| 释义 |
ballistic, a.|bəˈlɪstɪk|
Also balistic.
[f. prec. + -ic.]
a. Of or pertaining to the throwing of missiles; projectile.
1775in Ash. 1854Blackw. Mag. LXXV. 530 The term..mangonel was generally applicable to balistic engines. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 194 Increasing the ballistic power of our weapons.
b. ballistic pendulum: an instrument for determining the relative velocity of projectiles.
1778Hutton in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 54 This large ballistic pendulum, after being struck by the ball. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §298 Robins' Ballistic Pendulum, a massive cylindrical block of wood cased in a cylindrical sheath of iron closed at one end and moveable about a horizontal axis.
c. ballistic galvanometer, one in which damping is minimized, used to measure transient currents.
1878Ayrton & Perry in Rep. Brit. Assoc. 487 To obtain a galvanometric arrangement of sufficient sensibility to measure the small capacity of such an air condenser, and sufficiently ballistic that the air damping should be almost inappreciable... The arrangement of a ballistic galvanometer to fulfil the two conditions mentioned..was very troublesome. 1879― in Phil. Mag. Apr. 287 There was always some slight damping even in our ballistic galvanometer. 1880J. E. H. Gordon Phys. Treat. Electr. & Magn. I. 240 In order to diminish the resistance of the air as much as possible, a ‘balistic galvanometer’ has been used.
d. ballistic missile, ballistic rocket, a guided missile or rocket in which the guidance is effective only during the phase of propulsion; one that is powered only when ascending and then falls freely.
1949Jrnl. Amer. Rocket Soc. Dec. 165 We have traced the path from the unguided small rocket to the huge ballistic rocket. 1954Commonw. 1 Oct. 621/2 The so-called IBM, or intercontinental ballistic missile with nuclear warhead, is the ugly development next to be expected. 1958Engineering 14 Mar. 331/1 To put a ballistic missile on the right course..the guidance has to be accomplished while the engines are still firing. 1959A. E. Puckett Guided Missile Engin. ii. 7 Ballistic missiles..follow trajectories determined primarily by initial velocity and gravity.
e. ballistic camera, a camera used to photograph the phenomena of high velocity flight, esp. of ballistic missiles, etc.
1956W. von Braun in Jrnl. Brit. Interplan. Soc. XV. 129 An isolated spot on the artillery firing range where were set up a formidable array of..ballistic cameras and chronographs. 1959G. Merrill Dict. Guided Missiles & Space Flight 76/1 Ballistic camera, a camera used to photograph high velocity flight phenomena... Ballistic cameras are usually used to cover the terminal or launch phases of flight.
▸ In fig. contexts. Out of control, haywire, berserk. Chiefly in to go ballistic slang (orig. U.S.): to become wildly or explosively angry, to fly into a rage; (also) to become highly excited or enthusiastic; to intensify rapidly and esp. alarmingly.
The specific reference in quot. 1966 is to the failure of a guided missile's guidance system, rendering it ‘ballistic’ (cf. sense 2a).
[1966Chicago Tribune 19 July i. 12/2 The SAM has a limiting factor in its ability to change course. If it exceeds these limits in trying to turn, it goes ballistic... It generally explodes in the air.] 1981R. Scruton Fortnight's Anger iv. 114 He turned and stared intently..from black ballistic eyeballs. 1985Washington Post 11 July a1/4 ‘Wickham went ballistic when he heard about the recommendation,’ one Pentagon executive said. 1988G. H. W. Bush in N.Y. Times (Nexis) 7 Nov. 17, I get furious. I go ballistic. I really do and I bawl people out. 1991Village Voice (N.Y.) 10 Sept. 43/3 Just after sunup..the ozone level goes ballistic. 1993Lincoln (Nebraska) Star 28 Dec. 1/1 The national media went ballistic over a claim..that Clinton had lovers. 1998Lapidary Jrnl. Oct. 20, I went ballistic over the amazing patterns..and color found inside the rocks! 2000C. Thayer Certain Slant of Light xxvii. 248 Boat belonged to the father of one of the kids. The dad was ballistic over the whole thing. |