| 释义 |
life-preserver
1. One who preserves life.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 234 The Doctors are nam'd Hackeems (it may be radically from the Hebrew word Hachajim, that is, a life-preserver).
2. A life-buoy, life-belt, or other contrivance used in saving life at sea.
1804Naval Chron. XII. 189 The plan of the ‘Life Preserver’ here mentioned is borrowed from that of Commissary Bosquet. 1825Hood Ode to Mr. Dymoke, Nor would even the best of his earthly inventions, ‘Life preservers’, have floated him out of this gore. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. ii. (1859) 18 Taking..a life-preserver, I ventured into one of the little canoes.
3. A stick or bludgeon loaded with lead, intended for self-defence. Often referred to as a frequent weapon of burglars.
1837Ann. Reg. 11 The prisoner was given in charge to the police, a life-preserver having been found upon him. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 1056 Life-preservers, of whale-bone and cane, covered with leather. 1887Spectator 26 Feb. 285/1 When a burglar is armed with a bludgeon or a life-preserver.
4. transf. and fig.
1851London at Table i. 8 The ‘life preserver’, as the half-pint bottle has been termed. 1852Geo. Eliot Let. 27 Mar. (1954) II. 15 Your cordial assurance..is one of those pleasant things—those life-preservers—which relenting destiny sends me now and then to buoy me up. 1941J. Smiley Hash House Lingo 35 Life preservers, doughnuts. 1953Manch. Guardian Weekly 14 May 11 Chambers admits that..he was busy preparing a ‘life preserver’ in the form of stolen documents he could use later to silence anyone who might rat on him. |