| 释义 |
▪ I. zigzag, n., a., adv.|ˈzɪgzæg|
Also as two words or with hyphen; also 8 zic-zac, zigzac(k, ziczag.
[ad. F. zigzag (1680 in Hatz.-Darm.); ultimate origin unknown; partly symbolic, the two different vowels suggesting the two different directions. Cf. G. zickzack (Sperander, 1727), said to be first used of fortifications (sense 3 a).]
A. n.
1. a. A series of short lines inclined at angles in alternate directions; a line or course having sharp turns of this kind; concr. something characterized by such lines or turns. Orig. in phr. in zigzag (= F. en zigzag).
1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 42 Steps of Grass laid in Zic-Zac [Note, The French call this an Allée en Zic-Zac, for its Likeness to a Machine so called]. Ibid. 215 Chevrons, or Checks of Grass in Zig-Zac. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Alley, An Alley in Ziczac, is that which has too great a Descent. 1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 139 The larger tubercles placed in zig-zag. 1892E. Reeves Homeward Bound 299 Entering by the beautiful Gate of Justice, and winding in zigzag through the thickness of the tower.
1766Colman & Garrick Cland. Marr. ii. ii, Here's none of your strait lines here—but all taste—zig-zag—crinkum crankum—in and out. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 235 Twisted into a serpent, or bent into a zig-zag. 1856Merivale Rom. Emp. xl. IV. 495 The other [road] was practicable for carriages, and for this purpose was made to climb the acclivity with a zigzag. 1871Nesbitt Catal. Slade Coll. Glass 6 Terminating with a turquoise zig-zag. 1880Meredith Tragic Com. xi, Dashing his finger in a fiery zig-zag along the line for her pen to follow. 1884Ruskin Pleas. Eng. iii. §87. (1885) 121 The hieroglyphic use of the zigzag, for water, by the Egyptians.
b. Each of such lines or turns: chiefly in pl.
1728Pope Dunc. i. 124 Nonsense precipitate, like running Lead, That slipp'd thro' Cracks and Zig-zags of the Head. 1775Twiss Trav. Port. & Sp. 64 A winding road, which forms thirteen zig-zags. 1833L. Ritchie Wand. Loire 182 A cap, laced and ribanded in all manner of zig-zags. a1861Clough Poems, Ite Domum Saturae 11 The lightning zigzags shoot across the sky. 1865G. Macdonald Alec Forbes lxxiv, The button made many a zigzag from side to side of the table. 1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 742 The grand curve of growth..does not assume the form of a continuous curve, but shows a number of small zigzags.
c. fig.
1781Cowper Conversation 861 Though such continual zig⁓zags in a book, Such drunken reelings, have an awkward look. 1796Burke Regic. Peace ii. Wks. 1842 II. 311 The fanaticks going straight forward and openly, the politicians by the surer mode of zigzag. 1815Jane Austen Emma xv, The little zigzags of embarrassment. 1913Roosevelt Autobiogr. 579 Our policy is apt to go in zigzags, because different sections of our people exercise at different times unequal pressure on our government.
2. A road or path turning sharply at angles in alternate directions, esp. so as to reduce the gradient on a steep slope; each of the sharp turns forming such a road.
1728Swift My Lady's Lam. 184 How proudly he talks Of zigzags and walks. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs vi, I thread the doubtful zig-zags of Mayfair. 1855Alford in Life (1873) 250 Up the valley of the Adour to Arreau, a village approached by zigzags. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xiii, Many years before the Zig Zag [sc. railway in New South Wales] was chopped out of the sidelings.
3. Applied spec. to other things of a zigzag shape.
a. Fortif. A trench leading towards a besieged place, constructed in a zigzag direction so as not to be enfiladed by the defenders; a boyau.
b. Archit. A chevron-moulding.
c. Fisheries. (See quot.)
a.1733Budgell Bee IV. 67 A Battery began in the Morning to play upon the Cavalier of the Bastion Ghiera; the Night following the Zic-zacs were continued. 1834–47J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. (1851) 239 The zig-zags may often require a greater relief than the parallels.
b.1814Scott Border Antiq. I. 59 The dancette, as the figure is termed in heraldry, or zig-zag. 1826W. A. Miles Deverel Barrow 4 The chevron or zig zag, that favorite British ornament so prominent in Egyptian remains. 1884Ruskin Pleas. Eng. iii. §87. (1885) 119 The Norman zigzag.
c.1875Knight Dict. Mech., Zigzag, a winding chute on the face of a dam to enable fish to ascend.
4. Collectors' name for a shell, or a moth, with zigzag marking.
1815S. Brookes Conchol. 157 Zigzag, Cypræa Ziczac.
5. (Zig(-)Zag.) A proprietary name for cigarette paper.
1909Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 14 Dec. 594/1 Braunstein & Cie, Paris... Zig Zag... Cigarette-paper. 1927Trade Marks Jrnl. 13 Apr. 675 Zig-zag No. 114... Cigarette papers. Société anonyme des anciens Établissements Braustein Frères.., Paris. 1968Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) Fall 52 Zig-zag, paper of high quality which is commonly used in rolling marijuana. 1977C. McFadden Serial (1978) xxx. 67/1 She stuffed her..Zig Zags back into her purse.
6. attrib., as zigzag machine, a sewing machine with a swing needle that may be used to produce a zigzag stitch and decorative stitches derived from it.
[1950Vogue Pattern Book Apr.–May 81/2 It was Pfaff that developed the famous Zig-Zag Model 130.] 1952Consumers' Res. Bull. Sept. 11/1 All the zig-zag machines but one..were heavy. 1963Which? June 165/2 For plain zig zag machines, the width of the stitch limits the range of patterns they can make. 1978Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. d14 (Advt.), Fashionmate zig zag machine featuring our front drop-in bobbin.
B. adj.
1. a. Having the form of a zigzag; turning sharply at angles in alternate directions; characterized by turns of this kind.
1750Dobbs in Phil. Trans. XLVI. 543 Striking it with a wriggling Motion from Side to Side, in a zigzag Way. 1767Hamilton ibid. LVIII. 11 Flashes of forked, or zig-zag lightning. 1784Cowper Task ii. 364 He..transforms old print To zig-zag manuscript. 1792Wordsw. Descrip. Sketches 236 Up from the lake a zigzag path will creep. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz, River, Away jogs the boat in a zig⁓zag direction. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 11 A kind of zigzag channel had been worn on the side of the mountain.
fig.1798Mathias Purs. Lit. (ed. 7) 327 Be regular: from A to B proceed; I hate your zig-zag verse, and wanton heed. 1861J. Pycroft Ways & Words 192 The old joke of the zigzag jury who said ‘Guilty’ and ‘Not guilty’ alternately, all through the assizes. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. vi. 145 All the brood of zig-zag politicians. 1897Goschen in Hansard's Parl. Deb. XLVII. 597 Our policy is to have as little of the zigzag policy..as possible.
b. Archit. Applied to a moulding or other ornament of a zigzag pattern: cf. A. 3 b.
c1765Gray Let. to Bentham Wks. 1825 II. 286 The chevron-work (or zig-zag moulding). 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 136 Channels in various forms, some plain zigzag, some like network, and some spiral. 1840C. Wordsw. Greece 58 Columns of green basalt, with fantastic zigzag ornaments.
c. Bot. Applied to the stem of a plant, or to a plant having such a stem.
1796Martyn Lang. Bot. (ed. 2), Zigzag, used by some English writers for Flexuose. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 579 Zigzag Ladies smock. 1819Rees Cycl., Zigzag Trefoil,..a term sometimes applied by farmers to the perennial red clover, marl grass, or wild red clover.
2. Having zigzag markings. (Chiefly Nat. Hist.)
1785Latham Gen. Syn. Birds V. 61 Zigzag Bittern. 1796Nemnich Polygl.-Lex. 946 Zigzag chama, Venus castrensis.
3. Mil. slang (chiefly U.S.). Drunk.
1918Hamilton & Corbin Echoes from over There (1919) 125 He got a trifle zig-zag. 1919W. H. Downing Digger Dialects 54 Zig-zag, drunk. 1923E. Paul Impromtu 149 He groped and floundered..not completely ‘zigzag’. 1930Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang Brit. Soldier 181 Zig-zag, drunk. 1961Times 27 Apr. 17/2 What is that to a nation which uses some 400 synonyms for ‘drunk’—from ‘all geezed up’ to ‘zig-zag’?
4. Comb., as zigzag-shaped adj.; zigzag fashion, zigzag-wise quasi-advbs.; zigzag connection Electr. Engin., a form of star connection of three-phase circuits, each branch of which is interconnected and contains portions of two consecutive phases.
1758Goldsm. Mem. Protestant (1895) II. 149 A Way very commodious cut, Zigzag Fashion. 1846F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 236 The interline is zigzag shaped. 1877Huxley & Martin Elem. Biol. 26 Its joints are bent zig-zag-wise. 1922P. Kemp Alternating Current Electr. Engin. (ed. 2) xiii. 188 This affects the magnetising current and may result in an appreciable increase in iron loss owing to flux distortion, and to minimize this effect zig-zag connections are sometimes adopted. 1947R. Lee Electronic Transformers & Circuits iii. 47 Unbalanced direct current in the half-wave rectifiers requires larger transformers than in the full-wave rectifiers. This is partly overcome in three-phase transformers by the use of zigzag connections.
C. adv. In a zigzag manner or direction.
c1730Burt Lett. N. Scot. (1754) II. 132 It is almost incredible..how nimbly they skip,..turning Zic Zac to such Places as are passable. 1764Veicht in Phil. Trans. LIV. 287 The lightening is observed to run not in strait line, but zig zag. 1846Greener Sci. Gunnery 244 When he ignites a rocket, it may go straight forward, or zig-zag. 1862Beveridge Hist. India III. viii. iv. 374 The road..led zig⁓zag up the side of a precipitous mountain.
▪ II. ˈzigzag, v.
[f. prec. Cf. F. zigzaguer.]
1. a. intr. To go or move in a zigzag course; to have a zigzag course or direction. Also quasi-trans., to zigzag it, to zigzag one's way.
1787Burns Let. to J. Richmond 7 July, His horse..zig⁓zagged across before my old spavined hunter. 1792T. Twining in Recr. & Stud. (1882) 163 We..zigzagged up to the very top. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life xviii. Miseries Trav. xix, The surprising range of rocks, zigzagging away in all directions. 1812Colman Br. Grins, Lady of Wreck ii. xxvi, He had zigzagged many a league. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. ii, He managed to..zigzag down Kennington reach..with much labour. 1897Jacobs Skipper's Wooing iii, He..zigzagged his way back to the ship.
fig. [1787Burns Let. to Earl Buchan Feb., While I was chalking out to you the straight way to wealth and character, with audacious effrontery you have zigzagged across the path.] 1825Southey in Corr. w. C. Bowles (1881) 78 Not following the natural course of thought and feeling,..but zig-zagging after the rhyme. 1825Hor. Smith Gaieties & Grav. II. 245 The red and black had zig-zagged, or won alternately for fourteen times. 1901G. Douglas House with Gr. Shut. xxiii, His courage zigzagged,..one moment he towered in imagination, the next he grovelled in fear.
b. Of a sewing-machine: to make zigzag stitches.
1950Consumer Rep. May 212/1 The Necchis [sc. sewing-machines] which zigzagged were inferior to the..Necchis which didn't. 1956Sears, Roebuck Catal. Fall–Winter 1068/1 Whether you want to embroider..zig-zag or sew a straight seam, you'll find the ‘84’ unsurpassed. 1976Woman's Weekly 6 Nov. 68/2 (Advt.) It's a pocket-size sewing machine which you hold in one hand—that sews, bastes, hems, zig-zags, sews on buttons and even zippers.
2. a. trans. To give a zigzag form to; to trace a zigzag line upon. Chiefly in pa. pple.; see also zigzagged a.
1777Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4) IV. 98 White zigzagged with ferruginous edges crenulated. 1872Howells Wedd. Journ. iii, The breast of the black cloud was now zigzagged..by lightning. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 65 Its lateral margin..toothed and zigzagged by the outgrowth of conically elongated cells.
b. To traverse in a zigzag manner.
1930Bird & Ryan Recall Public Officers 42 He literally zigzagged the whole tremendous territory, visiting almost every hamlet. 1978J. Wainwright Ripple of Murders 78 The vans..zig-zagged the near-deserted streets.
3. To cause to move in a zigzag direction; refl. = 1.
1821Clare Vill. Minstrel I. 115, I oft zigzag me round Thy uneven, heathy ground. 1889Gretton Mem. Harkb. 49 To see him zigzag his large body through the mob from the vestry to the pulpit.
Hence ˈzigzagging vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1827Southey Let. to Mrs. Hughes 31 Dec., The zigzaging which it would be necessary to make in stage-coaches. 1861E. T. Holland in Peaks, Passes, etc. Ser. ii. (1862) I. 85 We..climbed a steep zigzagging ascent up the ridge. 1870Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 14 One of these zigzagging blurs [sc. humming birds] came purring toward me. 1872O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. viii, These zigzagging minds. 1893Athenæum 15 July 90/1 The irritating task of zig⁓zagging through her volumes. |