| 释义 |
missile, a. and n.|ˈmɪsaɪl, ˈmɪsɪl|
Also 7 -il(l, -al.
[ad. L. missilis (neut. sing. missile as n., missile weapon), f. miss-, ppl. stem of mittĕre to send: see -ile. In OFr., Godefroy cites missiles dardz, and Cotgr. has feu missile, ‘a squib, or other fire-worke throwne’.]
A. adj.
a. Capable of being thrown; adapted to be discharged from the hand or from a machine or engine: chiefly in missile weapon.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvi. (1623) 840 Women and children assaill the English from their windowes with all sorts of missill things. 1627May Lucan iii. 505 The Greeks missill weapons. a1711Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 313 The Pagans all the Traitors drave before, To shield them from the Anglians missile store. 1725Pope Odyss. ix. 183 We bend the bow, or wing the missile dart. 1817Keatinge Trav. II. 2 Every missile article being immediately laid hands on by them and showered on us. 1872E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. Introd. 13, The horseman..used his spears,..as missile weapons.
b. Applied to weapons that discharge arrows, bullets, or the like. rare.
1819Scott Ivanhoe xxx, Their long-bows, slings, and other missile weapons. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 371 To alter his missile weapon [sc. a gun] into a weapon with which he could encounter an enemy hand to hand.
c. transf. and fig.
1756Burke Subl. & B. Wks. 1808 I. 224 The porcupine with his missile quills. 1791Cowper Iliad xi. 325 With missile force of massy stones. 1813Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 227 Since the invention of gunpowder has armed the weak as well as the strong with missile death. 1864Swinburne Atalanta 60 But Meleager smote, and with no missile wound, the monstrous boar.
d. Zool. Applied to the filaments which Actinia bellis sends out on provocation.
1855Gosse Mar. Zool. i. 29 Actinia..destitute..of missile filaments. 1856Tugwell Man. Sea-Anemones 90.
B. n.
1. a. A missile object or weapon, as a stone discharged from a sling, an arrow, a bullet.
1656Blount Glossogr., Missil (missile), a dart, stone, arrow, or other thing thrown or shot. 1828–41Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 79 The missiles which they [sc. engines of war] threw consisted of leaden balls. 1829Scott Demonol. x. 377 Surprisingly quick at throwing stones, turf and other missiles. 1847Tennyson Princess Prol. 45 Some were whelm'd with missiles of the wall. 1897Frazer Pausanias I. 534 Despite the cross-fire of missiles and the bitter cold.
fig.1833I. Taylor Fanat. ii. 28 The word [fanaticism] is the favourite missile of that opprobrious contempt [etc.]. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. ix. (1878) 167 All my missiles of argument were lost.
b. Mil. A destructive projectile that during part or all of its course is self-propelling and directed by remote control or automatically.
1945(27 Aug.), etc. [see guided a. b]. 1945Sci. Amer. Nov. 283/3 Communications systems between air and ground making possible the most intricate maneuvers..by..pilotless missiles. 1946Aeroplane Spotter 1 June 128/1 A rocket-propelled missile carries its oxygen internally, whereas a jet-propelled missile takes in its oxygen from the atmosphere. 1954, etc. [see ballistic a. d]. 1956Newsweek 7 May 19/1 The ‘Nike B’ is designed as an antimissile missile as well as an improved version of the anti-aircraft ‘Nike’ weapons. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Feb. 79/2 Some of the smaller European members of N.A.T.O. have given notice that they will not allow American intermediate-range missiles to be stationed in their territory in time of peace. 1964Ann. Reg. 1963 221 Another factor may have been a realization that the arms race was becoming ruinously expensive, and..a partial test ban would prevent the United States from outpacing the U.S.S.R. in research on an anti-missile missile. 1973Sci. Amer. Nov. 27/2 Under the SALT I agreement the U.S.S.R. is allowed about 25 percent more offensive missiles than the U.S.
c. attrib. and Comb., as missile base, missile carrier, missile gap [gap n.1 6 a] missile silo, missile site, missile submarine; missile-armed, missile-firing, missile launching adjs.
1959Daily Tel. 20 May 10/2 The nuclear-powered, missile-armed submarine offers itself as the costly major strategic weapon of the future. 1969New Scientist 28 Aug. 421/2 The Royal Navy has only three fast patrol boats in service and none of these is missile-armed.
1956W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 329/1 Missile base. 1958Listener 3 July 7/2 The Soviet Union's aim is to attract Iceland out of the Nato alliance because she is fearful of the American missile bases there.
1957Economist 21 Dec. 1025/2 The wheels of the missile-carriers rumble towards Europe from east and west. 1958Listener 20 Feb. 303 The missile-firing nuclear-powered submarine will..prove the most potent form of nuclear attack in the future. 1959Economist 13 June 1020/2 The Air Force gets an additional $170 million to help close the ‘missile gap’. 1962Listener 19 Apr. 697/1 The passages on the ‘missile gap’ are a little dated, since Mr Kennedy has now told us that it scarcely ever existed.
1958New Statesman 2 May 600/1 A missile-launching site. 1965H. Kahn On Escalation vii. 141 The Soviets could increase pressure on us by simultaneously stationing missile-launching submarines or ships off our coasts, by sabotaging communications, [etc.]. 1967Economist 28 Oct. 371/1 Their programme includes planes and medium-range missile silos as well as three Polaris-type submarines. 1974Times 24 Oct. 6/8 Under the 1972 agreements the Soviet Union was allowed to have 1,618 operational land-based missile silos.
1949Aviation Week 21 Feb. 11/3 (heading) Defense chiefs ask guided missile site. 1962Listener 29 Mar. 553/1 On-site inspections of airfields and missile-sites.
1959New Statesman 3 Jan. 6/3 A similar sum, according to one estimate, will be needed for the 40 Polaris missile-submarines which the Navy says it requires. 1974L. Deighton Spy Story xii. 119 They'll have one missile submarine close enough to fire.
2. pl. = L. missilia, res missiles, largesse (consisting of sweets, perfumes, etc.) thrown by the Roman emperors to the people.
1606Holland Sueton. 183 Scattered also abroad there were for the people Missils, during the whole time of those Plaies. 1647A. Ross Mystag. Poet. vi. (1675) 126 The Romans were very lavish in their missals or larges at this solemnity. |