| 释义 |
semaphore, n.|ˈsɛməfɔə(r)|
[f. Gr. σῆµα sign, signal + -phore. Cf. F. sémaphore (1812 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. a. An apparatus for making signals, consisting of an upright post with one or more arms moving in a vertical plane.
Orig. used for transmitting telegraphic messages; = telegraph n. 1. Now used on railways and at sea.
1816Ann. Reg., Chron. 85/2 The improved Semaphore has been erected on the top of the Admiralty. 1832Act 2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 64 Sched. O. 33 In a straight line towards Worplesdon semaphore. 1886Encycl. Brit. XX. 238/1 The semaphore has been almost universally adopted for fixed signalling on railways.
b. attrib., as semaphore house, semaphore lamp. Also, in recent use, applied to a special form of flag-signalling.
1821Lond. Gaz. 7 Apr. 787/1 Building a Semaphore House at each of the following places. 1855D. K. Clark Railway Mach. 327/1 The semaphore lamps are lighted, to give signals, at night, by white, green, and red lights as required.
2. This method of signalling; spec. a system for conveying messages by a code whereby the arms are moved through certain positions in a vertical plane relative to the body.
1904Army Signalling Regul. 25 Semaphore alphabet. Ibid. 32 Semaphore drill. 1918E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 544 Semaphore, a method of signalling in which the letters depend on the position of one or both arms in relation to the body. When sending semaphore, the signaller always faces the distant station. 1975Scout Handbk. (1976) 124/1 Semaphore uses a different position of the arms for each letter.
Hence ˈsemaphore v. (trans. and intr.), to signal by semaphore; also fig.
1893Daily News 3 July 5/6 The Commander-in-Chief semaphored to me to know ‘what I was waiting for?’ 1893Times 30 Dec. 9/6 To semaphore to the Commander-in-Chief his doubt as to the signal. 1957R. Campbell Coll. Poems II. 32 The lonely hamlets semaphore their loss. 1981Economist 24 Jan. 88/1 American firms are nervously semaphoring price rises after a strong recovery at the end of 1980.
Add: ˈsemaphoring ppl. a.
1907Outlook 17 Aug. 204/2 Some years ago a French inspector came over to study our management of traffic. ‘I found nothing,’ he said, ‘save semaphoring gendarmes.’ 1981J. Barnett Firing Squad iii. 18 Smith raised an open palm in reply to the semaphoring arm. |