| 释义 |
ˈspear-head, n.
Also spearhead.
[f. spear n.1]
1. a. The sharp-pointed head or blade forming the striking or piercing end of a spear.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) ii. 6 Ane of þe nayles, and þe spere heued, and many oþer reliques er in Fraunce. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 17106 Thei were alle In mochel doute How the spere-hed scholde gon oute With-oute lesyng of his lyff. c1445Lydg. Nightingale ii. 158 Thurgh myn hert the sper⁓hed gan it dresse. 1503Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. II. 202 For ane sper hede gilt, xxviij s. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §54 Ther is a grasse called sperewort, and hath a long narowe leafe, lyke a spere-heed. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 188 They found Spear-heads, axes, and swords of brasse. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 320 Others do but shew their halfe bodies,..their head-pieces, their spear-heads. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Tamworth, A large trench remains..where bones of men and horses, and spear-heads, have been dug up. 1825Scott Talism. xxviii, His lance..shivered into splinters from the steel spear-head up to the very gauntlet. 1883in Fisheries Japan (Fish. Exhib.) 35 A long bamboo rod..which is tipped at the extremity with an iron-barbed spear-head.
b. fig., esp. the leading part or element (of a thrust, movement, etc.); a person or group leading an attack.
1893in J. H. Barrow World's Parlt. Relig. II. 1540 The Scriptures were to be the spear-head, all other knowledge the well-fitted handle. 1929Times 12 Nov. 17/3 The Belfast members of the society..were made the spearhead of a thrust for an advance of wages for shipyard joiners alone. 1932Times 12 July 6/3 Afterwards they [sc. Yorkshire] broke down before the Nottinghamshire attack, with Larwood as its spearhead, and lost seven wickets for 53 runs. 1940Hutchinson's Pictorial Hist. War 10 Apr.–11 June 176 Synchronizing their Blitzkrieg attack with dive-bombers, German tanks acted as the spearhead in the rapid Nazi advance through the Low Countries and Northern France. 1945L. Mumford City Development xii. 130 The park system is thus the very spearhead of comprehensive urban planning. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 168 He was called upon to organize the new spearhead for Bomber Command. 1951‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids xii. 223 When they found that we represented only a group similar to their own, and were not the spearhead of a rescue party on the grand scale their interest would lapse. 1958Manch. Guardian 20 Aug. 4/2 Lord Cameron and his colleagues do not think that the dockers' claim can be fairly regarded as the spearhead of a new national wage movement. 1962Times 27 Nov. 13/2 Mr. W. P. Tapley..told me of..preparations to..keep traffic flowing regardless of the weather. ‘Salt,’ he said, ‘is still the spearhead.’ 1970A. Toffler Future Shock iii. 40 America, as the spearhead of superindustrialism, represents a new, quicker, and very much unwanted tempo. 1977‘J. le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy xviii. 442 The spearhead of the operation will be handled by ourselves. If supportive action is required, Martello will supply it.
2. transf. A thing having the pointed form characteristic of the head of a spear.
1894Doyle S. Holmes 33 The sticky spearheads of the chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their fivefold leaves. 1897Quiller-Couch Stevenson's St. Ives xxxiii, Yonder was England, with the Solway cleaving the coast—a broad, bright spearhead, slightly bent at the tip.
3. attrib. and Comb., as spear-head army, spear-head forces, spear-head form, spear-head group, spear-head-shaped.
1931W. S. Churchill World Crisis VI. xx. 301 Amid these varying schemes one plain question stood forth. Should Mackensen with the ‘*spear-head army’ go on or stop?
1978R. V. Jones Most Secret War xlix. 486 The enthusiasm of its members was such that they were sometimes ahead of our *spearhead forces.
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 324 The Fan decorates the bellows with *spearhead forms, the points whereof are directed towards the fire.
1977M. Walker National Front ii. 39 During 1961, the Special Branch had been aware that the *Spearhead group had been formed.
1865Lubbock Preh. Times ix. 274 A weathered hatchet..identical in form with the *spearhead-shaped specimens from Amiens.
Hence ˈspear-head v. trans., to act as the spear-head of, to lead (a movement, attack, etc.).
1938Daily News (Los Angeles) 27 July 8/1 Liberal leader who spearheaded the debate. 1943Sun (Baltimore) 9 July 1/6 He also disclosed that the Marines spearheaded the direct invasion of New Georgia by landing at Segi. 1944Times 19 Feb. 4/7 Spearheaded by our fleet, we have been able to drive the enemy from these bases. 1957K. A. Wittfogel Oriental Despotism 8 Those nonbureaucratic groups and strata which, in feudal Europe and Japan, spearheaded the rise of a commercial and industrial society. 1968P. Oliver Screening Blues ii. 88 Spearheaded by singers like Little Richard Penniman, Ray Charles or B. B. King.., the musical forms which had been held at a distance for so long were allowed to merge. 1980M. Fonteyn Magic of Dance 289 She was such an intelligent artist and fine dancer that she was able to spearhead the ballet reforms, still advancing rather slowly. 1983Times 21 Jan. 16/5 Furniture sales appear to be spearheading the upturn in consumer spending. |