| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈpin-fire, a.1 (n.1)
[f. pin n.1 + fire v.]
A. adj. Applied to a form of cartridge for breech-loading guns, invented by Lefaucheux in 1836, fitted with a pin which, on being struck by the hammer of the lock, is thrust into the fulminate and explodes it. Also applied to a gun in which such a cartridge is used.
B. n. (or ellipt.) A pin-fire cartridge or gun.
[1854Restell's Patent Specif. No. 2530. 8–9 The hammer in this gun strikes downwards on a loose stud or pin inserted on the edge of the cartridge rim.] 1870U.S. Patent Specif. No. 99721 A cross-section of an ordinary ‘pin-fire cartridge’. 1875Greener Breech-loaders (ed. 2) 27 We..make a hundred central-fire guns to one pin-fire. 1885Bazaar 30 Mar. 1274/1, 6 chamber self action pinfire revolver. 1886Pall Mall G. 24 Aug. 4/1 About that date [1866] breech-loaders began to make their appearance—all pin-fires and on the Lefaucheux principle. 1888Daily News 18 Oct. 7/1 A revolver... The weapon is a pin-fire, and has six chambers.
▪ II. ˈpin-fire, a.2 (n.2)
Also pinfire.
[f. pin n.1 + fire n.]
Used attrib. and absol. to designate precious opal characterized by closely spaced specks of colour.
1902Blackw. Mag. Feb. 254/1 Two men found a large piece of ‘pin-fire’, or the best opal. 1902[see orange a. 1 b]. 1908A. J. Dawson Finn xxxi. 464 Sixty-six solid pounds o' best pin-fire—and us dyin' for want of a crust. 1964W. C. Eyles Bk. Opals i. 25 Pin-fire opal is a type in which the main body of the stone is usually white and shows a myriad of small pinlike colors all through the surface and the body of the stone. 1971R. Purvis Treasure Hunting i. 27/2 In pin-fire opals, the colour play is in small pinlike dots thickly scattered through the mass. 1976Sci. Amer. Apr. 84/3 In ‘pinfire’ varieties of opal the grains are up to a millimeter across, but in the more typical varieties they are several millimeters across. |