| 释义 |
▪ I. caravan, n.|ˈkærəvæn, kærəˈvæn|
Also 6 carouan, 7 carrauan, caruan, karavan, 8 karrawan.
[In 16th c. carouan, a. Pers. kārwān, in same sense. Found in med.L. carvana (Hoveden), caravanna, caravenna (Matt. Paris), and F. carvane, from Crusading times, but app. not in Eng. before 16th c. The form caravan was perhaps caravane from French.]
1. a. A company of merchants, pilgrims, or others, in the East or northern Africa, travelling together for the sake of security, esp. through the desert. Also attrib., as in caravan route.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 204 The maner and order which the Carouan obserueth in marching. 1601W. Parry Sherley's Trav. 23 A caravan is a great many of camels laden, and men in a company. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. xi. lxvi. (1612) 282 Their Marchants trauailing by Carauan, that is, Great Droues of laden Camels. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 122 Brought ouer-land by Caruan from Mecha. 1760Goldsm. Cit. W. xxii, He..hired himself as a camel-driver to a caravan that was crossing the desert. 1761Sterne Tr. Shandy iv. (1770) 62 (D.) From thence by karrawans to Coptos. 1872Yeats Growth Comm. 31 Various caravan routes. 1873Longfellow Kambalu 3 At the head of his dusty caravan.
†b. Thieves' cant. An object of plunder. Obs.
1688Shadwell Sqr. Alsatia i. i, Thy cousin here is the wealthiest Caravan we have met with a long time. 1690B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Caravan, a good round Sum of Money about a Man, and him that is Cheated of it.
2. a. A fleet of Turkish or Russian ships, esp. of merchant vessels, with their convoy.
1605–74Camden Rem. 493 The sinking of the great Galeasse of the Saracens, the taking of their Convoy, which..is called a Caravana. 1654Fuller Comm. Ruth (1868) 119 A caravan..sailing in the vast ocean. 1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2177/2 News..of the rencounter between Signior Venier, Captain Extraordinary of the Ships of this State, and the Turkish Caravan. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Sea Caravans..conveyed by ships of war.
b. (See quots.)
1727–51Chambers Cycl., Caravan is also an appellation given to the voyages, or campaigns, which the knights of Malta are obliged to make at sea, against the Turks and Corsairs. 1858W. Porter Hist. Knts. Malta II. xx. 209 Every Knight, during his residence in Malta, was bound to complete four caravans, or cruises of six months each.
3. transf.
a. A troop of people going in company [so in Fr.]; a company in motion. Also fig.
1667Milton P.L. vii. 428 [Birds] rang'd in figure wedge thir way..and set forth Their Aierie Caravan. 1681Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 332 We a Caravan of dead Folks were. 1683Argum. for Union 4 [Arians, Socinians, etc.] may associate in a Caravan, but cannot joyn in the Communion of a Church. 1711Swift Lett. (1767) III. 223 We got out before eleven, a noble caravan of us. 1719De Foe Crusoe (Hotten) 177 Attacking a whole Caravan of them.
b. A company of travellers, traders, or emigrants, with their wagons, mules, or packhorses, esp. in the Western States; a train (of wagons, etc.). U.S.
1748Catesby Carolina App. p. iv, Indian Traders, whose Caravans travel these uninhabited Countries. 1791W. Bartram Trav. Carolina (1792) 376 Our caravan consisting of about twenty men and sixty horses, we made a formidable appearance. 1817S. R. Brown Western Gaz. 77 General Harrison..was accompanied in his march through the wilderness by a caravan of waggons. 1897J. L. Allen Choir Invisible ii. 14 A company of travellers with pack⁓horses—one of the caravans across the desert of the Western woods.
4. A covered carriage or cart: In 17–18th c. applied to a private or public covered vehicle carrying passengers or a company of people together (later shortened to van); hence early in 19th c. to a third class ‘covered carriage’ on a railway; subsequently, usually, a house on wheels, e.g. the travelling house of gipsies, a showman, or (according to recent fashion) a party on a pleasure tour; one of the covered vehicles of a travelling menagerie, etc. Now freq. one able to be towed by a motor car and used as a stationary dwelling (esp. while on holiday). Also attrib., as caravan park, site, a place where caravans are parked and used as dwellings.
1674Blount Glossogr., Caravan or Karavan..also of late corruptly used with us for a kind of Waggon to carry passengers to and from London. 1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2450/4 A Fair easie going Caravan, with a very handsome Roof Brass Work, good Seats, Glasses on the sides to draw up, that will carry 18 Persons. 1741Act 14 Geo. II, xlii. §5 Nothing in this act shall..extend..to Caravans or the covered Carriages of Noblemen or Gentlemen for their private use. [So 1751 24 Geo. II, xliii. §5.] 1754Connoisseur No. 25 We should laugh at a nobleman who..should..be content to have his family dragged to his country seat, like servant maids in the caravan. 1797T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) I. 369 One of these birds which was kept in a caravan. 1823Mechanic's Mag. No. 19. 290 The steam-engine employs its force to impel the caravans..and coaches. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 272 Several caravans containing wild beasts, and other spectacles. 1872Browning Fifine iv. 5 A slow caravan, A chimneyed house on wheels. 1886G. Stables Cruise of Wanderer 9 Nice curtains divide the caravan at pleasure into two compartments. Ibid. 3 He is unsuited for a caravan life. 1935Caravan Ann. (sub-title), A list of over 1,200 caravan sites in Britain. 1937‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier iv. 61 The dreadful caravan-dwellings that exist in numbers in many of the northern towns. Ibid., Parts of the population have overflowed into supposedly temporary quarters in fixed caravans. Ibid., Some of the caravan-dwellers. 1959M. Steen Tower i. iii. 44 The back streets, the caravan sites and the pre-fabs. 1963Times 18 Feb. 16/5 The difficult problem of finding enough caravan parks on which to put the end product.
Hence caravaˈneer, the leader or conductor of an (oriental) caravan; one who lives or travels in a caravan. ˌcaraˈvaning vbl. n., travelling by caravan or house on wheels. ˌcaraˈvanist, one who practises this mode of making a tour. caraˈvannish a., resembling or smacking of a caravan.
1768E. Buys Dict. Terms of Art, Caravanier, a Person who leads the Camels, and other Beasts of Burden, commonly used in the Caravans in the East. 1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. ii. §15 Great diligences going in a caravannish manner, with whole teams of horses. 1885Chr. Leader 5 Nov. 680 Caravaning in Scotland. 1887Pall Mall G. 19 Sept. 6/1 The caravanist reverses matters..every night finds him encamped in meadow, in wood, or on moorland. 1893Cornhill Mag. Mar. 288 The joy of the caravaneer was ours.
▪ II. caravan, v.
[f. the n.]
1. intr. To travel or live in a caravan.
1885[see caravaning vbl. n.]. 1909R. Brooke Let. Sept. (1968) 184 Will you Caravan with me in the Spring, or Summer? 1930W. de la Mare Desert Islands 39 In the ‘second part’ of his adventures Crusoe is transformed into a mere globe-trotter, caravanning from Nanking to Tobolsk. 1963Times 12 Mar. p. iv/1 Having caravanned all over this continent, he admitted that there is an awful lot of it to love.
2. trans. To convey by caravan. rare.
1898G. W. Steevens With Kitchener to Khartum 118 The Greek gets his stuff up everywhere:..he caravans it with a double-barrelled rifle on his shoulder. |