| 单词 | to touch off |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto touch off to touch off 1. transitive. To draw, delineate, or describe in art or literature; to represent, portray, or characterize (a person, place, etc.), esp. successfully or to a nicety (cf. sense 7a). More generally: to execute or carry off (a performance, undertaking, etc.) successfully or with ease (cf. to pull off 2 at pull v. Phrasal verbs). Now rare.In quot. 1766: †to get the measure of; to be a match for (obsolete rare). ΘΚΠ society > communication > representation > [verb (transitive)] > successfully hit?1602 to touch off1694 to hit off1737 the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > appraise, estimate [verb (transitive)] > take the measure of measure?a1425 gauge1583 to sum up1631 measure1684 to touch off1766 to take (also get) the measure of1790 to get (also take, etc.) a person's number1853 reckon1853 to put up1864 size1884 to weigh up1894 to read the room1975 1694 tr. R. Rapin Comp. Thucydides & Livy vii. 135 That portraicture is so singular, in all the features that compose it, that whether it is like nothing, or whether it resembles its original, all is touch'd off [Fr. touché] with an admirable Air. 1759 O. Goldsmith in Busy Body 13 Oct. 14 I was [told]..that I should now see something touched off to a nicety, for Mr. Spriggins was going to give us Mad Tom in all his glory. 1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. xii. 118 I knew you would touch them off. 1801 Morning Post & Gazetteer 18 Sept. What artist would presume to say, he had given even an outline or sketch of a face, when he had only touched off the nose and chin. 1822 Examiner 26 May 330/2 The final reconciliation with Violante was also touched off with admirable naiveté and feeling. 1896 World 9 May 8/6 Quinn got a single in centre and Connor touched off a triple in right centre. 1904 H. O. Sturgis Belchamber x. 138 He's touched the old duchess off to the life, even to the colour of the gowns she wore at dinner. 1932 Wisconsin Libr. Bull. Dec. 333/2 El Camino Real, Death Valley, and other glamorous places are touched off by the pen of a newspaper man who knows how to get the most out of any situation. 1962 Times 30 Aug. 13/5 Philip of Spain is touched off with ‘cane-coloured hair and beard’. 1986 Financial Times 24 Sept. 25/2 The succession of serious moods (which surely includes the lyricism of the tenor's ‘Cujus animam’) touched off with such mastery. 2. transitive. a. To cause (a firearm, explosive, etc.) to fire or explode, originally by placing a source of heat in contact with the fuse or gunpowder. Now also more generally: to activate (a device) by touching; to trigger; to ‘set off’. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > management of artillery > operate (artillery) [verb (transitive)] > discharge (artillery) swagec1420 smitea1475 playa1616 unload1633 to touch off1907 Archie1915 1725 B. Grosvenor Cruelty in Relig. 31 Grant that I may..touch them [sc. 36 Barrels of Gunpowder] off with the Courage as may be most pleasing to thee. 1820 B. Silliman Remarks Tour Hartford & Quebec 286 He got the iron rods, which they used to touch off the cannon, heated them, and fired the pieces. 1882 Northwestern Miller 13 Oct. 278/4 The fire alarm in the Washburn C mill was in some accidental manner touched off Monday forenoon. 1896 Argosy Jan. 362/2 With admirable celerity he touched off two of the bombs. 1907 Daily Chron. 6 Dec. 7/3 The only delay..is due to a fear that a dispatch of the troops will touch off the magazine. 1939 G. Heyer No Wind of Blame xvi. 315 ‘What's that thing called that they use in mines when they want to blast? Electrical thing they touch off the dynamite with?’ ‘A shot-firer, do you mean?’ 1950 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 26 Oct. 32/2 One of the directors..picked up a pair of pliers, twisted a wire and touched off the trap with a pencil. 2010 Independent 4 Sept. 44/1 The best theory is that they touched off a mine or their demolition charges exploded. b. Chiefly North American. To produce (a flame, spark, etc.); to cause to ignite or burn; to set alight. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > burn or consume by fire [verb (transitive)] > set on fire inflamec1384 to set on firec1384 firec1425 incense1470 esprise1474 succend?a1475 embrase1480 to light upa1500 enfirea1522 ignifya1586 befire1613 incendiatea1701 to touch off1759 conflagrate1835 the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > burn or consume by fire [verb (transitive)] > kindle or set alight annealeOE ontendeOE atend1006 alightOE kindlec1175 tindc1175 lightc1225 lightenc1384 quickc1390 firea1393 to set (a) fire in, on, upon, of, now only toc1400 quickenc1425 accenda1475 enlumine1477 to light upa1500 to shoot (something) on firec1540 to give fire1562 incend1598 entine1612 betine1659 emblaze1743 to touch off1759 ignite1823 1759 B. Martin Young Gentleman & Lady's Philos. I. iii. vi. 311 You may touch off the Spark as soon as you please. 1875 Baltimore Underwriter 7 Jan. 8/2 Susceptible even of being touched off by the tooth of a mouse, the hand of an infant..these ubiquitous incendiaries [sc. matches] are doing their destructive work all over the country. 1892 Defiance (Ohio) Daily Crescent 19 Nov. 1/7 Two of Farmer Beetles' children found a match and touched off a stack of straw. 1918 Proc. 42nd Ann. Meeting Fire Underwriters' Assoc. Pacific 179 There had not been a proper payment for the services of one of them in touching off a fire. 1968 Greensburg (Indiana) Daily News 28 Feb. 16/8 A welding apparatus touched off a spark in the printing shop which ignited oily paper and oil. 2013 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 20 Nov. If the batteries are damaged, that can cause arcing and sparks and touch off a fire. c. figurative and in extended use. To provoke or cause to happen or occur; to start, ‘spark off’; to bring about. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > [verb (transitive)] > trigger or spark to touch off1842 trigger1930 to spark off1957 1842 People's Organ (St. Louis) 15 Apr. 2/2 The magnificent bombshell, rammed full of pride, aristocracy,..soft-soap, curiosity, folly, display, nonsense, man-worship and small-talk, was touched off. 1900 Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois) 22 June 1/4 His closing period, declaring that Roosevelt's choice would be unanimous, touched off a whirlwind of excitement. 1958 Listener 29 Nov. 813/1 The Bundestag declaration has touched off a chain-reaction of inquiry, proposal, examination, plan. 2013 New Yorker 25 Feb. 40/2 The suicide, not the first attributable to an imminent eviction.., touched off weeks of protests around the country. 3. transitive. Of a racehorse: to defeat (another horse) in a race by a short margin. ΚΠ 1970 Times 9 June 16/4 Folk Song touched off Bijou Boy close to home in the Dartford Maiden Stakes. 1982 Financial Times 8 June 15/6 Admiral's Princess..had previously touched off Celestial Dancer in Newmarket's Holsten Diet Handicap. 2014 Northern Echo 25 Mar. 45 Odeliz was touched off by a potentially top-class rival at the Curragh on the opening day of the Irish Flat season. < as lemmas |
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