| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈbowser1 Obs.
Also bowcer, bowsier.
[Derivation uncertain: perhaps a corruption of AF. bourser, OF. boursier, bursar, f. bourse, purse.
Notwithstanding the form bowcer, and the agreement in sense with bowcher, the two words can hardly be identical, since there was no OF. boucier, bouchier, with suitable sense. But the two bowser and bowger, (bowcher) may have been confused in English.]
A treasurer, bursar. Hence ˈbowsery, a bursar's office, a bursary.
1534Hen. VIII. Liber Regis (1786) p. xi, To serche and knowe the..names of the..almoner, bowser, hospyteler. 1552R. Hutchinson Serm. Lord's Supper (1842) 225 Masters of colleges do call their stewards and bowsers to an account and audit. 1626Scogin's Jests (N.) Had every night the keys of the bowcery and buttery delivered. 1631T. Powell Tom of All Tr. 149 To be head Bowsier of the Colledge. 1721–1800Bailey, Bowser, the Purser, or Treasurer of a College.
▪ II. bowser2|ˈbaʊzə(r)|
[Trade name.]
A petrol pump (chiefly Austral. and N.Z.); also, a petrol tanker used for fuelling aircraft, tanks, etc. Also transf.
1921Trade Marks Jrnl. 26 Oct. 2060 Bowser...Oil and petrol pumps. S. F. Bowser & Company Incorporated...Fort Wayne..State of Indiana. 1934Bulletin (Sydney) 18 July 11/4 In those days there was but one [petrol] pump storage system—the Yankee line, manufactured by one Bowser... ‘Bowser’ had found general acceptance, at least in Australia. 1935‘H. Adair’ Wanted a Son ii. viii. 228 They came to a petrol pump—a ‘bowser’ Alec called it. 1942W. Simpson One of our Pilots 18 The hundred odd vehicles of our M.T. columns—petrol bowsers, tractors,..etc. 1943Amer. Speech XVIII. 87 [In New Zealand] a pump at a filling-station is a bowser. 1963D. Irving Destruction of Dresden iii. iii. 139 The bowsers were waiting to top up the tanks once again. 1968P. Sharp Railway Stations 16 A water bowser (or tank on wheels) refills the cisterns in the roof of the coaches for the kitchens and toilets. |