| 释义 |
ˈpush-button, n. and a.
Also pushbutton, push button.
[f. push- + button n.]
A. n. A button that is pressed with the finger to effect some operation, usu. by closing or opening an electric circuit.
1878G. B. Prescott Sp. Telephone (1879) 376 The push button or key used in short circuits serves to close the latter in a very simple manner. 1901Munsey's Mag. XXV. 367/2 The subscriber presses a push button, and the two numbers to be connected are ‘rung up’ simultaneously. 1912L. Weaver House & its Equipment 124 The multiple contact switch, which consists of a little board..on which are arranged a number of push buttons. 1920C. Sandburg Smoke & Steel 218 She used to keep a houseful of girls in kimonos and three pushbuttons on the front door. 1935Times 2 Feb. 9/5 Special signal lights will face pedestrians and push⁓buttons will be fitted to the posts. 1943T. Horsley Find, fix & Strike 64 The range is point-blank... The pilot's thumb, already on the push-button on top of the throttle bar, jabs hard against the stop. 1957Railway Mag. Mar. 159/2 The pantograph is raised by pressing the push⁓button in the driving trailer. 1976Gramophone May 1835/1 Below the main controls are the following: sockets for stereo microphone and headphones, push-buttons for low filter, high filter,..and power on-off.
B. adj.
1. a. Operated or effected by pressing a push-button.
1916Inland Printer LVII. 830/2 (caption) ‘Push⁓button control’. 1936Discovery Apr. 113/1 The diesel engine is started electrically and the push-button control for this purpose is mounted in the cab adjacent to the driving positions. 1943Gramophone Dec. 107/1 The radio has 3 bands with push-button tuning. 1957Observer 25 Aug. 11/1 It is no doubt true that guided missiles, nuclear warheads, flame-throwers, and push-button apparatus do not in the slightest invalidate the elementary military virtues of esprit de corps and self-discipline. 1957Amer. Speech XXXII. 313 The following list of descriptive terms that appear on the aerosol containers of..shaving creams{ddd}push-button lather. 1965Wireless World July 8/2 (Advt.), Stereo Amplifier..push-button selection. 1978S. Brill Teamsters iv. 127 He took his seat..alongside a table bearing two separate push-button phones.
b. push-button war(fare), warfare conducted by means of (nuclear) missiles launched by the press of a button.
[1945Life 20 Aug. 17/1 There may be devastating ‘push-button’ battles.] 1945Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 9 Nov. 6/2 (heading) ‘Pushbutton’ war seen by atom men. 1946Ibid. 21 Feb. 12/6 The push-button warfare forecast for the future. 1948New Republic 29 Nov. 15/3 The vision of the clean, fast, economical impersonal push⁓button war grows dim. 1955T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences vi. 139 In what historical perspective can we see the changes which radio, television, faster-than-sound travel, push-button warfare..and social medicine are causing in our social life? 1958Daily Tel. 28 June 6/3 If you are thinking in terms of push-button warfare.
2. Characterized by the use of push-buttons, spec. implying technological advancement; fully automated or mechanized.
1946Birmingham (Alabama) News 3 Feb. 1/3 The Army Air Forces came forth Saturday with a real push-button plane. 1955G. Freeman Liberty Man i. iii. 39 One might have thought he was a ship's boy serving on a graceful old tea clipper, rather than an efficient piece of mechanism in a modern push-button navy. 1960Times 12 Jan. 13/5 The married woman of the future will live in an increasingly push-button home. 1962Lancet 19 May 1081/1 The push-button type of hospital, which already exists in some countries, is not the sort of place in which one would choose to be ill. 1973Times 17 Oct. 14/4 If increased mechanization should be decided on..engineering would..offer a vastly increased number of ‘push-button’ jobs.
3. Easily obtainable, as at the press of a button; instant.
1947Sun (Baltimore) 20 Mar. 2/1 Political rulers..have regularly resorted to manufacturing money by one process or another. This measure is the latest of these attempts at ‘push-button’ money. 1967Listener 22 June 821/3 Some part of the price we are paying for the alleged boon of push-button entertainment..can already be discerned. 1972[see Jesus 3 b]. |