| 释义 |
spark plug, n.
Also (chiefly in fig. use) sparkplug, spark-plug.
[f. spark n.1 or v.1 + plug n.]
1. = sparking plug s.v. sparking vbl. n.1 b. Cf. plug n. 2 m.
1903Motor 3 June 376/1 A small stiff bristle tooth brush..is very convenient for cleaning the porcelain of a spark plug. 1914F. Strickland Petrol Motors (ed. 2) 55 The high-tension leads and spark plug. 1920J. D. Morgan Electr. Spark Ignition iv. 43 A natural starting point for the study of spark plugs..is the voltage required to produce sparking. 1931J. A. Polson Internal Combustion Engines xii. 250 Deposits of carbon on spark plugs may cause failure by providing a path from the central electrode to the shell. 1973V. Canning Flight of Grey Goose ix. 171 He can't use ours [sc. a boat]... I got the spark plug in me pocket.
2. fig. One who or that which initiates or is the driving force behind any activity or undertaking. colloq. (chiefly U.S.).
1941Sun (Baltimore) 24 Aug. 15/2 Introducing Hal Sieling... He's sparkplug of infield. 1953M. McCarthy Groves of Academe viii. 159 In an experimental college like our own..a teacher's excitement is the spark-plug behind the whole system. 1958[see liquidity 1 d]. 1977Time 14 Mar. 53/3 Lillee is the Australian sparkplug.
Hence ˈspark-plug v. trans., to inspire, encourage, or lead (some activity). U.S. colloq.
1945Sun (Baltimore) 22 Sept. 4-o/2 Our own reconversion directors have just taken the lid off the construction industry with the hope..that a boom here will help sparkplug a general re-employment drive over the reconversion badlands. 1956A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 322 It is important that our government spark-plug the advance of nuclear power. 1961Time 7 July 63/2 Ray Stevens, 67, who sparkplugged the company's diversification, was president from 1956 to 1960. |