释义 |
▪ I. bowler1|ˈbəʊlə(r)| [f. bowl v. + -er1.] 1. One who bowls; one who plays at bowls.
c1500Cocke Lorelles B. (1843) 11 Bowlers, mas shoters, and quayters. 1609B. Jonson Sil. Wom. i. i. (1616) 531 Every bowler, or better o' the greene. 1707Farquhar Beaux' Strat. i. i. 4 A profess'd Pick-pocket, and a good Bowler. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iii. vii. 236 Modern bowlers have usually three or four [bowls]. 2. Cricket. The player who bowls or ‘delivers’ the ball at the wicket. Also bowler's (or bowlers') match: a cricket match in which the bowling is superior to the batting; bowler's wicket: one more favourable to the bowler than to the batsman.
1722Weekly Jrnl. 21 July 2296/1 The Taylor was a good bowler. 1755[see bowl v. 4]. 1770J. Love Cricket 15 Hodswell, of Dartford..celebrated Bowler. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xiii, He..was the best batter and bowler, out and out, of the regimental club. 1863Baily's Mag. Aug. 360 It was a bowlers' match all through. 1876Ibid. June 415 Much..will depend on..whether it is a batsman's or a bowler's wicket on the day of the match. 1888Sat. Rev. 2 Sept. 312/2 It was clearly to be a bowler's match. 1895Badminton Mag. Aug. 132 Any one can bowl on a bowler's wicket. ▪ II. bowler2|ˈbəʊlə(r)| [f. bowl n.1 or v.2 + -er1.] †1. A deep drinker; a drunkard: see boller 1. 2. A workman who shapes the bowl of a spoon.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 413/2 The ‘bowler’ who domes up the broad end into the semblance of a bowl. ▪ III. bowler3 colloq.|ˈbəʊlə(r)| [f. bowl n.2, quasi bowl-hat.] a. A low-crowned stiff felt hat, a ‘billy-cock’. Also bowler-hat.
1861Sat. Rev. 21 Sept. 297 We are informed that he..wore, or rather carried in his hand, a white bowler hat. 1882C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xxi. 158 The Ministers, in bowlers and pea-jackets, are to be found upon the shore of highland lochs. b. fig. As a symbol of civilian life (as opposed to service in the armed forces), or of the process of demobilization. Hence bowler-hatting vbl. n. Occas. in extended use, with reference to dismissal.
1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 34 To be given one's bowler, to be demobilised and returned to civil life. 1928‘Ian Hay’ Poor Gent. iv. 74 Nelson and Trafalgar put the bowler hat on that scheme. 1931Brophy & Partridge Songs and Slang, 1914–18 (ed. 3) 287 To be given one's bowler, to be demobilized. To get a bowler hat, to be sent home, to be ‘sacked’. Officers' slang; applied only to major and higher officers. 1953Economist 8 Aug. 372/1 Little has been said..to suggest that the settlers have any agreed programme to offer—beyond the ‘bowler-hatting’ of colonial civil servants of whom they have made scapegoats. 1959Observer 4 Jan. 11/3 He [sc. Lord Mountbatten] did not ask for his bowler hat when Mr. Sandys reorganised defence a short time ago. Hence bowler-hatted adj., (a) wearing a bowler-hat; (b) civilian, demobilized.
1909Beerbohm Yet Again 47, I picture him frock-coated, bowler-hatted, and evidently nervous. 1950E. Hyams From Waste Land 16 The bowler-hatted City gent. 1959Economist 30 May 841/2 Those warriors who want to spend vastly more on defence are mostly either bowler-hatted or arm-chairborne. |