| 释义 |
ceiling, cieling, vbl. n.|ˈsiːlɪŋ|
Forms: 4 celyng, (6 sel-, sil-, syling), 6–7 seeling, 7 ceeling, 7–8 siel(e)ing, 6– cieling, 7– ceiling.
[f. ceil v. + -ing1.]
I. The action of the verb ceil.
†1. The action of lining (the roof or walls of) an apartment with boards, or (more rarely) with plaster, etc. Obs. exc. Naut.
(The sense ‘carving’ is possible in the two earliest quots.)
1497Acc. Ld. Treas. I. 357 (Jam. s.v. Siling) Item, to the kervour that tuk in task the siling of the chapel, in part of payment, ij lib. xiiijs. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 243 Vautynge, and celynge, with cunnyng caruynge and peyntynge..ornatteth wondersly lordys howsis. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 13 There remaines nothing..but onely seeling the Cabins. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 149/2 Seileing is House Painting where Plaister Walls are made to look like Wainscate or outlandish Timber.
2. esp. The lining of the roof of a room with woodwork, plaster, or the like; now, usually, with lath and plaster.
1764Harmer Observ. iii. 90 Their cieling their rooms with wood and neatly painting, and sometimes gilding them. 1801Hutton Course Math. (1828) II. 88 Plasterers' work..namely, ceiling, which is plastering on laths.
II. concr.
†3. A screen of tapestry, a curtain. Obs.
c1450Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 626 Celynge, velamen. 1548Hall Chron. (14 Edw. IV) i. 232 b, The Frenche kyng..caused the lord of Countay..with the lord of Argenton.. to stande secretly behynd a selyng or a hangyng in his chamber..so that what soever were purposed to hym, they standing behind the clothe, might easely se, and facile heare the same. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 342 He is the curtaine and seeling, the rafter and ornament of his church. 1632Sanderson 12 Serm. 343 Creepeth in betweene the walls and seelings.
†4.
a. The wooden lining of the roof or walls of a room: panelling; wainscoting. Obs. Cf. ceil v. 2.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 1231 Þe celynge with-inne was siluer plat & with red gold ful wel yguld. 1555Fardle Facions ii. i. 117 They haue—cielinges, voultinges, dores and gates couered with siluer. 1598Florio. Cielo, the seeling, vpper⁓face or rooffe of a house. 1612Bacon Ess. Vain-glory (Arb.) 464 Varnish, that makes Seelings not onely Shine, but Last. 1632Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 187 Five yeards and a halfe of square sealing to the orgaine frame. 1634Brereton Trav. (1844) 67 They go out into the room about three-quarters of a yard, and are faced with some neat sieleing.
b. Naut. The inside planking of a ship's bottom carried up to the lowest deck; = foot-waling.
1633T. James Voy. 50 In the runne of her..he cut away the sealing. 1662Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 117 Their ceiling was dammed up with a certain kind of mortar to dead the shot. 1688Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 783 Cutting..the Seeling of the Ship, they immediately stopt the Leak. 1749Waddell ibid. XLVI. 112 Another Part of it went through the Starboard Side, without any Hurt to the Ceiling (or inside Plank). 1772–84Cook Voy. (1790) I. 203 Between the inside lining of the ship's bottom, which is called the cieling, and the outside planking, there is a space of about seventeen or eighteen inches. 1869E. J. Reed Ship Build. xix. 424 The Liverpool rule..states that the ceiling in the flat of hold is to be laid in hatches.
5. a. esp. The undercovering of a roof or floor, concealing the timbers; the plaster of the top of a room.
1535Coverdale Song of Sol. i. 17 Y⊇ sylinges of oure house are of Cedre tre, & oure balkes of Cypresse. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. iv. xv. (1622) 133 Betweene the roofe and the seeling, the three Senators..hid themselues. 1610G. Fletcher Christ's Vict., It [my cottage] doth adore thee with the seeling low. 1667Primatt City & C. Builder 67 Every hundred of Laths cover six yards of Ceeling or Partitioning. 1716–8Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxvi. 136 The ceiling is always of wood..inlaid or painted with flowers. 1731Fielding Grub St. Op. i. xi, Do'st thou not expect the cieling to fall down on thy head for so notorious a lie? 1874Parker Illust. Gothic Archit. i. iii. 53 At Canterbury..the choir itself had a flat boarded ceiling. 1878Grove Dict. Mus. I. 172 The water had found its way through the ceiling into the room beneath.
b. to hit the ceiling: to become very angry, to lose one's temper. colloq.
1914Living Age (U.S.) Aug. 374 He will..‘get warm round the collar’, and may even ‘hit the ceiling’. 1930Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves! xi. 287, I haven't breathed a word to Angela. She'd hit the ceiling. 1958E. Dundy Dud Avocado ii. i. 193 Larry hit the ceiling and said he had to come along, that he'd spoil everything if he didn't.
6. a. transf. and fig.
1596Drayton Leg. i. 344 The Brow of Heav'n..The gorgeous Seeling of th' immortall Frame. 1614T. Adams Devil's Banq. 315 You that haue neglected heauen, which God hath made your more glorious seeling. c1630Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 322 Those boundless bounds where stars do move, The cieling of the christal round above. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 205 The rose's blushing bloom, Loveliest cieling of the bower.
b. Aeronaut. The maximum altitude at which a particular aircraft can maintain horizontal flight (in full absolute ceiling, see absolute a. 16); also, the altitude beyond which the rate of climbing falls below 100 feet per minute (in full service ceiling, see service n.1).
1917Jane's All the World's Aircraft 9a/4 The extreme height to which an aircraft will rise,..familiarly known as the ‘ceiling’ or ‘roof’ of that particular machine. 1919Parlt. Papers X. 49 In a long flight it is most economical to climb an aeroplane in the attitude corresponding to the maximum value of the lift-drag ratio until it approaches its ceiling. 1919Trenchard in Lond. Gaz. 1 Jan. 136/2 Ceiling was of more importance than speed for long-distance day bombing work. 1928Fortn. Rev. Dec. 764 Its ceiling when fully loaded was sometimes far under 10,000 feet.
c. Meteorol. (See quots.) See also cloud-ceiling. Also attrib.
1930Monthly Weather Rev. LVIII. 202/1 Ceilings are seldom low enough to measure by means of a ceiling light, or ceiling balloons. 1931C. J. Maguire Aerology ii. 31 Cloud height or ‘ceiling’ may be obtained..by releasing a balloon inflated to a known ascensional rate and noting the time elapsing before disappearance in the clouds (special balloons for this purpose are called ceiling balloons). 1939G. F. Taylor Aeronaut. Meteorol. ii. 30 The term ceiling as employed in aviation is defined as the distance between the surface of the ground and the base of the lowest cloud layer. 1941S. Petterssen Introd. Meteorol. ii. 40 In the United States the ceiling is defined as the height in feet of the lowest level below 10,000 ft. above the ground at which the total cloudiness covers more than one-half of the sky. 1968R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 115 Coming down through a low ceiling of cloud to find, unexpectedly, the river littered with running ice.
d. An upper limit (to quantity, prices, expenditure, etc.); a maximum. Also attrib. Cf. floor n.1 1 c.
1934Sun (Baltimore) 18 Oct. 19/1 A blanket acreage-reduction contract between farmers and the Government would have approximately the same ultimate effect in keeping the ‘calory ceiling’ down. Ibid. 13 Dec. 1/8 A ‘ceiling’ or fixed limit..upon all commodity prices. 1936Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Jan. 270 Towards the ‘ceiling’ of the test—the highest possible score—it seems reasonable to suppose that the curve will become more horizontal. 1937Times 13 Apr. p. xv/1 Six months' intensive development work..has now made it possible for a car to be driven all out..indefinitely with a ceiling oil temperature of 180 deg. F. 1938[see floor n.1 1 c]. 1955L. D. Landau in W. Pauli N. Bohr 60 The theory considered..seems to have a ‘ceiling’, in that it cannot in principle be used to discuss an energy greater than λκ. 1956Jrnl. Educ. July 290 It is helpful to have a ceiling figure for the purchase of furniture in new buildings. 1958Spectator 15 Aug. 233/1 The national debt ceiling.
7. Comb., mostly attrib., as ceiling-board, ceiling-joist, ceiling-lamp, ceiling-light, ceiling-relievo, ceiling-sky, ceiling-work; also ceiling-wards adv. ceiling rose, rosette (see quot. 1910).
c1520Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 202 Johanni Henryson..sawyng seylyng bordes per iij dies et di., 21d. 1535Coverdale Ps. lxxiii. [lxxiv.] 6 They cutt downe all the sylinge worke of y⊇ Sanctuary with bylles & axes. 1663Gerbier Counsel 68 Seeling Joyses on Cellaring. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., A covering of plaster over laths nailed, where there is no upper room, on joists for the purpose: hence called ceiling joists. 1840Hood Kilmansegg li. 4 Nothing but gold!.. On the walls..the ceiling-sky. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair vii. 59 The ceiling lamp is muffled up in a dismal sack of brown holland. 1850J. Leitch tr. Müller's Anc. Art §402. 537 A Nereid..in a ceiling-relievo at Palmyra. 1879Daily News 21 Aug. 3/1 These princesses who piously fold their hands and look ceiling-wards. 1889Brit. Patent 5955 1 Improved ceiling rose for electrical circuits. 1901L. M. Waterhouse Conduit Wiring 36 The ceiling rose boxes would generally be in the run of the conduit. 1910N. Hawkins Electr. Dict., Ceiling rose, or rosette, an ornamental ceiling block for suspending an incandescent lamp. 1915Pearson's Mag. XXXIX. 130 A big room, whose ceiling-lights were veiled with vivid red. 1936M. Bentinck tr. Colette's Saha the Cat i. 20 Camille switched off the ceiling lights as if in play. |