| 释义 |
▪ I. sniping, vbl. n.|ˈsnaɪpɪŋ|
[f. snipe v.]
1. a. The action of snipe v. 1, 2 a.
1773Let. fr. India in J. W. Fortescue Hist. Brit. Army III. 141 [The soldiers..put their hats on the parapet for the enemy to shoot at, and] humorously called it sniping. 1891Daily News 29 Dec. 2/1 The sniping of the outposts against each other. 1898B. Burleigh Sirdar & Khalifa x. 162 Our camps upon the right bank of the Atbara were exceptionally open to snipeing by night.
b. fig. The making of sly critical assaults; sharp fault-finding or carping. Freq. with at.
1892Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve I. vi. 128 Hannah's appetite for snipin' returned. 1935E. Pound Let. 7 Feb. (1971) 267 Eng. print so smeared with personal sniping and clique politics that any definition of limitations..is likely to be taken as ‘anti-’. 1945Sun (Baltimore) 25 June 1/3 There has been a lot of unfortunate sniping at the project. 1955Essays in Criticism V. 64 Mr. Liddell's ‘criticisms’ of his essay..are mere sniping and peripheral eroding which say next to nothing about their subject. 1969H. Perkin Key Profession vi. 229 Hence that perpetual sniping..at the universities for their supposed idleness and inefficiency. 1977Time 4 July 2/3 Your sniping at the U.N. and its jobs-for-the-boys was not premature. 1980M. Fonteyn Magic of Dance 214 Taglioni, tired of petty sniping and endless comparisons favouring her rival, journeyed to St. Petersburg.
2. a. Snipe-shooting.
1875Ibis 15 The doctor..was not accustomed to sniping, and our bag was not so full at the end of the day as it might have been. 1877Hallock Sportsman's Gaz. 174 The pleasures of Bay bird shooting should not be spoken of in the same sentence with cocking or sniping.
b. attrib. Engaged in snipe-shooting.
1840E. Napier Scenes & Sp. Foreign Lands II. v. 142 Frequently the slaughter committed by a sniping party is so great, that..nothing but the brains and trail are eaten, the rest being cast away.
3. Prospecting for gold, esp. in old diggings. N. Amer. slang.
1897M. H. E. Hayne Pioneers of Klondyke 93 There is little ‘snipping’ [sic]—i.e. working old bars—on Forty Mile Creek, but it does not pay much. 1963Placer Mining B.C. 7/1 Chinese miners were particularly adept at sniping... Sniping and bar-combing are..carried out by individuals who would rather do this than work for wages.
4. Austral. Working as a non-union labourer.
1951Meanjin (Melbourne) X. 334 You never scabbed, or anything like that? You never did any sniping?
▪ II. sniping, ppl. a.|ˈsnaɪpɪŋ|
[f. snipe v.]
That snipes, or shoots from cover. sniping fire, individual and irregular shooting from a concealed position.
1821V. Blacker Mahratta War ii. i. 179 But even this advantage was greatly reduced, by their being exposed to a sniping fire from neighbouring walls. 1899Daily News 24 Oct. 5/5, I was..able to help him out of range of this sniping fire. |