| 释义 |
Christmas-tree
1. a. A small tree, usually a fir, set up in a room, illuminated and hung with ornaments, and bearing Christmas presents; a famous feature of Christmas celebration in Germany, frequently but imperfectly imitated in England, especially since its introduction into the royal household in the early years of the reign of Queen Victoria.
[1789Mrs. Papendick Jrnls. II. 158 (N. & Q.) This Christmas Mr. Papendick proposed an illuminated tree according to the German fashion. 1829Greville Mem. (Xmas.) The Princess Lieren got up a little fête such as is customary all over Germany. Three trees in great pots were put upon a long table, etc.] 1835A. J. Kempe in Loseley MSS. 75 We remember a German of the household of the late Queen Caroline, making what he termed a Christmas tree for a juvenile party. 1848Illust. Lond. News 1 Jan. 431/1 Christmas Festivities at Windsor..the sideboards were surmounted with stately ‘Christmas Trees’, glittering with pendant bonbons, etc. 1853Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 238, I..had nothing to do but dress dolls for a Christmas-tree. 1869Hazlitt Brand's Pop. Antiq. (1870) I. 287 But the Christmas-tree..came to us from Germany directly..and is still (1869) a flourishing institution among us.
b. (a) = pohutukawa N.Z.; (b) any of various Australian shrubs which flower about Christmas-time, esp. Nuytsia floribunda of Western Australia.
1867F. von Hochstetter N.Z. xi. 240 Some few scattered Pohutukawa trees... About Christmas these trees are full of charming purple-blossoms; the settler..calls the tree ‘Christmas-tree’. 1944W. R. B. Oliver in Korero II. 11 Sept. 13 The glory of the Auckland coast, at least in mid-summer, is the pohutukawa or Christmas tree. 1966Times 11 Nov. (W. Austral. Suppl.) p. iv/2 The hot gold cascade of nuytsia floribunda the parasitic Christmas tree.
2. transf. A mechanical device or a structure in the shape or operation of which there is a fancied resemblance to a Christmas-tree. (See quots.)
1917‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 12 The movable mounting for the observer's gun in the rear cockpit was a weird contraption like a giant catapult... We called it the Christmas Tree, the Heath Robinson, the Jabberwock, [etc.]. 1929R. Graves Goodbye to all That xii. 135 My belt was hung with all the usual furnishings—revolver, field-glasses, compass, whisky-flask, wire-cutters, periscope, and a lot more. A Christmas-tree that was called. 1930W. H. Osgood Recov. Petroleum II. xvii. 706 Well-head connections or Christmas trees..operating a well on the lift. Ibid. 711 Various types of packed casing heads are used in the casing-head or Christmas tree assembly on gas-lift wells. 1944Amer. Speech XIX. 230/2 ‘Shipyard Terms’..Christmas tree, auxiliary steam manifold with lines and valves in all directions. 1948Ibid. XXIII. 37 Christmas Tree. This electric indicator board resembles the object from which its name is derived only because the lights on it are red and green. The function of the Christmas tree is to give proper notification that all the necessary valves and hatches are closed when a submarine dives. 1957Rawnsley & Wright Night-Fighter iv. 56 The signals bounce back from the ground just as they do from other aircraft in the air, but they give a much stronger echo. And the lower you fly the further down the trace the Christmas tree comes. |