| 释义 |
quartermaster, n.|ˈkwɔːtəˌmɑːstə(r), -æ-|
[In sense 1 app. from quarter n.1 16; sense 2 (from quarter n. 15) is app. the original meaning of F. quartier-maître, Du. kwartier-meester, G. quartier-meister, etc., and may have been adopted from one or other of these languages.]
1. Naut.
a. A petty officer who attends to the steering of the ship, the binnacle, signals, stowing of the hold, etc.
1442Rolls Parlt. V. 60/1 The Maisters of the Shippes, Quarter Maisters, Shipmen and Soudeours. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) ⁋⁋iij, Purser and Captayne, Quarter master, Lodesman. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 41 Euery quartar master til his auen quartar. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 5 The quarter Maisters hath the charge of the hold for stowage, rommageing, and trimming the shippe; and of their squadrons for their watch. 1643Declar. Commons, Reb. Irel. 50 He is one of the Quarter-masters of the Dunkirke Frigot. 1708Royal Proclam. 20 May in Lond. Gaz. No. 4440/1 The Midshipmen,..Quarter-Master, Quarter-Masters Mates,..and Serjeants of Marines. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xxvi, Up with the helm, quarter-master.
b. transf. Steering-gear.
1882Standard 26 Dec. 2/2 She will have a brigantine rig,..and [be] steered by a steam ‘quartermaster’. 1899F. T. Bullen Way Navy 37 Like everything else in this giant vessel, the steam quartermaster is on an immense scale.
2. Mil.
a. An officer, ranking as lieutenant, attached to each regiment, with the duties of providing quarters for the soldiers, laying out the camp, and looking after the rations, ammunition and other supplies of the regiment.
1600J. Dymmok Ireland (1843) 33 The small losse we susteyned..was multiplied upon the rebell by our quarter and skoutmasters. a1653Gouge Comm. Heb. vi. 18 A quarter⁓master, who goeth before hand to prepare quarters for souldiers. 1721De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 97 The king..made him a quarter-master to a troop of Cuirassiers. 1803Wellington Let. to Col. Stevenson 16 Sept. in Gurw. Desp. (1837) II. 308, I rather believe that your Quarter Masters have 1000 bullocks for each regiment. 1893W. Forbes-Mitchell Remin. Gt. Mutiny 150 Our quartermaster divided among us a lot of shirts and underclothing.
b. quartermaster-general, a staff-officer who is chief of the department exercising control over all matters relating to the quartering, encamping, marching and equipment of troops.
1701Lond. Gaz. No. 3732/1 The said Quartermaster-General and Adjutant-General Baron Riedt were sent out to view the Ground. 1813Wellington Let. to Sir G. Collier 19 Aug. in Gurw. Desp. (1838) XI. 15, I enclose a letter to the Quarter Master General directing that the Infantry now in the horse ships at Bilbao may be removed. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xliv. 35 Mifflin, who in August had been appointed quartermaster-general.
c. quartermaster-sergeant, a non-commissioned officer, ranking as a staff-sergeant, who assists the quartermaster in his duties.
1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 309 The Serjeant-major and Quarter-master-serjeant are entitled to two rooms and a kitchen.
d. quartermaster captain, an officer in the U.S. army with the rank of captain having duties similar to those of a quartermaster.
1907N.Y. Even. Post (Semi-Weekly ed.) 13 May 6 The person enjoying the title of quartermaster captain (a rank that causes our British cousins to smile).
†3. One who shares authority with another to the extent of a fourth. Obs.
Prob. transf. from sense 1, with pun on quarter = one fourth; cf. quarter n. 28 d.
1550Latimer Last Serm. bef. Edw. VI 111 They do it, because they will be quarter maister with their husbandes: Quarter maister? nay halfe maisters: yea some of them will be whole maisters. 1617Collins Def. Bp. Ely i. i. 7 Discerne you no better betweene Popes and Councels, which are the Church in effect? or shall these play quarter⁓masters with the Pope? 1685R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. ii. 28 The English Nation..might have made themselves Quarter-Masters, at least with the Spaniards.
†4. A gild-official, having charge of the gildsmen in a quarter of the town. Obs.
1646in G. Tate Alnwick II. xvii. 338 It is agreed that none of the wood shall be sould but with the consent of the four quartermaisters. [1868–9G. Tate Alnwick II. xvii. 338 Wood and bark were therefore bought for the whole company, by officers called quartermasters, who allotted to each tanner a proportional share of every purchase.]
Hence ˈquarterˌmaster v., to perform the duties of a quartermaster (hence quartermastering vbl. n.); quartermasteriveness, the qualities of a quartermaster (nonce-wd.); quartermastership, the office of quartermaster (so called quartermaster-generalship).
1745Observ. Conc. Navy 44 Sales of Ensignships, Adjutancies, Quarter-Master-ships, &c. 1824McCulloch Scotland I. 370 His organ of quarter-masteriveness must have been woefully in arrear. 1862Times 8 Jan. 8/6 Questions of massing, manœuvring, or quartermastering. 1870Daily News 3 Nov., The quartermastership..of the district around Metz. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. Index 553 [Greene] resigns [the] quartermaster-generalship abruptly. 1936W. James Gangways & Corridors i. 10 He had quarter-mastered in Cuba during the Spanish American war. |