| 释义 |
split-second, a. and n.
Also split second(s).
[Abbrev. of split second(s) hands: see split ppl. a. 2 a and second n.1 3.]
A. adj.
1. Designating a stop-watch having two seconds hands, one underneath the other and one of which may be stopped independently of the other. Also absol.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 245 The Split Seconds..is a form of chronograph in which there are two centre seconds hands, one under the other. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 398/1 Watches are also made with what are called split seconds-hands. 1897Sears, Roebuck Catal. 377/2 This is the best cheap Split Second Horse Timer made. 1916H. L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap ix. 379 When I left 'em Jake was holding a split-second watch on the waiter he'd just given an order to. 1971T. C. Collocott Dict. Sci. & Technol. 1106/1 Split-seconds chronograph,..a chronograph with two independent centre seconds hands, one underneath the other.
2. Occurring, executed in, or lasting a fraction of a second; timed or calculated to a fraction of a second; sudden, instantaneous.
1946‘M. Innes’ From London Far iii. v. 206 The issue of modern naval conflicts depends upon split-second decisions. 1951People 3 June 2/4 Watch for the two split-second appearances of twenty-one-years-old Audrey Hepburn. 1957New Yorker 2 Nov. 68/2 He pictures him⁓self as being locked in a death struggle with ringing telephones, split-second appointments, and traffic jams. 1959W. Golding Free Fall iv. 82, I was..sitting my bike, willing them to die..because this demanded split-second timing. 1975R. L. Duncan Dragons at Gate iv. 125 An instant pressure on the trigger, sound dispersed by a silencer, split-second work. 1978Poland May 50/2 A player who cannot report punctually..cannot be counted on to carry out complex tactical maneuvers requiring split-second decisions when he is under a great mental strain.
B. n. A fraction of a second.
1912Chesterton Manalive i. iv. 97 Mr. Moon stood for one split second astonished. 1935S. Lewis It can't happen Here iv. 40 Typed revelations timed to the split⁓second. 1940[see receiver1 1 c]. 1950Sport 22–28 Sept. 12/1 (caption) Racing in, a split second too late for the tackle, is home centre-half, Tommy Cummings. 1978J. Wainwright Jury People xl. 141 For a split second, she'd known pain she'd never dreamed existed..then she'd passed out. |