| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈsingleton1 Obs.
[a. OF. singleton, var. of sigleton, etc.: see ciclatoun.]
A coverlet of cloth of gold used in creating a Knight of the Bath.
The quot. is translated from a French account of the ceremonies at the creation of Knights of the Bath, printed in N. Upton De Studio Milit., etc. (ed. Bysshe, 1654) 22.
1656Dugdale Warwickshire 533 The Chandler shall take for his Fees..the Bed wherein he first lay, after his Bathing, together with the Singleton and other necessaries. [Hence in Holme (1688) iii. 56/1.]
▪ II. singleton2|ˈsɪŋg(ə)ltən|
[f. single a. Cf. simpleton.]
1. Card-playing. In whist or bridge: The only card of a suit in a hand. Also attrib.
1876A. Campbell-Walker Correct Card vi. (1880) 41 If..the lead is a singleton..it may be right to put on the ace. 1885Proctor Whist Pref., The absolute rejection of the Singleton lead. Ibid. viii. 91 While doubt remains as to the position of trump strength, avoid..discarding a singleton.
2. a. A single thing, as distinct from a pair.
1892Athenæum 6 Aug. 191/1 The Duke de Broglie has usually issued the volumes of his elaborate history..in pairs. He now appears with a singleton.
b. Bibliogr. (See quot. 1952.)
1952J. Carter ABC for Book-Collectors 166 Singleton, a jargon word (of recent origin in this sense), meaning a single leaf, where a conjugate pair would be expected... A singleton will either be the surviving leaf where the other has been severed for insertion elsewhere, or the severed half in its inset position, or an extra leaf. 1957[see bifolium]. 1975Anglo-Saxon Eng. IV. 116 Leaves 5 and 8 in quire 43 are singletons.
3. A single entry in a competition. Also attrib.
1898Field 27 Aug. 368 Two instances of singleton entries, and of consequent walks over for the leading prize.
4. a. A child resulting from a single rather than a multiple birth.
1931A. Gesell in C. Murchison Handbk. Child Psychol. vi. 158 Twins have always captured much attention from singletons! 1942E. B. Hurlock Child Devel. vii. 186 In the size of vocabulary, mean length of sentence, and articulation, twins were retarded as contrasted with singletons of the same age. 1980Daily Tel. 5 Nov. 3/2 Identical twins tend to marry less often than singletons.
b. One who is alone or unaccompanied, as an only child or unmarried person. Also spec. an undercover agent who operates alone.
1937E. M. Channon Son of his Parents iii. 63 I'm a singleton. But we had an Anglo-Indian kid here for a couple of years, and he and I did our lessons together. 1969Daily Tel. 9 Apr. 14/7 Two wealthy singletons with {pstlg}5,000 a year apiece would each pay {pstlg}2,400 10s 0d and their combined net income would be {pstlg}5,199; married they would pay {pstlg}6,083 10s 0d in tax. 1977C. McCarry Secret Lovers iii. 32 He was alone, a singleton in the jargon, living under deep cover, with an ordinary passport and no protection from his government.
c. The only one of its kind or class; a set having only one member. Also attrib.
1966[see injective a.]. 1975Language LI. 648 A singleton like perdition (or conflagration)..has no relatives like *perdite *perditive. 1977Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 1976 XXI. 144 The speaker uses the definite description as a characterization of a (singleton) set, whose members he wants to say something about. |