| 释义 |
contraption dial. and colloq.|kənˈtræpʃən|
[A popular formation, app. from contrive (or its variant contreve): cf. conceive, conception; some vague association with trap may have entered in.]
A contrivance, a device (with suggestion of ingenuity rather than effectiveness).
1825J. Jennings Obs. Dial. W. Eng. 31 Contraption, contrivance; management. 1834‘J. Downing’ Life A. Jackson iii. 24 The gineral oney intended tu see what he wou'd do, and then by a leetle contrapshion, have him secur'd. 1838J. C. Neal Charcoal Sk. 95 All their newfangled contraptions. 1847Halliwell, Contraption, contrivance. West. 1859Type of the Times (Ohio) 1 Feb., If the author had not attempted to supplant the [ordinary] Phonography..by his own quirks and contraptions..he would have made a very useful book. 1863W. Barnes Gloss. Dorset Dialect, Contraption, a contrivance. 1883in Hampshire Gloss. (E.D.S.). 1888in Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. 1890Temple Bar Mag. July 355 Saltpetre and sulphur, and the contraptions necessary for catherine wheels and rockets. 1898Kipling in Morn. Post 9 Nov. 5/1 Had I seen the new fore and aft bridge that we had managed to screw out of the Dockyard? A great contraption. 1925R. Clements Gipsy of Horn 207 The men temporarily lashed the crazy contraption to the lower mast. 1958Observer 30 Oct., When you buy these once-in-a-lifetime contraptions do you see that you get value for money? |