| 释义 |
▪ I. burton1|ˈbɜːt(ə)n|
Also barton.
a. A small tackle consisting of two or three blocks or pulleys used to set up or tighten rigging, or to shift heavy bodies. There are several varieties, as Spanish burton, top burton.
1704in Harris Lex. Technicum. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Burton, a..small tackle, formed by two blocks or pulleys..generally employed to tighten the shrouds of the top-masts. 1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 199 Burton-Pendents are..placed over the topmast-head, that the thimbles may hang on each side, to hook the burton-tackles in. 1841Penny Cycl. XIX. 118/1 The Spanish barton consists of two moveable wheels and one fixed wheel. 1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 35 The top burtons are hooked to the burton pendants.
b. A term denoting the thwartship stowage of casks, bags, etc. Also a-burton (see quots. 1846, 1867).
1846A. Young Naut. Dict. s.v. A-burton, Casks are said to be stowed a-burton, when placed athwartships in the hold. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., A-burton, the situation of casks when they are stowed in the hold athwart ship, or in a line with the beam. 1928Observer 22 July 10/7 Terms as used by stevedores... ‘Burton’ to describe the thwart-ship stowage of bags, as against the fore and aft method. Ibid. 29 July 7/3, I have..both stowed and worked out ‘Burtons’ many scores of times during the twenty-five years I spent along the East End waterside.
▪ II. burton3|ˈbɜːt(ə)n|
Also Burton.
[Origin unknown; perh. connected with prec.]
In slang phr. to go for a burton, (of an airman) to be killed; (of a person or thing) to be missing, ruined, destroyed.
None of the several colourful explanations of the origin of the expression is authenticated by contemporary printed evidence.
1941New Statesman 30 Aug. 218/3 Go for a Burton, crash. 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 32 Gone for a Burton, killed, dead. 1946E. Roberts in Raymond & Langdon Slipstream 38, I can see those flowers going for a burton. 1947‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board iii. 49 He went for a Burton over France last year. 1957J. Braine Room at Top xx. 176 We noncoms used to say got the chopper. Going for a Burton was journalist's talk. |