| 释义 |
▪ I. walking, vbl. n.1|ˈwɔːkɪŋ|
[-ing1.]
1. The action or an act of the vb. walk1.
a. The action of moving on the feet at any pace short of breaking into a run or trot; the action of taking pedestrian exercise. Phrase, to go a-walking. Also the manner or style in which a person walks.
c1400Rule St. Benet lxiv. 42 If I sulde make my herdis to labur to mikil in walkyng, þai sal alle die on one day. c1430Dietarium 18 in Babees Bk. 54 Cleer eir and walking makiþ good digestioun. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 188/1 Hypæthra ambulatio,..a walking in an open gallerie. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. iii. 127 There is no sturre, or walking in the streetes. 1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. v. iii. Sang xxi, He's comely in his wauking. 1743Stukeley Abury II. 57 The ancients conceiv'd it [sc. the motion of a serpent] to be like the walking of the gods. 1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. II. 306 The mode of their walking depends upon the number and kind of their legs. 1821Clare Village Minstr. I. 195 As thou goest a walking. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xlix, They must have devoted the greater part of their long and arduous lives to pedestrian exercises, and the walking of matches. 1883C. Howard Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3) 115 The surface is very rough and scarcely rideable and much walking will be necessary.
(b) walking on (or with) two legs: in modern China, the use of small-scale, local methods in production and education, as well as large-scale or capital-intensive ones; also attrib.
1962E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) xxviii. 209 ‘Walking on two legs’ in 1958 meant starting tens of thousands of small brick blast furnaces or ‘back-yard’ hearths. 1964Kang Chao in D. J. Dwyer China Now (1974) xiii. 252 Another salient feature of the Great Leap movement was a greater emphasis on indigenous methods of production and labour-intensive investment projects. This policy, officially called ‘walking with two legs’, represented a sharp departure from previous development strategy which had stressed only modern production techniques and large-scale investment projects. 1971G. P. Jan in S. E. Fraser Educ. & Communism in China i. 141 Technical training for adults in the commune schools, a mixture of modern and native methods, was referred to as the policy of ‘walking on two legs’. 1977China Now June 4/1 Agricultural machinery for production (walking-on-two-legs tractors, tractors, bulldozers, pumps, harvesters, etc.).
b. With advs. as walking about, walking in, walking-on (in quots. attrib.), walking-out, walking together, walking-up, nouns of action corresponding to verbal phrases.
c1440Promp. Parv. 514/2 Walkynge abowte, or goynge, deambulacio, spaciatus. 1857C. M. Yonge Dynevor Terrace I. xix. 309 Their ‘walking together’ was recognised. 1893A. J. Stuart-Wortley Partridge 150 Walking up, or shooting partridges over dogs, is..the finest training of all for a young shooter. 1931E. O'Neill Homecoming i, in Mourning becomes Electra (1932) 40 Hope you don't mind my walking in on you without ceremony.
attrib.1905Wells Kipps i. ii. §5 It is considered..as savouring of the ‘walking-out’ habits of the servant girls. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 586/2 Undress Uniforms.—In ‘walking-out’ order most troops wear the tunic. 1948Sporting Mirror 21 May 5/2 At one time he wanted to be an actor and was offered a walking-on part for ‘Cavalcade’. 1948Jrnl. R. United Service Inst. XCIII. 470 To encourage recruiting and to make Army service more popular it would certainly seem very necessary to have a smart Walking-out dress. 1982P. D. James Skull beneath Skin vii. 67 She would have had at least a walking-on part in all the plays.
c. fig. Manner of conducting or behaving oneself. Also † with a and pl.
c1407Lydg. Reson. & Sens. 2994 For this skylle in my walkyng, As she that hath most maistry, I bere thys bowe of yvory. 1550Bale Apol. 35 If chastyte be a perfeccyon, and a walkynge in the lawes and ordynaunces of God wyth⁓out reproue. 1613Day Festiv. ix. (1615) 257 The Apostle to the Philippians makes speciall mention of both these Walkings. 1675J. Owen Indwelling Sin xv. (1732) 211 The Observation of the Ways and Walkings of others. 1854H. Rogers Ess. (1855) II. 14 That wary walking which all his early life required.
†d. Passing (of money) from hand to hand. Cf. walk v.1 3 b. Obs.
1549Latimer 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 143 Ther was walkynge of angelles betwene them.
e. The action of a somnambulist.
1605Shakes. Macb. v. i. 13 In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking, and other actual performances, what (at any time) haue you heard her say? 1607Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe iii. E 2, I will finde a remedy for this walking [sc. in sleep] if all the Doctors in towne can sell it.
f. The action of appearing as a ghost.
1727De Foe Hist. Appar. x. 200 Spirits who visit people, as well by night as by day, this we call walking and apparition.
g. A going in procession.
The later examples may be dial.
1706tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 16th C. II. iv. xviii. 268 They shall banish also out of their Churches all sorts of Musick:..all Walkings, Noises and Clamours. 1892C. M. Yonge Old Woman's Outlook 100 The attraction of ‘walking’ and the gala day were lacking. 1939F. Thompson Lark Rise xv. 269 At the club walkings there were brass bands and processions of all the club members.
2. A walk or journey on foot, the distance covered at or in a certain time.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 7 Yf thou stretch y⊇ walkynges that thou vsest at home, & laye theim on length by the space of fiue or sixe dayes together, yu shalt easyly reach to Olympia. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 30 The circuit of the City is three houres walking. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 217 We were about four hours' hard walking on foot from the wagons. 1899Westm. Gaz. 14 Nov. 9/2 His walkings exceed nine times the globe's circumference.
3. The condition of a path or road for walking on.
1631J. Anchoran Comenius' Gate Tongues 127 Lest the walkings should be all myrie and dirtie. 1766Complete Farmer s.v. Walk, From this there may be a communication with the side walks, whereby there may be dry walking all round the garden. 1896A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad xlix, Empty heads and tongues a-talking Make the rough road easy walking.
4. attrib. and Comb., as walking † alley, † walking camp, walking distance, walking exercise, walking ground, walking match (hence walking-matching vbl. n.), walking pace, walking powers pl., walking race, walking tour; also with sense ‘adapted for or used in walking’, as walking boot, walking cane, walking dress, walking shorts, walking suit, walking weather, etc.; also used to designate farm implements which are operated by someone walking behind or alongside, as walking cultivator, walking plough.
1552Huloet, *Walkinge aley, or place of pleasure in a gardayne with quycke settes, topiarium.
1854M. Cummins Lamplighter xxx. 217 To change her slippers for thick *walking-boots occupied a few minutes only. 1885D. Webster Angler & Loop-rod 14 The boots are..a size or two larger than ordinary walking-boots.
1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 784 The measure and distance of their ambulatorie, and *walking campe.
1699W. Dampier Voy. Suppl. ix. 178 Rattans and *Walking-Canes. 1829Lytton Devereux ii. v, Did I not give the last guinea I had about me for a walking-cane yesterday?
1869Rep. Comm. Agric. 1868 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 417 Field No. 3..[was] cultivated but once, when about a foot high, with a five-toothed *walking cultivator.
1817Lady Morgan France i. (1818) I. 30 The chateau..was but at a *walking distance.
1753G. Washington Diary 23 Dec. (1925) I. 63, I put myself in an Indian *walking dress. c1792Jane Austen Catharine in Minor Wks. (1954) 211 She sends me a long account of the new Regency walking dress Lady Susan has given her. 1822Repos. Arts etc. 1 Nov. 297 Walking Dress. 1909H. G. Wells Ann Veronica iii. 72 She was in one of her old walking-dresses.
1835H. Harewood Dict. Sports s.v. Training, A horse..requires a great deal of *walking exercise and careful feeding.
1818Scott Rob Roy xxv, I wandered.. to the College-yards, or *walking ground.
1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. II. 83 For *walking-hats, and hunting-hats, there was not a superior shop in London.
1832P. Egan's Bk. Sports 133/2 In a *walking match..he went four miles in thirty-two minutes and half a second.
1848Dickens Dombey xxii, Ever since I took to bird-catching and *walking-matching.
1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. II. 309 Insects vary much in their *walking paces. 1830James Darnley xxxviii. III. 253 Thus marched on the procession at a walking pace.
1868Rep. Iowa State Agric. Soc. 1867 161 [The] ground [is] plowed and harrowed,..and cultivated with riding and *walking-plows. 1965E. L. Myles Emperor of Peace River i. xi. 114 Hitched to a small walking-plow, the team plodded back and forth.
1856Kane Arctic Expl. I. ix. 100 We..carried nothing except..a *walking-pole.
1866Athlete 8 *Walking Race, Seven Miles.
c1750Heir of Linne xxii. in Child Ballads V. 17/1 Wi *walking rod intill his hand, He walked the castle roun.
1859Dickens T. Two Cities i. vi, It is a young lady's *walking-shoe.
1963*Walking shorts [see easy-care s.v. easy a. and adv. C. d].
1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. xi. 102 The knapsacks, the rough *walking suits, and the stout walking shoes which we had ordered.
1864A. B. Edwards Barbara's Hist. xx, Mrs. Churchill and Hilda made an elaborate *walking-toilette.
1854C. M. Yonge Heartsease II. ii. xviii. 48 He was going to take a *walking tour in Ireland. a1881A. Barratt Phys. Metempiric (1883) Pref. p. xix, They..frequently went abroad and on walking-tours together.
c1825Lamb Let. to B. W. Proctor, We will expect finer *walking weather.
b. Special comb.: as walking-beam = beam n.1 11; walking-day, a day on which schoolchildren walk in procession; walking frame, a free-standing metal frame for use as a walking aid by a person who holds or leans on the top; = walker n.1 10 a, b; walking-go colloq. a walking-match; † walking hymn, a processional hymn; walking-leg, in certain arthropods, esp. crustaceans, a limb used for walking; walking-machine, a mechanical or robotic device attached to a person to enable him to perform duties beyond his normal capacity or strength; † walking-mate, one's companion in walking; walking-orders (U.S. slang), -papers (colloq.) pl., a notice of dismissal; walking party, a party formed for an excursion on foot; † walking-path = foot-way 1; † walking-place, a place for walking in, a walk, an ambulatory; walking-possession, a nominal form of distraint in which the man in possession may go away but with right of re-entry; walking-rapier, -sword (now Hist.) a rapier or sword such as was worn by gentlemen in civil life; walking-ticket U.S. = walking-orders (above). Also walking-staff, -stick.
1845Knickerbocker XXV. 63 Some rushed to the upper deck, and climbed up the chain and up the machinery to the *walking beam. a1864Gesner Coal, Petrol. etc. (1865) 27 The crank giving motion to a walking-beam, at the end of which boring tools or pump rods are attached. 1932Amer. Speech VII. 263 The walking-beam, a bar, pivoted in the center, which rocks up and down, actuating the tools in cable-tool drilling or the pumping rods in a well being pumped. 1960[see Samson's post 2 b]. 1973[see stem n.1 4 j]. 1974Petroleum Rev. XXVIII. 558/1 Each pile handling unit has its own walking beam system for moving from one pile driving position to the next. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline xlii. 461 Lester, he'd been sitting out on the walking beam trying to stab the control head with a joint of pipe screwed in on the casing.
1827Hone Every-day Bk. II. 784 That particular Thursday in this month [June], which is known all over the world of charity-schools by the name of ‘*walking day’. 1906Church Family Newsp. 29 June 458/2 Warrington to-day observes its old-time festival known as ‘Walking Day’. All the principal streets of the town..will be given over entirely to the children attending the Sunday-schools.
1961J. O. Wale Tidy's Massage & Remedial Exercises (ed. 10) x. 202 The patient may begin with *walking frames or rails. 1966Physiotherapy LII. 146/2 Problems to be overcome are: (1) uneven ground; (ii) steep ground; (iii) stairs. Most walking frames can cope with (i) and (ii). 1979D. Cook Winter Doves ii. ii. 49 Her child..was bouncing up and down in a walking frame. 1983S. Radley Blood on Happy Highway v. 39 Osteo-arthritis in her hips made it difficult for May to get about now, even with a walking frame.
1802Sporting Mag. XIX. 199 Your provincial news must take in all the bye races, cock matches, *walking-goes, and every thing that's worth knowing.
1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 179 Their *walking hymns at solemne Matins and Vespers.
1909W. T. Calman in E. R. Lankester Treat. Zool. VII. xv. 271 The first pair of legs..are commonly referred to as the chelipeds, and the following four pairs are distinguished as *walking-legs. 1932J. S. Huxley Probl. Relative Growth iv. 123 The pereiopod which was enlarged as the male chela being the first of the walking-leg series. 1977G. F. Warner Biol. Crabs v. 75 They burrow by tilting backwards and digging down into the sand with their walking legs.
1971Sci. News 21 Aug. 118/2 Manipulators, *walking machines, artificial limbs and man amplifiers—cybernetic machines that perform as appendages of man. 1973Britannica Yearbk. Sci. & Future 1972 102 A four-legged ‘walking machine’ mimics and amplifies the movements of its human operator. The right front leg of the machine is controlled by the operator's right arm, the left front by his left arm, [etc.]. 1978D. Murphy Place Apart vi. 110 Now he is ‘out of work’ and has to use a complicated walking-machine provided by the NHS.
1596Nashe Saffron-Walden L 4, Not the poorest *walking-mate, or thred-bare cut-purse in a countrey, that can well be with⁓out them [sc. almanacks], be it but to know the Faires and Markets when they fall. 1600Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood v. 70 Rashnesse is his continuall walking mate.
1835Col. Crockett's Tour 170 (Thornton) He got his *walking orders, and Taney was taken into his place.
1825S. Woodworth Forest Rose i. iv. 18 As for the bumpkin, her lover, he must take his *walking papers. 1835Col. Crockett's Tour 80 The first course he took was to give walking papers to every man in office who had dared [to oppose him]. 1916Joyce Portrait of Artist 23 You'll get your walking papers [sc. discharge from a school infirmary] in the morning when the doctor comes. 1978L. Pryor Viper viii. 141 Hassan gave me my walking papers last night.
1800Mrs. P. L. Powys Passages fr. Diaries (1899) 337 After our repast the ladies made *walking parties to different places in the forest.
1791Smeaton Edystone L. §77 The stone where⁓with the *walking paths of Westminster Bridge were laid.
c1440Promp. Parv. 514/2 *Walkynge place, deambulatorium. 1598R. Bernard tr. Terence, Adelphi iv. ii, Come backe againe into the walking place I told you of [in porticum rursum redi]. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece v. 367 The chief Walking-place in the whole Town: whither they went not only to take the Air, but to converse with Men of Learning, to hear the News [etc.]. 1703T. N. City and C. Purchaser 12 A long kind of Galleries, or Walking-places.
1897Daily News 10 Dec. 3/2 Defendant's man was in what was called ‘*walking possession’ of the furniture.
1613Rowlands Paire of Spy-Knaues (1872) 8 Bid him trim vp my *walking Rapier neat. 1821Scott Kenilw. xvi, Soldiers..get out of fashion in peace time, and satin sleeves and walking rapiers bear the bell.
1677Lond. Gaz. No. 1198/4 A small Coûteau *walking Sword. 1910Encycl. Brit. X. 250/2 The walking-sword, fit for a gentleman's side, was..the small-sword of Versailles pattern.
1829in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 124, I heard..she had given Henry a *walking ticket. 1835Col. Crockett's Tour 162 (Thornton) He received his walking ticket. His services were no longer required. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms I. x. 124 Every soul about the place..seemed to have got a cheque and a walking-ticket at the same time. 1970Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 24 May 7/2 If a man spat on the floor, he'd get warned. If he did it again he'd get his walking ticket.
▪ II. walking, vbl. n.2|ˈwɔːkɪŋ|
[-ing1.]
The action of walk v.2; fulling.
1582Hakluyt Voy. (1599) II. 162 The faults in Walking, Rowing, and Burling,..are to be knowen to the merchant. 1688[See b.]
b. Comb.: † walking-mill = walk-mill1; † walking-pin, in hat-manuf. (see quot.); † walking-staff, a fuller's staff.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. iii. 54 Case Hardning..is used for Tobacco Boxes, Cod-peece Buttons, Heads for walking staves, &c. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 291/1 The Walking⁓pin is a four square Iron,..with pointed ends; upon this the Workman rowls his Hat often times, and makes use of it as a rowling-pin, to lay his stuff close together in the walking of the Hat. 1839Whistle-Binkie Ser. ii. 118 Like the thud o' a waukin mill beetle.
▪ III. walking, ppl. a.|ˈwɔːkɪŋ|
[f. walk v.1 + -ing2.]
That walks, in senses of the verb.
1. a. Moving about from place to place, travelling, itinerant. Now only with implication of sense 3.
a1425Cursor M. 17478 (Trin.) In þat tyme out of Iude Of walkynge men were comen þre To þat folke tolde þei al bidene Þat þei had wiþ her eȝen sene. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. vi. (1869) 4 For it is thing wel sittinge to eche walkinge pilgrime. 1567Harman Caveat (1869) 67 A Walking Mort. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage iv. xv. (1614) 421 Townes they [the Tartars] plant none nor standing villages, but haue walking houses built vpon wheeles, like a Shepheards Cottage. 1653Walton Angler vii. 149, I call that [bait] a ledger which is fix'd, or made to rest in one certaine place..and..I call that a walking bait, which you take with you, and have ever in motion. 1720C. Shadwell Hasty Wedding iii. i, I am what they call a Walking-Merchant, one that gets my Living by the Sweat of my Brows.
†b. Leading a wandering life, vagrant, strolling. Obs.
149.Anc. Deed A. 7494 (P.R.O.) The seid Robert ordend ther j. bedd for poor walkyng pepull to be harborowed ther⁓in. 1592Goudhurst Parish Reg. (M.S.), Buried a poore old walking man. 1602Carew Cornwall ii. 131 b, Wideslades sonne led a walking life with his harpe, to Gentlemens houses. 1628Lydd Parish Reg. (MS.), John, the sonne of a walkinge woman, christened. 1641Brome Joviall Crew ii. (1652) G 1, See in their rags, then, dauncing for your sports, Our Clapper Dugeons and their walking Morts.
c. Having a roving commission, going about from place to place. walking delegate, a trades-union official who visits sick members, interviews employers, etc.
1663Gerbier Counsel 59 The King told him he would have no walking Master Workman. 1889Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Feb. 227, I had no experience of strikes, and ‘the walking delegate’ was not yet stepping westward. 1892Howells Mercy 131 She decided that he must be a walking-delegate, and that he had probably come on mischief from some of the workpeople in her father's employ. 1897Encycl. Soc. Reform 1381 Walking delegate. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail iii, I think M. & D. is rather full up just now... I'm walkin'-boss there.
†2. Of a disease: Migratory. Obs.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 79 A walkynge vlcus [marg. vlcus ambulatiuum] is þat walkiþ hidirward & þidirward, & neþeles he profoundiþ nouȝt depe into þe ground.
3. a. That travels or goes about on foot by moving the legs alternately without running. walking doll, a mechanically operated doll that can be made to move its legs; walking funeral, one in which the coffin is wheeled by hand.
1697Dryden æneis iii. 852 Oft from the Rocks a dreadful Prospect [I] see Of the huge Cyclops, like a walking Tree. 1832Brewster Nat. Magic i. 5 The walking statues at Antium. 1841Dickens Barn. Rudge ix, in Master Humphrey's Clock II. 285, I wish I may only have a walking funeral, and never be buried decent with a mourning-coach and feathers. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton vi, It was a simple walking funeral. 1859Jephson Brittany iv. 42 A walking Englishman was, no doubt, a curiosity. a1870in Country Life (1973) 29 Nov. 1833/2 The patent Auto⁓peripatetikos or walking-doll. 1886C. M. Yonge Chantry House II. xvi. 158 A Chinese walking doll was sent..for the amusement of Miss Winslow's school children. 1968Canad. Antiques Collector Dec. 14/2 In the 1820's the first walking dolls were introduced. These opened and shut their eyes and said ‘mama’ and ‘papa’. 1983L. Taylor Mourning Dress i. 40 Even amongst the poor there were grades of funerals. The grandest involved the use of a horse-drawn hearse, but much more common was a ‘walking funeral’ where the coffin was wheeled on its hearse.
†b. Funambulatory. Obs.
1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 321 The walking Elephants on Ropes.
c. walking sickness, an illness in which the person is still able to get about and is not confined to bed.
1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire II. 571 In other chronic diseases, slow inflammations of internal organs, reduced dislocations, rheumatisms, ulcerations, the patient can attend partially to his business: he is in possession of half his faculties... This is walking sickness.
d. Of a casualty: able to walk despite his injuries, not in need of a stretcher; chiefly in phr. walking wounded, such casualties collectively; also fig.
1917P. Gibbs Battles of Somme 265 The long trails of the walking wounded, marvellously brave, wonderfully full of spirits. 1948G. Greene Heart of Matter ii. i. i. 117 We were told to prepare for nine stretcher cases and four walking ones. 1965Economist 4 Dec. 1072/2 Governor Rockefeller..has been one of the political walking-wounded since his unpopular remarriage in 1963. 1972Guardian 23 Dec. 8/1 There are many less conspicuous casualties, the walking wounded of the affluent society.
4. Theatr. walking gentleman: an actor playing a part requiring gentlemanlike appearance, but with little or nothing to say. Similarly walking lady.
1794C. Mathews Let. 14 June in A. Mathews Mem. Charles Mathews (1838) I. v. 86 And asked me if I would like to play walking gentleman. 1831T. L. Peacock Crotchet C. iii, A sort of serious comedy walking gentleman's face. 1835Colburn's New Monthly Mag. XLIII. 360 The respectably-dressed and well-looking young fellows in comedies are called walking gentlemen, and this is the probationary line of business usually assigned to young actors. 1860G. Vandenhoff Leaves from Actor's Note-bk. xii. 196 Susan..was the best walking-lady on the American Stage. 1865W. Donaldson Recoll. Actor 176 Miss Smithson..was neither more nor less than the ‘walking lady’. 1885Jerome On the Stage 132 R―, our walking Gent., got his eye cut out.
fig.1815Scott Guy M. xvi, A d―d cake-house, the resort of walking gentlemen of all descriptions—poets, players, painters, musicians, who come to rave..about this picturesque land of ours. 1827Barrington Pers. Sk. I. iv. 62 Nothing..could induce me to remain a walking gentleman: and so, every occupation that I could think of having its peculiar disqualification, I remained [etc.]. 1867Goldw. Smith Three Eng. Statesmen (1882) 130 George III. tried unconstitutional monarchy, first by Lord Bute, a walking-gentleman, and failed.
5. That goes about in the semblance of a human being. Often in figurative or similative expressions; e.g. walking corpse, applied to a person hardly distinguishable from a corpse save by the power of movement; also walking dead; walking dictionary, walking encyclopædia, walking library, etc., said of a person who has great stores of information at command.
Cf. Eunapius Vitæ Soph., λογγῖνος βιβλιοθήκη τις ἦν ἔµψυχος καὶ περιπατοῦν µουσεῖον.
1605Shakes. Macb. v. v. 24 Life's but a walking Shadow, a poore Player, That struts and frets his houre vpon the Stage, And then is heard no more. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. iii. i, Alas! I am nothing but a multitude of walking griefes. a1625Fletcher Captain ii. ii, [His body is] a Trunk-sellar, to send wines down in, Or a long walking-bottle. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 337 Mathew Slade..was..a stiff Enemy to the Socinians, and a walking Library. 1693J. Edwards Author. O. & N. Test. I. 401 Wherever these walking Corpes, (these Carkases) were to be seen. 1775Sheridan Duenna iii. vii, Dare such a thing as you pretend to talk of beauty? A walking rouleau! a body that seems to owe all its consequence to the dropsy! 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. ii, Looking like a moving and walking corpse, while yet an inhabitant of this world. 1835Lytton Gipsy v, Heaven deliver me from the proximity of a walking dictionary of technical terms! 1868L. M. Alcott Little Women I. xii. 181 Meg..considered him a walking encyclopaedia of useful knowledge. 1912T. Dreiser Financier vi. 60 There were many, many wildcat banks, and they were sufficient in number to make the average exchange-counter broker a walking encyclopedia of solvent and insolvent institutions. 1978Rugby World Apr. 28/3 He could..enlist the aid of some other members of the Irish [rugby] squad like Mike Gibson, or Johnny Robbie, or Mick Quinn, who are walking encyclopaedias on English soccer in particular. 1980J. Gardner Garden of Weapons iii. iii. 247 You look terrible. Like the walking dead.
6. Of a spectre: That ‘walks’ or appears.
1607Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe iii. E 1, Was there euer any walking spirit, like to my wife? 1709Penn in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 354, I have my old order of..1685..ratified and confirmed, which has laid those walking ghosts.
7. a. Of a bird: That walks, as distinguished from one that hops. walking tyrant: a South American tyrant-flycatcher, Machetornis rixosa.
1837W. Swainson Nat. Hist. & Classif. Birds II. 225 Chrysolophus, Sw. Walking Tyrants.
b. walking catfish: a freshwater catfish, Clarias batrachus, native to south-east Asia and Africa, and able to use its fins to crawl over land.
1968Orlando (Florida) Sentinel 20 Nov. 8-c/1 The state of Florida surrendered Tuesday in its war with the weird ‘walking catfish’ and said the ambulating invader..is here to stay. 1984USA Today 6 Apr. 3b/1 Walking catfish were imported from Thailand to Florida in 1960 by a fish farmer who sold them to aquarium owners to keep their tanks clean. They since have multiplied rapidly in the wild. Some people are working on recipes to make walking catfish a more palatable dish.
8. walking fern: (a) a club-moss (see quot. 1829); (b) a small tufted evergreen fern, Camptosorus rhizophyllus, native of eastern North America (Cent. Dict. 1891): = walking-leaf 1 b. walking orchid: see quot.
1829Loudon Encycl. Plants (1836) 892 Lycopodium alopecuroides. Walking Fern. 1910Friar Park, Henley, Guide (ed. 3) 244 Orchis maculata. The Walking Orchid. This Orchid, like several other species, seeks new pastures every year.
9. Jazz. walking bass: a bass part, often consisting of broken octaves, that goes up and down the scale in 4/4 time in steps or small intervals; so walking beat.
1939W. Hobson Amer. Jazz Music 51 String bass, more often plucked or slapped than bowed, usually playing two or four notes per bar on a ‘walking’ (melodic) bass. 1947W. Russell in R. de Toledano Frontiers of Jazz iv. 61 A rhythmic and a melodic germ motive are developed over a ‘walking bass’ figure. 1950[see stride n. 8 b]. 1952Walking beat [see walk v.1 7 g]. 1952B. Ulanov Hist. Jazz in Amer. (1958) iv. 29 If you listen carefully to the Ellington recording of ‘C Jam Blues’, you will hear a definitive example of the walking bass—1234/1234/1234, over and over again. Ibid. iv. 67 He was reliable, he put down a good walking beat, he had learned to read music. 1967Crescendo May 18/2 The way he [sc. James Moody] wrote led to the invention of what's called the ‘walking’ bass, which the Americans took up later. 1980New Grove Dict. Mus. III. 39/1 George Thomas, whose New Orleans Hop Scop Blues (1911; published 1916) included a walking bass, used the same device.
10. Mining. walking dragline, a large dragline supported on movable feet.
1959Times Rev. Industry June 75/1 A..walking dragline..will carry a 10 cu. yd bucket at 184 ft. radius and will strip 15 tons at each bite. 1977Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Jan. 39/1 (Advt.), Queensland is rich in coal, but it has to be wrested from the ground, and it's here where the huge Marion walking dragline is in its element. |