| 释义 |
propulsion|prəʊˈpʌlʃən|
[a. F. propulsion (1642 in Hatz.-Darm.) or f. L. type *prōpulsiōn-em, n. of action f. prōpellĕre to propel.]
†1. The action of driving forth or away; expulsion, repulsion. Obs.
1611Florio, Propulsione, a repelling,..a propulsion. 1626Bacon Sylva §715 In joy it worketh it diversely; viz. by propulsion of the moisture, when the spirits dilate, and occupy more room. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 210 Warm bathing..promotes the propulsion of noxious matters.
2. a. The action of driving or pushing forward or onward; the condition of being impelled onward; also, propulsive force or effort.
1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. 434 The materials..are..unceasingly carried forwards by the circulation and propulsion of water into the unfathomable regions of the sea. 1807J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 59 To conclude this subject of the propulsion of the sap. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 372 He had succeeded in constructing a rude steam engine,..which he pronounced to be an admirable and most forcible instrument of propulsion.
b. fig. Impelling influence; impulse.
1800Lamb Lett., to Manning 1 Mar., I set to, with an unconquerable propulsion to write, with a lamentable want of what to write. 1846Whittier Reformer xxiv, God works in all things; all obey His first propulsion from the night. 1876Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 202 The constant propulsion of an unbending will.
3. attrib., as propulsion-jet, propulsion-system; propulsion gun, a hand-held device that an astronaut can cause to eject a jet of compressed gas so as to propel him in space.
1958C. C. Adams Space Flight viii. 196 Auxiliaries. These include taxis and propulsion ‘guns’ for individual men in space suits, or reaction power packages attached like outboard motors to large objects. 1965Life 18 June 26/2 White himself used a camera attached to his propulsion gun, and McDivitt operated another at his window inside.
1935Balmer & Wylie After Worlds Collide i. 14 The earth around the huge metal cylinder had been melted by the blasts of its atomic propulsion-jets.
1961Amer. Speech XXXVI. 170 In the years after 1919, he [sc. Robert Esnault-Pelterie] had taken the initiative in stimulating studies on propulsion systems for interplanetary travel. 1966Electronics 14 Nov. 16/3 In addition, four panel discussions will bring together the nation's top men in the fields of space policy and launch and propulsion systems. |