| 释义 |
ˈtop-ˈsawyer
a. The sawyer who works the upper handle of a pit-saw; cf. topman1 4 a, pit-sawyer (pit n.1 15), and saw-pit. Hence,
b. fig. One who holds a superior position; the best man.
c. loosely. A first-rate hand at something; a distinguished person.
a.1823Grose's Dict. Vulgar T., Top-sawyer, signifies a man that is a master genius in any profession. It is a piece of Norfolk slang and took its rise from Norfolk being a great timber country, where the top sawyers get double the wages of those beneath them. 1836E. Howard R. Reefer ii, The top-sawyer had been..pleased to toss his arms up and down over the pit.
b.1826Sporting Mag. XVIII. 215 To ascertain which of two competitors is top-sawyer. 1869Blackmore Lorna D. xxxvi, ‘See-saw is the fashion of England always, and the Whigs will soon be the top-sawyers’. ‘But’, said I,..‘the King is the top-sawyer, according to our proverb; how then can the Whigs be?’
c.1823[see a]. 1829Sporting Mag. XXIII. 412 Many a top-sawyer will speedily give me ‘the go by’. 1854Thackeray Newcomes xv, How he had paid the post-boys, and travelled with a servant like a top-sawyer. 1880Disraeli Endym. xxxiii, There are some top-sawyers here to-day, Ferrars!
So ˈtop-ˈsawing vbl. n., top-sawyer's work.
1894Times 11 Sept. 16/7 A decayed wheelwright who had done top-sawing in his young days. |