| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈwrecking, vbl. n.1
[f. wreck v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of destroying by shipwreck or causing wreck; the fact of having suffered wreck; demolition.
1775Ash, Wrecking,..the act of destroying by dashing against rocks or sands at sea; the act of destroying by violent means. 1851W. Collins Rambles beyond Railw. v. (1852) 108 ‘Wrecking’ is a crime unknown in the Cornwall of our day. 1868M. Pattison Academ. Org. 3 Wrecking was no longer permitted by public morality. 1891C. Dawson Avonmore 46 Till drunk with wrecking's awful toil, Havoc will laugh and Ruin smile! 1940Construction Methods Apr. 110/2 Wrecking is, in reality, construction in reverse gear... At the Louisville, Ky. East End slum clearance project..there were approximately 480 buildings to wreck... The Cleveland Wrecking Co. has had many large contracts of this type. 1972Times 10 Mar. (Suppl.) p. ii/1 (Advt.), The most experienced firm in the U.K. in the wrecking of blast furnaces.
attrib.1885N. & Q. 6th Ser. XI. 428/1 The Wrecking system once practised on the English coasts.
2. concr. That which is wrecked; pl. wrecked remains.
1855Singleton Virgil I. 200 The more vigorously all will toil To mend the wreckings of a fallen race.
3. attrib., as wrecking company; wrecking ball, a large, heavy metal ball which, hung from a crane, may be swung into a building to demolish it; wrecking bar, an iron bar with one end chisel-shaped for prising and the other bent and split to form a claw.
1952Business Week 19 July 33/2 Instead of using a one-ton wrecking ball at the end of a 60-ft. beam, the building must be knocked down..with a 16-lb. sledge hammer. 1977Rolling Stone 21 Apr. 34/4 It's the laugh of a man who just watched a wrecking ball smash his house to splinters so a new freeway could go through. 1984New Yorker 20 Feb. 50/2 The wrecking ball bursts through the wall with the bookshelves, scattering the works of famous authors.
1924Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 148. 866/3 Wrecking Bars. Forged steel 24-inch, 30c. 1947Construction Methods Mar. 88/2 To minimize damage to material during removal, the contractor developed his own tools as supplements to the standard wrecking bar and claw hammer.
1940Wrecking company [see sense 1 above]. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 3 Apr. 7/1 A wrecking company recently signed a contract to level all 30 of the remaining 11-story buildings.
▪ II. ˈwrecking, vbl. n.2 Amer.
[f. wreck n.1 3.]
1. The action or business of salvaging a wreck or wrecks.
1804[see 2]. 1868H. D. Grant Rep. Wrecking in Bahamas 35 Wrecking has become a regular vocation for considerable portion of the population. 1969Sydney Morning Herald 24 May 63/2 (Advt.), Jaguars, wrecking now. Continually dismantling 2·4, 3·4 and 3·8.
2. a. attrib., esp. in sense ‘used for, or in connexion with, relating to, salvaging wreck’, as wrecking car, wrecking crane, wrecking outfit, wrecking pump, wrecking train; also wrecking law, wrecking operation.
1804M'Kinnon Tour West Indies ix. 144 Effecting an immediate escape in a wrecking-vessel from this wild and inhospitable spot. 1868H. D. Grant Rep. Wrecking in Bahamas 36 Copies of abstract of the wrecking laws. Ibid. 62 The harbour-master.., who formerly commanded a wrecker and now owns licensed wrecking vessels. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 644/1 Fairbairn's traveling-crane..is adapted for a wrecking-crane for railroad use. Ibid. 2821/1 Wrecking-car, one carrying devices for removing obstructions from the track, such as wrecked cars or locomotives. Ibid., 2821/2 Wrecking-pump, a steam-pump specially designed for pumping the water out of bilged or sunken vessels, in order to raise them. 1891Harper's Weekly 19 Sept. 914/2 A wrecking train soon removed the débris. 1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 68 The wrecking outfit should be immediately available. Ibid., Wrecking operations.
b. In sense ‘engaged in salvaging wreck or wrecks’, as wrecking company, wrecking crew, wrecking expedition.
1851Rovings in Pacific I. 149 Bound on a wrecking Expedition. 1878B. Harte Man on Beach 33 A wrecking crew of curlew hastily manned the uprooted tree that tossed wearily beyond the bar. 1891in Leeds Mercury 19 Sept. 12 Captain Merritt, of the Merritt Wrecking Company. 1939[see out-city a.]. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. 32/2 (Advt.), Well established wrecking business with living quarters on large lot fronting on Napanee River.
▪ III. wrecking
obs. errron. var. racking vbl. n.3 1.
1776G. Semple Building in Water 128 That the Timber..be both firmly spliced and bolted together, to prevent their wrecking, swagging or dislocating.
▪ IV. ˈwrecking, ppl. a.
[f. wreck v.1 + -ing2.]
1. That wrecks; causing wreck, ruin, or destruction; destructive. wrecking amendment (Pol.), one designed to defeat the purpose of the bill concerned.
a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1686 III. 228 [Industry] is in itself..satisfactory; as freeing our mind from distraction, and wrecking irresolution. 1809Malkin Gil Blas xii. ix. ⁋4 The wrecking fury of the storm. 1880R. Bridges Shorter Poems Wks. (1912) 275 The moon, That poured her midnight noon Upon his wrecking sea. 1893Westm. Gaz. 9 Feb. 7/2 Playing a wrecking game towards the present Government. 1967M. Pinto-Duschinsky Polit. Thought of Lord Salisbury vii. 145 Its very moderation led directly to the passing of a wrecking amendment by Lord John Russell, who favoured a different and much more far-reaching measure. 1979H. Wilson Final Term ix. 189 Again the Conservatives, with considerable Labour support, moved ‘wrecking’ or near-wrecking amendments.
2. Going to wreck; becoming wrecked.
1903S. E. White Forest viii, A man..scaled the face of the moving jam, and reached the top just as the two sections ground together with the brutish noise of wrecking timbers. |