释义 |
tumbler|ˈtʌmblə(r)| [f. tumble v. + -er1.] 1. One who performs feats of agility and strength, somersaults, leaps, and gymnastics; an acrobat.
a1340Hampole Psalter xxxix. 6 Hoppynge & daunceynge of tumblers and herlotis. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 352 Mynystrel or joȝelour, tumbler and harlot. c1440Promp. Parv. 506/1 Tumlare (P. tumblar), volutator (S. volutatrix). 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 57 b, Certaine vearses like us verie well,..when we heare some tumbler or dauncer sing them to the Harpe. 1614Raleigh Hist. World v. vi. §7 A tricke of climing vpon mens heads, somewhat after the manner of our tumblers. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xl, Kit faced about on the ladder like some dexterous tumbler. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 16 Dexterous riders and expert tumblers in the circus. 2. a. A dog like a small greyhound, formerly used to catch rabbits; a lurcher. So called from its action in taking its quarry: see quots. Obs. exc. Hist.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 277 Tumblers, houndes, that can goo an huntynge by them selfe: brynge home theyr praye. 1576Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs (1880) 11 This sorte of Dogges..we..call Tvmblers, because in hunting they turne and tumble, winding their bodyes about in circle wise... He..so prouideth..that the selly simple Conny is debarred quite from his hole. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. v. 187 Men observe that the eye of a Tumbler is biggest not constantly in one, but in the bearing side. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 185/1 The Tumbler, or Lurcher is..in shape like the Grey-hound. 1766Pennant Zool. (1768) I. 54 The Vertagus, or Tumbler,..took its prey by mere subtility. 1847–78Halliwell, Tumbler, a dog formerly employed for taking rabbits. This it effected by tumbling itself about in a careless manner till within reach of the prey, and then seizing it by a sudden spring. 1897Q. Rev. Jan. 141 Dogs are no longer trained as ‘Norfolk tumblers’, to attract the rabbits on the warrens by their quaint antics. †b. transf. applied to a person; spec. one who allures or inveigles persons into the hands of swindlers (slang). Obs.
1601B. Jonson Poetaster i. ii, Away, setter, away. Yet, stay, my little tumbler. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Tumbler,..one that Decoys, or draws others into Play. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Tumbler,..a sharper employed to draw in pigeons to game. †c. The six of trumps in the game of gleek. Obs.
1680[see towser n. b]. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 73/2 Tumbler, is the sixth of the trumps. †3. A name of the porpoise. Obs.
1671Marten Voy. Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1694) 125 They are not Sword-fish, nor of the same kind we call Tumblers. 1808–12J. Walker Ess. Nat. Hist. 532 Delphinus Phocaena... Porpesse... Scot. Pellock. Tumbler. 4. A variety of domestic pigeon characterized by the habit or faculty of turning over and over backwards during its flight.
1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. ii. xv. §2. 182 Pigeons... Tumblers..are small, and of divers colours. They have strange motions, turning themselves backward over their Heads, and shew like footbals in the Air. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1878) 16 The common tumbler has the singular inherited habit of flying at a great height in a compact flock, and tumbling in the air head over heels. 5. a. One who tumbles or falls. nonce-use.
1904Daily Chron. 1 Mar. 6/3 It was real hockey..; when a collision brought a tumble, the tumbler took the accident like a lady. b. An inexperienced window-cleaner.
1960‘A. Burgess’ Doctor is Sick i. 8 Me, I clean windows... I've seen these young ones just starting—‘tumblers’ we call them—get froze stuck up there on a ladder. 1972Times 20 Sept. 3/2 Forty years ago..novice window cleaners starting at the bottom of the ladder were known in the cold-blooded jargon of the trade as tumblers. 6. a. A drinking cup, originally having a rounded or pointed bottom, so that it could not be set down until emptied; often of silver or gold; now, a tapering cylindrical, or barrel-shaped, glass cup without a handle or foot, having a heavy flat bottom.
1664Pepys Diary 20 Oct., Thence home, taking two silver tumblers home, which I have bought. 1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2485/4 A Gold Tumbler of 100 l. value. 1698B. Bullivant in Phil. Trans. XX. 168, I put a Straw for a Perch into a Venice Glass Tumbler. 1779Black in Phil. Trans. LXXIII. *305 A common tumbler or water-glass. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy iii, I thought there was no tumbler but a tumbler for punch. 1865Lubbock Preh. Times 136 Rings of pottery..evidently intended to serve as supports for these earthenware tumblers. 1876W. F. Collier Tales O. Eng. Life 79 The guests were supplied with tumblers, or glass vessels, which, being rounded at the base, could not stand upright, and must, therefore, be emptied at a draught. 1886G. R. Sims Ring o' Bells, etc. i. Introd. 1 The tumblers were rattled upon the table. b. The contents of a tumbler; a tumblerful.
1831J. Davies Manual Mat. Med. 150 From two to five tumblers, pure or mixed with any other drink, every morning. 1873Black Pr. Thule v, Mackenzie mixed another tumbler of toddy. c. A toy, usually representing a grotesque squatting figure, having the centre of gravity low and the base rounded so as to continue rocking when touched; cf. mandarin 1 b. rare.
1850Dickens in Househ. Words 21 Dec. 289/2 The Tumbler with his hands in his pockets, who wouldn't lie down. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 504/1 Her legs tucked up mysteriously under her gown into a round ball, so that her figure resembled in shape the plaster tumblers sold by the Italians. 7. = tumbrel1 3, 3 b; cf. tumbler-cart in 14. slang and dial.
1673R. Head Canting Acad. 16 (Flaugg'd at the Tumbler) whipt at the Carts-arse. 1692Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 534 They had on board 200 horses for the artillery,..40 feild pieces, 80 tumblers. a1700[see shove v.1 10]. 1757Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 490 Choose me..as much thread as is necessary,..and send them up by John who comes down with a Tumbler for that purpose. 1799Robertson Agric. Perth 92 The shafts had two pins that embraced the axle and made these awkward wheels tumble along; from which circumstance they were named tumblers. a1814Ramsay Scot. & Scotsm. in 18th C. (1888) II. x. 199 Tumblers, a trifling species of carts which have for ages been used about Alloa for transporting coals to the shore. 1815Scott Guy M. viii, Small carts of tumblers, as they were called in that country. 8. Geol. A detached mass of rock; a rolled stone or boulder. Now only dial.
1789Mills in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 77 On the surface are tumblers of red granite, and some few of lava. Ibid. 80 The bottom of the glen is covered with large tumblers of lava. 1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. i. 209 That [sandstone]..must also be primary, though it contains tumblers (caillous roulés). 1876H. B. Woodward Geol. Eng. & Wales x. 305 note, In the eastern part of North Wales the boulders are called ‘Granite tumblers’. 1894Northumbld. Gloss., Tumbler, Tumler, a boulder, a detached block of stone. 9. With capital T: A Dunker or Tunker (see Dunker1): in allusion to their method of baptism. U.S.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 281 They are also called Tumblers, from the manner in which they perform baptism, which is by putting the person, while kneeling, head first under water, so as to resemble the motion of the body in the action of tumbling. †10. One who tumbles or tosses things into confusion or disorder; a muddler; one who turns something over confusedly. Obs. rare.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Brouilleur, ou qui Brouille, a tumbler togither, a slubberer. 1694Motteux Rabelais iv. lxiv. (1737) 260 Tumblers of Beads, Mumblers of Ave Marias. †11. A class of street ruffians; see quot., and cf. Mohock. Obs.
1712Steele Spect. No. 324 ⁋1 The Mohock Club... A third sort are the Tumblers, whose office it is to set Women on their Heads. 1878Lecky Eng. in 18th C. (1883) I. 482. 12. a. = tumble-dung (see tumble-). b. The aquatic larva of the mosquito or other species of the Culicidæ: see quot. 1858–63. U.S.
1807–8W. Irving Salmag. xv. (1824) 282 The aspiring politician may be compared to that indefatigable insect, called the tumbler,..which..forms a little ball, which it rolls laboriously along. 1858–63Ripley & Dana Amer. Cycl. VIII. 51 (Cassell's) They are..called tumblers from the manner in which they roll over and over in the water. 13. In mechanical applications. a. In a gun-lock, a pivoted plate through which the mainspring acts on the hammer, and in the notches of which the sear engages.
1624Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) App. 58 For a new tumbler for a muskit locke 00 00 06. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xviii. (Roxb.) 135/1 The seuerall parts of a Fire lock and a match lock, and wheele lock... The Tumbler. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 117 In consequence of the firm locking of the sear in the Tumbler, the gun cannot possibly go off. 1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xi. 24 The cock works in a slot in the middle of the stock; there is no tumbler. 1871‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. i. ii. §1 Occasionally, in central-fire guns, the tumbler itself is made to propel the striker. b. In a roasting-jack, a pawl or catch which allows a barrel to revolve in one direction independently of a wheel centred on the same axle, but which takes the wheel with it when it revolves in the other direction.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. iii. 47 The Tumbler is so placed..that while the Jack line is winding up upon the Barrel its round britch passes forwards by all the Crosses of the Main wheel,..But when the Barrel is turned the contrary way,..the Tumbler..thrusts the Main Wheel about with [it]. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 323/1 [Of a jack] The Tumbler, the Center whereof moveth upon the Center Pin. c. In a lock: † A pivoted piece through which the pressure of a spring was transmitted to the tail of the bolt, tending to keep it pushed forwards (obs.); now, a pivoted piece kept in position by a spring, with projections which drop into notches in the bolt and hold it until lifted by the proper key.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. ii. 28 The Tumbler..is a long piece of Iron,..and it hath an Hook returning at the other end of it, to fall into the breech of the Bolt, and by the spring H forces the Bolt forwards. 1792Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) III. 166 The tumbler and tail of the latch or spring bolt. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 277 Mr. Kemp..published in 1816, a lock, the interior security of which consists in the adaptation of tumblers or sliders. 1911J. Ward Roman Era Brit. xiii. 238 The lock had both wards and tumblers. d. Naut. App. a sleeve or cap fitted on a mast, with a hook, ring, or swivel to afford means of attachment, etc.; see also quot. 1877.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Tumbler,..a contrivance to avoid the necessity of having copper nailed on the mast to prevent a gaff from chafing it. 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Tumbler (Nautical), one of the movable pins with which the cathead-stopper and shank-painter are respectively engaged. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 9 There is a tumbler on each cap to connect the conductors of the two masts together. Ibid. 121 A..derrick..working on a swivel tumbler on the mast. e. A revolving barrel, or a barrel with a rotating paddle, used in tanning skins; also, a tumbling-box.
1857Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8) XIII. 310/2 They [lamb-skins] are first fed with alum and salt in a drum or tumbler made like a huge churn. 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Tumbler,..a vertically rotating case for cleaning castings placed within it. 1883R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 367/2 After leaving the press, they [the skins] are put into a ‘tumbler’, or revolving barrel. 1891Sadtler Hand-bk. Industr. Org. Chem. x. (1900) 329 The tanning was formerly done with sumach and gambier, either in revolving paddle ‘tumblers’..or according to the English method. f. Each of the stickers of a tumbler-coupler in an organ (see 14).
1881W. E. Dickson Organ-Build. xii. 154 A slender bridge, having as many notches as keys in the manual, and fitted with short stickers called tumblers. g. Coal-mining. A tipper; cf. tumbling tom (tumbling-).
1883Gresley Coal-mining Gloss., Tumbler, (S[cotland]), see Tipper. 1886J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 69 Tumbler, tipping apparatus for tubs or waggons. h. In a clock or watch: see quot.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 110 [A] Tumbler [is] a revolving finger that in striking clocks and repeating watches moves the rack one tooth for each blow struck. i. In some looms, each of the levers from which the heddles are suspended.
1891in Cent. Dict. j. ellipt. for tumbler-drier below.
1947W. L. Carmichael et al. Callaway Textile Dict. 360/1 Tumbler, a clothes-drying device consisting of a revolving cage in which hot air is circulated. 1961Listener 30 Nov. 951/2 The most trouble-free and quick-to-use kind of dryer, the electric ‘tumbler’. 14. attrib. and Comb., as tumbler bitch, tumbler-brush (sense 6), tumbler fancier, tumbler-glass, tumbler lock, tumbler-maker, tumbler movement (cf. tumbler-coupler), tumbler pigeon, tumbler-pin, tumbler-pivot, tumbler-screw; tumbler-shaped adj.; tumbler-bearing, a bearing which automatically falls out of position to make way for a gear travelling upon the shaft which it supports; tumbler-beds, pl., a local name for the loose crumbly upper portion of the carboniferous limestone; tumbler-cart = sense 7; tumbler closet: see quot.; tumbler-coupler, a unison manual coupler in an organ in which the connexion between each two keys is made by a short sticker (see 13 f) which turns over at an angle when not in use; tumbler-cup, a cup with a rounded bottom: cf. sense 6; tumbler dog = sense 2 (Obs.); also, a catch or detent in a padlock which retains the hasp (Forney Car-Builder's Dict. 1884); tumbler-drier, -dryer = tumble-drier; tumbler-drum, = sense 13 e; tumbler-holder, a metal frame in which a tumbler of drink is served (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); tumbler-music, music produced with tumblers or ‘musical glasses’; tumbler-punch: see quot.; tumbler-stand, a tray on which tumblers are automatically rinsed (Knight); tumbler switch, an electric switch operated by pushing over a small spring tumbler or thumb-piece; tumbler-tank, a flushing cistern having two compartments, one of which when filled tilts the other into the position for filling and empties itself (Cent. Dict. 1891); tumbler-washer, a stand with jets of water for rinsing tumblers (Knight).
1901J. Black's Carp. & Build., Scaffolding 60 We have power transmitted with square shaft, with *tumbler bearings bolted to the walls of a building.
1821W. Forster Section of Strata (ed. 2) 103 About sixteen feet of the upper part of [the Great Limestone] is called the *Tumbler Beds.
1680Lond. Gaz. No. 1481/4 Lost..a white *Tumbler Bitch with yellow ears.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Tumbler-brush.
1880D. Murray Old Cardross 38 The only wheeled vehicles known prior to that time [c 1763] were *tumbler carts, which were simply sledges mounted on small wheels..made solid.. united by a wooden axle, and all turning round together. 1888Q. Rev. July 38 Sledges were used.., more recently tumbler carts with solid wheels, mere slabs of timber.
1870Corfield Treatm. Sewage 123 The ‘*Tumbler’ closet... In this there is..a trough running under the privy-seats..; the water trickles into a swinging basin at the upper end, which is so constructed that it capsizes when full and washes out the contents of the trough into the drain.
1876–98Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 342/2 The *tumbler coupler is now almost obsolete.
1900Westm. Gaz. 7 Mar. 1/3 A pair of *tumbler cups, 1698, 10 oz. 1908Ibid. 27 Mar. 8/1 A Georgian plain tumbler-cup,..weighing 4oz. 13dwt.
1675Lond. Gaz. No. 1022/4 Lost..a white *Tumbler Dog, both Ears spotted with red.
1956Good Housek. Home Encycl. 13/2 Electric *Tumbler Dryers dry by means of a revolving drum in a heated cabinet. 1969Which? Nov. 352/2 Generally all the tumbler driers were easy to use.
1883R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 373/1 The skins are either trodden in it with the feet, or put into a *tumbler-drum.
1854Poultry Chron. II. 276/1 The Almond *Tumbler fancier, whose ‘little wonders’ cannot feed their own young!
1795J. Woodforde Diary 14 Oct. (1929) IV. 234 The third [remarkable fact] was, of a Man drinking half Pint *Tumbler Glass of Beer and eat the Glass after it. 1831Brewster Nat. Magic viii. (1833) 194 Stretch a thin sheet of wet paper..over the mouth of a tumbler-glass with a footstalk. 1844J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. xi, A tumbler-glass of iced punch.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1585, 3-inch brass *tumbler lock and key on each door. 1881Young Ev. Man his own Mechanic §1488 A lock of better and more complicated construction..called a tumbler lock.
1902Westm. Gaz. 29 Mar. 9/1 Under the present rule the *tumbler-makers must keep on working just as long as the fancy glass makers continue to work.
1881C. A. Edwards Organs 112 The means provided to effect this coupling was called the ‘*tumbler’ movement.
1893F. F. Moore I Forbid Banns (1899) 150 She thought the *tumbler-music very interesting.
1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 244/2 The *Tumbler Pigeon is small and of diverse colours. 1890Science-Gossip XXVI. 215/2 A tumbler-pigoen hatched out a Minorca chicken, a hen having laid in the pigeon-box.
1853Ure Dict. Arts II. 251 The lock outside,..a, the plate; b, the cock; c, the *tumbler-pin. 1881Greener Gun 264 The tumbler-pin is first turned out, and by means of a wire punch inserted in the hole, the tumbler is knocked away from both hammers and lock-plate.
1892― Breech Loader 116 Knock in the *tumbler-pivot half-way.
1843Act relating Militia State of Vermont 1842 80 Each squad of ten men, a wire and *tumbler punch. 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Tumbler-punch.., a small two-bladed punch used for pushing the arbor of the tumbler, the band⁓springs, etc., from their seats, in taking a gun apart.
1843Act relating Militia State of Vermont 1842 80, Order in which the lock is taken apart... 9. The *tumbler screw. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. i. ii. (ed. 2) 19/1 The various parts of the lock [of a gun] are..5th, the tumbler-screw, which fastens the tumbler and cock together.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xi. 16 The loop upon each barrel receiving the end of a steel *tumbler-shaped bolt.
1907Installation News Apr. 16/1 A new form of *tumbler Switch. |