| 释义 |
wire-draw, v. Now rare.|ˈwaɪədrɔː|
[Back-formation from wire-drawer.]
1. trans. To draw out (metal) into wire: see wire-drawing vbl. n. 1. rare.
1666Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 96 Though out of a wedge of Gold one cannot immediately make a Ring, yet by..Wyre-drawing that Wedge by degrees,..That thing may easily be effected. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Wire-draw, to draw out Gold or Silver-Thread. 1755Johnson, To Wiredraw. 1. To spin into wire. 1828–32Webster.
2. transf. To draw out (a material thing) to an elongated form; to stretch, elongate.
1598Florio, Stringare..to wyre-draw a thing. 1648Hunting of Fox 23 To tug and wire-draw as Shoe-makers ordinarily do their leather between their hands and their teeth. 1656R. Flecknoe Diarium 86 Such an art as his, Who wire-draw'd Simon to Simonides. Ibid. 92 But loath I am to stretch mine eares so far, As if they wire-drawn, or tenter'd were. 1656F. Hawkins Youths Behav. (1661) 51 Perforations, through which Nature is wont to wyer draw spare humors into a fine spun excrescency [sc. hair]. a1658Cleveland London Lady 49 He wire-draws up his Jaws, and snuffs and grins. a1701Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 42 He never desisted from pulling his Beard, till he had wiredrawn it down to his Feet. 1849D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 163 The bird..has been actually wire-drawn. It has grown all the hours you have neglected it, without anything to grow from.
b. To cause (steam or water) to pass through a small aperture, thereby diminishing its pressure.
1744Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. II. 522 It must not be taken for a general Rule, that Wire-drawing the Water, as it is call'd, is always a Fault. 1787M. Boulton Let. to Jas. Watt 1 Oct., Briggan always expanded the steam, great Poldice wiredraws it, as the valve opens very little indeed. 1802Specif. Trevethick's Patent No. 2599. 2 This passage has a throttle valve..to wiredraw the steam.
3. fig.
a. To draw or prolong to an inordinate length; to protract excessively, spin out.
1598Florio, Puntare,..to wyre-draw any matter. 1611Cotgr., Tardiver, to linger, foreslow, slacke, delay, wire⁓draw it. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. i. iv. i. 299 As an hungry Surgeon often doth prolong & wierdraw his cure so long as there is any hope of pay. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 40 His torments were so lengthened, and wire⁓drawne, to the end Christians might feele themselves dye. a1693Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xl. 332, I prorogate,..wyre⁓draw, and shift off the Time. 1782F. Burney Cecilia i. iii, They may contrive to fill up the middle and end of the evening by wire-drawing the comments afforded by the beginning. 1785in Grose Dict. Vulgar T.
b. To draw out to an extreme tenuity; to reduce to a subtle fineness; to attenuate.
1660Gauden God's Gt. Demonstr. 18 The superfluity of mans wit and eloquence glories to find out many inventions, definitions and distinctions, even in plain things; wire⁓drawing religion into fine threads. 1683Cave Ecclesiastici 313 Having wiredrawn the Article concerning the Son of God into infinite Controversies and Disputes. 1796Lamb Let. to Coleridge 13 June, Sonnets and all, they won't make a thousand lines as I propose completing 'em, and the substance must be wire-drawn. 1864Lowell Biglow P. Introd., Poems 1890 II. 161 The school of Pope in verse ended by wire-drawing its phrase to such thinness that it could bear no weight of meaning whatever.
c. To strain, force, or wrest by subtle argument or the like.
1610Carleton Jurisd. 288 Such as would proue this Iurisdiction from certaine texts of Scripture, as:..oraui pro te Petre, &c. And such like which are wire-drawen to countenance this Papall Iurisdiction. 1653Gauden Hierasp. 530 He needes not wiredraw his conscience, till it fits every State passage. 1663South Serm. (1717) V. 59 Nor am I for forcing, or wiredrawing the Sense of the Text. 1687Good Advice 59 For while a man is out of Office, he is Test-free, but the hour he is chosen to any station..he must wyredraw his Conscience to hold it. 1700Dryden Fables Pref. *A 2, Where I have been wrongfully accus'd, and my Sense wire⁓drawn into Blasphemy or Bawdry. 1765Wesley Let. 14 May, Do not wrest, and wiredraw, and colour my words. 1812–29Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 155 If our old divines..wire-drew their text, in the anxiety to evolve out of the words the fulness of the meaning. 1873H. Rogers Orig. Bible iii. 115 Questions..which only tend to wiredraw the judgment.
absol.1831Emerson Jrnl. 25 Dec. (1909) II. 440 The rough and tumble old fellows, Bacons, Miltons, and Burkes don't wire-draw.
†d. To draw, bring, get, induce, extract, introduce, etc. by some subtle device. Obs.
1633Marmion Fine Comp. iii. i, Although her husband be penurious,..Yet she can make him malleable, and worke him, And turne, and hammer him, and wire-draw him. 1650Stapylton tr. Strada's Low C. Wars ii. 46 The Prince of Orange,..to wyer-draw the whole business out of the King, takes upon him to have been privy to the plot. a1662Heylin Laud (1668) 482 It was no hard matter for the Houses of Parliament to wire-draw him by degrees to such Condescensions. 1705in Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. (1870) I. 173 Among Mr. Commy's 5 Arguments..is wire-drawn in a Sly ill look't insinuation. a1734North Exam. i. iii. §26. (1740) 138, I grant that Matter very fit to be taken Notice of in the History of that Time; but then..truly, as it was, and not only, as here is done, to wire-draw a Reflection from it. 1748Richardson Clarissa I. xliii. 303 If..I..suspected, that she sought only to gain time, in order to wire-draw me into a consent.
†e. To draw or spin out into (also with colouring from c). Obs.
1648Heylin Relat. & Observ. i. 135 In conclusion, after a tedious debate, the desires of the Citizens were referred to a Committee of the House to be wyer-drawne into an Ordinance. 1756Connoisseur No. 118 ⁋8 [He] wire-drawed the books of Moses into a complete system of Natural Philosophy.
† f. intr. To be penurious or stingy; trans. to be overreaching or extortionate with. Obs.
1610Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady v. i, Thou hadst land and thousands, thou spendst, and flungst away, and yet it flows in double: I purchased, wrung, and wierdraw'd, for my wealth, lost, and was cozen'd. 1642D. Rogers Naaman 162 Seeing us wire-draw and castabout every way, rather then we will part with anything. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Wire-draw, to screw, over-reach, or deal hard with. |