| 释义 |
▪ I. skeleton, n.|ˈskɛlɪtən|
Forms: α. 6–8 sceleton (7 scell-, scal-). β. 7 skelliton (-itan), skelle-, skel(i)ton, skeleten, 7– skeleton.
[a. mod.L. sceleton, skeleton, ad. Gr. σκελετόν (sc. σῶµα), neut. of σκελετός dried up, f. σκέλλειν to dry up. The Gr. masc. form σκελετός also occurs in this sense, whence late L. sceletus (Appuleius). Cf. F. squelette (see skelet), Sp. and Pg. esqueleto, It. scheletro.]
1. a. The bones or bony framework of an animal body considered as a whole; also, more generally, the harder (supporting or covering) constituent part of an animal organism.
α1578Banister Hist. Man B iiij, I haue found some of Galens Sceletons in sundry pointes. a1616B. Jonson Masques Wks. (1616) 966 Whose very sceleton boasts so much worth. 1665Hubert Catal. Rarities 4 A Scelleton of a little Marmoset. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 408/1 The Scaleton of a Man..is the emblem of Mortality. 1768Cheselden Anat. 50 The sceleton of a child twenty months old. Ibid. 59 A sceleton of an adult.
β1611Cotgr., Scelete,..a carkasse whereof nothing is left but the bones, which we call a Skelton, or Skeliton. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §38 By continuall sight of Anatomies, Skeletons, or Cadaverous reliques. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 338 These poor Wretches look'd like Skeletons. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 498 At the entrance hang the skeleton and some other parts of a whale. 1836Macgillivray Trav. Humboldt xix. 279 All the skeletons are bent, and so entire that not a rib or a bone of the fingers or toes is wanting. 1845Gosse Ocean ii. (1849) 84 Even the muscles [of the crab] becoming detached from skeleton. 1884Day Fishes Gt. Brit. I. p. xiv, The skeleton or endoskeleton of fishes differs widely in the various orders.
fig.1874Sayce Compar. Philol. ix. 347 Grammar is not only the skeleton of a language but the very life-blood of it as well.
b. a skeleton in the closet, cupboard, etc.: A secret source of shame or pain to a family or person.
Brought into literary use by Thackeray, but known to have been current at an earlier date.
1845Thackeray Punch in the East Wks. 1886 XXVI. 112 There is a skeleton in every house. 1855― Newcomes lv, Some particulars regarding the Newcome family, which will show us that they have a skeleton or two in their closets, as well as their neighbours. 1859W. Collins Q. of Hearts (1875) 62 Our family had a skeleton in the cupboard. 1881E. J. Worboise Sissie ix, She regretted having ever unveiled for her benefit the family skeleton. 1883Harper's Mag. Dec. 51/1 A household that..possessed no closeted skeleton.
c. a skeleton at the feast (or banquet), a reminder of serious or saddening things in the midst of enjoyment; a source of gloom or depression.
An allusion to the practice of the ancient Egyptians, as recorded by Plutarch in his Moralia.
1857G. A. Lawrence Guy Livingstone iii. 18 The skeleton of ennui sat at these dreary feasts; and it was not even crowned with roses. 1893Vizetelly Glances Back I. iv. 86 He was..the general skeleton at all banquets. 1896M. W. Hungerford Lonely Girl xiv, To give him leisure to act the skeleton at the feast.
d. Hist. A member of a ‘skeleton army’ (see sense 7 d below).
1882Eastern Post 4 Nov. 3/3 There was nothing to fear from the latest born army; there would be ‘skeletons’ enough in it. 1950R. Sandall Hist. Salvation Army xxxiii. 196 The police..dispersed the ‘skeletons’. 1981C. Scott Heavenly Witch viii. 120 The Judge of Assize..condemned the Skeletons as the aggressive party.
2. a. transf. A very thin, lean, or emaciated person or animal.
1629Massinger Picture iii. i, Who haue we heere? What skelliton's this?..A Ghost! or the image of famine! 1649J. Taylor (Water P.) Wand. West 2, I gave 2s. 6d. for the hire of the Skelliton or Anatomy of a Beast to carry me ten miles. 1699Bentley Phal. iii. 65 He came out half starved, a mere Sceleton. 1715J. Chappelow Right way Rich (1717) 55 We are become an army of mere skellitons. 1797–1805S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. II. 213 The sad sense of impending evil..wore him down to a skeleton. 1819Byron Juan ii. cii, A mother had not known her son Amidst the skeletons of that gaunt crew. 1847W. E. Forster in Reid Life (1888) I. vi. 193 Men gaunt skeletons; women in cabins too weak to stand.
b. fig. A mere outline; a thing having a bare, meagre, unattractive character.
1607Brewer Lingua iii. ii, Such a Rawbond Skelton as Memory. 1642F. Greville Disc. Episc. Ep. Ded. 3 How much lesse then, when presented only in a bare and naked Sceleton? c1685Burnet Own Time Suppl. (1902) i. 3 He laid all the Scriptures relating to any point together, but it was but a skeleton of bones. 1857Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 49 The systems [men] learn are nothing but skeletons to them. 1878Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xx. 376 Scarcely a skeleton of the proceedings of the earlier sessions.
3. a. The supporting framework of anything, as of buildings, etc.
a1658Cleveland Wks. (1687) 32 So by an Abbey's Skeleton of late I heard an Eccho supererogate. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 109/2 Carcase, is (as it were) the Skelleton or Frame of an House new raised. 1759Mills tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. iii. (1762) 5 The plant would indeed die..: without earth, not even a skeleton of it would remain. 1792in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. II. 266 The Skeleton or Carpentry of the Dome. 1817J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 48 We noticed this day the skeleton or frame of a skin canoe. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. xiii. 727 The obvious use of the saline matters is to furnish a skeleton or support for the plant. 1880Haughton Phys. Geogr. iv. 168 The mountain chains which form the skeleton of Europasia.
b. Chem. The basic atomic framework of a molecule, disregarding substituents (and sometimes also side chains or bond type).
1907J. B. Cohen Org. Chem. Adv. Students I. xiii. 472 It will be at once perceived how very large a number of possible menthadienes can be derived from these two skeleton structures. 1910Jrnl. Physiol. XLI. 29 The carbon-skeleton of β-phenylethylamine is..identical with that of adrenine. 1926[see isoprene unit]. 1956I. L. Finar Org. Chem. II. viii. 310 The nature of the sesquiterpene skeleton is also characterised by the number of double bonds present in the molecule. 1975Jrnl. Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans. 31/1 Internal vibrations of nitrate, the imidazole ligands.., and the ML6 skeleton.
4. a. The bare outlines or main features, the most necessary elements, of something.
1647Case of Kingdom 2 The bare bones, the very Skeleton of a Monarchie. a1661Fuller Worthies i. (1662) 2 This bare Sceleton of Time, Place, and Person, must be fleshed with some pleasant passages. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 42. 222 They have the skeletons of all the arts or sciences, in which they are to be examined. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 175 Being indeed only the sceleton of the bill. 1796F. Burney Lett. 10 July, What did you write of it here?.. Did you finish any part? or only form the skeleton? 1836H. Rogers J. Howe ii. 27 It may be useful..to look even on the skeleton of the Scriptures. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. I. 164 The sterner features remain, the skeleton of thought.
b. The outlines, plan, or scheme of a sermon.
1724R. Wodrow Life of J. Wodrow (1828) 125 He took in the performances he termed skeletons. c1799J. Bunting in Life (1859) I. vii. 102 My stock of skeletons is yet so small, that I should find it difficult..to avoid sameness and repetition. 1808Simeon (title), Helps to Composition: or, Six hundred skeletons of sermons.
5. Mil. The small number of men (and officers) representing a regiment which is far short of its full strength. (Cf. 7 c).
1802James Milit. Dict., Skeleton,..frequently applied to regiments..extremely reduced in their number of men. 1812Ann. Reg., Chron. 77 Having on board part of the skeleton of the 16th regiment of foot,..consisting of 10 officers, and 62 rank and file. 1837Col. Thompson in Barrow Mirr. Parl. III. 1805/2 A fat soldier..said, ‘I am the skeleton of the 101st regiment’. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 628 Skeleton of a Regiment, its principal officers and staff. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 387/2.
6. ellipt.
a. pl. A skeleton suit.
1879J. H. Ewing Jackanapes iii, It was when he had just been put into Skeletons (frocks never suited him).
b. A skeleton key.
1884Times (weekly ed.) 24 Oct. 8/1, 300 implements for house-breaking,..skeletons and other keys.
c. A skeleton toboggan.
1904Field 6 Feb. 204/1 There were sixteen entries on skeletons... Eight skeletons (four gentlemen and four ladies) ran in the second heat.
d. A skeleton forme.
1938F. T. Bowers in Library XIX. 315 When the term skeleton is used it will indicate the imposed cross⁓bars, furniture, and running-titles of a forme. 1950Studies in Bibliography III. 246 The first five sheets of the play were printed with three skeletons used in a pattern some⁓what different from that in Lear. 1978Studies in Eng. Lit.: Eng. Number (Tokyo) 22 Skeleton II was used for the outer forme of sheets B, C, D.
7. attrib. That is, or has the character of, a skeleton:
a. In sense 1, as skeleton-chief, skeleton-hand, etc.
1811Shelley St. Irvyne iii. xvi, Her skeleton form the dead Nun reared Which dripped with the chill dew of hell. 1831Howitt Seasons (1837) 288 The plants which waved their broad, white umbels.., like skeleton-trophies of death. 1850Dickens Dav. Copp. xv, He was high-shouldered and bony;..and had a long lank, skeleton hand. 1894M. Dyan Man's Keeping (1899) 82 It was an army of skeletons—a skeleton chief at their head and skeleton horses to bear them onward!
b. In sense 4, as skeleton map, skeleton note, skeleton plan, skeleton sermon (cf. 4 b), etc.
1802James Milit. Dict., Skeleton plan. 1829I. Taylor Enthus. viii. 202 The skeleton-machinery of his individual existence. 1830Herschel Study Nat. Phil. 134 The circulation of printed skeleton forms, on various subjects. 1856Dove Logic Chr. Faith iii. §2. 138 Skeleton maps of knowledge. 1864D. G. Mitchell Sev. Stor. 35, I have but filled in the little skeleton notes in the musty memoranda of travel. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. v. 260 A sort of skeleton biographies of the leading men. 1868Helps Realmah xvii. (1876) 475 A series of skeleton sermons.
c. In sense 5, as skeleton battalion, skeleton company, skeleton crew, skeleton regiment, etc. Also, in wider use, applied to any staff, company, etc., of the minimum size for carrying on the work to be done; so skeleton service, a service reduced to a bare minimum.
1778A. Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 546 Owing to the skeleton state of our regiments. 1809A. Henry Trav. 183 With my skeleton-battalion, therefore, I proceeded to the fort. 1829Beste Mem. 177 A skeleton regiment, such is the phrase, arrived from the West Indies. 1830Marryat King's Own xxxv, To fill up the skeleton ranks of the different Companies. 1833Regul. & Instr. Cavalry ii. 38 The Skeleton Squadron will be composed of non-commissioned officers, or privates, with their coverers. 1881Daily News 21 Jan. 5/6 The brigade depot at Chester, consisting of four skeleton companies of the 22nd Regiment. 1914in W. S. Churchill World Crisis (1923) xix. 445 There is only a skeleton force of patrol vessels available on the East Coast. 1925Strand Mag. Sept. 255/2 A skeleton staff were working nervously under the direction of a chartered accountant. 1926Times 6 May 3/1 On the railways skeleton services were run on main and suburban lines, and more trains are promised to-day. 1928Daily Mail 7 Aug. 2/5 The establishment of skeleton air defence formations on the northern coast. 1937W. H. Saumarez Smith Let. 23 Jan. in Young Man's Country (1977) ii. 53 All my officers have gone out to the mofussil..and all the clerks except 6, a mere skeleton staff to keep the work going. 1938Sun (Baltimore) 20 Jan. 6/3 A skeleton crew of 125 men will take the ship to Scotland. 1957P. Kemp Mine were of Trouble ii. 29 Skeleton crews whose task was to train Spaniards in the use of their weapons. 1973‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog xviii. 255 A skeleton staff was still on duty, juniors, message-takers. 1976S. Wales Echo 25 Nov. 4/2 Buses will not run in Cardiff for three consecutive days over Christmas despite a last⁓ditch effort to have a skeleton service on one day.
d. In miscellaneous uses, as skeleton ball, skeleton beam, skeleton clock, skeleton dial, skeleton frame, skeleton framework, skeleton key, etc.; also applied to a vehicle or other conveyance of basic or light construction, as skeleton bob [bob n.1 2 e], skeleton brake, skeleton break [break n.2], skeleton car, skeleton gig, skeleton sleigh, skeleton wagon; also skeleton army Hist., a group of people attempting to disrupt the activities of the Salvation Army or Church Army; skeleton brass, a memorial brass representing a skeleton; skeleton construction (see quot.); skeleton drill Mil., infantry drill for the instruction of officers, in which a small number of men represents a battalion; also fig.; skeleton forme (see quot. 1972); skeleton larva, shrimp, suit (see quots.); skeleton weed, a perennial herb, Chondrilla juncea, of the family Compositæ, native to the Mediterranean region and naturalized in Australia, where it is a troublesome weed of cereal crops.
1881War Cry Christmas No. 6/2 The chief officers of ‘The *Skeleton Army’, raised to oppose us at Exeter, were converted. 1888C. M. Yonge Beechcroft at Rockstone I. iii. 64 The Salvation Army was marching that way, and..yells and cat-calls behind showed that the Skeleton Army was on its way to meet them. 1920H. Begbie Life W. Booth I. xxix. 482 ‘Skeleton Armies’..set themselves up to break up the processions of the Salvation Army. 1950R. Sandall Hist. Salvation Army xxxiii. 196 These skeleton armies carried flags usually bearing a skull and crossbones device. 1980F. K. Prochaska Women & Philanthropy in 19th-Cent. England vi. 193 A ‘Skeleton Army’ of rowdies often shadowed volunteers of the Church Army and..pelted them.
1860Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 125 A new Beacon has been erected.., having a *Skeleton Ball at the top.
1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools App. 23 The first case explained will be that of a *skeleton beam, composed of a framework of slender bars of the simplest possible construction.
1954R. Martin Your Ski Holiday xiii. 91 Racing on the ‘skeleton bob’ is a very different affair... The ‘*skeleton bob’ is a steel chassis with two steel runners, about 3 feet long and about 13 inches apart. On this chassis is a sliding seat. 1963I. Fleming On H.M. Secret Service xii. 133 A little ‘garage’ that housed the bob-sleighs and one-man skeleton-bobs.
1898Carriage Builders' Jrnl. Nov. p. viii/2 (Advt.), Wanted, Pair-horse *Skeleton Brake. 1935Automobile & Carriage Builders' Jrnl. Apr. 68/2 The skeleton brake has a high driving seat with the fore and hind carriages connected by a perch only.
1890H. W. Macklin Monumental Brasses i. 17 Shroud and *skeleton brasses came into general use. 1956A. C. Bouquet Church Brasses vii. 147 There is a skeleton brass at Weybridge, Surrey, with three effigies. 1972R. le Strange Compl. Descriptive Guide Brit. Monumental Brasses 9 Between the two, the shroud and skeleton brasses, lay the cadavers.
1974S. Walrond Encycl. Driving 237 *Skeleton Break... This vehicle..was used for breaking and training when a youngster would be put in alongside an older school⁓master.
1936‘ABC’ Brit. Columbia Lumber Trade Directory 73 Elco Logging Co. Ltd... Three High Leads;..45 *Skeleton Cars. 1942R. L. Haig-Brown Timber 253 Skeleton car, a railroad car made up of two sets of four wheels joined by a heavy timber across which the steel bunks are set to carry the logs.
1842Francis Dict. Arts s.v., A *skeleton clock is one which is without the usual case, and so fitted up, that the interior wheel-work is visible. 1870M. Bridgman R. Lynne II. ii. 23 On the mantelpiece was a skeleton-clock.
1891Archit. Record Oct.–Dec. 228 Within the past three or four years a new method of constructing very high buildings in New York has come into vogue. It is known as the *skeleton construction and consists in the use of iron or steel columns, with thin curtain walls between, in place of solid thick brick walls.
1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 176 A *skeleton dial of cast iron gilt.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Military Dict. 387/2 *Skeleton drill, which is a method of instructing officers and non-commissioned officers in drill, when a sufficient number of men cannot be collected to form a battalion in single rank. 1897Hardy Well-Beloved iii. v. 278 Pierston..could consider, and practise thoroughly a species of skeleton-drill in receiving visitors when the pair should announce themselves as married.
1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 126 *Skeleton face, thin-faced letter used for jobbing purposes.
Ibid., *Skeleton forme, a special forme—usually of a broken and open nature. 1964F. Bowers Bibliogr. & Textual Crit. i. i. 10 An examination of the running-titles..discloses that the text of the play in sheet B was imposed in two different skeleton-formes. 1972P. Gaskell New Introd. Bibliogr. 109 All these re-usable parts, the typographical parts which left their mark upon the paper, and the chase, quoins, and furniture which did not, are known collectively today as the ‘skeleton forme’.
1951Koestler Age of Longing iv. 84 Towers of wood and towers of metal, towers which had merely a *skeleton-frame and towers that were panelled in from all sides.
1897Building Construction (new ed.) i. 17 The combination of columns and girders which form the ‘*skeleton’ framework.
1867‘T. Lackland’ Homespun ii. 181 At all hours of the day..a fly, a sulky, or a *skeleton gig could be seen somewhere about the yard. 1974S. Walrond Encycl. Driving 238 Skeleton gig, a light gig with a curved open stick-back seat which is suspended by iron stays on two side and one cross-spring. The shafts run outside the bootless body.
1810Ann. Reg. 296 The locks might have been picked with *skeleton-keys. 1842Francis Dict. Arts s.v., Skeleton keys are thin light keys, with almost the whole substance of the bits filed away.
1854Pereira's Polarized Light (ed. 2) 156 The aquatic larvæ of a gnat, commonly called *skeleton larvæ, form a very amusing exhibition.
1839–52Bailey Festus 194 Distinct..as is the *skeleton leaf Whose green hath fretted off its fibrous frame. 1861Bentley Man. Bot. 147 This double layer..is readily seen in what are called skeleton leaves, namely, those in which the parenchyma between the veins has been destroyed.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 29 A bar movement is sometimes called a ‘*skeleton’ movement.
1803Sporting Mag. XXI. 327 *Skeleton packs are made by taking three or four cards out of the pack.
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 493 A *skeleton platform which is filled in with withies and made flat.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §766 A *skeleton roof..is formed of long poles [etc.].
1882Cassell's Nat. Hist. VI. 212 The popular name of Spectre, or *Skeleton Shrimp, seems very appropriate to Caprella.
1902Hub Aug. 172/1 The *skeleton sleigh as seen last winter had a black body, cream gear and black irons. 1955E. A. Collard Canadian Yesterdays 232 Next comes a stunner—a skeleton sleigh, red as fire, drawn by a trotter black as coal.
1836–7Dickens Sk. Boz. (1850) 46 A patched and much-soiled *skeleton suit; one of those straight blue cloth cases in which small boys used to be confined. 1852Househ. Words V. 190/1 Those premier pantaloons were snuff-coloured, buttoning over the jacket, and forming, with an extensive shirt frill, what was then called a ‘skeleton suit’.
1868H. Woodruff Trotting Horse Amer. x. 112 If the race is to be run in harness, it will be advisable to change the sulky for a *skeleton wagon occasionally. 1974S. Walrond Encycl. Driving 238 Skeleton waggon, an American four-wheeled single-seat vehicle which was built for racing.
1935Ross & Taylor in Agric. Gaz. N.S.W. XLVI. 16/1 *Skeleton weed is well liked by sheep, especially when it is in the young stages. 1965Austral. Encycl. IX. 225/2 Skeleton weed..is a close relative of the dandelion and chicory, having a spindly habit of growth.
8. Comb., as skeleton-gaunt, skeleton-producing, skeleton-strewn adjs.; skeleton-wise adv.
1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 726 The skeleton-producing cells appear to be derived from the ectoderm. 1888Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. I. 382 To have pencil and paper at hand and jot down the dream, at least skeletonwise. 1895Shand Life Gen. Hamley I. iv. 94 On the skeleton-strewn plateau. 1929W. B. Yeats Winding Stair 3 When withered old and skeleton-gaunt.
Add:[1.] [b.] Hence used ellipt., without mention of a closet or cupboard.
1936G. B. Shaw Simpleton ii. 67 When you mention..the Day of Judgment..the pious ones—think we have come to dig up all the skeletons and put them through one of their shocking criminal trials. 1965‘P. Quentin’ (title) Family skeletons. 1976A. Price War Game (1979) i. i. 34 If he'd been fair.., they might have felt a tiny bit inhibited about putting his skeletons on display so prominently. 1984N.Y. Times 5 Mar. b8/3 Fraser and Califano and I know where all the skeletons are buried... We created the problem in the first place.
▪ II. ˈskeleton, v.
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To outline or mark after the manner of a skeleton.
1861Athenæum 23 Feb. 262/1 The swarthy wood-marge, skeleton'd with snow. 1897Daily News 23 June 15/4 The..thirty miles of shipping will be skeletoned in lights.
2. To construct in outline.
1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad I. 202 The true Black-Forest novel, if it is ever written, will be skeletoned somewhat in this way. 1883Pall Mall G. 26 Nov. 6/2 He skeletons his act, then clothes it with language.
3. To convert into a skeleton.
1888Scientific American LVIII. 203 A recipe for skeletoning and bleaching leaves. |