| 释义 |
ˈwater-glass
1. A water-clock or clepsydra.
1661[T. Powell] Hum. Industry 4 The Nasican Scipio was the first that brought the use of Water-glasses amongst them, and distinguished the hours of day and night. 1665Theaker Light to Longitude To Rdr., The measuring of Distances betwixt any two Meridians by Pendulums, Sand-glasses, Water-glasses, &c. 1800Asiatic Ann. Reg. Suppl. Chron. 147/1 Machinery of this kind was previously unknown in Siam, time being generally measured by water-glasses. 1862Grote Greece ii. lxvii. VI. 74 With full notice to defendants and full time of defence measured by the water-glass [ed. 1850 clock].
†2. A surface of water serving as a mirror. nonce-use.
1610J. Davies (Heref.) Panegyr. in R. Vaughan's Water-Workes B 2 b, Such is this Water-glasse, wherein these Times Do see how to adorne their Meades in Greene.
†3. A glass finger-bowl. Obs.
1766Smollett Trav. I. v. 66, I know of no custom more beastly than that of using water-glasses, in which polite company spirt, and squirt, and spue the filthy scourings of their gums, under the eyes of each other. 1776Twiss Tour Ireland 37 The filthy custom of using water-glasses after meals is as common as in England..no well-bred persons touch their victuals with their fingers, and consequently such ablutions ought to be unnecessary. 1784Cowper Let. W. Unwin 5 Apr., Your mother..begs you will buy for her eight blue, deep blue, water glasses.
4. A glass vessel to contain water; esp. such a vessel intended for keeping plants in water.
1612Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 309 Watter glasses the dozen, xl s. 1824Loudon Green-house Comp. i. 10 Wherever a few plants in pots, or bulbs in water-glasses, are kept in a room, the same objection may be raised. 1849Florist 46 A Hyacinth removed from the water-glass should have its roots nicely arranged in good sandy soil. 1852Thackeray Esmond iii. v, ‘Is the Queen dead?’ cries out Bolingbroke, seizing on a water-glass.
5. An instrument for making observations beneath the surface of water, consisting of a bucket with a glass bottom; a water-telescope.
1848Johns Week at Lizard 75 The fishermen say, that they can..descry, with the help of their water-glasses, pieces of cannon lying at the bottom. 1881E. Ingersoll Oyster Industry 249 Water-glass, a bucket with a partial glass bottom, through which the position of sponges is sought. (Florida reefs.) 1902A. Alcock Naturalist in Ind. Seas 49 A water-glass..is a wooden funnel, with a window of good plate-glass in the broad end and a pair of handles about halfway up.
6. An aqueous solution of silicate of soda or potash (or of both), which solidifies when exposed to the air. It is used for many purposes, e.g. as a vehicle for fresco-painting, as a paint for rendering material incombustible, for pickling eggs, etc.
1859Ecclesiologist XX. 283 Water-glass seems likely to offer a substitute for enamel. 1867Brande & Cox Dict. Sci. etc., Waterglass..is a soluble alkaline silicate, a liquified flint, made by boiling silica in an alkali. 1880Times 25 Dec. 5/6 What is designated ‘Herr Windsperger's fire-extinguishing solution’, which is an aqueous solution of silicate of soda, the substance commonly known under the name of ‘water-glass’. 1907Westm. Gaz. 14 May 2/1, I have just bought eleven score of new-laid eggs..and put them down in water-glass to use all through the time when eggs are dear.
b. attrib.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 5916 The three pictures..are painted—that in the centre panel..in oil, the two in the side panels in fresco, in the water-glass or sterochromic method. 1862Lond. Society 258 The new picture is commonly designated a fresco. It is really a water-glass painting. 1883R. Haldane Workshop Rec. Ser. ii. 295/1 The water-glass paint..is liable to be washed away when exposed to rain. 1905W. Holman Hunt Pre-Raph. II. 332 Silica or water-glass painting was substituted for Maclise's ‘Waterloo’..the two water-glass paintings. |