| 释义 |
▪ I. sabre, n.|ˈseɪbə(r)|
Also 8 sabir, 9– U.S. saber.
[a. F. sabre (17th c.), an unexplained alteration of sable (Oudin 1640: cf. Sp. sable) a. G. sabel (now säbel), whence sable n.3 The ultimate source is prob. to be sought in some Oriental language; forms with initial (ʃ) are found in Hungarian száblya (whence perh. It. sciabla, shable) and Polish szabla; the Russian sablya may be from German.]
1. a. A cavalry sword having a curved blade specially adapted for cutting.
1680Otway Orphan ii. iii. 514 With my good Sabir drawn..I..clove the Rebel to the Chine. 1697Lond. Gaz. No. 3291/1 The Chief Officers..came with their Sabres in their Hands. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest xii, He received himself the stroke of a sabre on his head. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. iii. (1879) 41 My companions were well armed with pistols and sabres. 1889Gunter That Frenchman x, Several pairs of foils, and sabers.
b. Put for: Military force; esp. in phr. to rattle the sabre.
1851Gallenga Italy 91 The Milanese were long since under the rule of the sabre. 1922, etc. [see sabre-rattling vbl. n. and ppl. adj., sense 4 a below]. 1928, etc. [see sabre-rattler, sense 4 a below]. 1949Western Folklore VIII. 112 To rattle the saber. To threaten military action. 1968Listener 29 Aug. 259/2 The antique apparatus of Soviet diplomacy complete with rattling sabres and dutiful crowd noises from the Warsaw satellites, was mobilised in the hope of strengthening the Old Guard in the Czechoslovak party. 1976Times 27 Jan. 1/3 At least a few Conservatives..doubt whether Mrs Thatcher was prudent to appear to rattle sabres and remind electors that women national leaders..have sometimes looked more warlike than men. 1978J. A. Michener Chesapeake 704 Orators from many southern states came north to excite voters against the dangers of black franchise, and sabers rattled as ancient battles were recalled.
c. In Fencing, a weapon with a flattened blade and blunted cutting edge, either curved or straight, lighter than the épée; the exercise of fencing with sabres.
[1880J. M. Waite Lessons in Sabre p. xi, I have had the honour of instructing the following Clubs in both Fencing and Sabre:—The London Fencing Club [etc.]. ]1910Encycl. Brit. X. 252/1 Just as the practice of the ‘small’ or thrusting sword gave rise to two rival schools, the French and the Italian, that of the sabre or cutting sword..became split up into two main systems, Italian and German. 1927L. Bertrand Cut & Thrust vi. 75 He was..a resplendent figure..waving..a light and fragile silver-plated sabre. 1935Encycl. Sports 531/1 In fencing with the sabre, the upper part of the body is the sole target, and the hits are made by cuts. 1952Fencing (‘Know the Game’ Ser.) 5 To hit at foil, épée and sabre, is to strike the opponent with the point of the sword so that it fixes clearly and distinctly and has a character of penetration. 1954R. Crosnier Fencing with Sabre i. 22 At sabre, the distance between two fencers is such that body or head cannot be hit when the opponent lunges fully. 1971I. Butykai tr. Lukovich's Electric Foil Fencing ii. 166 This is also in support of what is described above about the application in sabre of feints with the body. 1978G. Wright Illustr. Handbk. Sporting Terms 32 If, in foil and sabre, hits are equal, the bout continues until a deciding hit is landed. Ibid. 33 The ancestors of the sabre include the eastern sabre, the English broadsword, and the cavalry sabre.
2. A cavalry ‘unit’; a soldier armed with a sabre.
1829Napier Penins. War (1878) II. 484 General total,..56,239 sabres and bayonets in the field. 1895Sir E. Wood Cavalry Waterloo Campaign v. 120 Somerset's Heavy Brigade:—..Total paper strength 1,220 sabres.
3. An implement used for removing scum from the surface of molten glass.
1832G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 202 Removing with a broad copper sabre any scum that may have formed on the surface of the glass. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 590 The bucket is skimmed by means of a copper tool called a sabre.
4. a. attrib. and Comb., as sabre-fencer, sabre-fencing, sabre-play, sabre-player, sabre-stroke; sabre-cut, sabre-like, sabre-shaped adjs.; sabre-bayonet, a weapon which can be used either as a sabre or a bayonet; sabre-bill, a South American dendrocolaptine bird of the genus Xiphorhynchus; sabre-cut, (a) a blow with a sabre; (b) a cut or scar left by the stroke of a sabre; sabre-fish U.S., the cutlass-fish, Trichiurus lepturus; sabre leg (see quot. 1952); also attrib.; sabre-rattler, a reckless militarist; one who threatens violent action; sabre-rattling vbl. n., military aggression; threatening violent action; aggressive blustering; also as ppl. a.; sabre saw, a portable electric saw with a narrow reciprocating blade, used for cutting curves; sabre-wing, a humming-bird of the genus Campylopterus (and related genera).
1863T. E. C. Battlefields of the South I. 252 Many more were destroyed with the *sabre-bayonet when our men closed in upon them.
1859–62Sir J. Richardson, etc. Mus. Nat. Hist. 319 The Brazilian *Sabre-bill (Xiphorhynchus procurvus).
c1820S. Rogers Italy (1839) 216 On his wan cheek a *sabre-cut. 1828Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. 49 Against Justice and Constable, treadmill and stocks, the sabre-cut was a protection. 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. ii. vii, The captain..with his..sabre-cut cheek.
1952Fencing (‘Know the Game Ser.) 26 Modern *sabre fencers..have developed a technique when attacking, of directing the blade, changing its direction, and striking, by means of wrist actions and finger manipulation. 1954R. Crosnier Fencing with Sabre i. 28 Sabre fencers who have progressed in technique and sword control, acquire the ability to change their grip, slightly, when attacking or defending.
1927L. Bertrand Cut & Thrust vi. 77 The rules of *sabre-fencing are eminently practical. 1954R. Crosnier Fencing with Sabre 14 When reading this text-book, some may accuse me of having approached the subject of sabre fencing with the mind of a confirmed foilist. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 304/2 It is..necessary to have..a president to control the bout and award hits according to the rules and conventions applicable to sabre fencing.
1863Chamb. Encycl. V. 192/2 The Silvery Hair-tail..is called *Sabre-fish in Cuba. 1888Goode Amer. Fishes 255 The Cutlass-fish..is known..on the coast of Texas as ‘Sabre-fish’.
1952J. Gloag Short Dict. Furnit. 404 *Sabre leg, a hollow curved leg of rectangular section, so called because of its resemblance to the curve of a cavalry sabre. It was copied from the seats and thrones depicted on Greek and Roman vases, and was introduced towards the end of the 18th century. After 1815, it was sometimes called a Waterloo leg. In chairs of cheap quality the front edge is usually rounded. 1963Times 2 Mar. 5/4 A small walnut kneehole desk made {pstlg}220 (Quinney's), six sabre-leg Regency dining chairs {pstlg}160. 1974Country Life 5 Dec. (Suppl.) 78/2 A George III Sofa Table..with swept sabre legs.
1934Webster, *Saber-like. 1962D. Nichols Echinoderms i. 20 Machaeridia, bilaterally symmetrical worm-like remains with a skeleton of imbricating plates. Greek: ‘sabre-like’.
1880J. M. Waite Lessons in Sabre p. vi, The English method of *sabre play..could be considerably improved. 1927L. Bertrand Cut & Thrust vi. 81 In..observance of this maxim [sc. sciabola in mano] lies the alpha and omega of all sabre-play. 1954R. Crosnier Fencing with Sabre i. v. 26 The Hungarian principle..maintained that sabre play was a combination of finger-play and wrist work, conducive to light, rapid, and precise blade actions.
1880J. M. Waite Lessons in Sabre p. vi, *Sabre players, as a rule, have not been fencers, or at least have been fencers with trifling skill.
1928Daily Express 6 Dec. 5/2 There is no reason for supposing that the child Napoleon will grow up a *sabre-rattler. 1975Times Lit. Suppl. 6 June 625/4 When he [sc. Churchill] came to the rescue of Montagu in the stormy Amritsar debate, he incurred the disgust of the sabre-rattlers.
1922Weekly Dispatch 19 Nov. 8 A policy of adventure, *sabre-rattling, and reckless expenditure. 1928Observer 26 Feb. 16/4 A sabre-rattling gesture against a nation with whom we have been at peace for more than a hundred years. 1958Hayward & Harari tr. Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago i. iv. 105 You have to swagger about in an officer's uniform too, you have to do your own bit of sabre-rattling. 1973‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog x. 136 A sabre-rattling pink-hating American. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds ii. 40 Look at the way that saber-rattling Churchill sent our men into something as useless as Gallipoli! 1977Time 24 Oct. 8/1 Despite saber-rattling rhetoric, a steel war is far from inevitable.
1953R. J. De Cristoforo Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone v. 179 *Saber saws are usually confined to heavy cutting when curves are not too severe. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline xxviii. 334 The group carried two battery operated saber-saws with hacksaw blades in their chucks. 1980Sci. Amer. Mar. 29/2 A big saber saw, its diamond blade able to cut a four-foot slab at one pass (beyond the two-foot reach of the biggest rotary blades), requires some 25 horsepower, delivered by hydraulic flow from its engine trailer nearby.
1796Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) III. 442/2 [Of a part of a plant.] *Sabre-shaped. 1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 423/1 The rostrum [of Rhynchocinetes]..is very large, sabre-shaped, and dentilated on both edges. 1895A. H. Cooke Molluscs (Camb. Nat. Hist. III.) 236 Laterals simple, sabre-shaped.
1854Tennyson Charge Light Brigade in Wks. (1896) 222/2 Cossack and Russian Reel'd from the *sabre-stroke Shatter'd and sunder'd.
1861Gould Humming-B. II. pl. 43 Campylopterus pampa, Wedge-tailed *Sabre-wing. 1893Newton Dict. Birds 446 The group known as ‘Sabre-wings’.
b. sabre-toothed a., designating extinct animals, see below; also fig., ferocious; sabre-tooth(ed) cat = sabre-toothed lion, tiger; sabre-toothed lion or tiger, a large extinct feline mammal of the subfamily Machærodontinæ, with long sabre-shaped upper canines. Also sabre-tooth a. and n.
1849Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 909/2 The great extinct sabre-toothed tiger. 1880Dawkins Early Man Britain iii. 57 The great sabre-toothed lion, Machairodus. 1896Kipling Seven Seas, Ung iii, He..pictured the sabre-tooth tiger dragging a man to his lair. Ibid. v, Hath he..followed the Sabre-tooth home? 1906E. Ingersoll Life Animals: Mammals 86 A divergent branch..developed amazingly throughout most of the Tertiary period,..to which Cuvier gave the name of ‘saber-tooth cats’. 1933A. S. Romer Vertebr. Paleont. xv. 294 In sharp contrast are the saber-toothed ‘cats’, Machaerodontinae... In the saber-tooths the upper canines were exceedingly long stabbing and slicing structures. 1968Times 21 Dec. 2/3 There was a sabre-toothed scrummage of photographers. 1973Sabretooth cat [see machærodont a.]. 1975J. G. Evans Environment Early Man Brit. Isles i. 21 Three species of mammal considered to have become extinct prior to the Hoxnian..a sabre-toothed cat (Homotherium latidens) and two voles. 1977Times 14 Mar. 5/3 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey..fell in the sabre-toothed power struggle for the succession when Henry VIII was dying.
▪ II. sabre, v.|ˈseɪbə(r)|
[f. sabre n. Cf. F. sabrer.]
trans. To strike, cut, or wound with a sabre.
1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 399 And now you send troops to sabre and to bayonet us into a submission to fear and force. 1845Disraeli Sybil vi. xii, The people were fired on and sabred. 1875Clery Min. Tact. x. (1877) 123 Ponsonby's cavalry..sabred the gunners and stabbed the horses.
absol.1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xviii. xiii. (1872) VIII. 50 The Seidlitz cavalry went sabring till, for very fatigue, they gave it up.
Hence ˈsabrer [cf. F. sabreur], one who cuts down with a sabre.
1831Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 416 When men and women were massacred at Manchester..did they dream it was love for the sabrers, that produced an after compliance with their mandates?
▪ III. sabre
obs. f. sambur, Indian elk. |