| 释义 |
▪ I. blip, v.|blɪp|
[Echoic.]
1. a. trans. To strike with a brisk rap or tap. b. intr. To make a quick popping sound. Hence ˈblipping ppl. a.
1924A. A. Milne When we were Very Young 93 They pulled him out and dried him, and they blipped him on the head. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1968) xviii. 311 A big moth flopped into the room and blipped about. 1952‘C. Brand’ London Particular vi. 64 Some horrible burglar..blipped him on the head and killed him. 1955W. Golding Inheritors iii. 60 Little bubbles bulged out of the scum, wandered and blipped out. 1957‘C. E. Maine’ High Vacuum xiii. 108 The signal blipped hollowly from the speaker, fading and sporadic. 1963P. McCutchan Man from Moscow xx. 205 The only noise was that of the blipping tyres.
2. slang. To switch an aeroplane engine on and off. Also trans. and intr., to open and close (the throttle of an aeroplane, car, etc.); to rev (an engine) momentarily with the clutch disengaged. Hence as n. Also ˈblipping vbl. n.
1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 26 To blip, to switch an aeroplane engine on and off. 1931Vanity Fair Nov. 78/2 Blipping is the flippant term for nonchalantly and rapidly switching the ignition off and on while in flight. 1946F. Hamann Air Words 9 Blip, rapidly opening and closing the engine throttle... Also to clean possible ice out of the carburetor. 1958‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose iii. 79 They brought back memories of slow-revving engines blipping on the switch. Ibid. 84, I..flew her over to the hangar in little blips of engine on the switch. 1972Drive Summer 106/2 If the car has a synchromesh gearbox..blipping the throttle in the middle of a gearchange is a waste of petrol. 1979Daily Mail 7 June 31/1 Riders who ‘blip’ the throttle while waiting at traffic lights are wasting petrol.
▪ II. blip, n.|blɪp|
[Echoic.]
1. Any sudden brisk blow or twitch; a quick popping sound.
1894‘Mark Twain’ in St. Nicholas Apr. 540/1 We took him a blip in the back and knocked him off. 1927A. A. Milne Now we are Six 23 It wasn't that he did not care For blips and buffetings and such. 1932Auden Orators ii. 56 Three warnings of enemy attack—depression in the mornings—rheumatic twinges—blips on the face. 1947Crowther & Whiddington Science at War 16 A ‘blip’ or ‘break’ which marks the moment of emission of the pulse. 1958Times 29 July 10/6 A series of preliminary blips [of a motor-horn]. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio vii. 130 A burst of applause lasting, say, ten seconds is very difficult to cut down to five without a slight ‘blip’ at the join.
2. A small elongated mark projected on a radar screen.
1945Electronic Engin. XVII. 716 Note the calibration scales, in this case formed of small and larger ‘blips’, not bright dots. 1957Times 11 Oct. 10/2 The first ‘blip’ appeared on a blue trace which was crossing the screen of an ex-military radar set.
▸ fig. a. orig. Statistics. A temporary (and inconsequential) movement or fluctuation in an otherwise uniform trend or pattern, esp. a temporary downturn; an anomaly.
1967Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. (A.) 1307 The third type of audience change is an occasional one-week ‘blip’ in the otherwise fairly steady week-by-week audience level in a time-segment. 1981Dun's Rev. June 13/1 My view is that while there will be occasional blips on the upside, the general trend will be down. 1990Guardian 10 Aug. 18/6 We wait until it is clear that any significant change in the world price of petrol..is not just a ‘blip’. We then move our price. 2004Marketing 12 Feb. 15/3 What should have been seen as an uncharacteristic blip in standards has been over-inflated into a story about the integrity of one of the UK plc's strongest global brands.
b. Chiefly in a blip on the radar (screen) and variants: something which is insignificant or attracts little attention.
1971Daily Times (Salisbury, Maryland) 31 Dec. 4/2 A single lifetime—a tiny blip on the radar of eternity. 1986New Yorker 15 Sept. 110/3 He could sell water in a flood—but table soccer was a blip in our industry. 1991Amer. City & Country Dec. 4/1 There was the fall of communism, but with bank failures and bailouts and recession.., that was pretty much a blip on the local government radar screen. 2001J. Waterman Arctic Crossing iii. 258 The horizons stretch so endlessly that my own fragile, antlike life seems a mere blip. 2003Mojo Nov. 101/2 Had Pink Floyd broken up when Syd Barrett went home to his mum..they'd have been a much smaller blip on the rock radar. |