| 释义 |
▪ I. plunging, vbl. n.|ˈplʌndʒɪŋ|
[-ing1.]
a. The action of the verb plunge in various senses; spec. † immersion in baptism (obs.).
a1450Myrc 609 Whenne thou comest to the plungynge. 1532Frith Mirror (1829) 234 The sign in baptism, is the plunging down in the material water, and lifting up again. 1607Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 93 A mare..which..was naturally giuen to the vice of plunging. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xviii. vii. (1872) VII. 221, I could..leave Fortune to her whirlings and her plungings. 1883I. L. Bishop in Leisure Ho. 143/1 At times..came huge plungings, with accompanying splashings.
b. attrib. and Comb., as plunging bath, plunging-hole, plunging-material, plunging-pit, plunging system; plunging-battery (Electr.), a battery in which the plates may be plunged into or withdrawn from the fluid, when the battery is or is not in use (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); plunging-siphon, a small tube with open ends, used to draw a small quantity of liquor by plunging it into the bulk, and stopping one end with the finger (Dunglison, 1857).
1843Sir C. Scudamore Med. Visit Gräfenberg 70 Neither plunging bath nor douche were used. 1871S. Hibberd Amateur's Flower Garden xiii. 238 The object of the plunging system is to keep up a rich display of flowers or leaves on the same spot the whole year round. 1882Garden 21 Jan. 49/2 Plants of two or three sorts should be selected from the cold plunging pits. 1885Elder in Our Corner V. 177 Cocoanut fibre may be put on as a plunging material into which pots, seed-pans, or boxes can be plunged.
▪ II. ˈplunging, ppl. a.
[-ing2.]
That plunges. a. Of a horse or its action, a wave, a ship, etc.: Diving; rushing or falling forward or downward; pitching; sinking steeply.
1538Elyot, Sternax, a steerynge or ploungynge horse. 1548Ibid., Sternax equus, a plungyng hors that casteth his ridar. 1818Byron Mazeppa xvii, The steeds rush on in plunging pride. 1840Browning Sordello i. 172 Richard, light-hearted as a plunging star. 1875H. James Passionate Pilgr., etc. 236 She sat on an ivied stone, on the edge of a plunging wall. 1885Black White Heather v, In the darkened and plunging waters.
b. fig. in various senses: see the verb.
1568T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 37 Most greedy gripes with plunging paines, do pierce my ruthfull hart. 1794Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 442 His unbridled licence of language, and his plunging desperate doctrines.
c. plunging fire, artillery or rifle fire directed downwards from a higher level. Cf. plunge v. 9.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., Plunging-fire,..shot fired at an angle of depression below point-blank. 1891G. W. Baird in Century Mag. July 357 The Indians held the sharp crests of the steep hills, and were delivering a plunging fire into the troops.
d. Geol. Of a fold (see plunge v. 5 c).
1905Chamberlin & Salisbury Geol. I. viii. 483 Fig. 403 shows a doubly plunging anticline; that is, an anticline the axis of which dips down at either end. 1942M. P. Billings Structural Geol. iii. 44 Although the larger plunging folds cannot be directly observed, they are easily recognized from their outcrop pattern. 1968[see pitching ppl. a. 1].
e. plunging neckline, a very deep-cut neckline on a woman's garment.
1949Sun (Baltimore) 18 Nov. 14/2 Will you please express your opinion about the good taste of women wearing the so-called ‘plunging necklines’ to their business offices. 1959Sunday Express 22 Nov. 6/6, I do wish Mr. Braine could tear his eyes away from girls' provocative, plunging necklines. 1973‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green xxxiv. 162 A temp with a plunging neckline and shaky shorthand.
Hence ˈplungingly adv.
1872Geo. Eliot Middlem. lii, Fred hesitated an instant, and then went on plungingly. |