| 释义 |
slip-stream|ˈslɪpstriːm|
Also slip stream, slipstream.
[f. slip n.3 + stream n.]
1. a. The current of air or water driven backward by a propeller or downward by a rotor.
1913A. E. Berriman Aviation viii. 79 Each blade deflects air backwards as it moves; the combined effect of both blades operating always in the same region when the machine is standing still produces a concentrated flow of air, which becomes a very pronounced draught. Technically, this draught is called the slip stream. 1919,1920[see air scoop s.v. air n.1 B. II]. 1935Sun (Baltimore) 19 Jan. 9/2 The slip stream from the propeller cast bits of mud and ice into the air during the take-off. 1963J. Rowland North to Adventure ix. 132 Her rudder was one of those absurd little metal plates which are utterly ineffective unless the slipstream from the propeller is impinging directly upon them. 1973C. Bonnington Next Horizon xiii. 190 The snow leapt up at me, and I was there, in one piece, with the slip-stream of the helicopter hammering at me.
b. Any localized current associated with an object, esp. a moving one.
1947in J. A. Carruth Loch Ness & its Monster (1950) 31 ‘We unmistakably sighted,’ said Mr. Cottier, ‘on the placid surface of the loch a fairly long slip-stream which quickly developed in length.’ 1963Times 8 June 5/2 He [sc. a cyclist] sat at the back, carried along in the slipstream of his adversaries, and so was the least tired rider when it came to the final sprint. 1973‘A. Hall’ Tango Briefing v. 62 The slipstream didn't cool anything: it just circulated the heat. There were gnats already sticking to the windscreen. 1974M. Babson Stalking Lamb xxv. 183 The candles flared and died..leaving little slipstreams of smoke.
2. fig. An assisting force considered to draw something along with or in the wake of the principal.
1957Universe 16 Aug. 4/2 The kaleidoscope of life which has moved with such tremendous upheavals..for the people caught up in its slipstream since 1933. 1961Times 30 June 4/1 Sangster it was..who proved himself the leader, drawing in his slipstream Wilson. 1970D. Mathew Courtiers of Henry VIII iii. vi. 203 They stood in contrast to all the slipstream of the modern State. 1980Times 29 Feb. 1/2 Some of those who were trying to get into the slipstream behind the Labour Party.
Hence as v. trans., to follow closely behind (another vehicle) so that the resistance of the air to one's progress is less; also, to pass after travelling in another's slipstream; also ˈslip-streaming vbl. n.
1957S. Moss In Track of Speed ii. 18, I tried for the first time the art of slip-streaming... What you do is to tuck in behind a faster car, so that you are more or less sucked along in the ‘partial vacuum’. 1960News Chron. 18 July 5/4, I planned to slip-stream him on the last lap. 1969Man (Austral.) Mar. 43/1 If you are in near-equal machinery, it becomes a case..of slip-streaming an inch behind him and diving out for a pass at the vital moment. 1979L. Pryor Viper viii. 156, I caught them on the pit straight as they slipstreamed each other on the left side of the road.
▸ Literary Criticism. Punningly after mainstream n. (see quot. 1989). Fiction which, while not classified as science fiction, engages to some extent with scientific or futuristic subject matter, esp. such fiction regarded as constituting an identifiable genre; this genre of fiction. Chiefly attrib.
1989B. Sterling in SF Eye July 78/2 ‘Slipstream’ is not all that catchy a term, and if this young genre ever becomes an actual category I doubt it will use that name, which I just coined along with my friend Richard Dorsett. ‘Slipstream’ is a parody of ‘mainstream’. 1992Locus Aug. 11/3 ‘In Concert’ is a slipstream story about an amateur rock musician in Sevastopol trying to gain entry into the stadium. 2000Edmonton Jrnl. (Nexis) 4 June e13 A selection from 25 years of her mainstream and slipstream short fiction. 2003Re: UK uber Alles? in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet newsgroup) 7 Mar. It's also worth noting that there are a bunch of noteworthy new US writers who are working more in fantasy/slipstream than in core SF. |