| 释义 |
physeter|faɪˈsiːtə(r)|
[a. L. phȳsētēr a cachalot (Plin.), a. Gr. ϕῡσητήρ a blower, a whale, f. ϕῡσᾶν to blow.]
†1. A large blowing whale. Obs.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 109 When on the surges I perceiue from far Th' Ork, Whirlpoole, Whale, or puffing Physeter. 1706Phillips, Physeter, the Whirl-pool, puffing or spouting Whale. 1786Phil. Trans. LXXVI. 444 These bones belonged to physeteres or respiring fishes.
2. Zool. The generic name of the cachalots or larger sperm-whales.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The physeter with the upper jaw longer than the under one..The head of this fish is so large, that it is half as long as the body, and thicker than the thickest part of it. 1806Home in Phil. Trans. XCVII. 100 The oil of the physeter, which crystallizes into spermaceti. 1833Sir C. Bell Hand (1834) 298 The Physeter or cachelot whale..is remarkable for having teeth.
3. A filter acting by air-pressure.
1842Francis Dict. Arts, etc., Physeter, a filtering machine, consisting of a tub, with an air-tight perforated stage half⁓way up. The feculent liquid to be filtered is put above the stage, and a syringe, by withdrawing the air from below the stage, occasions the clear part of the liquid to pass through, owing to the pressure of the atmosphere above it.
Hence phyˈseterine, phyˈseteroid adjs., of or pertaining to the sperm-whales; ns. A member of this group.
1883Encycl. Brit. XV. 393/2 Almost all the other members of the suborder range themselves under the two principal heads of Ziphioids (or Physeteroids) and Delphinoids. |