| 释义 |
▪ I. bulwark, n.|ˈbʊlwək|
Forms: 5 bulwerke, 5–6 bul-, bullwork(e, 6 bolwark, (bulwarge), 6–7 bulwarke, (7 burwarke), 9 bullwark, 6– bulwark.
[Cf. Du., MHG. bolwerk, mod.G. bollwerk, Da. bulværk, Sw. bolverk; the word is not recorded in ON., and the Da. and Sw. forms may be of German origin. Prof. Skeat, regarding the word as ultimately Scandinavian, derives it from the words represented in Eng. by bole and work, in which case the primitive sense would be ‘a work constructed of tree-trunks’. Others would connect the first element with the MHG. verb boln to throw, on the ground that the MHG. word seems in some cases to have meant a machine for throwing large stones. Both etymologies are found in early mod. German authors. The Teut. word was borrowed in French as boullewerc, bollewerc, whence boulever, mod. boulevard.]
1. A substantial defensive work of earth, or other material; a rampart, a fortification. Now only arch. or poet.
c1418Gesta Hen. V (1850) 17 Unum forte fortalitium quod nos ‘barbican’ sui communis ‘bulwerke’ appellamus. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xi, Barbycans and also bulworkes huge Afore the towne made for hyghe refuge. 1494Fabyan vii. 517 Syr John de Pyguygny..wan within the bulwerkys of the same [Amyas]. 1535Coverdale Habak. ii. 1 Set me vpon my bulworke, to loke & se what he wolde saye. 1611Bible Deut. xx. 20 Thou shalt build bulwarkes against the city that maketh warre with thee. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 294 They have not the Form of a regular Bulwark. 1791Cowper Odyss. vi. 11 With bulwarks strong their city he enclosed. 1813Scott Trierm. iii. iii, Bulwarks and battlement and spire In the red gulf we spy.
b. A breakwater, mole, sea-wall; an embankment confining the bed of a river. Also fig.
1555Eden Decades W. Ind. ii. vii. (Arb.) 133 The famous ryuer of Padus..hath the greate mountaynes cauled Alpes..lyinge at the backe therof as it were bulwarges full of moysture. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 320 Men provide bulwarks and banks against a river that useth to overflow. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 11 At Magdalen College, in the water-walks, near the Bull-work called Dover Peer. 1861Motley Dutch Rep. II. 271 The Hand-bos, a bulwark formed of oaken piles, was snapped like pack thread. 1865Geikie Scen. & Geol. Scot. iii. 57 To check the further ravages of the waves a stone bulwark was erected.
2. transf. and fig. A powerful defence or safeguard. Sometimes applied to persons.
1577Holinshed Chron. III. 900/2 The citie and Ile of Rhodes, one of the principall bulworks of christendome. 1614Raleigh Hist. World ii. 247 Fortescue, that notable Bulwarke of our Lawes. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. III. xiii. 357 To destroy their Fleete: which..are their Walls and Bulwarks. 1718Pope Iliad vii. 258 He stood, the bulwark of the Grecian band. 1789Belsham Ess. I. xvi. 297 England..appeared..the great bulwark of the common liberties of Europe. 1837–39Hallam Hist. Lit. i. v. I. 342 Melanchthon..perceived the necessity of preserving human learning as a bulwark to theology.
3. The raised woodwork running along the sides of a vessel above the level of the deck. (Not in Bailey, Ash, or Johnson.) Usually pl.
1804Duncan Mariner's Chron. II. 274 The guns on the quarter-deck tearing away the bulwark. 1825H. Gascoigne Nav. Fame 60 Along the side a yellow streak extends Between his Bullwark and the varnish'd Bends. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxi. 112 Our ship had uncommonly high bulwarks and rail. 1866Neale Seq. & Hymns 36 Dashed upon our labouring bulwarks that fierce wind Euroclydon.
▪ II. bulwark, v.|ˈbʊlwək|
[f. prec.]
1. a. trans. To furnish with bulwarks. b. intr. To throw up bulwarks. lit. and fig.
1450Charter Jas. II in Hist. Edin ii. (1753) 137 Licence to fosse, bullwark, wall, toure and turote the said Burgh. c1530Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 187 They espyed..a hous..wel bolwarked and fausbrayed. 1545Joye Exp. Dan. iv. 7 The angel of the Lord bulworketh round about the godly. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 557 The Lord hath Bulwarkt them about. 1657May Satir. Puppy 33 Commits the protection of his whole Body to his Eielids, and bullwarks it with closing them.
2. trans. To serve as a bulwark to; to defend, protect, shelter.
1610Chester's Tri., Rumor's Sp. 14 A hideous Dragon—whose thick scales, Like shields..Did bulwarke him. 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Penn. Pilgr. Wks. i. 123/2 Well bulwarked by a hedge from raine and winde. 1746W. Horsley Fool No. 21 (1748) I. 146 A General..who..bulwarks Europe against the common Enemy. 1873Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 1170 Friends bulwarked him about From infancy to boyhood. |