| 释义 |
policeman|pəʊˈliːsmən, pə-|
1. a. A member of the police force; a paid constable. New Policeman, a constable of the New Police of 1829.
1801R. Musgrave Mem. Different Rebellions in Ireland I. 227 They boasted that they had killed the police⁓men at Dunboyne. 1824J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. II. 22 Thus they went on..till November 1822, when,..in rushed the sheriff with a number of police men. 1829J. W. Croker in C. Papers 28 Sept., I find a general opinion prevailing that your policemen are not paid sufficiently. 1830Morn. Chron. 18 Aug. heading, Murder of a New Policeman by a Gang of Burglars. 1867Trollope Chron. Barset I. viii. 60 He would not go before the magistrates..unless the policemen came and fetched him.
fig.1887Rider Haggard Allan Quaterm. 20 The stern policeman Fate moves us and them on.
b. A soldier-ant.
1877Pascoe Zool. Classification (1880) 149 Heterogyna.—Males, females and neuters,..workers and soldiers... The soldiers (or ‘policemen’) have very large heads.
c. A police informer. slang.
[1874Hotten Slang Dict. 257 Policeman,..among the dangerous classes, a man who is unworthy of confidence, a sneak or mean fellow.] 1923E. Wallace Missing Million xv. 128 Being an amateur, he left his finger-prints, and it's no job of mine to let 'em stay. ‘Live and let live’ is one of my mottoes, and ‘Thou shalt not be a policeman’ is another. Ibid. xvi. 134 Casey is a born ‘policeman’, and would sell his own mother if you paid him the right kind of money. 1924[see copper v.2 2].
d. Naut. (See quots.)
1933P. A. Eaddy Hull Down 179 One of the boys, who was acting as ‘policeman’ (one of the watch who is told off to rouse the rest, should the Mate suddenly want them), came banging on the lamp-locker door. 1962A. G. Course Dict. Nautical Terms 151 Policeman, a name used in sailing ships for the member of the watch on deck who kept awake to hear the officer's orders and call his shipmates.
e. fig. A person or object regarded as a deterrent or obstacle. In phr. sleeping policeman: a ramp in the road intended to jolt a moving motor vehicle, thereby encouraging motorists to reduce their speed.
1951E. Coxhead One Green Bottle iii. 79 The climb above the crux was even more delightful; a knife-edge..then a stone policeman barring the way. 1969G. E. Evans Farm & Village viii. 80 After the farm-workers had cleared a field of the crop they left one sheaf standing on it. This last sheaf was called the Policeman, and it was understood that no gleaner could enter the field while the Policeman was on guard. 1969L. Thompson in R. Blythe Akenfield i. 35 The policeman was the name given to the last trave or stook which the farmers would leave standing in the middle of the field so they could have time to rake-up all the loose corn they could before the gleaners arrived. There was one farmer who made a habit of keeping the gleaners waiting and one night a young man stole the ‘policeman’. 1973Guardian 27 Feb. 1/4 Labour intends to..build ‘sleeping policemen’ (ridges) into residential and shopping streets to slow traffic down. 1974Times 24 July 4/7 The government would proceed with experiments in the use of ‘sleeping policemen’—road humps to slow motorists.
2. Chem. A glass rod or tube with a short piece of rubber tubing on one end (see also quot. 1963).
1916F. A. Gooch Representative Procedures in Quantitative Chem. Analysis iii. 64 The precipitate, transferred from the container to the filter..with the aid of a rubber-tipped glass rod (the ‘policeman’). 1930W. T. Hall Textbk. Quantitative Analysis xi. 149 This so-called policeman may be made by sticking together the end of a piece of rubber tubing that fits the rod tightly. 1963N. L. Parr Lab. Handbk. vii. 103 Other means of separation [of solids] are sometimes adopted. Among them are dialysis, and the ‘policeman’ for dealing with solids in microchemistry, which is a small snipe feather mounted in a short length of glass tubing. 1974Nature 6 Dec. 498/2 Attempts to passage stage 2 cells..by scraping with a rubber policeman, resulted in a rapid degeneration of the cells in a new flask.
3. attrib. and Comb., as policeman fly Austral., a small wasp belonging to the family Nyssonidæ, Arpactidæ, or Stizidæ, which preys on flies; policeman's helmet, the Himalayan balsam, Impatiens glandulifera, a purple-flowered annual plant belonging to the family Balsaminaceæ.
1907W. W. Froggatt Austral. Insects 108 Several of these [small wasps] are known in the bush as policemen flies. 1926R. J. Tillyard Insects Australia & N.Z. xxii. 299 These wasps [sc. Arpactidæ] and the members of the following family [sc. Nyssonidæ] are known as ‘Policeman Flies’ in Australia. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 26 July 21/3 The robber fly, known [erroneously] in the back country as the policeman fly. 1969Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 11 Jan. 6/8 Mr. Barrand found a fly which chases away other flies. He hopes to install tape-recorded sounds of the policeman fly in a transistorized unit.
1950J. Hutchinson Uncommon Wild Flowers 226 Jumping Jack, Policeman's Helmet... A tall, sometimes very strong growing herb up to 6ft. or more. 1958P. Lewis Brit. Wild Flowers 125 Policeman's Helmet, a Himalayan plant grown in cottage gardens, has become naturalized along river-banks and in waste places. 1961E. Salisbury Weeds & Aliens iii. 65 The Policeman's Helmet is now to be met with in semi-wild stations in nearly half the British counties. 1971Country Life 18 Feb. 384/2 An incongruous coloniser from the Himalayas, that Impatiens so appropriately known as policeman's helmet, attracting bumble-bees until the frosts come.
Hence poˈlicemanish a., suggestive of a policeman; poˈlicemanism, the methods or conduct of policemen; poˈlicemanlike a.; poˈlicemanly a., appropriate to or characteristic of a policeman; poˈlicemanship, the function, office, or action of a policeman.
1874R. Tyrwhitt Sketch. Club 142 That policemanlike faculty of coming round a corner. 1887Wallace in Pall Mall G. 2 Feb. 6/1 [In determining to restore order and neglecting to do justice, the Government..was exhibiting] policemanship, not statesmanship. 1891Star 31 Oct. 4/3 Instances of policemanism crop up daily. 1897A. Herbert in Daily News 30 Aug. 5/7 One thing we have to resist is the growth of that ugliest of all ugly things, which goes by the name of ‘policemanship’. 1908Daily Chron. 30 Mar. 3/3 (heading) Policemanism. The Prince..went on to denounce a Government influenced by ‘men with the education of a policeman, and with the convictions of a pogromshchik (official of massacre)’. 1916A. Bennett Lion's Share iii. 27 The heavy policemanish step of Mr. Cowl was heard on the landing. 1936‘M. Innes’ Death at President's Lodging ix. 171 The policemanly demand at last. 1973― Appleby's Answer xx. 172 The day had passed when she judged it amusing to join her husband in policemanly scampers. 1975W. Marshall Yellowthread Street 64 He had been..firm and policeman-ish. 1977‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon x. 194 Policemanly instincts..reasserted themselves. Single-handed, he would make an arrest.
Senses 1 d, e in Dict. become 1 e, f. Add: [1.] d. fig. A person or entity that acts like a policeman; used esp. of a country, with reference to its international peace-keeping role or similar function.
1887Rider Haggard Allan Quarterm. 20 The stern policeman Fate moves us and them on. 1907G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Island Pref. p. xxxii, In Ireland England is nothing but the Pope's policeman. 1979Time 8 Jan. 25/3 [Iran] is the ‘policeman’ of the crucial Persian Gulf sea-lanes through which 40{pcnt} of the non-Communist world's oil is shipped. 1979Guardian 15 Mar. 3/4 The underlying US strategy will be to persuade Egypt to join with Israel in acting as the policeman of a Middle East peace. |