| 释义 |
ˈpowerhouse
Also power-house.
[f. power n.1 + house n.1]
1. A building in which power is produced on a large scale for driving machinery or for generating electricity for distribution.
Quot. 1881 refers to a building containing steam engines for pumping water.
1881Harper's Mag. Mar. 597/1 He found himself in the end at that ‘Power House’ of which he had heard..for many a year. 1890Cent. Dict., Power-house,..a building especially provided to contain the prime motor or motors from which power is conveyed to the driven machinery. 1895Westm. Gaz. 4 Sept. 3/3 It is intended to supply a large proportion of power from a great power-house where electricity is generated. 1901Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 206/1 In the centre of the power-house there is a raised desk, upon which are a series of press-buttons or keys. 1922Joyce Ulysses 238 The whirr of flapping leathern bands and hum of dynamos from the powerhouse urged Stephen to be on. 1922D. H. Lawrence England, my England 175 Tall, ruined power-houses of tin-mines loomed in the darkness. 1964Linsley & Franzini Water Resources Engin. xvi. 459 One of the world's largest underground plants is the Kemano powerhouse in Canada which has a generating capacity of 1,670,000 kw under a head of 2592 ft.
2. fig.
a. A source of energy or inspiration; a strong person or animal; also a powerful group of people, e.g. a sports team. Also attrib.
1915P. Geddes Cities in Evolution xiii. 312 Before long, then, the School of Civics..must become a familiar institution in every city, with its civic library in rapid growth and widening use, and all as a veritable power⁓house of civic thought and action. 1916J. Buchan (title) The power-house. 1941Sat. Even. Post 1 Feb. 54/3 A thresher is one of the few powerhouses in the shark family. 1941Time (Air Exp. Ed.) 15 Sept. 25/3 In the final, Powerhouse Kovacs was too much for Riggs in the first set, 7–5. 1943Amer. Speech XVIII. 105 A hard hitter is known as a distance hitter, power house, power hitter, slugger, or heavy sticker. 1943Sun (Baltimore) 20 Sept. 14/5 In the first two Saturdays of the young football season,..the mid-West and Duke again have their power-house elevens. 1952N.Y. World-Telegram & Sun 29 Sept. 16/3 Michigan State, Maryland and Georgia Tech were supposed powerhouses. 1961Ann. Reg. 1960 423 There continued to be no national powerhouse for [drama]. 1970Nature 6 June 982/1 Although almost unreadable, it is a powerhouse of condensed factual information. 1974E. Tidyman Dummy iii. 33 Strong? Jesus, yes. Not big, but a powerhouse. 1979Harvard Mag. May–June 41 In 1972 the M.I.T. team, which had become the real powerhouse, somehow convinced the student government to give them $2,000 to go to England to play the English champions.
b. A strong hand in a card-game.
1932Amer. Speech VII. 335 Power house, a very strong card hand. 1953G. S. Coffin Acol & New Point Count 34 The two clubs opening in Acol shows a rare powerhouse, the kind of hand you may expect to hold about once a month. 1958Listener 11 Dec. 1012/2 A freak distribution resulted in South's power-house being useless against Four Spades doubled. 1967P. Anderton Play Bridge iv. 28 An opening bid of 2 C. is reserved for the power⁓house and is forcing to game.
3. Applied attrib. or as quasi-adj. to loud or forceful popular music or performers of such music.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §578/10 Powerhouse coda, a strong finale. 1946R. Blesh Shining Trumpets xii. 282 The hot-riff band is called in musicians' parlance a powerhouse band. 1952B. Ulanov Hist. Jazz in Amer. (1958) xiv. 163 His brass was beginning to sound like the powerhouse sections of the swing bands. 1955P. Rossiter in A. J. McCarthy Jazzbook 1955 50 The first important revivalist group was formed..in the early 'forties..led by..Lu Watters... The approach was powerhouse with a two trumpet, trombone and clarinet front line. 1968Blues Unlimited Sept. 26 The powerhouse singing of types like Blind Roosevelt Graves. 1975New Yorker 19 May 8/2 (Advt.), Power⁓house drummer Elvin Jones finishes up with his quintet on Sunday. 1976Leicester Trader 24 Nov. 4/7 Argent's powerhouse rhythm section..have joined with John Verity who saw out the last days with the old band. |