| 释义 |
run-off
Also runoff. Pl. run-offs.
[f. run v.]
1. a. The amount of water that is carried off an area by streams and rivers after having fallen as precipitation; the water itself; also, water that runs straight off the ground without first soaking into it.
1892–314th Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. 149 The run-off, that is, the quantity of water flowing from the land. 1895J. W. Powell in Nat. Geogr. Monogr. I. 6 The mean run-off by streams is more than half the run-off. 1910Westm. Gaz. 19 Feb. 2/2 Iron ore, which stains all the other streams..and the run-off of the night's rain to the colour of tanyard. 1929Weaver & Clements Plant Ecol. ix. 190 It [sc. rainfall] may be of such a torrential nature that only part of it can be absorbed and the rest is lost as run-off. 1957G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. iv. 229 A number of independent estimates of total runoff have been made by attempting to sum the rate of discharge of the rivers of the world. 1959Listener 10 Sept. 378/2 The run-off from the winter snowfields of the Australian Alps. 1969Physics Bull. Oct. 410/1 Calculated by subtracting runoff from rainfall, annual evaporation ranges from about 16 in per year in the north of England to 19 in per year in the Thames valley. 1970T. Hillerman Blessing Way xiii. 109 He stopped at a pool where runoff had been trapped in a pocket of rocks. 1978J. Irving World according to Garp iv. 81 The runoff from the rain—washing over the Steering School, rinsing everything clean.
b. The process or fact of water, or what the water contains, running off from an area; an instance of this; (N. Amer.) the period when such a process occurs, esp. the spring thaw.
1935Discovery Aug. 219/2 The rapid run-off causes disastrous floods at lower levels. 1944F. Clune Red Heart 6 West of the Darling..the thirsty red soil soaks every particle of rain that falls, with no surplus for a run-off. 1949W. Vogt Road to Survival v. 104 The rate of runoff can be reduced on even the steepest land. 1962W. O. Mitchell Kite iii. 25 As soon as the sky is blue and the run-off starts—down town every Saturday morning. 1972Times 26 June 12/2 Sewage and run-off of fertilizer from agricultural land is eliminating desirable fish. 1980Beautiful British Columbia Summer 4 This bucolic alternative becomes impossible when the snow flies and during spring runoff, as Duffey Lake Road then becomes impassable.
c. attrib., as run-off map, run-off rate, run-off water.
14th Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. 150 For comparison with this run-off map a similar map showing the mean annual precipitation is introduced. 1937Sun (Baltimore) 1 July 24/3 Slowing up the run-off rate of heavy rainfall. 1939C. W. Towne Her Majesty Montana 95 Our farmers are fortified by thousands of dams for the storage of run-off waters for livestock needs and to supply irrigation for feed and hay crops. 1979A. Hailey Overload iii. viii. 229 Hydroelectric power next year might be reduced by twenty-five percent because of the lack of runoff water.
2. a. A final deciding race held after a dead heat. Also in other kinds of contest.
1873Carthusian June 56 Hanson and Jeaffreson ran a dead heat for second place... The run-off for the second prize was won by Hanson. 1893Outing XXII. 155/1 In the run-off Harding had the best of the start. 1894Daily News 13 Sept. 3/2 The former easily defeated his opponent in the run-off. 1963H. Garner in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 49 ‘You tryin' out for the bowling team, Eric?’ he asked. ‘Sure thing. You?’ ‘May as well. Run-offs are on Thursday night.’ 1973Shooting Times & Country Mag. 7 July 19/3 If the judges have difficulty in arriving at a result, they can arrange a more difficult ‘run-off’ for the top dogs.
b. Chiefly U.S. An election held to decide the issue between the two candidates who gained the largest number of votes in a previous indecisive election. Freq. attrib. or as adj., esp. in run-off primary (see primary n. 6).
1924Lit. Digest 6 Sept. 8/2 Texas..has a double primary. If no one has a majority in the first primary election, a later ‘run-off’ primary is held, in which the voters choose between the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes at the first balloting. 1933Sun (Baltimore) 15 Sept. 3/4 A. H. Carmichael, of Tuscumbia, and B. L. Malone, of Decatur, will face each other in a run-off primary October 3 for the Democratic nomination to Congress from the Eighth Alabama district. 1944Ibid. 31 May 7/1 (heading) Alabama run-offs watched for clue to group's strength. 1954Economist 31 July 365/2 In Oklahoma Senator Kerr failed to gain the necessary clear majority of the votes cast, and was threatened with having to fight a ‘run-off’ election against a rival millionaire, Mr Roy Turner. 1959B. & R. North tr. M. Duverger's Polit. Parties (ed. 2) ii. i. 220 In primaries in the South where the nomination is conducted at a single ballot the Democratic party generally divides into two factions;..in the system with two successive primaries..the second or run-off primary operating in the event of no candidate securing an absolute majority at the first primary—the factions tend to increase in number. 1965N.Y. Times 7 Dec. 4/2 (heading) De Gaulle silent on whether he will enter runoff. 1966Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 4 June (1970) 386 Today is the Democratic primary runoff and we had come home to vote. 1968Listener 27 June 826/1 If General de Gaulle's victory at the polls is confirmed by the run-off vote next Sunday, he may well see this as a mandate for his projected social reforms. 1973Times 31 Mar. 5/4 His nearest rival, Señor Ricardo Balbin, announced he would not contest a runoff. 1977Time 21 Nov. 29/1 The gloves are expected to come off when Briscoe faces former City Councilman Jim McConn, a Houston developer, in a run⁓off next week.
3. a. The action or process of running off a person or thing in other senses of the vb.; a quantity run off or removed; spec. the material run off or produced by a mechanical process; a print run.
1843J. H. Green Exposure of Gambling 96 The adversary, fearing that his hand is really the better hand, will, in preference to risking more, throw up his own hand, and forfeit what has already been bet. This is a run-off, as well as in cases where he has no money enough to meet the proposed bet. a1948L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 393 Run off,..sheep counted out from a mob without being drafted; e.g., ‘I cannot buy the whole line. I will take a run off of 300.’ Usually fair r.o. 1952Bull. Poetry Soc. Amer. Oct. 4 An impromptu and rather novel program was offered: a run-off of a phonograph recording of a broadcast made in 1948 of poems from the PSA Anthology. 1967A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in England i. 27 Several of these [broadsides] were produced in massive run-offs. 1972Times 30 Oct. 19/4 Insurance companies are seldom capable of an accurate assessment of the outstanding liabilities on their current portfolio of business (a ‘run-off’). 1979Church Times 26 Oct. 7/3 The low price for such a well-produced volume must indicate a large run-off.
b. An instance of running off a railway or road.
1855Chicago Western Times 9 Aug. 1/8 The frequency of these run-offs demands the special attention of all railroad directors. 1872W. S. Huntington Road-Master's Assistant 87 It is best always to keep spare [switch] rods on hand, to be used in case of a run-off. 1970Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 19 Mar. 6/2 An invitation..to the Transport Minister..to discuss whether runoff roads could be a means of preventing semi-trailer accidents in the Adelaide hills.
4. The dropping of fruit before it is ready for picking; = running off s.v. running vbl. n. 7 e.
1921Jrnl. Pomol. II. 170 If frost caused the ‘Run off’ on half the bush, why did it not do so on the other? 1974Daily Tel. 6 June 6/4 A grower at Cropthorne, Worcestershire, said the level of fruit ‘run-off’ —unformed fruit shrivelling and falling from trees—was much higher than usual through lack of moisture.
5. N.Z. Also run-off paddock. (See quot. 1933.)
1933Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 25 Nov., Run off, paddock used with turnips or green feed on which the sheep may camp and get what extra feed they can. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 366/3 Utilisation of the heavier pockets [of coastal land] and sand dunes is complementary, the latter being used mainly as a winter run-off. Ibid. 389/1 During early winter they [sc. ewes] are rationed turnips, fed good hay, and driven off their turnip break on to a large run-off paddock daily.
6. slang. An act of urination.
1961Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1255/2 Run off, have a, to urinate. 1967H. W. Sutherland Magnie ix. 117 What with the cold and the beer she was bursting for a run off again... The nearest ladies she knew was at Pier Head. |