| 释义 |
▪ I. dovetail, n.|ˈdʌvteɪl|
1. Something in the shape of a dove's tail.
[1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 436 Hang in some high place vvith a vvire, or doues-tayle of yron, a glasse vessell.] 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 52 A Dufftail, is a Figure made in the form of a Doves-tail.
b. spec. A tenon cut in the shape of a dove's tail spread, or of a reversed wedge, to fit into an indenture or mortise of corresponding shape; also, a mortise shaped to receive such a tenon.
1674–91Ray N.C. Words 22 A Dootle; a Notch..Doo tail, i.e. Dovetail, because like a Pigeon's tail extended. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §82 The blocks themselves were..formed into large dovetails..so as mutually to lock one another together. 1880I. L. Bird Japan I. 64 Very beautifully joined by mortices and dovetails.
2. = dovetail joint: A fastening or joint composed of tenons cut in the shape of an expanded dove's tail, fitting into mortises of corresponding shape.
1565–73Cooper Thesaurus, Securicla..A swallowe tayle or dooue tayle in carpenters workes, which is a fastning of two peeces of timber or bourdes togither that they can not away. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 26 Make a foure square box..close the sides well with dove tailes or cement. 1731–7Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Wine Press, These cross Pieces are placed upon the Posts which are joined into the Ground-plate by a Dove-tail. 1876Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Dove-tail, a joint..is the strongest method of joining masses, because the tenon or piece of wood widens as it extends, so that it cannot be drawn out.
b. Her. (See quot. 1766.)
1688R. Holme Armoury i. 19 [This form of line] is termed patée or Dovetail, from a term of art used by the joiners. 1766Porny Elem. Her. Gloss., Dove-tail, term..to denote a kind of Partition, wherein the two different Tinctures are set within one another, in such a manner, as to represent the form of the tails of Doves or Wedges reversed.
3. attrib. and Comb., as dovetail fashion, dovetail-wise adv.; of the shape of a dovetail, as dove-tail groove, dovetail key, dovetail mortise, dovetail rail, dovetail socket, dovetail tenon, dovetail wedge: employed in making dovetails, as dovetail-cutter, dovetail-marker, dovetail-plane, dovetail-saw; dovetail-file, a thin file with a tin or brass back, like that of a dovetail saw; dovetail-hinge, a hinge having the outer edges of the leaves wider that the hinging edges; dovetail-joint, (a) Joinery: a tenon-and-mortise joint, in which the tenons are shaped like a dove's tail; (b) Anat.: a serrated articulation or suture, as in the bones of the skull; hence dovetail-jointed adj.; dovetail-moulding, Arch., an ornament consisting of a moulding arranged in the form of a series of figures like dove-tails; the triangular fret moulding; dovetail-plate (see quot.); dovetail-wire, a wire wedge-shaped in cross-section.
1885Fortnt. in Waggonette 26 Sketchit and I dispose of our legs in *dovetail fashion.
1776G. Campbell Philos. Rhet. II. 412 (R.) After the invention of *dove-tail joints.
1848C. C. Clifford Aristoph. Frogs 30 Well put together, *dovetail-jointed.
1853Sir H. Douglas Milit. Bridges (ed. 3) 323 Pieces of timber..fastened together by *dovetail keys and wedges.
1846Parker Gloss. Arch. (1875) 158 Mouldings..the Double Cone, the *Dovetail, the Embattled, [etc.].
c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 115 *Dove⁓tail plates. Metal plates formed like dovetails, and used to confine the heel of the stern-post and keel together.
1812–16J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 107 The *dove⁓tail-saw is used by joiners and cabinet-makers in dove⁓tailing drawers [etc.].
1876R. Routledge Discov. 24 A hammer face is attached to the bottom of the cylinder by a kind of *dovetail socket.
1679Evelyn Diary 23 July, Some of the rooms [were] floored *dove-tail-wise without a nail. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §82 Cut dovetail-wise.
▪ II. ˈdovetail, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To fit together or join by means of dovetails, or by a similar method. Const. in, into, to.
1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 103 That the girders be strong, and very well Dove-tayld, one into another. 1765Ludlam in Phil. Trans. LV. 207 Into this is dove-tail'd the upright back KK. 1842–76Gwilt Archit. §2285 e, Steps and risers mitred to cut string, and dovetailed to balusters. 1855Ramsbottom Obstetr. Med. 17 The bones are not dove-tailed into each other as in the adult.
2. fig. To unite compactly as if by dovetails; to adjust exactly, so as to form a continuous whole.
1815Sporting Mag. XLVI. 71 The difficulty of dove⁓tailing the component parts of the farce into each other. 1826E. Irving Babylon I. iii. 213 We have..as it were, dove-tailed it [book of Revelation] with the Prophecy of Daniel. 1861Geikie E. Forbes x. 293 The readiness with which Forbes had begun to dovetail zoology and geology.
3. intr. To fit into each other, so as to form a compact and harmonious whole or company.
1813Theatrical Inquisitor II. 111 The various compartments of the dialogue dove-tailed into each other. 1817Keats Lett. Wks. 1889 III. 99 Several things dove⁓tailed in my mind, and at once it struck me what quality went to form a man of achievement. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. iii. ix. 451 The guests did not seem to me to dovetail. 1886Stubbs Lect. Med. & Mod. Hist. ii. 31 The professorial and tutorial systems have not yet dove⁓tailed into one another.
Hence ˈdovetailed ppl. a., fitted together or compacted by dovetailing; ˈdovetailedness, dovetailed condition; ˈdovetailing vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also ˈdovetailer.
1656Blount Glossogr., Dovetaild, is a term among Joyners. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 33 Fasten the..pieces of Timber well together..with..Dove-tailing. 1775Romans Hist. Florida 200 A comfortable house of square cypress timber, dove-tailed. 1821T. D. Fosbroke Berkeley MSS. 224 A very dove-tailing analogy. 1823New Monthly Mag. VII. 2 Manufacturers of tragedy and dovetailers of melodram. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 588 There are three sorts of dovetailing; viz. common, lap, and mitre. 1835–6Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 736/1 [The cranial bones] are united..by the dove-tailing of their edges. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxiv., A kind of universal dove⁓tailedness with regard to place and time. 1864Sat. Rev. 31 Dec. 789 A ‘dovetailed and tesselated’ Cabinet. |