| 释义 |
etesian, a. (n.)|ɛˈtiːʒɪən|
[f. L. etēsi-us, a. Gr. ἐτήσιος, lit. ‘annual’, f. ἔτος year + -an.]
1. a. properly, The distinctive epithet of certain winds in the region of the Mediterranean, blowing from the NW. for about 40 days annually in the summer. †b. Hence, occasionally, applied to winds annually blowing from a particular quarter in other parts of the world, as the trade-winds, monsoons, etc.
1601Holland Pliny I. 473 The Ides of Iuly, which are forerunners of the Etesian winds. 1635N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. vi. 102 The Etesian winde, which is obserued to blow euery yeere from the Northeast about the rising of Dog-starre. 1704Swift Batt. Bks. (1711) 257 A sheet of Lead, which an Etesian Wind blows suddenly down from the Roof of some Steeple. 1775R. Chandler Trav. Asia M. (1825) I. 21 Vessels find shelter in its port..during the etesian or contrary winds. 1828Lempriere's Classical Dict. (ed. Barker) 304 Those winds are properly Etesian which blow from that part of the horizon which is beneath the north and west. 1853Grote Greece ii. lxxxiv. XI. 123 A gentle and steady Etesian breeze carried them across.
fig.1858De Quincey Parr Wks. V. 52 Had Dr. Bridges happened to be a vulgar sectarian..those etesian gales or annual monsoons would have been hailed by Parr as the harbingers of a triumph in reversion.
†2. quasi-n. Obs.
1658Ussher Ann. 346 Whom they nicknamed the Etesian, because he continued in the place but 45 dayes. 1675Evelyn Terra (1729) 45 The Protection of a thin Hedge or Canvas Curtain..defend them from our too constant and rigorous Etesians. 1684Phil. Trans. XIV. 561 These Eastern Winds (which I call our English Etesians). |