| 释义 |
pin-wheel, n.
[f. pin n.1 + wheel.]
1. a. ‘A wheel in the striking train of a clock in which pins are fixed to lift the hammer’ (F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. 196). b. ‘A contrate wheel in which the cogs are pins set into the disk’ (Knight Dict. Mech.).
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v. Striking-wheel, In 16 Days Clocks, the first or great Wheel is usually the Pin⁓wheel; but in Pieces that go 8 Days, the second Wheel is the Pin-wheel or Striking-wheel. c1790J. Imison Sch. Art i. 276 This wheel, thus with pins, is called the striking-wheel, or pin-wheel. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 496 This single wheel serves the purpose of count-wheel, pin-wheel, detent-wheel, and the fly-wheel. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 196 The escape wheel of a Pin Wheel Escapement.
2. A firework in which the composition is contained in a long case wound spirally about a disk, which is supported upon a pin, and revolves like a wheel on being ignited; a small catherine-wheel.
1869Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 629 The pretty little catherine-wheel, or pin-wheel. 1869Aldrich Story of Bad Boy 92 The smaller sort of fireworks, such as pin-wheels, serpents, double headers.
3. A revolving circular wooden box or drum, with wooden pins projecting from the inner surface, in which hides are washed or softened in warm water or other liquid; also called pin-mill.
1885Newhall in Harper's Mag. Jan. 275/2 The hides next pass into a queer-looking contrivance known as a ‘pin-wheel’, a stout circular wooden box, in which they are churned about in warmish water, dropping upon stout wooden pins attached to the circumference.
Hence ˈpin-wheel v., (a) trans., to subject (hides) to the action of a pin-wheel (sense 3); (b) intr., to rotate in the manner of a pin-wheel (sense 2); also fig.
1885Newhall in Harper's Mag. Jan. 276/2 Hides.., after having been..pin-wheeled,..are put under a ‘scourer’. 1942W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 149 The shrill, frantically pinwheeling little dog. 1951J. Steinbeck Burning Bright i. 12 The shrill band played the march of elephants and white horses, giraffes and hippopotamuses and pin-wheeling clowns. 1952Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 235/1 So he let fly at the nearer of them, and saw her tumble in the air, then pinwheel earthwards. 1976W. Greatorex Crossover 188 Memories pin-wheeled through Pavel's mind. 1977D. Bennett Jigsaw Man xii. 225 Strangely unrelated incidents pinwheeled through Farquar's mind.
Add:[2.] b. transf. Something shaped or operating like a pin-wheel. Freq. attrib.
1904F. M. Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cook Bk. (rev. ed.) 71 Fruit rolls (pin wheel biscuit). 1955Sci. News Let. 17 Sept. 186 The gas turbine engine, the powerful ‘pinwheel jet’ that packs more horse-power per pound, is now being tested in cars by the major automobile manufacturers. 1966J. S. Cox Illustr. Dict. Hairdressing 114/1 Pinwheel,..an arrangement of the hair in which it is coiled around a central point to make a pinwheel bang, pinwheel puff, etc. 1975New Yorker 27 Oct. 39/2 My sons have nothing but love for the grandma who makes them pinwheel cookies. 1984Roberts & Boothroyd Fund. Plant Path. (ed. 2) iv. 54 Some tubular cytoplasmic inclusions..appear in cross section as pin-wheels. |