| 释义 |
ˈtrade-wind
[f. trade n. + wind n. App. originating in the phrase to blow trade: see trade n. 3 d. Afterwards often shortened in nautical use to trade, in pl. ‘the trades’: see trade n. 13.
The name had in its origin nothing to do with trade in the sense ‘commerce’, or ‘passage for the purpose of trading’, though the importance of those winds to navigation led 18th c. etymologists (and perhaps even navigators) so to understand the term.]
†1. Any wind that ‘blows trade’, i.e. in a constant course or way; a wind that blows steadily in the same direction. Obs. exc. as in 3.
Originally applied to any wind having this character. But as it became gradually known that the only winds of which this is approximately true were the Indian monsoons, and the winds now so called, on each side of the equator in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the name became restricted to these, and at length to the latter (senses 2 and 3). Also fig.
1663Cowley To Drake's Ship iv, The breath of Fame, like an auspicious Gale (The great Trade-wind which ne'er does fail), Shall drive thee round the World. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. ccciv, But now, the Cape once doubled, fear no more; A constant trade-wind will securely blow And gently lay us on the spicy shore. a1668Davenant Poems Wks. (1673) 330 A Pilot, sure of faire Trade-Windes, The Helme in all the Voyage never hands. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Trade-Wind, a Wind that blows regularly at Sea, at certain Seasons of the Year, and serves to promote Trading Voyages. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 385 Then came on the constant, or what may be call'd the trade wind on this [Pacific] coast [of America] blowing from the W.N.W, except in the night, that it comes about more Northerly. 1735G. Hadley in Phil. Trans. XXXIX. 61 The same Principle..extends to the Production of the West Trade-Winds without the Tropicks. 1777Colman in Sheridan Sch. Scand. Epil. 2, I, who was late so volatile and gay, Like a tradewind must now blow all one way. 1807Crabbe Parish Reg. (1829) 17 But like a trade-wind is the ancient dame, Mild to your wish, and every day the same.
†2. Applied to the seasonal winds of the Indian Ocean; = monsoon 1, 2. Obs.
The winter monsoon, from October to April, coincides in direction with the trade-wind of the North Atlantic; the summer monsoon blows in the opposite direction.
[1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 8 Euery houre expecting these Anniuersarie winds, called by the Sea-men and Portugals, Monzoons; the property of which wind is to blow constantly one way, sixe moneths, and the other way, the other halfe yeare.] 1650Fuller Pisgah i. vi. §3 Rain,.. like Trade-winds on some seas, came at set seasons. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 1 That Season wherein there is a constant Trade-Wind upon that Sea, begins commonly at the end of October. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton (1906) 218 When we came in among the Spice Islands..we had a share of the monsoons, or trade-winds. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. 206 The constant or stated wind usually called the trade wind; and in some parts of the world, the monsoon. 1840Thirlwall Greece VII. liv. 55 Some weeks were still to come before the trade-winds would set in from the north-east, when they would be perfectly favourable for the voyage.
3. Now spec. The wind that blows constantly towards the equator from about the thirtieth parallels, north and south; its main direction in the northern hemisphere being from the north-east, and in the southern hemisphere from the south-east. Cf. anti-trade.
The N.E. trade is termed in Hawkins' Voy. Florida c 1565 (Hakl. Soc.) 25, 46, ‘the ordinary breeze’ (breeze n.2 1), the S.E. trade is termed by Linschoten 1583 general windt, ‘the general wind’, after Pg. vento geral.
[1699W. Dampier Voy. II. iii. 1 Trade-Winds are such as do blow constantly from one Point, or Quarter of the Compass, and the Region of the World most peculiar to them is from about 30 d. North to 30 d. South of the Equator.] 1712E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 446 Getting into the Trade-Winds, our Course was afterwards uniform. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. ix. 224 We expected, upon the encreasing our offing from Quibo, to fall in with the regular trade-wind. 1821R. Turner Arts & Sc. (ed. 18) 17 The trade-winds blow naturally from the N.E. on the north, and from the S.E. on the south of the line, throughout the whole year. 1835M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xv. (ed. 2) 147 There are many proofs of the existence of the counter currents above the trade winds. 1867Denison Astron. without Math. 39 The heat of the torrid zone and its velocity of rotation produce the trade winds which blow constantly in the same directions in the same latitudes on the great oceans.
b. attrib., as trade-wind region; trade-wind cloud, the trade cumulus (trade n. 16).
1860Maury Phys. Geog. Sea (Low) iv. §255 The hottest place within the trade-wind regions is not at the equator. 1902Daily Chron. 21 Aug. 7/1 As the darkness deepened a dull red reflection was seen in the trade-wind cloud which covered the mountain summit. |