| 释义 |
stepped, (ppl.) a.|stɛpt|
[f. step n.1 and + -ed.]
1. Having a step or steps; formed in a series of steps (see step v. 12); spec. of the float or hull of a seaplane or hydroplane. Cf. step n. 15 c.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1890 In this style we have the simple gable of two lines..and the stepped gable. 1861A. Beresford-Hope Engl. Cathedr. v. 155 The more grandiose yet theatrical form of the stepped bema. 1869Rankine Mach. & Millwork iv. §150 Stepped Teeth... A wheel with stepped teeth. 1875McIlwraith Guide Wigtownsh. 62 The stepped path on the cliff. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2376/1 Stepped Gage, one having a series of notches which may fit varying sizes of holes. Ibid., The stepped key was shown in Rountree's lock, English patent, 1790. 1881E. Wilson Egypt of Past 24 The stepped pyramid. 1893J. A. R. Munro in Athenæum 4 Nov. 632/2 The inscribed field of the architrave..occupies the top of the blocks above a stepped surface. 1898M. Hewlett Forest Lovers xiv, There are three ravines about it, with a stepped path through each to the Castle. 1911Flight 9 Dec. 1074/2 The float consists of a three⁓stepped hydroplane. 1951[see hard chine s.v. hard a. (n.) 22].
2. Carried out or occurring in stages or with pauses, rather than continuously.
1935Proc. R. Soc. A. CLII. 597 The prolific branching of the main part of the first stroke of a series arises solely from downward branching in the stepped leader which precedes it. 1944Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CL. 128a, The causes of the distortion of steel parts during heat treatment are analysed and methods of preventing it, including austempering and other forms of stepped quenching, are discussed. 1977J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 125 If you project a transparency using a zoom lens, you get a similar effect to stepped zoom. 1981Sci. Amer. Mar. 28/1 Subsequent leaders..move an order of magnitude faster than the first stepped leader in the freshly ionized gas.
3. With up. Raised by degree to a higher standard or level; increased, intensified.
1933Sun (Baltimore) 22 Nov. 20/2 Demands were being made on brewers for a ‘stepped-up’ beverage, whereas the normally brewed beer runs about four per cent. 1941Battle of Britain Aug.–Oct. 1940 (Ministry of Information) 26 Twenty Dornier 215's were encountered over the London Docks flying in a diamond formation escorted by Me 109's ‘stepped up’ to 22,000 feet. 1955Times 22 Aug. 9/6 Mr. Sinclair Weeks, Secretary of Commerce, to-day announced ‘a stepped up programme’ to make public as quickly as possible non-classified research reports of industrial significance by the Atomic Energy Commission. 1963P. Fleming Kolchak xx. 212 They themselves were frightened men, and this combined with the necessarily stepped-up tempo of the interrogation to make them hectoring and exigent. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 23 Oct. 4/4 But he concedes that post officials are ‘a little concerned’ about handling the stepped-up volume of business over the Christmas season if the strike continues. |