| 释义 |
tripod, n. and a.|ˈtraɪpɒd|
Also 7 trypod, 7–8 tripode.
[ad. L. tripūs, tripod-, a. Gr. τρίπους, -ποδ- adj., three-footed, also as n., f. τρι- three + πούς, ποδ- foot.]
A. n.
1. Gr. and Rom. Antiq. A three-legged vessel; a pot or cauldron resting on three legs; a similar ornamental vessel, often presented as a prize, or as a votive offering (see also 2).
[1370Mem. Ripon (Surtees) II. 130 Item unum tripod ferri.] c1611Chapman Iliad xviii. 308 He gaue command to his neare souldiers, To put a Tripod to the fire, to cleanse the festred gore From off the person. 1697Dryden æneid v. 146 Within the circle, arms and tripods lie, Ingots of gold and silver heap'd on high. 1791Cowper Iliad viii. 333 A tripod, or a chariot with its steeds. 1834Lytton Pompeii ii. ix, In the centre..was a small altar on which stood a tripod of bronze. 1853Humphreys Coin-Coll. Man. iv. (1876) 35 The principal type of the coinage of Crotona is the tripod.
2. spec. A vessel of this kind at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi, on which the priestess seated herself to deliver oracles. Hence allusively, the Delphic oracle; any oracle or oracular seat.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1356, I will not be affraid to affirme that this reason properly is the Tripode or three footed table as one would say, and Oracle of trueth. c1645Howell Lett. (1892) II. 637 Pythagoras, whom the Tripod [= oracle of Apollo] pronounc'd the wisest Man. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 99 Dr. Price, in whom the fumes of his oracular tripod were not entirely evaporated. 1839Thirlwall Greece xliii. V. 271 He compelled the prophetess by threats to mount the tripod, and pronounce a declaration. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. i. 4 He [the comparative philologist] is ready to take his seat on the tripod.
3. A seat, table, or other similar structure with three legs; esp. a three-legged stool.
1656Blount Glossogr., Tripode (tripodium), a three footed stool, any thing that hath three feet. 1710Addison Whig Exam. No. 1 ⁋3 Three legs is a joint-stool, called in the Sphinx's country a tripode. 1798Bloomfield Farmer's Boy, Spring 193 A friendly tripod forms their humble Seat. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit. Wks. (Bohn) III. 2 Each must stand on his glass tripod, if he would keep his electricity. 1887J. Nicholson Beacons E. Yorksh. 13 note, The brandrith is literally an iron tripod.
4. A three-legged support of any kind; esp. a frame or stand with three (diverging) legs, usually hinged at the top, for supporting a camera, compass, or other apparatus.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 185 A sort of tripod, having a flat ring of brass for its upper, and another for its lower part. 1893J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (1907) 15 Cameras..intended to be used whilst supported on a tripod, and designated ‘stand-cameras’.
5. tripod of life, vital tripod (fig.): see quot.
1834J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 1 The heart, lungs, and brain constitute, according to the happy expression of Bordeu, the tripod of life. 1857Dunglison Med. Lex., Tripod, Vital. 1872Huxley Physiol. i. 19.
6. Anat. and Zool.
a. A bone or other structure with three processes; a tripodal bone, etc.
b. A sponge-spicule with three equal rays (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909).
1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 883 Plectellaria, without shell,..or with an incomplete one, either a basal tripod without ring,..or a sagittal ring usually without tripod. 1891Cent. Dict. s.v., The premaxillary bone of birds is a tripod.
7. attrib. and Comb., as tripod-head, tripod-leg, tripod-top; tripod-covering, tripod-mounted adjs.
1614Gorges Lucan v. 173 Pythons Trypod-couering hide. 1872C. King Mountain. Sierra Nev. xii. 257 Playfully drumming the frail crest with our tripod legs. 1889Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 160 A few duplicate screws for camera and tripod head..will be of much use. 1893Photogr. Ann. 40 There is no tripod-top screw to lose. 1900Westm. Gaz. 25 May 4/2 A tripod-mounted gun.
B. adj.
1. Having or resting upon three feet or legs; three-footed, three-legged; of the form of a tripod.
tripod race (quot. 1870), a three-legged race.
1715–20Pope Iliad xxiii. 50 Th' attending heralds,..With kindled flames the tripod-vase surround. 1779Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 373, I found many Badjoo boats,..all of them having the tripod mast. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxvi, A tripod lamp that stood on the stairs. 1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. iv, A cedar bagatelle board..on silver tripod stand. 1870Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. July Suppl. 9/2 Tripod race. 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Tripod jack, a screw-jack supported on three legs, connected to a common base-plate. 1939Oxoniensia IV. 101 Thirty-seven base and body fragments of tripod pitcher..buff ware, uniform in colour throughout, fairly well fired and hard. 1963E. M. Jope in Foster & Alcock Culture & Environment xiii. 342 Regional styles are still discernible among these glazed jugs, such as the tripod-pitchers of the twelfth century.
2. ? Uttered as from the tripod, oracular; or ? three feet long (fig.: cf. sesquipedalian A. 1).
1798Edgeworth Pract. Educ. (1811) II. 29 He may be taught with much care and cost to speak tripod sentences. 1834M. Edgeworth Helen vii, Some pages of ‘The Rambler’..I liked not at all; its tripod sentences tired my ear. |