| 释义 |
ˈfire-work, ˈfirework
†1. Work done by, in, or with fire.
1601Holland Pliny II. 467 But for that the..smoke..may stifle and choke them..they are forced to giue ouer such fire-work. 1607Breton Murmurer D iiij, His heart the Anuile wheron the deuill frames his fireworke. 1609Rowlands Crew Kind Gossips 15 Ile vndertake, The credit of this fire-worke [tobacco-smoking] quite to shake. 1686Plot Staffordsh. ix. §10. 336 To the fire-works succeed the Arts relating to water.
†2. An apparatus for working with fire, a furnace; also, a place where the material for fire is obtained. Obs.
1607Dekker Knt's. Conjur. (1842) 21 The map of a country that lyes lower..than the cole-pits of Newe castle, is farre more darke..then the colliers of those fire-workes are. 1613Rovenzon Treat. Metal. C iv, The furnaces or fire-workes may be made rounde. 1674Petty Disc. Dupl. Proportion 36, I know that in Fire-works great Fires are more profitable than small; as in Brewers Coppers.
3. † A combustible or explosive composition for use in war (obs.); a projectile or other machine charged with such composition.
1560Whitehorne Ord. Souldiours title-p., And moreover how to make Saltpetre, Gunpowder, and divers sorts of Fireworks or Wild Fire. 1636Featly Clavis Myst. xiv. 189 Granadoes and other fire-works..do more harm to them that cast them than to the enemie. 1676Lond. Gaz. No. 1119/3 The Enemy set fire to a Firework they had prepared in the Court of Guard of the said Bastion. c1710in Torrington Mem. (1889) 140 Some boats mann'd, arm'd, and with fireworks..to burn a French privateer. 1777Burke Corr. (1844) II. 142 The construction of all fireworks is understood at the ordnance-office. 1851J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. 181 In the attack of fortified houses, the fire of the loop-holes may be stopped by the introduction of small rockets, or any other artificial firework, that will create..smoke.
fig.1633G. Herbert Temple, Starre iii, First with thy fire-work burn to dust Folly. 1679Establ. Test. 3 These Men of Tempestuous Principles are continually making their Fireworks in our very Intrals.
4. Any contrivance for the use of fire to produce a pleasing or scenic effect.
†a. A ‘set piece’; an arrangement of pyrotechnic contrivances to form a pictorial or ornamental design. Also piece of firework.
1575Gascoigne Pr. Pleas. Kenilw., At which time there wer fire-works shewed upon the water; the which were both strange and wel executed. 1590Webbe Trav. (Arb.) 29, I my selfe was there constrained to make a cunning peece of fire work framed in form like to ye Arke of Noy. 1644Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 137 The night ended with fire⁓works..The first appeared to be a mighty rock. 1675Lond. Gaz. No. 1027/4 A rare Fire-work was erected on the little Isle..representing the Alliance of the Confederates. 1795in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 314 The shrubs of the island were rooted out to make a place for a fire-work.
b. A single piece of pyrotechnic apparatus, e.g. a rocket, squib, etc.
1611Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl v. 1, A justice..used that rogue like a firework, to run upon a line betwixt him and me. 1684Contempl. State of Man ii. ix. (1699) 232 A Wheel of Squibs and Fire-Works. 1731Swift Answ. to Simile, Like fire-works she can burn in water. 1849F. B. Head Stokers & Pokers x. (1851) 93 Sparks created by the sudden ignition of a sackful of fire-works.
c. pl. (formerly also sing.) A pyrotechnic display. Also transf., spec. in Services' colloq. (see quots.).
1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. i. 119 The King would haue mee present the princesse..with some delightfull ostentation..or fire-worke. 1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iii. xxiv. 228 In expectation of fire-workes, which hee had promised not far from the shore. 1761Foote Lyar i. Wks. 1799 I. 287 After supper a ball; and to conclude the night, a firework. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 476 The banquet [was followed] by brilliant fireworks, and the fireworks by much bad poetry. 1851D. Jerrold St. Giles xx. 206 The omission of the bonfires and the fireworks did pain me.
transf.1872Huxley Phys. ix. 222 The remarkable display of subjective fireworks which follows a heavy blow upon the eyes. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 94 Fireworks, the familiar name for the display of search⁓lights, star-shells, rockets, etc., over the front-line and No Man's Land, on the occasion of night bombardments. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 32 Fireworks. Bomber crews give this name to intensive anti-aircraft fire. It is also used for flare dropping.
d. fig.
1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 31 He has neither squibs nor fireworks..the curs'd carrier lost his best book of phrases. 1682Dryden Abs. & Achit. ii. 450 In fireworks give him leave to vent his spite; Those are the only serpents he can write. 1883F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius ix, Barker turned on the fireworks of his conversation for the amusement of Claudius. 1889Barrère & Leland Slang Dict., Fireworks (tailors), a great disturbance, a state of intense excitement.
5. attrib. and Comb., as firework-factory, fire-work-maker.
1885Pall Mall G. 4 Nov. 4/1 Norwood, where Mr. Brock has his thirty acres of *firework factories.
1892Ibid. 1 Nov. 5/2 We are busy manufacturing the smaller *fire⁓work goods all the year round.
1803tr. Lebrun's Monsieur Botte II. 230 The *fire-work maker loaded ten porters with grenades. 1885Pall Mall G., 4 Nov. 4/1 None more healthy than the firework maker.
Hence ˈfireˌworkless a., devoid of fireworks. ˈfireˌworky a., like a firework, abrupt, jerky.
1856Dickens Lett. (1880) I. 437 Whom I found with some fireworkless little boys in a desolate condition. 1887Graphic 15 Jan. 66/2 The Major departed in his usual fireworky way. 1889in Pall Mall G. 13 May 6/2 He disported himself..in his kaleidoscopic and fireworky fantasia. |