| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈpinchbeck, -beke, n.1 Obs. rare.
[f. pinch- + ? beak.]
A miserly, close-fisted person.
1545Elyot Dict., Aridus homo, a drye felowe, of whom nothyng may be gotten, som do call hym a pelt, or a pynche⁓beke. 1552Huloet, Pynchebecke.
▪ II. pinchbeck, n.2 (a.)|ˈpɪn(t)ʃbɛk|
[Named after the inventor Christopher Pinchbeck, a watch- and toy-maker in Fleet Street, London (died 1732); orig. a place-name; there is a village so named near Spalding. Hence F. peinchebec (Littré).
1732Daily Post 27 Nov. (Advt.), That the toys made of the late ingenious Mr. Pinchbeck's curious metal..are now sold only by his son and sole executor, Mr. Edward Pinchbeck. 1755Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bute 22 Sept., In the next box, put up..three of Pinchbec's watches, shagrine cases, and enamelled dial-plates. 1776‘M. Mac-Gregor’ [W. Mason] Ode to C. Pinchbeck (the Younger), For thy sake Of Pinchbeck's own mixt-metal make A huge Extinguisher. ]
1. An alloy of about five parts of copper with one of zinc, resembling gold: used in clock-making, cheap jewellery, etc.
1734Fielding Intrig. Chamberm. i. vii, He said,..that the nobility and gentry run so much into Pinchbeck, that he had not dispos'd of two gold watches this month. 1812Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 419 United to zinc, copper produced Dutch gold, Rupert's metal and pinchbeck—from a third to a twelfth of zinc is used, the paler the alloy required the larger the quantity of zinc. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 708 Pinchbeck.—No. 1. 5 oz. of pure copper, and 1 oz. of zinc... Some use only half this quantity of zinc, in which proportion the alloy is more easily worked, especially in the making of jewellery. 1885R. Buchanan Annan Water xxv, He wore a massive chain of gold or pinchbeck.
2. fig. Contemptuously, as a type of what is counterfeit or spurious.
1859Thackeray Virgin. xxii, Those golden locks were only pinchbeck. 1887Lowell Old Eng. Dram. (1892) 128 The greater part of what I once took on trust as precious is really paste and pinchbeck. 1890Spectator 24 May, Is it necessary..that the pinchbeck as well as the gold left behind him by this voluminous writer, should be preserved?
3. attrib. or as adj.
a. Made of pinchbeck.
1746Cooke in Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iv. liv. 248 Gold, silver and pinchbeck snuff-boxes. 1849C. Brontë Shirley ii, He has a sort of pinchbeck watch; ditto, ring.
b. Of deceptive appearance and small value; spurious; simulating the genuine article; sham.
1850Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. iv. (1872) 113 Eloquent high-lacquered pinchbeck specimens. 1877Symonds Renaiss. Italy, Reviv. Learn. viii. 505 A pinchbeck age of poetry. 1883Fortn. Rev. Feb. 304 Overt State action against this pinch-beck Pretender may be..defended.
4. Comb.
1879Rutley Study Rocks x. 119 The colour is..brownish-green, or pinchbeck-brown. |