| 释义 |
▪ I. killer|ˈkɪlə(r)|
[f. kill v. + -er1.]
1. a. One who or that which kills; a slayer, butcher.
1535Coverdale Tobit iii. 9 Thou kyller of thy huszbandes. 1552Huloet, Kyller of mise and rattes, myoph[o]nos. 1696Statutes (Scottish) c. 33 title, Act against killers of black fish, and destroyers of the fry and smolts of salmon. 1741Middleton Cicero I. vi. 538 One Licinius, a killer of the victims for sacrifice. 1829Carlyle Misc., Voltaire (1872) II. 131 He has his coat of darkness,..like that other Killer of Giants. 1872O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. ix. (1885) 225 She is a killer and a cannibal among other insects.
b. fig. in various senses.
1555L. Sanders Let. in Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xi. 141/2 Christ the killer of death. 1819Hermit in Lond. II. 170 She is the most desperate killer of time I ever met with. 1838M. Howitt Birds & Fl., Ivy-bush iv, What a killer of care, old tree, wert thou!
c. In many combinations, as dragon-, giant-, lady-, lion-, pain-killer, etc.: see these words.
2. A name of the grampus, Orcinus orca, and other ferocious cetaceans of kindred genera. In full, killer whale. Also fig.
1725Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 265 These Killers are from twenty to thirty Feet long, and have Teeth in both Jaws... They..set upon a young Whale, and will bait him like so many Bull-dogs. 1884G. B. Goode Fisheries U.S.: Nat. Hist. Aquatic Animals 17 The Killer Whales are known the world over by their destructive and savage habits. 1897F. T. Bullen Cruise ‘Cachalot’ 196 A large bowhead rose near the ship... Three ‘Killers’ were attacking him at once, like wolves worrying a bull... The ‘Killer’ or Orca gladiator, is a true whale, but, like the cachalot, has teeth. 1931W. G. Carr By Guess & by God 89 The British had been developing the mechanical killer-whales since 1904, when, unescorted, a flotilla of A-boats engaged in fleet manœuvres. 1937Norman & Fraser Giant Fishes, Whales, & Dolphins xiii. 290 The colour of the Killer is well marked and is distinctive for the species. The back is black and the belly white. Ibid. 291 A feature unusual in cetaceans is the great discrepancy in size between the male and female Killer Whale. 1973R. Burton Life & Death Whales i. 23 Killer whales live in small groups and feed mainly on fish but they also kill seals and other whales.
3. An effective angler's bait.
1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. xxxv. §4 (1689) 207 An admirable Fly, and in great repute for a killer. 1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 109 There are likewise two Moths..great killers about twilight in a serene evening. 1867F. Francis Angling v. (1880) 155 If he cannot find a killer among them his hopes of sport are very small.
4. a. A club of hard wood for killing fish with.
1890in Cent. Dict.
b. A contrivance for killing a large ferocious animal (e.g. a wolf, a shark); also, an explosive implement for the painless killing of cattle, horses, etc. Cf. humane a. 1 d.
18929th Ann. Rep. U.S. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. 1887–88 259 (heading) Whalebone wolf-killers. 1901Amer. Anthropologist Apr.–June 391 Eskimo and Samoan ‘Killers’. 1901Morning Leader 18 Dec. 3/7 The deadly instrument known as ‘Greener's Killer’,..for the painless destruction of old and incapacitated horses, is the invention of the well-known gun manufacturer, Mr. W. W. Greener... The ‘killer’ consists of a noiseless explosive apparatus resembling a short rifled barrel, which contains a small cartridge with steel-pointed bullet. 1919T. Hardy Let. 7 Nov. in One Rare Fair Woman (1972) 187, I am a strange member of the Wessex Pig Society. I accepted the nomination entirely in the hope of helping to popularize the ‘killer’. 1968A. Wilson Pract. Meat Inspection i. 1 Cattle are usually stunned by a captive-bolt pistol (Humane Killer). The types usually employed are..3. Schermer mechanical killer.
5. An agent used to neutralize the active property of anything, e.g. to neutralize a colour, to remove spots or stains, prevent pitch-stains on pine-boards, or the like.
1893in Funk's Standard Dict.
6. A cow, sheep, etc., that is killed or destined to be killed for food. Usu. pl. colloq. (chiefly Austral. and N.Z.).
1897I. Scott How I stole over 10,000 Sheep in Austral. & N.Z. 9 ‘You know the killers, don't you?’..i.e. the sheep the boss used for his own mutton at the house. 1907W. H. Koebel Return of Joe 294 We were to be treated to a portion of a valuable stud ram for supper in place of the ordinary ‘killer’. 1931V. Palmer Separate Lives 124 He had put it [sc. the bullock] among the herd of killers in the home paddock in the hope that the new overseer might use it for beef in mistake. 1937Amer. Speech XII. 104 As killing cattle or killers (cattle ready for killing) they are inferior to corn-fed stock. 1952Coast to Coast 1951–52 210 One afternoon they had brought in some killers to the yards, and Murray went over to the kitchen for the bucket and the knives. 1972P. Newton Sheep Thief iii. 27 The yarding of the killers..was regarded as a tryout for new dogs—with the stench of blood sheep are loth to approach the yard.
7. a. An impressive, formidable, or excellent person or thing; one who ‘kills’ people (see kill v. 6 a). Cf. lady-killer (lady n. 16). slang (orig. U.S.).
[1900Dialect Notes II. 44 Killer. 1. One who does things easily. 2. One who recites perfectly.] 1937Metronome Apr. 55 That Zutie drummer-man is really a killer! 1940Swing Jan. 26 Farewell Blues is another of those very fast killers. Ibid. May 10/3 I'm a killer with my new shepherd plaid suit. 1968Blues Unlimited Sept. 6 ‘They were going to put out some records, and Luther went to see about it’ said Percy, ‘his ‘Dust my broom’ was sure a killer.’ 1970Melody Maker 19 Sept. 28/6 George Khan has a solo on the up-tempo passage of the same track which is an absolute killer.
b. attrib. or as adj. Very effective; excellent, ‘sensational’ (freq. applied to popular music). Cf. killer-diller. slang.
1979Melody Maker 12 May 26/2 That the band were going to deliver a killer set was evident. 1983Washington Post 11 Nov. 37 It can be most easily compared with what Quincy Jones does when he isn't producing another killer album for someone else. 1986City Limits 9 Oct. 17 Sometimes James Brown's albums stank, but there was always one killer track.
8. attrib. and Comb., as killer instinct; killer submarine (see quot. 1955); killer whale (see 2 above).
1931Visct. Knebworth Boxing 78 He [sc. Dempsey] had more fighting spirit and more of the sheer *killer instinct in him than was in all four of them rolled together. 1960J. Fingleton Four Chukkas to Austral. vi. 64 Unless Peter May can instil into his men the killer-instinct they so plainly lack, the next two Tests..will be lost. 1973Times 20 Feb. 12/2 Already he has given Oxford a lift with his drive, enthusiasm, attack and killer instinct.
1955M. Reifer Dict. New Words 116/2 *Killer submarine, a small submarine designed for hunting down and sinking enemy submarines. 1960Economist 31 Dec. 1378/2 The other kind of vessel that the Navy wants to build in larger numbers is the ‘killer’ submarine driven by atomic power and equipped with vastly improved sonar devices to seek out and destroy enemy submarines under water.
▸ killer app n. (also Killer App) Computing colloq. = killer application n. at Additions.
1988PC Week (N.Y.) 24 May 39/1 Until we see those first two or three *killer apps..few corporate customers will see much reason to begin to commit to OS/2. 1991New Scientist 21 Sept. 35/2 The multimedia industry is still looking for what it calls a ‘Killer App’, a feature or application that will persuade us that we can't live without a unit. 1998E. Davis TechGnosis vii. 203 In many ways, games are to digital technology what porno videos were to the VCR: the ‘killer app’ (or application) that, by stimulating gargantuan desires, creates a mass consumer market for a new media technology.
▸ killer application n. Computing an application which is particularly significant or useful; a feature, function, or application of a new technology or product which is presented as virtually indispensable or much superior to rival products; also in extended use.
1987PC Week 8 Sept. 107/2 Everybody has only one *killer application. The secretary has a word processor. The manager has a spreadsheet. 1991UnixWorld Dec. 30/3 The killer applications cost twice as much in unix versions for no reason other than greed. 1995Guardian 26 May i. 21/4 The British public has given a thumbs-down to the notion that entertainment will provide a ‘killer application’, such as video-on-demand. 2000Wall St. Jrnl. 18 Sept. a2/1 Power-plant builder Calpine Corp. thought it had the ‘killer application’ that Silicon Valley needed: a big, new power plant. After all, California is desperately short of electricity on hot days.
▸ killer fact n. colloq. (chiefly Brit.) an irrefutable and decisive piece of evidence or information, esp. one on which an argument, policy, news story, etc., can convincingly be founded.
1994Financial Times 21 Nov. 10/1 ‘*Killer facts’ are what the Conservative party needs if it is to win the next general election, according to a strategy paper produced by Mr John Maples, the party's deputy chairman and a former Treasury minister. 2002Daily Tel. 2 Sept. 18/5 Making a successful political cause for an attack on Iraq requires..at least one killer fact. Saddam has to be shown either to have done something or to be intending something awful.
▪ II. killer
mod. dial. variant of keeler2. |