| 释义 |
short-circuit, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. Electr. (trans.)
a. To connect by a short circuit; to establish a short circuit in (an electric system).
1867R. S. Culley Handbk. Practical Telegr. (ed. 2) viii. 166 To short circuit a battery, to connect the poles by a wire. 1873F. Jenkin Electr. & Magn. xiii. §15. 203 If any two coils touch or are connected through the silk, they are, in technical language, said to be short-circuited. 1886Cumming Electricity treated experimentally 236 We find on short-circuiting the battery a deflection of 73°. 1893Sloane Electr. Dict., To short circuit a lamp. 1896Foster & Atkinson Electr. & Magnetism §345. 420 When the plug is placed at O, the galvanometer is ‘short-circuited’.
b. Of a conducting body: To be traversed by (a current) by way of short circuit. Also refl. of a current: To make a short circuit.
1882Nature 16 Nov. 59/1 If one of the machines drops in speed the currents from the other machines short-circuit themselves through the one. 1884P. Higgs Magneto- & Dynamo-Electric Mach. 172 Care should be taken that these bed-plates do not short-circuit the magnetic lines of force from pole to pole of the field-magnets. 1908Athenæum 28 Mar. 392/1 The patient..can be brought back to life, even after having ‘short-circuited’ a current of 2,000 volts.
c. To cut off the current from (part of an apparatus) by establishing a short circuit.
1882Nature 27 July 289/2 Moreover, we doubt whether ‘the happy idea of filling up the space between the lead plates used by Planté with red lead’, would by any means produce the result of ‘vastly increasing the usefulness of that excellent apparatus: it would rather destroy it by short-circuiting it.
d. intr. Of electrical apparatus: to fail or cease working as a result of a short circuit occurring in it.
1902Electr. Rev. 31 Oct. 732/1 Many a motor..condemned for short-circuiting when it is really the fault of the brakes. 1975New Yorker 21 Apr. 34/2 It was a gutsy performance,..recalling Margo's near-rendezvous with Rock 'n Roll Heaven last September, when another jump⁓suit-cum-guitar short-circuited during an impromptu hailstorm in Louisville. 1976Evening Post (Nottingham) 15 Dec. 5/3 The machine short-circuited with a bang when it was switched on.
2. Surg. To form a direct communication between two portions of an intestine above and below an obstruction; to make a direct passage from (an organ) into some other part when the normal passage is obstructed; to avoid (an obstruction) or establish (circulation) by this means.
1897Brit. Med. Jrnl. 13 Mar. 645 As an alternative the gall-bladder may be short-circuited into the intestine. 1905Rolleston Dis. Liver 259 The portal circulation through the liver is short-circuited. 1901Brit. Med. Jrnl. 2 Feb. 261 Wherever adhesions are very extensive and likely to recur it is better to short-circuit the obstruction.
3. fig. To interrupt, to cut short; to bypass by taking more direct action. Also absol.
1899Educat. Rev. Dec. 475 The omnibus-institutions are to short-circuit the college. 1924J. Buchan Three Hostages iii. 48 If you had happened to look at that rag you might have short-circuited your inquiry. 1938Ann. Reg. 1937 159 The Council decision naturally short-circuited much of the debate which might have been expected in the Assembly. 1953E. M. Forster Hill of Devi 40 Dewas and King-Emperor! In Dewas it often seemed that they might have much in common. Could one but short-circuit, all might yet be well. 1978D. Bloodworth Crosstalk v. 40 It was..essential to have a secure means of short-circuiting the usual channels. 1979D. Cupitt in M. Goulder Incarnation & Myth iii. 32 Here is matter for a great deal of controversy. I propose to short-circuit it by simply stipulating that [etc.].
Hence short-ˈcircuited ppl. a.; short-ˈcircuiting vbl. n.
1896[see entero-enterostomy s.v. entero-]. 1919H. E. Penrose Wireless Telegr. iv. 75 Examine the band of the magnetic detector, the magnets, and the short-circuiting contacts of the manipulating key. 1949Koestler Insight & Outlook iv. 39 The concept of bisociation implies a short-circuiting of two separate mental patterns. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 145/2 A kind of streamlined or short-circuited version of the usual success pattern. 1972Jrnl. Social Psychol. LXXXVIII. 247 It may be postulated that the more empathic two people are with one another, the more short-circuited or ‘efficient’ their communication. |