| 释义 |
ˈJacob's ˈladder
Also (in sense 2) jacob-ladder.
[In reference to Gen. xxviii. 12.]
1. A common garden plant, rarely found wild in Britain (Polemonium cæruleum) having corymbs of blue (or white) flowers; so called from the ladder-like appearance of its closely pinnate leaves.
Popularly or locally applied also to Solomon's Seal, and various other plants.
1733Miller Gard. Dict., Polemonium..Greek Valerian, or Jacob's Ladder. 1794Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xvi. 189 Greek Valerian or Jacob's Ladder. 1882Garden 3 June 380/2 A white Jacob's-ladder..with purple throat,..a very delicate flower.
2. Naut. A rope ladder with wooden steps for ascending the rigging from the deck.
1840Marryat Poor Jack xxviii, The youngster runs to the jacob-ladder of the main-rigging. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 31 It is used..for Jacob's ladders. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 179 Let go the..jacob's ladder lanyards. 1898Daily News 9 May 6/4 One [gun] cut the Jacob's ladder of the Vicksburg adrift.
3. In fig. allusions to Gen. xxviii. 12.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. v, Like mysterious priestesses, in whose hand was the invisible Jacob's-ladder, whereby man might mount into very heaven. 1890L. D'Oyle Notches 88 It seemed to climb the very edge of the gray bank of clouds,..a veritable Jacob's Ladder, stretching away into the heavens,..meet for angels' feet to tread.
4. A frequent local name or nickname of a high and steep flight of steps.
c1895Mod. Proposals to do away with the bridge over the reservoir and railway at Oxford, known as Jacob's Ladder. 1900Daily News 13 Mar. 5/1 A feature of the island [St. Helena] is ‘Jacob's Ladder’, a wooden staircase of 699 steps, with an average slope of 39 degrees to the vertical.
5. An elevator consisting of a series of bucket-shaped receptacles fixed upon an endless chain.
1845G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. 5th Ser. ii. 31 The hops are raised to the boiler by a contrivance something like the buckets of a dredging-machine; it is called a ‘Jacob's ladder’. 1853Househ. Words VII. 491/1 The malt..being precipitated up a curious contrivance called a ‘Jacob's ladder’. 1860Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 5) II. 589 It [sc. the bloom] is squeezed four times before it leaves the rolls and falls upon the Jacob's ladder. 1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron xvi. 303 The puddled ball..falling from the bottom shoot of the machine on to a Jacob's ladder or other elevator. |