| 释义 |
▪ I. spiral, n.|ˈspaɪərəl|
[Subst. use of next. Cf. F. spirale fem. (also spiral masc., spiral spring), It. spirale.]
1. Geom. A continuous curve traced by a point moving round a fixed point in the same plane while steadily increasing (or diminishing) its distance from this.
spiral of Archimedes, a curve traced by a point moving uniformly along a line which at the same time revolves uniformly round a fixed point in itself. equiangular spiral, hyperbolic spiral, logarithmic spiral, loxodromic spiral, parabolic spiral: see these words.
1656tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. xvii. 194 The description of Archimedes his Spiral, which is done by the continual diminution of the Semidiameter of a Circle in the same proportion in which the Circumference is diminished. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. Ded. (1721) I. 179 At that time the Diurnal Motion of the Sun partakes more of a Right Line than of a Spiral. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., Then will the Points M m, m, &c. be Points in the Spiral, which connected, will give the Spiral itself. 1816C. Babbage tr. Lacroix' Different. & Integr. Calculus 128 The spirals compose another class of transcendental curves. 1869Rankine Machinery & Millwork 54 Each point in the secondary piece..describes a plane spiral about the fixed axis. 1882Minchin Umplanar Kinematics 50 Prove that the Space Centrode is a parabola and the Body Centrode a spiral of Archimedes.
fig.1845–6Trench Huls. Lect. Ser. i. iv. 57 The advance may sometimes be rather in a spiral than in a straight line. 1848H. Rogers Ess. (1874) I. vi. 319 Other questions succeed,..gradually approaching in one long spiral of interrogations the central position.
2. a. A curve traced by a point moving round, and simultaneously advancing along, a cylinder or cone; a helix or screw-line.
The spiral has sometimes been distinguished from the helix: see quot. 1728.
1670Collins in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) I. 147 The spiral described by the compound motion of a heavy body falling to the centre of the earth. 1681tr. Willis' Rem. Med. Wks. Vocab., Spiral, a turning about, and as it were ascending. 1728Chambers Cycl., Spiral, in Architecture, Sculpture, &c. is a Curve that ascends, winding about a Cone... By this it is distinguished from the Helix, which winds..around a Cylinder. 1788New Lond. Mag. 44 The length of the Spiral described by the fly in passing from one pole to the other. 1835M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. (ed. 2) xvii. 172 By thus tracing these nodal lines he discovered that they twist in a spiral or corkscrew round rods and cylinders. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 198/2 Increasing Spiral, a term applied to the twist or the spiral inclination of the grooves of rifled arms.
b. The degree in which the successive circles of such a curve approach each other.
1846Greener Sci. Gunnery 348 From the peculiar nature of the powder..the extreme spiral given to their grooves was required. 1864Daily Tel. 1 Aug., Making the arm shoot well, is simply matter of detail, involving considerations of length of barrel, character and spiral of rifling.
c. U.S. Football. A kick or pass in which the ball in flight spins round its long axis.
1896Camp & Deland Football vi. 61 Spiral, a kick similar to the twister, in which the ball maintains a true course while revolving on its long axis. 1910W. Camp Book of Foot-Ball viii. 308 Long passes are best made by holding the ball like a spear and sending a spiral. 1972J. Mosedale Football v. 69 Fourteen times his soft spirals connected, for 216 yards.
d. fig. A progressive movement in one direction (esp. upwards or downwards, and marking a relentlessly deteriorating state of affairs), considered to take the form of a spiral; spec. one caused by the interaction or alternate overtaking of interdependent quantities; vicious spiral: see vicious a. 9.
1897P. Geddes Let. 10 Feb. in P. Boardman Worlds of P. Geddes (1978) vi. 155 New money = new crime = new report..= new police and so on, in downward spiral. 1931, etc. [see inflationary a.]. 1939Economist 16 Dec. 405 The fear of an accelerating spiral of wages and prices. 1958Spectator 15 Aug. 211/1 Steps to avoid a new arms race spiral. 1965Listener 23 Sept. 439/2 We have got to get rid of the endless spiral, price increases and pay claims. 1975Physics Bull. Aug. 345/1 The tendency for departments with the highest demand for undergraduate places to take the largest slice of the UGC cake has meant that engineering and physical science departments have fallen into a spiral of fewer students resulting in lower grants. 1980Times 15 Jan. 14 Price of antique silver follows the gold spiral.
e. Aeronaut. A descent (or, rarely, a climb) made by an aircraft in the form of a helix; a continuous banking turn accompanying a descent or ascent.
1910Sphere 30 July 103/2 This descent..was composed of several high-speed dives and short spirals. 1918E. M. Roberts Flying Fighter 272 When I came out of my spiral,..my engine would not start again. Ibid. 301 The Hun machine started upward in a spiral. 1941Pope & Otis Elements of Aeronaut. ix. 85 The spiral, usually done with power off, is merely a gliding turn, continued to make several complete turns, gradually descending. 1975G. H. Saunders Dynamics of Helicopter Flight v. 178 A neutrally stable spiral would require the pilot to take back out his cyclic input once his desired bank angle has been achieved.
3. a. A piece of wire coiled into a spiral form.
1825Annals Philosophy X. 52 After which the extremity of the spiral being tied hard,..I put the covered wire in a vice. 1881J. Hatton New Ceylon vi. 154 Men and women alike wear the neck spiral, and the former also a closely⁓fitting spiral around their biceps. 1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iv. 298/2 The spirals of the key-board must be bent their right shape.
b. Bot. A spiral vessel in plants.
1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 241 According to Raspail it is composed of cells, tubes, and spirals yet visible. Ibid. 288 They have neither stomata nor spirals: hence they can neither form the green chromule, nor exhale moisture.
c. Astr. A spiral nebula.
1850Ld. Rosse in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CXL. 511 Night excellent, a spiral seen in an oblique direction, resolved well, particularly towards the centre, where it is very bright. 1866Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens 400 Brilliant spirals, unequally luminous,..diverge from the centre, and become separated..as they recede from it. 1881G. F. Chambers Smyth's Celestial Cycle 38 One of Lord Rosse's ‘spirals’.
d. In general use: Any object having a spiral form.
1853James Agnes Sorel i, The stair-case was one of those narrow, twisting spirals. 1858Lardner Handbk. Nat. Phil. 119 In practice, the spiral through which the water is carried is not in the form of a tube. 1883Harper's Mag. Aug. 375/2 Misfortune awaits the boat that ventures into this watery spiral. 1890J. Gagney tr. Jaksch's Clin. Diagnosis iv. 70 The spirals are often overlaid with epithelium.
4. One of the separate circles or coils of a spiral or helical object. Cf. spire n.3 1.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Screw, The said Distance between the Spirals..of the Screw. c1790J. Imison Sch. Arts I. 23 Supposing the distance of the spirals to be half an inch. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 240 If, there⁓fore, a pipe of uniform bore be wrapped round a conic frustrum,..the spirals will be very nearly such as will answer the purpose. 1891Kipling Light that Failed (1900) 272 He stroked the creaseless spirals of his leggings.
▪ II. spiral, a.1 and adv.|ˈspaɪərəl|
[ad. med.L. spīrāl-is (Albertus Magnus, a 1255), whence also F. spiral, It. spirale, Sp. espiral.]
1. Forming a succession of curves arranged like the thread of a screw; coiled in a cylindrical or conical manner; helical:
a. In general use.
1551Recorde Castle Knowl. (1556) 249 In going betweene the firste degree of Capricorne, and the fyrste of Cancer, he..maketh aboue 182 reuolutions lyke spirall circles. 1668Wilkins Real Char. 129 [Shells] more short in the spiral production, considerable for having a Purple juice. 1693Bentley Atheism v. 17 The Spiral, and not Annulary, Fibres of the Intestines. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 38 Little, thin, black Seeds, each one having a spiral head. 1781Cowper Retirem. 231 As woodbine..In spiral rings ascends the trunk. 1805Southey Madoc in Azt. x. 217 Then louder from the spiral sea-shell's depth Swell'd the full roar. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 246 The spiral tubes in that axle take up the water. a1878Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) II. 125 The intermediate pier is a round column,..with spiral flutings.
b. Of an ascending or descending course or path.
See also spiral stair in 3.
1794R. J. Sulivan View Nat. II. 46 Local lower heat, and proportionate superior cold, causes the rarefaction, which gives the spiral ascent. 1825Longfellow Sunrise on Hills 18 Where upward..The noisy bittern wheeled his spiral way. 1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 173/2 An almost circular mountain of considerable height, which is ascended by a spiral road. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 264 They paced the remainder of their spiral pathway in silence. 1908F. W. Lanchester Aerodonetics vii. 180 The aerodrone..loses its equilibrium and comes rapidly to earth with a kind of spiral dive. 1912Flight 31 Aug. 787/1 The machine at once started a spiral nose-dive. 1939Aircraft Engin. XI. 40/3 There are many references to spiral or corkscrew descent in the literature..but this always implies a fully controllable motion at an angle of incidence below the critical angle; very different to the spin proper. 1961C. B. Smith Testing Time 53 To their horror, the men on the ground saw the aircraft drop out of control into a whirling dive, the ‘spiral dive’ which they knew meant almost certain death.
c. With abstract ns.
1829T. Castle Introd. Bot. 234 Losing the spiral character. 1831Sir J. Sinclair Corr. II. 264 They have..a species of the pigeon, which fly in a spiral or circular manner, upon one wing. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Beauty Wks. (Bohn) II. 428 The spiral tendency of vegetation infects education also. 1880Bessey Botany 29 Good examples of ringed, spiral, and reticulated thickening.
fig.1878O. W. Holmes Motley xvii. 115 That progress is by a spiral movement seems to be a law of Providence.
d. Surg. Of a fracture: curving round a long bone lengthwise.
1897Lippincott's Med. Dict. 955/2 Spiral fracture. 1934Practitioners Library Med. & Surg. V. ii. 301 Fractures of the Shaft of the Femur... Nonunion may occur... This is likely to happen in the oblique or spiral types. 1950Brit. Encycl. Med. Pract. (ed. 2) IV. 369 (caption) Spiral fracture of tibia in boy aged 8 years, three weeks after accident; no clinical signs or symptoms except his refusal to use his leg. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline xlii. 455 At the Medical Center Hospitals in Houston they had told him that the spiral break would take at least six months to heal to the point where the cast could be removed.
2. Curving continuously round a fixed point in the same plane at a steadily increasing (or diminishing) distance from it.
a1639Wotton Reliq. (1651) 231 The Capitall..in a spirall wreathing, which they call the Ionian Voluta. 1656tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. xvii. 194 That space in the Circle..without the Spiral Line. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., The curve B..is called a Spiral Line, and the plain Space contained between the Spiral Line, and the Right Line BA, is called the Spiral Space. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 562 They are disposed in the direction of a spiral line winding from East to West. 1833Sir C. Bell Hand (1834) 204 Wherever the sense of feeling is most exquisite, there are minute spiral ridges of cuticle. 1870F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 90 Among some bold spiral curves..a hound-like quadruped is represented. 1895W. Macpherson Monymusk I. 4 The tracings of the characteristic spiral ornaments..are still visible.
3. a. In various special collocations (chiefly in sense 1), as spiral bit, spiral cam, spiral pump, spiral spring, spiral stair, etc. spiral bevel gear, a bevel gear that is also a spiral gear; spiral binding, a book binding in which a helical wire passes through a closely spaced row of holes near the inside edge of each leaf; so spiral-bound adj.; spiral divergence (Aeronaut.) = spiral instability below; spiral gear, a gear wheel whose teeth are cut obliquely to the axis of the wheel and are curved to form part of what is approximately a spiral or helix; esp. a skew gear of this kind; so spiral gearing; spiral instability (Aeronaut.), an instability in which an aeroplane undergoing a banked turn tends to enter a descending spiral as a result of sideslipping and reduction of the radius of turn; spiral stability (Aeronaut.), the capactiy of an aeroplane not to enter a spiral while executing a banked turn, or to recover from a steeply-banked spiral path.
spiral auger, spiral battery, spiral punch, spiral screw, etc., are described by Knight Dict. Mech. (1875–84).
1915V. W. Pagé Automobile Repairing ix. 767 The advantages of the *spiral bevel gear are mainly due to the shape of the teeth which roll into engagement more smoothly than the ordinary form of bevel gears. 1973Transmission & Rear Axle—Bedford Trucks & Coaches (Vauxhall Motors) 168 The differential, spiral bevel gear and pinion can be serviced without removing axle from vehicle.
1949Melcher & Larrick Printing & Promotion Handbk. 280/2 *Spiral binding, see mechanical bindings. 1968F. H. Holliday Man. Stationery, Office Machines & Equipment ii. viii. 440 The sheets..are fed on to a conveyor to be trimmed, knocked up and punched to receive the spiral binding.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 40/2 *Spiral Bit, a gun implement used for clearing the vents of ordnance when choked.
1961Lebende Sprachen VI. 104/1 *Spiral-bound stenographer's notebook. 1969D. Francis Enquiry iii. 37 He stood..holding a spiral bound notebook. 1976E. Ward Hanged Man xxxi. 200 A thick spiral-bound document.
1855Ogilvie Suppl., *Spiral Cam,..the solid cam.., when the ridge is formed spirally on the cone.
1949Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LIII. 541/1 There are two common kinds of aircraft instability which usually would be judged tolerable according to the above criterion. These are the phugoid oscillation (longitudinal-symmetric motion) and the *spiral divergence (lateral-antisymmetric motion). 1970T. Hacker Flight Stability & Control vii. 159 The possibility of eliminating spiral divergence by design can be made to stand out by means of stability diagrams.
1888J. G. Horner Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. 338 *Spiral gear, includes helical, stepped, and worm gearing. 1914― Gear Cutting v. 48 Since the special gear-cutting machines have come into general use, the manufacture of spiral gears has been established on a better commercial basis than hitherto. 1971B. Scharf Engin. & its Lang. xii. 155 In some types of multiple gear train, the same gear drives a helical gear (with parallel axis) as well as a spiral gear (with skew axis).
a1877Knight Dict. Mech. III. 2275/1 *Spiral gearing, a gear-wheel having meshing spiral ribs and grooves. The teeth run around the periphery of the gear-wheel, and meet in an angle on a line midway from either edge of the wheel. 1930Engineering 2 May 559/2 Spiral gearing has been found to have many valuable applications.
1914L. Bairstow et al. Rep. & Mem. Advisory Comm. for Aeronautics No. 77. 168 A machine which is liable to *spiral instability when gyroscopic actions are eliminated, cannot become stable owing to gyroscopic action of the propeller and engine. 1970T. Hacker Flight Stability & Control vii. 162 The elimination of spiral instability..is achieved by the constraint of the angle of bank ϕ, obviously in addition to correcting the heading.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Screw, Archimedes's Screw, or the *Spiral Pump, a Machine for the Raising of Water. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 120 If we wind a pipe round a cylinder, of which the axis is horizontal, and connect one end with a vertical tube, while the other..is at liberty to turn round.., the machine is called a spiral pump. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 842/1 Spiral Pump, a pump that raises its water by a spiral flange or screw, on the principle of the Archimedean screw.
1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. vi. §38 Some [watches] have the Balance loose, and others regulated by a *spiral Spring. 1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. H 9, The projecting piece, a, is kept up to the slide, b,..by means of the spiral spring and die, h.
1947C. F. Toms Introd. Aeronautics v. 222 The use of a certain amount of dihedral..is essential for both directional and *spiral stability. 1978M. Simons Model Aircraft Aerodynamics xi. 126 If the model is primarily a thermal soarer..effort should be concentrated on spiral stability.
1624Wotton Archit. (1672) 37 *Spiral, or Cockle Stairs. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v., Spiral Stairs, in Building. 1839W. Chambers Tour Holland 40/1 We were conducted by a spiral stair to the higher part of the tower.
1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 457 This column, with its *spiral stair-case,..was restored to its former beauty by Pope Sixtus V. 1840Lardner Geom. 245 Such a spiral surface is the form of spiral staircases, sometimes called geometrical staircases.
1850Ogilvie, *Spiral-Wheels, in mill work, a species of gearing much used in the textile manufactures.
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 231 *Spiral worm, a tool for extricating broken boring rods.
b. Bot. in spiral cell, spiral thickening, spiral tube, spiral vessel.
1832Lindley Introd. Bot. 17 Spiral vessels..are membranous tubes with conical extremities; their inside being occupied by a fibre twisted spirally. 1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 10 A revival of Grew's first opinion with regard to the function of the spiral tubes. 1861Bentley Man. Bot. 15 In some cells the fibre forms are uninterrupted spiral from one end to the other: such are termed spiral cells. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 157 This is the case in the closely-wound spiral tubes, which show transitional forms to the reticulate. 1933Trop. Woods XXXVI. 4 Spiral Thickenings.—Helical ridges on the inner face of, and a part of, the secondary wall. 1953K. Esau Plant Anat. xi. 228 Such secondary thickenings [of the xylem] are called, respectively, annular, spiral or helical, and reticulate.
c. Zool. in specific names (see quots.). Also spiral cleavage, a pattern of embryogenesis characteristic of certain invertebrate groups, in which the third cell division is asymmetrical and destroys all but four-fold rotational symmetry.
1802Shaw Gen. Zool. III. ii. 564 Spiral Hydrus... Yellowish Hydrus with..spirally contorted body. 1861P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 244 Family Limacinidæ. (Spiral Pteropods.) 1892E. B. Wilson in Jrnl. Morphol. VI. 377 The events of the cleavage fall into three very marked periods which I shall designate respectively as the (1) spiral, (2) transitional, and (3) bilateral periods. Ibid. 441 The third spiral cleavage of the primary micromeres gives rise to four apical cells. 1948New Biol. V. 113 The same fundamental pattern (called spiral cleavage because of the oblique direction of many of the divisions; the actual pattern of cells resulting is not a spiral) is found also in other groups, such as the flatworms. 1967L. A. Borradaile et al. Invertebrata i. 2 The annelid superphylum has eggs that develop by means of spiral cleavage. When the blastula divides from the four-cell stage to the eight-cell stage the second quartet lie on top of and between the cells of the first quartet.
d. In attributive combs. (see quots.).
1846Joyce Sci. Dial. viii. 18 By means of one of those steel spiral-spring instruments..the fact might be ascertained. 1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 3500, Patent spiral-spring trusses. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2276 Spiral-vane Steam-engine. 1884Ibid. Suppl. 842/1 Spiral Tube Boiler.
e. Astr. Special collocations in sense 2, as: spiral arm, an arm of a spiral galaxy; spiral galaxy, a galaxy in which bright stars and gas clouds tend to be located along arms that appear to spiral from a central nucleus; spiral nebula, a spiral galaxy (now chiefly Hist.)
1914A. S. Eddington Stellar Movements & Struct. of Universe xi. 243 The star clouds of the Milky Way form its [sc. our galaxy's] *spiral arms. 1978Pasachoff & Kutner University Astron. xxiii. 582 The interstellar extinction prevents us from studying parts of the spiral arms farther away from the sun.
1913Astrophysical Jrnl. XXXVII. 112 The stellar accumulations might be arranged so as to produce the phenomenon of the Milky Way—on the supposition of a *spiral galaxy. 1944H. Shapley Galaxies i. 26 The subclassifications of bright spheroidal and spiral galaxies..are possible only for those systems near enough for large-scale photography. 1980Sky & Telescope July 25 By studying star formation in spiral galaxies, we can do more than test theories of spiral structure.
1850Ld. Rosse in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CXL. 505 The other *spiral nebulæ discovered up to the present time are comparatively difficult to be seen. 1920A. S. Eddington Space, Time & Gravitation x. 160 The most remote objects known are the spiral nebulae, whose distances may perhaps be of the order a million light years. 1978Pasachoff & Kutner University Astron. xxiii. 572 Another class of objects was once known as ‘spiral nebulae’... However, these spiral nebulae are now known to be galaxies in their own right.
4. As adv. = spirally adv.1
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 36/1 Those chanels that run spiral about the shaft. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 842/1 Plates laid together with something to maintain their distance and then rolled together spiral.
5. = spiral-bound adj., sense 3 a above.
1977H. Greene FSO-1 ix. 83 [He] whipped out large black reading glasses, and peered downward at a spiral pad. 1978R. Thomas Chinaman's Chance xiii. 135 Durant was seated on the couch..a secretary's spiral notebook in his lap.
6. Comb., as spiral-coated, spiral-grooved, spiral-horned, spiral-pointed adjs.; spiral-wise adv.
1728Chambers Cycl., The Screw..is a right Cylinder..furrow'd Spiral-wise. 1807J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 200 The sap must soon flow out of those spiral-coated tubes. 1827G. Higgins Celtic Druids xlvi, A low spiral-pointed roof of stone. 1864Athenæum 5 Mar. 342/2 Mr. Cuming also exhibited two [pins],..the heads of which are spiral-wise. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 842/1 The spiral grooved guide is a wrought-iron tube. 1894Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. II. 250 The Himalayan markhor..or spiral-horned goat.
▪ III. spiral, a.2|ˈspaɪərəl|
[f. spire n.1 + -al1.]
Rising like a spire; tall and tapering or pointed: a. Of rocks, edifices, etc.
1658Phillips, Spiral, belonging to a pyramid or spire-steeple. 1665J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 181 Trophies..were evermore made of high and spiral Stones: And they will have these..which are high and spiral, to be, not a Trophy, but a place for electing of Kings. 1740Dyer Ruins Rome 138 The spiral tomb Of ancient Chammos. 1772–84Cook's Voy. (1790) V. 1675 The various summits which are spiral cannot be viewed without exciting the most awful ideas.
b. Of trees.
1729Savage Wanderer iv. 15 Turning, with sighs, far spiral firs he sees. c1750Shenstone Elegies xxiii. 91 Cheer'd by the verdure of my spiral wood. 1827H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 338 It is indispensably necessary..that the standard or grove Trees should be kept spiral, and the underwood subordinate in its character. 1842J. Wilson Chr. North I. 365 The sweet Furness Fells,..among its spiral larches showing..groves and copses of the old unviolated woods.
▪ IV. spiral, v.|ˈspaɪrəl|
[f. spiral n.]
1. a. intr. To wind or move in a spiral manner; to form spiral curves.
1834M. Scott Cruise Midge xx, We began to ascend the narrow corkscrew path that spiralled through the rocky grass-piece. 1851H. Melville Whale III. 117 The..curling line buoyantly rising and spiralling towards the air. 1904E. Robins Magnetic North vii. 124 It curled and spiralled, and described..involved and long-looped flourishes.
b. To fly an aircraft in a spiral path. Also with down, downwards.
1916E. C. Middleton Aircraft iii. 33 The pilot either ‘spirals’ or glides down, until he is able to ascertain the direction of the prevailing wind. 1922H. L. Foster Adventures of Tropical Tramp xi. 173 The aviator spiraled downwards towards his landing place. 1941Pope & Otis Elements of Aeronautics ix. 85 Practice is required..to spiral over a fixed spot when the wind is blowing. 1978M. Simons Model Aircraft Aerodynamics iv. 37 Even better rates of climb would result if the model did not have to spiral.
c. fig. To move rapidly in one direction (usu. upwards), in a manner considered to resemble a spiral; to increase or decrease in response to the same movement of another quantity or other quantities. Cf. sense 2 d of the n. above.
1922H. Crane Let. c 18 June (1965) 91 Under the influence of aether and amnesia my mind spiraled to a kind of seventh heaven of consciousness. 1941Time 20 Oct. 35/1 Even if import and farm prices resist all controls, processors' and retailers' prices will rise but not spiral with them. 1942E. W. Kemmerer ABC of Inflation 156 If wages and the prices of farm products are not adequately restricted but are permitted to spiral upward..the whole price situation will get out of control. 1959Listener 18 June 1052/1 The cost of living has spiralled. 1977Milestones Summer 19/1 A similar table published in the Autumn 1974 issue of Milestones shows how much the cost of spare parts has spiralled. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 1a/4 The dollar spiraled downward on European money markets today. 1979Daily Tel. 5 Dec. 21 The..risks of sending demand, output and tax revenue spiralling down again while the cost of spending programmes such as unemployment benefit..spiral up.
2. trans. To twist or coil spirally.
1867F. Francis Angling vi. (1880) 226 Spiral it round to lash it on to the hook.
Hence ˈspiralling ppl. a. and vbl. n.
1944Auden For Time Being (1945) 90 Even the problems of Trade Cycles And Spiralling Prices are regarded by the experts As practically solved. 1958Spectator 18 July 92/3 The twin threat of a renewed world currency crisis and a spiralling of trade restriction. 1965[see oh-so adv.]. 1969H. Perkin Key Profession iv. 138 The post-war situation of spiralling prices and incomes. 1979E. H. Gombrich Sense of Order vi. 160 Spiralling terminations suggest the curling of elastic matter. 1979Nature 14 June 622/1 Viscous drag on the planet's orbital motion would then lead to a spiralling into the stellar core. 1980Oxf. Diocesan Mag. June 7/2 The failure of extrinsic motivation to fill the need is evident from the spiralling demands of frustrated materialists. |