| 释义 |
left hand
Forms: (See left a. and hand.)
1. (See left a. 1.)
c1205Lay. 28047 Ich igrap mi sweord..mid mire leoft honde. a1300Cursor M. 28968 Þat þi left hand wijt noght for roos, þe almus þat þi right hand doos. 1340Ayenb. 196 Huanne þou dest elmesse ne wyte naȝt þi left hand huet deþ þi riȝt hand. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 229 [He] halt his bridel in his lift hand. c1450Mirour Saluacioun 3847 Vndere myne heved softly mot he lay his left hande. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxx. (1482) 245 Charlys leyde..his lift hond on the missale. 1581Mulcaster Positions xxxviii. (1887) 169 To vse the left hand, as well as the right. 1611Bible Matt. vi. 3. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Marriage, In Germany, they have a kind of marriage called morganatic, wherein a man of quality contracting with a woman of inferior rank, he gives her the left hand in lieu of the right. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 29 The French say that the English women have two left hands. 1879Browning Halbert & Hob 42 Right-hand with left-hand linked,—He faced his son submissive.
2. In phrases. on, to the left hand (of): on the left side (of), in the direction of the left side; also fig. to take the left hand (of): to place oneself on the left side (of). † to give (a person or thing) the left hand of friendship: to deal unfriendly with. to marry with the left hand, to contract a morganatic marriage with; hence a wife of the left hand (see quot. 1727–41 in 1); (a daughter) by the left hand, one born of such a marriage (in quot. used for ‘illegitimate’).
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 37 Þe get..an ure louerd ihesu cristes lift hond. a1300Cursor M. 6323 On his left hand loked he. c1300Ibid. 23042 (Edin.) Þe wik in tuin on his lef hand. c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. xl. 110 Þou art impugned on þe riȝt honde & on þe lifte honde. c1483Caxton Dialogues ix. 49 A le main senestre, on the lyfte honde. 1502Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) iii. iii. 145 Unto theym the whiche shall be on the lyfte hande. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 21 And neyther declyneth on the ryght hande,..ne on y⊇ lefte hande. c1585R. Browne Answ. Cartwright 1 Some being enemies will giue it their left hande of friendshippe. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 820 On the right and left hand of Dariene are found twenty Rivers, which yeelde Gold. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. 203 The Figures to the left hand signifie Leagues in this Journal, or Miles. c1720Mist's Weekly Jrnl. (1722) I. 252 When once a Man has been any Time on the left Hand of Gain, it must be [etc.]. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 237 On the left-hand..is the mountain of Rochemelon. 1762Goldsm. Cit. W. lxxii, He would take the left hand at feasts. 1778C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 75 Place of every Suit in your Hand the worst of it to the Left-hand. 1788C. Reeve Exiles II. 196 She is only my wife of the left hand. 1818J. W. Croker Jrnl. 7 Dec. in C. Papers (1884) I. iv. 122 The Prince certainly married Mrs. Fitzherbert with the left hand. 1883Ld. R. Gower My Remin. II. xxx. 337 One of the Grand Monarque's daughters by the left hand married a Duc de Chevreuse.
3. attrib. (usually hyphened left-hand) passing into adj., chiefly signifying ‘placed or situated on the left side’, or ‘taking the direction towards the left side’, occas. also ‘ill-omened’, ‘sinister’, ‘underhand’, ‘inferior’. Also in special collocations: left-hand blow, one delivered with the left hand; left-hand drive, a (motor vehicle) steering system with the steering wheel and other controls fitted on the left side; also, such a vehicle; hence left-hand driving; left-hand man, † (a) a left-handed man; (b) one who has his place at one's left; left-hand marriage = marriage with the left hand (see 2); so left-hand wife, left hand queen; left-hand rope, rope laid up and twisted ‘against the sun’; † left-hand tongue, a language written from right to left, as Hebrew or Arabic.
c1440Promp. Parv. 293/2 Left hande man [MSS. K and S (a 1485) left handid man], mancinus. c1450Mirour Saluacioun 2771 Like to the lefthande thefe. 1586W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 74 Oft did a left hand crow foretell these thinges in her hull tree [tr. Virg. Ecl. i. 18 sinistra..cornix]. 1598Rowlands in Farr S.P. Eliz. (1845) II. 352 A little from that place Vpon the left-hand side. a1632Sir J. Whitelocke Liber Famelicus (Camden) 13 An obscure..man..but expert in all the lefthand tongs, as hebrew [etc.]. 1635Quarles Embl. iv. iv. 197 If left-hand Fortune give thee left-hand chances, Be wisely patient. 1650Baxter Saints' R. iii. vi. §26 (1651) 127 God..hath given them the very cream and quintessence of his blessing, when the rest of the world are..put off with common, and temporal, and left-hand-Mercies. 1664Flodden F. v. 46 Then next the Left-hand wing did wield Sir M. C. old. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. 202 Put down the Title of the Voyage, over the left-hand Page. 1683Tryon Way to Health xix. (1697) 429 Most Men inclining to the left-hand way, are thereby precipitated into all Vncleanness. 1687Dryden Hind & P. i. 353 Then by a left-hand marriage [he] weds the dame. 1711S. Sewall Dairy 9 Feb. (1879) II. 300 His place at the Council Board..will hardly be filled up. I have lost a good Left-hand man. 17..Burns Epitaph Holy Willie i, His saul has taen some other way, I fear the left-hand road. 1818J. W. Croker Jrnl. 7 Dec. in C. Papers (1884) I. iv. 123 The lady..affected..scruples, which the left-hand marriage..silenced. 1828J. H. Moore Pract. Navig. (ed. 20) 173 Find..the given latitude in the left-hand column. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 117 For a long time we kept at the left-hand side of the glacier. 1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus xii. 2 Left-hand practices o'er the merry wine-cup. 1872Lever Ld. Kilgobbin lxvii, Regrets that beset us for not having taken the left-hand road in life instead of the right. 1894F. M. Elliot Rom. Gossip iv. 127 The beautiful villa..where lived his left-hand queen. 1913A. L. Clough Dict. Automobile Terms 187 Left⁓hand Drive. 1931N.Y. Times 19 July ix. 8/8 It was not..until 1909 that left-hand drive and centre control were introduced, reputedly by Henry Ford. 1933P. MacDonald Mystery of Dead Police vii. 51 Its a left⁓hand drive. 1956Collier's Year-Bk. 670/1 Sweden is the only Scandinavian country with left-hand driving, and the desirability of changing to right-hand driving has been discussed off and on for many years. 1966J. Weatherhead Force of Innocence iv. 28, I was finding my left⁓hand drive difficult in London. 1975Guardian 20 Jan. 7/3 All this year's production will be left-hand drive.
Add:[3.] (Fleming's) left-hand rule Physics, a mnemonic (proposed by J. A. Fleming (1849–1945), English electrical engineer), concerning the behaviour of a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field, according to which the directions of the magnetic field, the current, and the force exerted on the conductor are indicated respectively by the first finger, second finger, and thumb of the left hand when these are held out perpendicular to each other.
1923H. Moore Textbk. Intermediate Physics lxx. 713 The field is then represented by the forefinger, and the current by the second finger, while the thumb points along the direction of the force acting on the conductor. This is known as Fleming's Left-hand Rule. 1934I. M. Freeman tr. Joos's Theoret. Physics xv. 296 The current in the segment, the magnetic field, and the ponderomotive force must form a right-handed orthogonal system in this order (Fleming's left-hand rule). 1947Sci. News IV. 117 If cosmic rays are influenced by a magnetic field, they must have a charge. Is it positive or negative? We apply the well-known Left Hand rule. 1980J. W. Hill Intermediate Physics xx. 193 The motion can be worked out using the left-hand rule when the direction of the magnetic field and the current are known. |