| 释义 |
swell-
the verb-stem in combination (in some cases also referable to the n.): swell-fish, a fish that inflates itself by swallowing air, also called puffer or puff-fish (see puff n. 9 b); swell-front U.S., a bow-front of a house, i.e. one segmentally curved on plan (see bow n.1 12 a); transf. a house having such a front; swell-head colloq. = swelled head (see swelled b); also, a person affected with ‘swelled head’; swell-headed a. colloq., affected with ‘swelled head’; swell-rule Printing (rule n. 22), a ‘rule’ or dash of swelling (usually diamond) form in the middle (Jacobi Printers' Voc. 1888); swell-shark, (a) a small shark, Scyllium ventricosum, of the Pacific coast of America; (b) a Californian shark, Catulus uter, which when caught inflates itself by swallowing air; swell-work, work characterized by enlargement or protuberance in certain parts designed for ornament.
1839Storer in Boston Jrnl. Nat. Hist. II. 513 Tetraodon turgidus, Mitchell. The *Swell Fish. Puffer.
1860O. W. Holmes Elsie V. xxxii. (1891) 484, I was walking with a young friend along by the *swell-fronts and south-exposures. 1872Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 67 A humble three-story swell-front up at the South End.
1845J. J. Hooper Some Adventures Simon Suggs iv. 46 As for the present directory, they're all a pack of d―d *swell-heads. 1867G. W. Harris Sut Lovingood 61 Wif an onintemitant attack of swell-head. 1884St. James's Gaz. 10 May 5/1 ‘Mugwump’..is ‘synonymous with the New York term ‘big bug,’ or the Washington expression ‘swellhead’.’ 1901G. Douglas House w. Green Shutters 214 Lord, but young Gourlay was the fine fellow! Symptoms of swell-head set in with alarming rapidity.
1817Cobbett Wks. XXXII. 43 The upstart, big-bellied, *swell-headed farmer can bluster and bully..about Sinecures. 1906Daily Chron. 11 May 7/3 Gangs of swell-headed agents in plain clothes..persecuting inoffensive citizens.
1891Cent. Dict. s.v. Scyllium, S. ventricosum is the *swell-shark, a small voracious species found on the Pacific coast from California to Chili.
1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 198 The various descriptions of reeded and other *swell-work, exhibited by some superb brass fenders. |