| 释义 |
sweeper|ˈswiːpə(r)|
Also 5 swepare, 6 -er, -ar, 7 sweaper.
[f. sweep v. + -er1.]
1. a. gen. One who or that which sweeps (something): usually with objective of.
1530Palsgr. 278/1 Swepar of chymneys. 1552Huloet, Sweper of houses, scoparius..Sweper of the ground wyth hys fete, atta. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 137 New broome swepeth cleane, in the cleane swepers hande. 1706E. Ward Hud. Rediv. I. i. 18 The Sweeper of a Chimney. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Sweeper of the sky.. a name given by sailors to the N.W. winds of America. 1812Cobbett in Examiner 19 Oct. 671/1 Noble Ladies, who..condescended to become housekeepers and sweepers of malls.
†b. A broom for sweeping out an oven. Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 323/2 Malkyne, mappyl, or ouen swepare, dossorium, tersorium. 1580[see oven-sweeper s.v. oven n. 4].
c. One who or a vessel which sweeps for something under water. Now usu. short for mine-sweeper.
1775N. D. Falck Day's Diving Vessel 46 The boat should advance but very slowly, and the sweepers should hold the line in their hands all the while. 1915S. H. Carden in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1972) III. Compan. i. 405 Battleships preceded by sweepers making way up towards Narrows. 1941S. O'Casey Let. 28 Apr. (1975) I. 886 Delighted to hear John [Allen]'s allright on a sweeper. 1979D. Gurr Troika i. 5 Losses of submariners trying to run the Baltic minefields without benefit of sweepers were appalling.
d. Cricket. A batsman who sweeps (sense 2 b).
1961Times 21 Aug. 3/3 There can be few more effective sweepers. 1963[see sweep v. 2 b]. 1965D. Silk Attacking Cricket iv. 60 The best sweepers bring the bat down on the ball from above as well as across.
e. Assoc. Football. One who plays as the last line of defence except the goalkeeper, across the width of the field (i.e. as opposed to a right or left back, etc., in other systems).
1964Times 13 Apr. 4/1 Moore..played a giant part in his role as ‘sweeper’ of the rear. 1971Times 15 Feb. 9/2 Of the other younger England [hockey] players Perry had a solid game as sweeper. 1973Daily Pennsylvanian 9 Oct. 6 We knew they were using a sweeper, so we had to run to the corners to draw him out. 1976Denbighshire Free Press 8 Dec. 24/2 Even with Bernie Welsh operating as sweeper behind a defensive line of four, Courtaulds were far from impressive at the back when the ball was in the air.
2. a. A person employed in sweeping a room, chimney, house, ship, etc.; spec. in India, a person of the lowest caste. Also in comb., as chimney-sweeper, crossing-sweeper. Also attrib. as sweeper caste.
1657J. Watts Scribe, Pharisee, etc. i. 267 Those chimney houses, so foul, and black, and sooty, that they need the sweeper to come to them quickly. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 76 The four private Sweepers [in the papal household]. 1675J. Smith Chr. Relig. Appeal iii. i. §6. 12 Hybreas the Oratour, in lineaments of Face and whole Body was so peer'd by the sweeper of his School, as [etc.]. 1714T. Parkyns Inn-Play 13 A Sweeper and Pump-Dresser to a Fencing School. 1715Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) V. 47 A Woman and a Girl..not sworn or admitted to be Sweepers. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Swabber..ship's sweeper, usually called captain's swabber. 1790Laws of Harvard Coll. 58 The Steward shall also engage proper sweepers for the Colleges. 1815W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 82 Whose rhymes are so bad, he was never yet able To serve as last sweeper in Pegasus' stable. 1844W. H. Sleeman Rambles & Recollections Indian Official I. viii. 64 The right of sweeping within a certain range is recognised by the caste to belong to a certain member... If any house-keeper..happens to offend the sweeper..none of his filth will be removed. 1859Lang Wand. India 259 Two sweepers—men of the lowest caste of Hindoos. 1861Macm. Mag. Feb. 268/2 The rooms [in an American College] were supposed to be taken care of by three or four men called ‘sweepers’, whose duty extended only to making the beds daily, and sweeping the rooms occasionally.
attrib.1837Lett. fr. Madras x. (1843) 89 He kept no sweeper-woman, and, as may be supposed, the dirt crunched under our feet as we walked. a1851Mrs. Sherwood Poor Burruff 11 Marten, who sent the sweeper-man immediately to the poor dog, to remove the arrow. 1859Mrs. R. M. Coopland Lady's Escape from Gwalior iii. 58 Matrané, a woman of the sweeper caste. 1909J. Hastings Encycl. Relig. & Ethics II. 551/2 The sweeper or scavenger caste of Hindustan.
b. One who sweeps the ice at curling.
1789Davidson Seasons 165 Allan of Airds, a sweeper good.
†3. A pliant rod forming part of a snare for catching birds. Obs.
1621Markham Hunger's Prevent. vi. 42 The sweaper or maine plant, which as it is prescribed of Hazell, Elme, or Witchen, so in this case it may be of Willow. 1681Worlidge Syst. Agric. 245 The main Plant, or Sweeper must be also proportionable to the strength of the Fowl.
4. A telescope used for ‘sweeping’ the sky: cf. sweep n. 7, v. 21. ? Obs.
1786Sir W. Herschel Sci. Papers (1912) I. 294 This nebula was discovered..with an excellent small Newtonian Sweeper of 27 inches focal length, and a power of 30. 1792― in Phil. Trans. LXXXII. 24.
5. a. A mechanical apparatus for sweeping a floor, road, etc.; a sweeping-machine.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6139, The dust, lint, and even hairs, pins, needles, &c. are taken up directly into the box and there retained as the sweeper moves along. 1892A. E. Lee Hist. Columbus (Ohio) II. 528 [In 1886] N. B. Abbott began running a fourhorse sweeper on High Street six nights per week.
b. colloq. An electronic device for detecting listening or recording apparatus. Also, a person operating such a device.
1968Observer 16 June 7/2 To help in the job of debugging, Mr. Johnson is having electronic ‘sweepers’ manufactured... Small ones can be operated by firms' security officers to keep a boardroom ‘clean’ after it has been ‘swept’. It was with one of these ‘sweepers’ that an attempt to smuggle a bug into a boardroom in the bottom of a coffee pot was recently foiled. 1972K. Benton Spy in Chancery xi. 116 They sent a ‘sweeper’ team..and they went through the rooms in Chancery. 1979F. Forsyth Devil's Alternative x. 232 A secure room regularly checked by the ‘sweepers’ who are.. looking for..listening devices.
6. A tree growing close to the margin of a stream and overhanging it. Also, a partially fallen or drifting tree. N. Amer.
1888S. M. St. Maur Jrnl. 19 July in Impressions of Tenderfoot (1890) vii. 95 We glided through the water at about ten miles an hour, sometimes rushing..within a few inches of a sweeper, as they call the trees which hang across the river. 1929L. Johnston Beyond Rockies 191 ‘Where are them sweepers, Charlie?’ (sweepers being the river term for drifting trees, which may in a moment upset the craft of an unwary skipper). 1977New Yorker 9 May 120/2 Over the cut bank a sweeper had recently fallen, a spruce whose trunk reached into the river... Sweepers tend to trap boats.
7. Electronics. A sweep generator or oscillator. colloq.
1967Electronics 6 Mar. 2 (Advt.), The main frame of the 3211A contains everything you could hope to find in a sweeper. 1976Physics Bull. Sept. 411/1 The hired equipment included spectrum analysers, signal generators, sweepers, oscilloscopes, [etc.].
Hence ˈsweeperess nonce-wd., a female (crossing-) sweeper.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlii, The sweeperess at the crossing.
Add:8. In motorcycle or bicycle racing: a bend or turn negotiated with a controlled, sideways sweep of the rear wheel; a sliding movement of this kind. slang.
1986Road Racer Aug.–Sept. 58/2 The Cobas still sat up a little under heavy braking round the fast left sweeper leading into the Calafat hairpin. 1987BMX Plus! Sept. 77/3 He..went into a slider, then into a sweeper and from there into a side glide. 1988Cycle World Sept. 34/1 In long, fast sweepers, both bikes tend to wallow and move around, often enough to be rather disconcerting. |