| 释义 |
pipe-layer|ˈpaɪpˌleɪə(r)|
[f. pipe n.1 + layer n. 1.]
a. A workman who lays pipes for the conveyance of water, gas, etc. Also, a machine used to lay pipes.
b. U.S. political slang. One who schemes to procure corrupt votes. (See quot. a 1882, and next.)
1840Richmond (Virginia) Enquirer Nov. (Th.), Corruption of the franchise by pipe layers and yarn spinners. 1841Congress. Globe 26th Congress 2 Sess. App. 155/1, I was not defeated by voters. I was defeated by ‘pipe layers’. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1865) II. 510/2 Rubbish⁓carters, or pipe-layers, or ground-workers. 1864Sala in Daily Tel. 8 July, You might take them to be pipe-layers, or log-rollers, or lobbyers, or members of a municipal ‘ring’. a1882T. Weed Autobiog. xlviii. (1883) 493 A letter in which he said that the men..were to be employed in laying the pipes for the introduction of Croton water. The Whig leaders were immediately stigmatized as ‘pipe layers’, a term persistently applied to them for several years. 1969Engineering 25 Apr. 648/2 A Badger Minor trenchless pipelayer..has been specially adapted [for the simultaneous laying of four pvc cable ducts]. 1976Daily Tel. 15 July 5/1 The deaths of a Texan pipe-layer and a French diver brought criticism from an MP yesterday of the Government's attitude towards safety in North Sea gas and oil operations. 1977Pipes & Pipelines Internat. XXII. 35/2 A new pipelayer with lifting capacity of 41 000 kg.
So ˈpipe-laying, (a) the laying of pipes for water, gas, etc.; (b) in U.S. political slang, a form of political corruption: see quot. 1850.
1848N.Y. Tribune 30 Oct. (Bartlett) The result..would not be..doubtful, if we could be assured of fair play and no pipe-laying. 1850Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 6 Fifty or sixty Irish labourers..were conciliated for some years by employment in the Croton waterworks, so that ‘pipe-laying’ became the slang term for this kind of bribery. 1864Webster, Pipe-laying, the laying down of pipes, as for gas, water, etc. 1881Nation (N.Y.) XXXII. 180 He would begin his pipe⁓laying at a greater distance,..and fortify his combinations by many more devices. 1841Congress. Globe 26th Congress 2 Sess. App. 120/2 Others say that fraud, double voting, pipe laying, [etc.]..have done much to carry the election. 1842[see colonization 2]. 1871Engineering XI. p. vii/3 (heading) Pipe laying under water. 1973C. Callow Power from Sea viii. 163 Pipe-laying barges are actively engaged in off-shore work. 1975BP Shield Internat. May 14/1 The second highly weather-vulnerable job is pipe-laying. 1975Times 16 Sept. (North Sea Suppl.) p. i/1 Pipe-laying barges need to monitor their operations under the sea and to locate pipes at a later date. |