| 释义 |
sink-hole|ˈsɪŋkhəʊl|
[f. sink n. + hole n.]
1. A hole or hollow into which foul matter runs or is thrown; † a sink, or a hole by which a sink is emptied. Also fig. and in fig. contexts.
1456in Cockersand Chartul. (Chetham) II. i. 471 note, Following the said strind to the Sinkehole, and fro' Sinkeholl..into the Black polles. 1548Patten Exped. Scotl. D vij b, James of the synk hole (sauyng your reuerence) a frier, forsooth that wrote the Legendaurie. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 152 Wee satt at y⊇ sterne,..but now we haue no place allowed vs, no not scarsely next the pump, or the sinck-hole. a1625Fletcher Wife for Month v. ii, Thou wilt be hang'd as handsomly..as if thou wert Heir apparent To all the impious Suburbs, and the sink⁓holes. 1665M. N. Med. Medicinæ 89 Instead of clearing the body of Scorbutick Humors, they drain the best Juices down through the common Sink-hole. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 132 This passage, or rather sink-hole, as being very steep and shelving,..goes sloaping down Seventy six Foot. 1830Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 259 The law is to be made a sink-hole for the storing-up of old abuses. 1847–in dialect use (Yks., Linc., Derby, Warw., Oxf.). 1949Reader's Digest June 45/1 The French industrialist behaves as if he believed his country were headed toward the sink-hole. 1976N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone v. 124 ‘In this world!’ Cutter's grin did not believe... ‘This jailhouse. This sinkhole of piss and misery.’ 1978H. Wouk War & Remembrance xlviii. 488 Hollywood's such a sinkhole.
attrib.1895Rye E. Angl. Gloss. 196 Sink-hole Thief, a despicable small thief, capable of creeping through a sink⁓hole (Arderon).
2. A hole, cavern, or funnel-shaped cavity made in the earth by the action of water on the soil, rock, or underlying strata, and frequently forming the course of an underground stream; a swallow-hole. Chiefly U.S.
1780W. Fleming Diary 20 Mar. in N. D. Mereness Travels in Amer. Colonies (1916) 639 Springs..appear again either in Sink holes immediately vanishing or bursting out. 1791W. Bartram Carolina 174 The vast grotto or bason of transparent waters, which is called by the traders a sink⁓hole, a singular kind of vortex or conduit, to the subterranean receptacles of the waters. 1812Brackenridge Views of Louisiana (1814) 106 The number of funnels, or sinkholes, formed by the washing of the earth into fissures of the limestone rock. 1834M. Scott Cruise Midge xx. (1863) 330 As for those sink-holes, or caverns in the rock, I can compare them, from their sinuosities, to nothing more aptly than the human ear. 1889G. F. Wright Ice Age N. Amer. 129 What are called sink-holes, frequent in limestone regions, where a great amount of material below the surface is removed in solution.
3. U.S.
a. A soft place in a marsh, remaining unfrozen in winter.
b. An unprofitable undertaking which is carried on in spite of losses.
1895Funk's Stand. Dict. |