| 释义 |
▪ I. snapping, vbl. n.|ˈsnæpɪŋ|
[f. snap v.]
1. The action of the vb. in various senses:
a. In intransitive senses.
1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 50 When they come to the cutting of the haire, what snipping and snapping of the cycers is there. a1734North Examen Pref. (1740) 14 Such Snapping and Quarrelling would not clearly answer his Book. 1812M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 196 The only way to account for the fire is by the snapping of the hemlock wood. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 196 If a person not electrified held his hand near the tube while it was rubbed, the snapping was very sensible. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 47 The snapping and snarling [of wolves], varied by a howl. 1891Daily News 7 Nov. 6/4 In consequence of the snapping of an axle.
b. In transitive senses. Also with up.
1646J. Hall Horæ Vac. 113 Hee playes not well at draughts, that onely can avoyd snapping when it comes to a pinch. 1741Compl. Family Piece ii. ii. 344 You must remember in Snapping, that you never give a Fish time to run.., but hook and draw him out directly. 1816Scott Bl. Dwarf ii, There's me, and my twa brothers,..will be wi' you..in the snapping of a flint. 1860Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. cxxxix. III. 115 An abiding arrangement, opening its capacious jaws for the snapping-up of the guilty. 1885Law Rep. 29 Chanc. Div. 453 There was no snapping of a judgment in the Irish action.
†2. Thieves' cant. The proceeds of a theft or robbery; a share of stolen goods claimed by a snap. (Cf. snappage.) Obs.
1591Greene Conny Catch. ii. Wks. (Grosart) X. 122 When he hath the window open and spyes any fat snappings worth the Curbing, then streight he sets the Warp to watch. Ibid., Which stolne parcells, they in their Art call snappinges. 1602[see snappage].
3. attrib., as snapping movement, snapping noise, snapping sound, etc.; snapping-point, the point at which something will snap, or someone's strength or endurance will fail; snapping time, -tool (see quots.).
1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 193 A sharp pain..which was accompanied by a snapping noise. 1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 30 A vivid spark will dart between them, accompanied by a sharp snapping sound. 1870H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. (1880) 375 Keeping up a constant snapping movement. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2229/2 Snapping-tool, a stamping-tool used to force a plate into holes in a die. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 229 Snapping Time, a short period of rest during a shift in which a collier takes his snap. 1933G. Arthur Septuagenarian's Scrap Bk. 272 And like all good artists, like Sarah herself, she is a ‘traqueuse’ whose head feels hot and hands are cold on a first night, and who, with fever in the veins and nerves strained to snapping-point, will yet perhaps give the most inspired performance of the whole run. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) i. 20 To have not only mud but sticky honeycomb all over her shiny, clean linoleum was the snapping-point. 1982India Today 15 Feb. 125/2 Relations between the Government and the judiciary are stretched to snapping point.
▪ II. ˈsnapping, ppl. a.
[f. as prec.]
1. Sharp, curt, snappish; peevish, petulant.
1642Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 255 His designe was..with quips and snapping adagies to vapour them out. 1718Ockley Saracens (Bohn) 177 Omar..grew very angry:..at last he wrote a short snapping sort of a letter. 1746Exmoor Scolding (E.D.S.) 106 Go, ye rearing, snapping, tedious, cutted Snibblenose! 1880‘Ouida’ Moths III. 17 Snapping creatures are thought so sweetly sincere.
2. a. That snaps or breaks suddenly.
1823Lamb Elia ii, Amicus Redivivus, Marvellous escapes—..by orchard pranks, and snapping twigs. 1899F. V. Kirby Sport E.C. Africa xx. 218 Our ears were gladdened by the sound of a snapping branch.
b. That makes a sharp cracking or snapping noise.
1891Outlook Dec. 238/1 In the tender light of the rising sun he creeps downstairs, avoiding that squeaking board and that snapping step. 1942W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 170 They emerged from the narrow, roofless tunnel of snapping and hissing cane, still galloping, onto the open ridge below. 1968B. Hines Kestrel for Knave 132 Every time he tried to escape [from the shower] the three boys bounced him back, stinging him with their snapping towels as he retreated.
3. a. That snaps with the jaws or beak.
1873G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xiv. 116 Such screaming and laughing as they pulled the struggling snapping brutes ashore. 1890S. W. Baker Wild Beasts II. 29 The force of the snapping jaws would crush any human bone.
b. snapping-turtle, one or other of the North American freshwater tortoises of the family Chelydridæ, esp. Chelydra serpentina, the alligator terrapin. Also snapping tortoise. (Cf. snapper n.1 5 c.)
1784J. F. D. Smyth Tour U.S.A. I. 338 One kind of them bites very fiercely when incensed..; these are called Snapping Turtles. 1808T. Ashe Trav. Amer. II. 234 The Indians call this by a name which implies the snapping tortoise. 1828[see salt river 2 a]. 1840Knickerbocker XVI. 54 The..snapping-tortoises, frogs, squirrels, and such small deer, are their flocks and herds. 1848Bartlett Dict. Amer. 316 Snapping-turtle, a reptile common to all parts of the United States, so named from its propensity to snap at everything within its reach. 1850Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 205 On the shore of the lake we caught a tortoise, called here the snapping-turtle. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 153 The more northern species, Chelydra serpentina, known everywhere throughout the United States as the ‘Snapping Turtle’.
c. snapping beetle (or snapping bug), snapping mackerel (see quots.); snapping shrimp, a shrimp of the family Alpheidæ, which uses its large chelæ to make a snapping noise; also called the pistol shrimp.
1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 93 These insects [sc. Elateridæ] are known in Europe by the common name of ‘skip-jacks’,..and in America as ‘snapping beetles’, and erroneously ‘snapping bugs’. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 433 The Bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix,..[is] in some parts of New England called ‘Snapping Mackerel’ or ‘Snappers’. 1941Steinbeck & Ricketts Sea of Cortez 194 Sponges and tunicates under which small crabs and snapping shrimps hid themselves. 1964Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 431 The clicking of snapping shrimp..is a form of ambient sound when one is concentrating on the sounds of fish.
4. Violent, severe, extreme; usu. as quasi-adv.
1845Knickerbocker XXV. 87 I've got a snapping head⁓ache. 1876Wide Awake (Boston, Mass.) July 19/1 The night was snapping cold. 1905K. D. Wiggin Rose o' the River 93 The snapping cold weather and the depth to which the water was frozen were aiding it. |