisian correspondent of L'Unità, Maria-Antonietta Macciocchi. 1973Times 13 July 5/1 The ‘parachuting in’ of two young men at a relatively senior level caused some bitter feelings among existing Commission staff, who saw their promotion prospects threatened. 1974Times 19 Apr. 15/4 Corporal Jackie Smith, the only girl Red Devil..[has] considerable parachuting talent... You can ‘buy’ the weather by paying to travel wherever it's suitable for parachuting. 1977R.A.F. News 11–24 May 3/6 An instructor in high-altitude parachuting at Abingdon. 1977New Yorker 20 June 90/3 The connecting roads between tanks and parachuted troops are single lanes. |