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单词 travelling circus
释义

travelling circustraveling circusn.

Brit. /ˌtravl̩ɪŋ ˈsəːkəs/, /ˌtravlɪŋ ˈsəːkəs/, U.S. /ˌtræv(ə)lɪŋ ˈsərkəs/
Forms: see travelling adj. and circus n.
Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: travelling adj., circus n.
Etymology: < travelling adj. + circus n.Senses 2a and 2b arose within English as nicknames used by Allied military personnel. In sense 2b with allusion to the high mobility of the squadron, coupled with the gaudy colours of its planes.
1. A circus which travels from place to place giving performances.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > circus performance > [noun] > circus
circus1791
travelling circus1836
1836 Herald (N.-Y.) 6 Jan. Elisha Belden, Treasurer of a travelling Circus then at Cairo.
1873 T. Frost Circus Life Pref. 5 The stentorian vocal organs of the proprietor or ring-master of a travelling circus.
1912 Country Life 11 May 698/1 Those who have to do with a travelling circus certainly do not eat the bread of idleness.
2013 Wells Jrnl. (Nexis) 4 July 10 From the clowns and their custard pie humour to the daring tricks of the trapeze artist, the thrills and spills of the travelling circus never fail to entertain.
2. Military slang.
a. In the First World War (1914–18): (a name for) an army unit which moves along the front line operating from different places, or which is transferred to different areas of the front to carry out sudden attacks or provide resistance to enemy offensives. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > group with special function or duty > [noun] > for rapid movement
flying stalea1500
flying camp1577
marching regiment1707
travelling circus1915
1915 Times 4 Nov. 6/1 It [sc. the German trench mortar] apparently tours up and down the lines, and is known as the ‘travelling circus’.
1918 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 18 Aug. 5/1 The traveling circus is the name given by Yanks to the Prussian veterans..who are rushed from one point of the line to another wherever there is being a relief made so that they can throw a scare into the Yanks.
1930 L. H. Nason Corporal Once v. 177 An outgrowth of this was the formation of special units known vulgarly as traveling circuses... The circuses went up and down the front spreading trouble, here to-day, the other side of France a week later.
b. In the First World War (1914–18): (a name for) a squadron of aeroplanes which moves to different areas of the front carrying out operations in places where air superiority is required. Cf. circus n. 2d. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > group or unit on operation > [noun]
travelling circus1917
1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 181 The German airmen, with their ‘travelling circuses’ of twelve to fifteen fast scouts.
1917 Let. 24 Dec. in J. N. Hall & C. B. Nordhoff Lafayette Flying Corps (1920) II. i. 58 He knows..that he will have a single-seater scout, but the symbols above tell him..whether he is to be in a groupe de combat (‘traveling circus’, as the British call them) or in a more stationary fighting unit.
a1946 D. Fraser Jrnl. (1985) ii. 86 Between Arras and Lens..our machines were pickings for them, the ‘Travelling Circus’ under Baron Von Richtofen having the time of their lives at our expense to the chagrin of the men in the trenches.
2003 L. R. Robertson Dream of Civilized Warfare ii. vi. 183 As the RFC pilots became aware both of the colorful planes and that they appeared one day at one position and another day somewhere else, they coined the description ‘Von Richthofen's Traveling Circus’.
c. Usually with the and capital initials. A name for: the 93rd Bombardment Group of the U.S. Air Force. Also in Ted's Travelling Circus (after the unit's first commander, Edward J. Timberlake). Now historical.Apparently in reference to the fact that bombers from this unit were deployed in several different theatres of conflict during the Second World War (1939–45).
ΚΠ
1943 Baltimore Sun 27 Mar. 1/5 Back from North Africa where it flew in twenty-three bombing missions over Tunis, Tripoli and Italy, Col. Ted Timberlake's ‘traveling circus’ again is in the thick of the aerial attack on the Continent from Britain.
1944 Amer. Mag. Feb. 111/2 A flock of Consolidated B-24 heavy bombers that are famed in the air forces as ‘Ted's Traveling Circus’.
1962 Air Pict. July 211 Operations from Hardwick had hardly begun when once again the situation in the Mediterranean necessitated additional heavy bombers and the ‘Traveling Circus’ was off again—this time to Tunis.
1999 R. F. Dorr B-24 Liberator Units of Eighth Air Force i. 14 The 93rd BG..was dubbed ‘Ted's Traveling Circus’, after its commander, Col Edward J (Ted) Timberlake Jr.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1836
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