| 释义 |
breeder|ˈbriːdə(r)|
[f. breed v. + -er1.]
1. a. That which breeds or produces offspring.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 68 Among'st the fairest breeders of our clime. 1593― 3 Hen. VI, ii. i. 42 You loue the Breeder better then the Male. 1614Markham Cheap Husb. (1623) 136 Not good to chuse a crowing hen, for they are neither good breeders nor good layers. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 1 Hunge tuppes are.. to bee kept for breeders. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Pigeon, The Pigeon called the Leghorn is..an excellent Breeder. 1727Swift Modest Prop. Wks. 1755 II. ii. 60 There may be about two hundred thousand couple, whose wives are breeders. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. iii. (1878) 51 The elephant is reckoned the slowest breeder of all known animals.
b. That which produces or originates; the author, source, or cause.
1572J. Bossewell Armorie iii. 5 Breders, norishers, & comforters of all lyuyng thynges. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1860) 20 Neither the breeders nor fauorites of discord. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 9 That evil should alwayes flow from evil in a chain of breeders.
†c. A plant used for propagation.
d. A gardeners' name for an immature, self-coloured, seedling tulip.
1601Holland Pliny I. 531 As for another [shoot], springing from a yeare-old branch, it is left alwaies for a breeder. 1660Sharrock Vegetables 27 Tulips without blackish bottome are noe good breeders of various coloured flowers. 1846J. W. Loudon Ladies' Comp. Flower-Gard. 303 Breeders..are seedling Tulips before they have shown any variety of colour.
2. a. One who breeds cattle or other animals.
1531Elyot Gov. i. x, Virgile leaueth farre behynde hym all breders, hakneymen, and skosers. 1533–4Act 25 Hen. VIII, i, Euery owner, grasier, fermour, breder, drouer, and brogger of this realme. 1707Lond. Gaz. No. 4342/3 [To] bring a Certificate from the Breeder, of his Mare's Age. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. II. 18 He was a breeder of cattle. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 265.
fig.1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 28 Let Lent well kept offend not thee, for March and Aprill breeders bee.
†b. A grower or producer. Obs.
1547Act 1 Ed. VI, i. Pream., The said Breeders of the said Wools.
†3. One who brings up; a trainer, instructor. Obs.
1571R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 72 Tyme was whan Italie and Rome haue bene..the best breeders and bringers vp of the worthiest men. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. xii. lxxi. 296 Of world-admired Drake..And his braue breeder Hawkins.
4. Nuclear Engin. In full breeder reactor, breeder pile: an apparatus that can create more fissile material than it consumes in the chain reaction.
1948Lapp & Andrews Nucl. Radiation Physics xvi. 401 The development of a breeder-type reactor. Ibid. 481 Breeder pile. 1948U.S. Atomic Energy Comm. 3rd Semi-Ann. Rep. 12 The ‘breeder’ type of reactor, a ‘nuclear chain reactor which over a period of time will actually create more fissionable material than is put into the reactor as fuel to sustain the reaction’. 1949Sci. Amer. July 36 A ‘breeder’ reactor that would produce new fissionable atoms as fast as it used the old ones up. 1950Ann. Reg. 1949 423 An engineering design for an experimental ‘breeder’ atomic pile had been completed. 1950Chemical Industries Jan. 28/2 Of the four reactors, two are breeders and two are non-breeders. 1963Ann. Reg. 1962 380 The successful operation of so-called breeder reactors, which made new fuel as they burnt their own. 1969Sci. Jrnl. July 41/3 Eight or nine countries..are hurrying to develop practical reactors that will produce more fissile material than they consume; that is, breeder reactors. Ibid., Breeders are seen as opening the door to virtually unlimited energy.
▸ slang (orig. U.S., usu. depreciative). In gay and lesbian usage: a heterosexual person.
1979K. Jay & A. Young Gay Rep. iv. 133 There are even those gays who are militantly nonreproductive, using the hostile term ‘breeders’ to refer to child-producing heterosexuals. 1984A. Maupin Babycakes viii. 34 [Condoms] are balloons... They are ridiculous things, and they are meant for breeders. 1994Independent (Nexis) 26 Nov. 31, I approached, smiled sweetly, and asked in my most charming voice why she looked so careworn. ‘Drop dead, breeder,’ she replied. ‘I'm a dyke.’ 1999Time 25 Oct. 117/3 A lone gay character associating largely with straights, viewing pals' sexcapades..with what-fools-these-breeders-be amusement. |