| 释义 |
trembler|ˈtrɛmblə(r)|
[f. tremble v. + -er1: cf. F. trembleur.]
One who or that which trembles.
1. One who trembles, esp. with fear; a timorous or terrified person.
1552Huloet, Trembler, tremulus, i. a1660Hammond Serm. Matt. xi. 30 Wks. 1684 IV. 479 Those base submissions, that the covetous Mammonist or cowardly trembler drudges under. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 199 Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning face. 1878Seeley Stein II. 531 A frightened trembler and maker of obeisances.
†2. A name given to those whose devotional exercises were accompanied by trembling, quaking, or shaking; spec. a Quaker. Obs. or Hist.
[1678R. Barclay Apol. Quakers xi. §8 (1736) 359 Sometimes the Power of God will break forth;..every individual will be strongly exercised, as in a Day of Battle; and there⁓by Trembling and a Motion of Body will be upon most, if not upon all:..And from this, the name of Quakers, i.e. Tremblers, was first Reproachfully cast upon us.] 1689R. Ware Foxes & Firebrands iii. 198 These Sectaries..be as follows: 1 Independents..17 Quakers, or Tremblers. 1706E. Ward Hud. Rediv. xv. 21 Of these quaint primitive Dissemblers, In old queen Bess's Days call'd Tremblers. a1741T. Chalkley Wks. (1766) 101, I was one called a Quaker, or Trembler. 1820tr. Trav. Cosmo III (1821) 447 The sect of the Tremblers or Quakers was begun by James Naylor.
3. transf. Applied to
a. a fish which gives an electric shock, as the electric eel of Africa;
b. a bird or other animal which keeps up a shaking motion of the tail or body.
1832Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 106 The trembler, or Silurus electricus [belongs] to the rivers of Africa. 1867Sclater & Salvin Exotic Ornithol. Pl. x, Cinclocerthia ruficauda, (Red-tailed Trembler). 1911Webster, Trembler, any of certain West Indian birds of the genera Cinclocerthia and Rhamphocinclus, of the family Mimidæ.
4. Electr. A vibrating spring blade which alternately makes and breaks the circuit in an induction coil. Also, such a blade used as a make-and-break sensitive to physical disturbance.
1877Telegr. Jrnl. 15 Nov. 280/1 M. Trouvé, Paris, has made some improvements in the contact-breaker or trembler of induction coils. Ibid., Vibrating stem of the trembler. 1903Motor. Ann. 80 Troubles..caused through the petrol, float-jet, or tremblers not having been understood by the motorist. 1907Daily News 10 Apr. 6 Next the trembler in the coil stuck, and the engine stopped. 1943N. Balchin Small Back Room xv. 185 It was the terminals I had to get wires on to, not the trembler. 1958A. B. Hartley Unexploded Bomb ii. 13 When the bomb struck its target..the shock caused the trembler to function and electrically to ignite the flash-pellet in the base of the fuze. 1973J. Drummond Bang! Bang! xii. 26 A Banx is an anti-personnel device... Set it for time-fuse, or a trigger-action, even a trembler. 1978R. Jansson News Caper 8, I held the control column rock steady, as if it were a bomb with a trembler fuse.
5. attrib. (in sense 4), as trembler-blade, trembler-coil; trembler-bell, an electric bell rung by a hammer attached to a trembler; also called trembling bell.
1884in Jrnl. Franklin Inst. (1886) CXXI. Supp. 69 Audible signals are given..on board the locomotive by a *trembler bell. 1905Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy (new ed.) 254 There are many forms of these trembler bells, but the principle in all is alike.
1904in Westm. Gaz. 28 May 5/3 The *trembler blade which governs the spark, and is in its turn controlled by the movement of the motor.
1908Ibid. 6 Feb. 4/2 The ignition is effected by high-tension magneto and accumulator with *trembler-coil and self-starting switch. |