| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈcart-wheel, n.
1. The wheel of a cart.
c1386Chaucer Sompn. T. 549 Twelf spokes hath a cart whel comunly. 1585Parsons Chr. Exerc. ii. i. 152 A drye cart wheel..cryeth and complayneth, vnder a small burden. 1858J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 342 Armed men, with a clouted shoe and a cart-wheel for their standards.
2. humourously said of a large coin, as a crown or dollar.
1867A. Sketchley in Cassell's Mag. 327/1 He..says ‘This 'ere cart wheel's a duffer’. 1885A. Brassey The Trades 195 The old Spanish doubloons..by irreverent travellers from the United States termed ‘cartwheels’.
3. to turn cart-wheels: to execute a succession of lateral summersaults, as if the feet and hands were spokes of a wheel; also Catherine-wheels. (Street-boys did this by the side of a moving omnibus, etc., for chance coppers thrown to them.) Also without ‘to turn’ and in sing. Also transf. and attrib.
1864Sala in Daily Tel. 23 Dec., I saw a little..blackguard boy turning ‘cartwheels’ in front of the Clifton House. 1895[see split n.1 4 b]. 1917‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 246 A medley of swift darts, dives, and cart-wheel turns. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage xv. 187 The girls in these troupes..must be expert in high kicks, cartwheels, and splits. 1955Simple Gymnastics (‘Know the Game’ Series) 27/1 Cartwheel. Start from standing aside... Swing your legs up as high as you can and look over your shoulder with the head well back. 1960B. Keaton Wonderful World Slapstick (1967) 149, I could do..a series of cartwheels in a circle, without touching hands to the floor.
4. A kind of fire-work. Cf. Catherine wheel 3.
1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xiii. 72 We had..everything..from Chinese fire-works to English cart-wheels.
5. A hat with a wide circular brim. Also attrib.
1884L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) 169 Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Wilde to tea, she dressed for the part in..a huge cartwheel Gainsborough hat. 1895Westm. Gaz. 29 Jan. 3/1 Complaints in respect to the cart-wheel hat. Ibid., The indignant playgoer who happens to be seated directly behind a superb cart-wheel of the latest Parisian make. 1946Koestler Thieves in Night 99 Four boys in khaki shorts and cartwheel hats of straw. 1959B. Goolden For Richer, for Poorer iv. 61 They come in to buy a cart⁓wheel..and they happen to see a completely entrancing cloche.
▪ II. cart-wheel, v.
[f. the n.]
intr. To move like a rotating wheel; said esp. of an aeroplane which makes a crash landing on one wing-tip.
1920Blackw. Mag. July 85/1 He cart-wheeled round right-handed to get behind her again. 1925E. F. Norton Fight for Everest, 1924 114 Somervell's axe slipped from his numb fingers and went cart-wheeling down the slopes below. 1928Daily Express 24 Sept. 7/4 The machine continued to lose height, and suddenly cartwheeled vertically to the ground. 1962Daily Tel. 29 Dec. 1/6 A Carvair aircraft..hit a snow-covered dyke and ‘cartwheeled’ four times as it came in to land. |