| 释义 |
neon|ˈniːɒn|
[Gr. νέον neut. of νέος new.]
1. Chem. One of the inert or noble gases, which is present in low concentration in the earth's atmosphere and is used at low pressure in discharge tubes, where it emits an orange-red glow. Atomic number 10; symbol Ne.
1898Sir W. Ramsay & Travers in Proc. Roy. Soc. 438 The density of this gas, which we propose to name ‘neon’ (new) was next determined. 1905Chem. News 5 May 204/1 A fair quantity of the mixture of neon and helium was prepared by liquefying air. 1935Industr. & Engin. Chem. Jan. 116/1 Neon is characterized by its high electrical conductivity and light-emissive powers when an electrical current is discharged through it. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. IX. 36/1 Neon is used as the current-carrying agent in lightning arrestors; virtually no current is carried at voltages below the breakdown potential of the neon, but when lightning strikes, the neon is ionized and allows the current to flow to ground. 1966Cotton & Wilkinson Adv. Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xxiii. 598 Helium, neon and argon have so far not been brought into chemical combination..and it seems unlikely that they are capable of reaction.
2. A neon lamp or tube; neon lighting. Also fig.
1934S. Gold Neon 18 Whilst the customer may want his name expressed in neon and surrounded by a border, it is up to the sign-man to supply it with ‘finish’. 1957J. Braine Room at Top vi. 54 Too clean and well-lighted. They'll be installing neons soon. 1958Spectator 30 May 687/3 The dialogue [of a play] is stuffed as full of metaphors as a copywriter's prose and Tony Richardson's production sets up each phrase in neon. 1969A. Glyn Dragon Variation v. 162 To the left it was the glare of the rest of the Strip, the great river of neon, the jazziest in the world. 1974R. Butler Buffalo Hook iii. 26 The neons were flashing over the plushy restaurants.
3. attrib. and Comb., as neon advertisement, neon glow, neon lighting, neon strip, neon wilderness, neon world; neon-blazing, neon-bright, neon-coupled, neon-filled, neon-lighted, neon-lit adjs.
1972D. Haston In High Places iv. 57 There was a neon advertisement by the entrance.
1962K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xxvii. 206 The city's wide, neon-blazing Sunset Strip.
1958Spectator 25 July 133/3 A neon-bright café.
1946Nature 21 Sept. 414/1 The rectified signal from the second detector was amplified by a neon-coupled two-stage d.c. amplifier.
1935Miller & Fink Neon Signs iii. 37 (caption) Relative light energy from a neon-filled tube. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. IX. 36/1 A very small wattage produces visible light in neon-filled glow lamps.
1935Miller & Fink Neon Signs iii. 37 Why is it, then, that the neon glow has such a powerful effect? 1945A. Huxley Time must have Stop xxx. 276 The neon glow from those technological New Jerusalems beyond the horizons of the next revolution.
1936C. Rouse Old Towns i. 21 Inside, a neon-lighted glass sign directs you to ‘Ye olde Beamed Tudor Cocktail Bar’. 1954Encounter Feb. 37/2 It begins, in the West, with the neon-lighted brilliance of the Kurfürstendamm.
1913Trans. Illum. Engin. Soc. (U.S.) 371 (heading) Neon lighting. 1933Times 5 Dec. (Electricity Supply Number) p. xxiii/7 Neon lighting can be seen in almost every town of any size in the country. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Jan. 63/2 His wrath is only excited by the Subtopia, the neon lighting, the petrol fumes, the ‘soulless concrete’ of our time.
1954Neon-lit [see aspirin]. 1958Spectator 14 Feb. 197/1 The actress, the best-selling author, or the famous film star who..remain tragically single, trapped in their own accursed, neon-lit achievement. 1972R. Busby Reasonable Man iii. 24 They left the car outside the store and went..into the brash, neon-lit interior.
1939‘J. Struther’ Mrs. Miniver 243 This part of the town was almost unrecognizable—a street of angular lettering and neon strips. 1973‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder xiii. 149 Over the dressing chest a neon strip shone down on jars and bottles.
1953Encounter Nov. 8/1 The neon wilderness of noise and music, fun and sin, boredom and high, desperate spirits.
1959Listener 10 Dec. 1048/3 The American neon-wilderness. 1959New Statesman 28 Feb. 302/3 Living in a neon-world of semi-legality, its leadership organises conferences and ‘stay-at-homes’ as if keeping the government informed about its intentions was a rule in the revolutionary game.
b. Special Comb.: neon fish = neon tetra; neon lamp, light, a lamp in which an electric discharge is passed through neon (giving an orange-red coloured light) or a mixture of neon with other gases (giving other colours); neon sign, a sign incorporating a neon light (usu. a neon tube), and often serving as an advertisement on a building; neon tetra, a small characin, Hyphessobrycon innesi, native to the Amazon, and remarkable for its colouring, which is dark green and white with a shining blue-green stripe; neon tube, a neon light in the form of a tube.
1938L. MacNeice Zoo 182 The tiniest fish here are the neon fish.
1911Chem. Abstr. V. 1024 In contradistinction to the Hg vapor lamp the neon lamp's light is rich in red rays. 1931B.B.C. Year-bk. 447/1 A special type of neon lamp is now used in television receivers to convert the electrical impulses back into light impulses, dependent for its action on a linear relation between light response and applied electrical potential and on an absence of time-lag. 1940L. MacNeice Last Ditch 15 And the neon-lamps of London Stain the canals of night. 1966Ainsworth & Robinson in Hewitt & Vause Lamps & Lighting xix. 309 Neon lamps using the positive column as the light source do exist however, the conventional ‘neon lamps’ used in advertising displays being of this type.
1913Trans. Illum. Engin. Soc. (U.S.) 376 The neon light is physiologically excellent on account of its dull luminescence. 1931H. G. Wells Work, Wealth & Happiness of Mankind (1932) v. 211 This Neon light has great penetrating power in a fog. 1958J. Betjeman Coll. Poems 231 So up I rose and went along To that old village alehouse where In neon lights is written ‘Bear’. 1972J. Potter Going West 38 ‘Aloha’, the airport tower announced in neon lights... Aloha meant welcome.
1927Advertising & Selling 28 Dec. 34/3 Neon signs overcome the handicap of high first cost by lowered current consumption. 1934Times 19 Feb. 13/5 In two of our quiet residential streets flaring neon signs have been put up to announce that the houses on which they are placed are hotels. 1958J. Betjeman Coll. Poems 232 The neon sign's a work of art and visible for miles. 1973Black World Mar. 62 Pulsating rock music seemed to control the flashing neon signs.
1936W. T. Innes in Aquarium V. 82/2 The recent feat of bringing some wonderful new Characins, Neon Tetras (Hyphessobrycon innesi Myers), from Germany to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago..in less than 60 hours. Ibid. 135/2 Regarding the Neon fishes... Four of these fishes were dead when the airship arrived... The red coloring from the fishes had made bright red blotches on the paper. Ibid. 136/2 The very good descriptive popular name for the fish, ‘Neon Tetra’ or ‘Neontet’ was originated by M. Lepaut, of Paris... The name is so fitting that Mr. Lew Willumsen, on seeing the new importation, independently hit upon the same name for them. 1952D. Gohm Tropical Fish 100 The Neon Tetra is generally regarded as the most beautiful of all aquarium fish. 1962Listener 22 Nov. 852/2 One [sc. tropical fish] which seemed to be lit up by a greenish blue light running from his head to his tail—this was a neon tetra. 1971Ceylon Observer Mag. Ed. (Colombo) 19 Sept. 2/6 (Advt.), Goldfish, Angelfish, Neontetras.
1904Electr. World & Engin. XLII. 583/2 The wavelength of the oscillator's vibration can..be measured by isolating a complete wave on the helix by means of a sliding earthed saddle using a neon tube as indicator. 1936Discovery Nov. 364/2 The manufacture, erection, and maintenance of all neon tubes for advertising and display purposes. 1945R. C. Walker Electronic Equipment & Accessories xi. 211 Fig. 187 shows an application of the neon tube as a voltage stabiliser in a valve-rectifier circuit. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 272 Stroboscopes work best with neon tubes.
Add:[3.] c. Passing into adj. Resembling a neon light in colour or brilliance; hence, bright, gaudy, glowing.
1961in Webster. 1977Blair & Ketchum's Country Jrnl. May 5/3 We will always cherish our memories of..hot nights around the pool under a neon sky. 1984M. Amis Money 93 Just then, a middle-aged, blow-dried villain..urged a neon redhead past our table. 1986Good Housekeeping Sept. 95/1 There are neon knits for bright sparks, cool classics for miniature purists—and plenty of sturdy knockabout pullovers. |