单词 | stepping-stone |
释义 | stepping-stonen. 1. A stone for stepping upon. a. A stone placed in the bed of a stream or on muddy or swampy ground, to facilitate crossing on foot. Chiefly plural, referring to a row or line of such stones. ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > stepping-stone stepping-stonec1325 step-stone1868 c1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 159 S [t] eping-stones passueres. c1340 Nominale (Skeat) 515 Caliow fusil et passuer. Flynt firehiron stoppyngston. 1550 R. Bowes in J. C. Hodgson Hist. Northumberland: Pt. III (1828) II. 184 From thence till a place over a letche or litle sicket called the stepping stones. 1579 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 189 Steppingstones to be sett be tweene Frear Poole. 1603 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 506/1 Passand to ane grene dyk besouth the stopping stanes of the Ile-ark. 1655 J. Lamont Diary (1830) 91 The water..ran away some of the stapping stons at Nether Largo. 1682 O. Heywood Autobiogr., Diaries, Anecd. & Event Bks. (1881) II. 303 Going over stepping stones at a brook. 1733 J. Swift On Poetry 12 Like stepping Stones to save a Stride, In Streets where Kennels are too wide. 1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. viii. 115 Once he [sc. the Dominie] fell into the brook crossing at the stepping-stones. 1832 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter ix, in Poems (new ed.) 37 The tall flagflower that sprung Beside the noisy steppingstones. 1852 E. W. Benson Diary 3 June in A. C. Benson Life of E. W. Benson (1899) I. iii. 110 I reached the Abbey by the stepping-stones. 1899 S. R. Crockett Kit Kennedy 189 Kit crossed the brook at the stepping-stones. b. A raised stone on which the foot can be placed to facilitate a climb or ascent; spec. ‘a horse-block’ (Halliwell). rare in literal sense: see 2. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > riding on horse (or other animal) > [noun] > mounting a horse > mounting-block mounting place1490 riding block1570 block1614 mounting block1659 horsing stone1661 horsing-block1662 upping-stocka1697 joss-block1706 horse-block1713 mounting stone1794 upping-block1796 upping-stone1809 horse-steps1828 leaping-on-stone1837 stepping-stone1837 stirrup-stone1838 pillion stone1907 society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > flight of steps > a step stepc825 degreec1290 gree1303 stridea1400 grece1448 stair?1473 footstep1549 grade1698 stepping-stone1837 1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxviii. 287 The stile..was full three feet high, and had only a couple of stepping-stones. 1841 G. P. R. James Brigand xi He sat down on one of the stepping~stones placed to aid travellers in mounting their horses. c. transferred. A place for a break of journey. ΘΚΠ society > travel > aspects of travel > a journey > [noun] > break in a journey > stopping-place on a journey gist?c1225 mansiona1382 baiting1477 station1578 mansion place1584 manzil1619 night stop1787 gite1798 outspan1821 halting-place1826 stopping-place1827 stepping-stone1849 waypoint1860 landing-place1861 stop-off1869 stop-over1881 siding1896 half-way1897 sit-down1898 pull-up1899 1849 H. M. Noad Lect. Electr. (ed. 3) 104 The intermediate clouds serving as intermediate conductors, or stepping-stones as it were for the electric fluid. 1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine xii. 398 ‘Chittim’ thus became the first stepping-stone to the isles of the West. 1880 A. R. Wallace Island Life 274 Some islands may have intervened between them [the Galapagos] and the coast, and have served as stepping-stones by which the passage to them of various organisms would be greatly facilitated. 2. figurative. Something that is used as a means of rising in the world, or of making progress towards some object; often, a position, office, or the like, that serves to afford opportunity for further advancement. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > [noun] > to a further or higher stage > means of stepping-stone1653 the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [noun] > rise in prosperity, power, or rank > occasion or means of stairs1585 stair1596 setting-forth1602 stepping-stone1653 rise1697 lift1711 leg up1871 a step in the right direction1877 a step up1926 fast track1946 1653 R. Baxter Christian Concord 47 Some Ministers lately put in, are young, weak, and indiscreet, and fit matter for them to contemn, and modestly to make stepping stones to their own reputation. 1715 J. Chappelow Right Way to be Rich 149 She has..made them stepping Stones to her own Grandeur. 1773 W. Eden in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) III. 59 His office..would suit our friend Hare exactly, as an introduction or stepping-stone to something better. 1806 G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 248 [They] would see through it too clearly to allow themselves to be made stepping-stones for their Lordships to mount into power by. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam i. l I held it truth..That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things. View more context for this quotation 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xi. 49 Those obstacles his genius had turned into stepping stones. 1884 H. Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 19 583 Such a shorthand would serv as a stepping-stone from the ordinary Roman alfabet to such a one as Bell's Vizibl Speech. 1891 Speaker 11 July 36/1 A type of snobbery which regards the established religion as a stepping~stone to respectability. 1898 R. B. O'Brien Life C. S. Parnell I. viii. 168 Agrarian revolution was to be made the stepping-stone to separation from England. Phrases† to stand upon (or on) stepping stones: to advance gradually and cautiously. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1637 S. Rutherford Let. 5 Jan. in Joshua Redivivus (1664) 273 I see Christ will not prig with me nor stand upon stepping stones, but cometh in at the broad side without ceremonies. a1658 J. Durham Christ Crucified (1683) xxi. 145/1 To shew the riches and freedom of his grace,..that stands not (to speak so) on stepping-stones, but comes over the greatest gulfs of sin and enmity in the creature. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < |
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