| 释义 |
abreast, adv., prop. phr.|əˈbrɛst|
Also 5–6 abrest.
[f. a prep.1 in + breast n.]
1. With breasts in a line, or with fronts in a line so as to compose as it were one breast of a wave when in motion; side by side (in advancing).
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. vi. 17 My soule shall thine keepe company to heauen: Tarry (sweet soule) for mine, then flye a-brest. 1675Lond. Gaz. mi. 2 The Mines succeeded very well, and made a breach, that 16 Men might enter a-breast. 1879Froude Cæsar xiv. 205 A pass..so narrow that but two carts could go abreast along it.
†b. Also written variously as on a breast, of breast, in a breast, breast-a-breast.
c1450Lonelich Grail xx. 271 Owt they Comen Al On Abrest. 1567J. Maplet Greene Forest 68 Another goeth and taketh vpon him his [the leading crane's] office..and that other commeth to their place which be of breast. 1728G. Carleton Mem. Eng. Officer 40 We could but very rarely go two on a Breast. Ibid. 69 At the End of our March all our Powder-Waggons were plac'd breast a-breast. 1801R. Gall Tint Quey 179 Then a' at ance (it is nae jest) Moved slowly forit in a breast.
2. Naut. With the ships equally distant, and parallel to each other, so that each is at right angles to the line of the squadron.
1697Potter Antiq. Greece (1715) iii. xx. 150 If the winds were high..sailing one by one; but at other Times they went Three or more in a Breast. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. iv. 144 The English, having the wind, came down a-breast.
3. Naut. ‘Abreast, within-board, signifies on a parallel with the beam.’ Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.
4. abreast of: in a position parallel to, or alongside of something stationary; also fig. (In nautical lang. of is frequently omitted.)
1748Anson Voyage (ed. 4) iii. vi. 466 We were a-breast of a chain of Islands. 1833Marryat Jac. Faithf. vi. 22 The tide was about three quarters ebb, when the barge arrived abreast of Millbank. 1845Lowell Crisis Wks. 1879, 671 They must upward still, and onward, Who would keep abreast of truth. 1857Tomes Amer. in Japan xv. 356 The Island of Ohosima, about two miles distant abreast the ships.
5. abreast with: advancing on or to a level with, keeping up with; often fig. as, to keep abreast with the thought of the age. In naut. lang. with is sometimes omitted.
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. vii. 397 My Observations, as printed, goe abreast in parallel columes with those of His Highnesse. 1833Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxvii. 96 [We] were soon abreast and close to the wherry, pulling with us down the stream. 1860Smiles Self-Help iii. 59 Nothing else could have enabled him to keep abreast with the flood of communications that poured in. |