missilen.adj.

Brit.

/ˈmɪsʌɪl/, U.S.

/ˈmɪs(ə)l/

Forms: 1600s missal, 1600s missill, 1600s–1700s missil, 1600s– missile, 1800s– missle (irregular).

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin missile, missilis.

Etymology: As noun < classical Latin missile weapon for throwing, also in plural in sense ‘gifts thrown to crowds’ (see sense A. 1), use as noun of neuter of missilis, adjective. As adjective < classical Latin missilis that can be used as a missile, especially a weapon, also used of a porcupine's spines (see quot. 1757 at sense B. 2) < miss- , past participial stem of mittere to send, to throw or cast (a weapon) (see mission n.) + -ilis -ile suffix. Compare French missile (late 15th cent. in Middle French as adjective; 1636 as noun in sense A. 2a; 1949 in sense A. 2b after English).Late 20th-cent. usage guides note occasional confusion with missive adj. and n.; perhaps compare:1845 J. H. Ingraham Wing of Wind ii. ix. 58 Alone, he tore the seal. The missle read as follows. British dictionaries in the 19th cent. agreed with U.S. ones in giving only a pronunciation with a short vowel in the second syllable. N.E.D. (1907) gives both this ((mi·sil) /ˈmɪsɪl/) and the diphthong.

A. n.

†1. In plural. Roman History. Gifts, such as sweets and perfumes, thrown by Roman emperors to crowds as largesse. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > giving > gift or present > [noun] > gifts distributed among the people

congiary1601

missiles1606

frumentation1623

missive1649

society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > lines or edges > [noun] > division by lines > types of partition

mesle1562

missiles1606

dovetail1688

1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 183 Scattered also abroad there were for the people Missils, during the whole time of those Plaies.

1648 A. Ross Mystagogvs Poeticvs (ed. 2) vi. 124 The Romans were very lavish in their missals or largisses at this solemnitie.

a. An object propelled (either by hand or mechanically) as a weapon at a target.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > [noun]

shaft1576

flinging1619

missive1644

missile1656

the world > movement > impelling or driving > projecting through space or throwing > [noun] > throwing missiles > a projectile

cast1556

projectile1654

missile1656

forthcast1674

trajectile1860

trajectory1861

bird1913

1656 T. Blount Glossographia Missil (missile), a dart, stone, arrow, or other thing thrown or shot.

1729 G. Shelvocke, Jr. tr. K. Siemienowicz Great Art Artillery v. 312 Under the head of Missiles, by which is meant Projectiles, we will range Fire-Darts, Arrows and Javelins, Fire-Pots and Flasks.

1794 T. Holcroft Adventures Hugh Trevor I. x. 144 The men seized bellows, poker, tongs, and every other weapon or missile that was at hand.

1829 W. Scott Lett. Demonol. x. 377 Surprisingly quick at throwing stones, turf and other missiles.

1853 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 5) Prol. 3 Some were whelm'd with missiles of the wall.

1897 J. G. Frazer Pausanias I. 534 Despite the cross-fire of missiles and the bitter cold.

1922 ‘R. Crompton’ Just—William vi. 129 She was totally unprepared for being met by a shower of missiles from upper windows. A lump of lard hit her on the ear.

1981 M. Leitch Silver's City xviii. 149 Then something struck him, a stone; it fell at his feet, and in a moment, the air was filled with missiles, curving high to land about him on the roadway.

b. Military. A long-distance weapon that is self-propelled, and directed either by remote control or automatically, during part or all of its course.Originally always with modifying word.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > guided or ballistic missile > [noun]

missile1945

ballistic rocket1949

ballistic missile1950

I.C.B.M.1955

intercontinental ballistic missile1956

MRBM1960

1945 Newsweek 27 Aug. 25/1 The ‘guided missile’—a rocket projectile that can be aimed accurately over great distances.

1954 Commonwealth 1 Oct. 621/2 The so-called IBM, or intercontinental ballistic missile with nuclear warhead, is the ugly development next to be expected.

1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 221 Another factor may have been a realization that the arms race was becoming ruinously expensive, and..a partial test ban would prevent the United States from outpacing the U.S.S.R. in research on an anti-missile missile.

1973 Sci. Amer. Nov. 27/2 Under the SALT I agreement the U.S.S.R. is allowed about 25 percent more offensive missiles than the U.S.

1994 Air & Space Technol. Nov. 55/2 Most medium-range missiles in service use semi-active seekers, which sense radar energy reflected from the target.

3. In extended use.

ΚΠ

1833 I. Taylor Fanaticism ii. 28 The word [fanaticism] is the favourite missile of that opprobrious contempt [etc.].

1867 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood I. ix. 281 All my missiles of argument were lost.

1935 B. Malinowski in M. Black Importance of Lang. (1962) 90 It has to be taken as a verbal missile of magical power.

1988 First Down 19 Nov. 4/3 Pittsburgh scored..with..an 89-yard missile from bubby Brister to Lipps and a pair of Anderson short field goals.

1991 Independent 16 Dec. 13/5 Genetic engineers have begun to adapt C. diphtheriae [sc. Corynebacterium] toxin as a missile to destroy malignant cells selectively.

B. adj.

1. Of a projectile, esp. a weapon: that can be used as a missile. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > [adjective]

missive1548

missile1610

projectile1838

the world > movement > impelling or driving > projecting through space or throwing > [adjective] > of or relating to projectile > projected through space > able to be projected through space

missile1610

projectile1838

1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie iv. xiv. 228 The Pheon is the head of an Instrument of the Missile sort which we call a Dart.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xvi. 658/2 Women and children assaile the English from their windowes with all sorts of missill things.

1626 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia iii. sig. E3^v The Greekes missill weapons.

a1711 T. Ken Edmund xi, in Wks. (1721) II. 313 The Pagans all the Traitors drave before, To shield them from the Anglians missile store.

1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. ix. 183 We bend the bow, or wing the missile dart.

1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xiv. 437 The missile weapons on both sides were soon exhausted.

1817 M. Keating Trav. II. 2 Every missile article being immediately laid hands on by them and showered on us.

1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. Introd. 13 The horseman..used his spears,..as missile weapons.

1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey x They gathered missile stones each a man's weight and cast them down on us off the cliffs.

2. Resembling a missile in shape or effect. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful iii. §6. 85 The porcupine with his missile quills.

1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xi. 325 With missile force of massy stones.

1813 T. Jefferson Let. 28 Oct. in Writings (1984) 1305 Since the invention of gunpowder has armed the weak as well as the strong with missile death.

1864 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta 60 But Meleager smote, and with no missile wound, the monstrous boar.

1930 H. G. Wells Autocracy Mr. Parham i. iii. 34 Mr. Parham never had an opportunity to exchange more than two or three missile sentences with him.

3. Of a weapon: that discharges arrows, bullets, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > [adjective]

missive1780

missile1819

1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe II. xv. 293 Their long bows, slings, and other missile weapons.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 371 To alter his missile weapon [sc. a gun] into a weapon with which he could encounter an enemy hand to hand.

1993 Warhammer Armies: Empire (BNC) 22 Hits from bows, crossbows or other missile weapons.

†4. Zoology. Designating a kind of filament thrown out by certain sea anemones of the genus Actinia when they are disturbed. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1855 P. H. Gosse Man. Marine Zool. I. 29 Actinia..destitute..of missile filaments.

1856 G. Tugwell Man. Sea-anemones vi. 90 By ‘missile filaments’ are meant the white threads which the ‘daisy’ and his allies send out on provocation.

Compounds

C1.

missile attack n.

ΚΠ

1938 Jrnl. Amer. Mil. Hist. Found. 2 139 Missile attacks at great range..were rarely decisive.

1996 Independent 15 Aug. 11/3 The possibility of a missile attack is thought unlikely.

missile base n.

ΚΠ

1956 W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 329/1 Missile base.

1958 Listener 3 July 7/2 The Soviet Union's aim is to attract Iceland out of the Nato alliance because she is fearful of the American missile bases there.

1983 Listener 28 Apr. 11/3 The most notable growth in the province..has not been vegetable matter but the new missile base emerging from the wartime airfield at Magliocco.

missile battery n.

ΚΠ

1960 Aviation Week 14 Nov. 27/3 Under Army plans, Zeus control centers are to be scattered across the country, with each center controlling a number of missile batteries.

1993 Independent 22 Jan. 1/2 US aircraft took out an Iraqi missile battery in the northern no-fly zone.

missile carrier n.

ΚΠ

1957 Economist 21 Dec. 1025/2 The wheels of the missile-carriers rumble towards Europe from east and west.

2000 Independent (Electronic ed.) 25 Aug. They are built exclusively for an offensive function, whether they are attack boats or strategic missile carriers.

missile guidance n.

ΚΠ

1952 C. F. Curtiss & J. O. Hirschfelder in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 38 235 In the study of chemical kinetics, electrical circuit theory, and problems of missile guidance a type of differential equation arises which is exceedingly difficult to solve by ordinary numerical procedures.

1993 A. Toffler & H. Toffler War & Anti-war xix. 188 If, say, Pakistan were to come up with handwriting-recognition technology for its postal service, couldn't that be adapted to missile guidance, too?

missile interceptor n.

ΚΠ

1963 Amer. Math. Monthly 7 795 An illustration of various mathematical techniques used in determining the path of a missile interceptor attacking a target.

1991 Independent 5 Jan. 8/6 Israel's missile interceptor programme has been given a new urgency by the proliferation of medium-range rocket systems in the Middle East.

missile launcher n.

ΚΠ

1959 Polit. Sci. Q. 74 560 Nuclear-powered aircraft as mobile missile launchers may soon be developed.

1992 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 13 Feb. 18/2 The [Cuban Missile] crisis started when the President received aerial photographs of work in progress to install missile launchers in Cuba.

missile silo n.

ΚΠ

1965 Amer. Econ. Rev. 55 422 It is difficult to pool maintenance facilities..when missile silos are widely dispersed.

1991 Sky Mag. Feb. 43/3 A misdirected phone call from a US missile silo warning of an attack by Soviet nuclear warheads.

missile site n.

ΚΠ

1949 Aviation Week 21 Feb. 11/3 (heading) Defense chiefs ask guided missile site.

1992 Spy (N.Y.) June 52/2 The Pentagon's schedule for satellite coverage of Soviet missile sites..was sitting in an unsecured office a few blocks from the Soviet embassy.

missile submarine n.

ΚΠ

1959 New Statesman 3 Jan. 6/3 A similar sum, according to one estimate, will be needed for the 40 Polaris missile-submarines which the Navy says it requires.

1994 T. Clancy Debt of Honor Prol. 38 He'd never liked the missile submarines.

missile warhead n.

ΚΠ

1960 Science 131 26/2 They were cited for their contributions in the field of missile warheads.

1997 London Rev. Bks. 23 Jan. 24/4 ‘Boosting’..enables nuclear missile warheads to be far smaller than the four-ton monsters that had to be carried to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

missile-armed adj.

ΚΠ

1959 Daily Tel. 20 May 10/2 The nuclear-powered, missile-armed submarine offers itself as the costly major strategic weapon of the future.

2000 Financial Mail (Johannesburg) (Nexis) 25 Aug. 32 A strategic lake that could hide enough missile-armed submarines to threaten Canada and the US.

missile-carrying adj.

ΚΠ

1958 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 52 611 It is believed that the Soviet Union is shifting to nuclear-powered and missile-carrying submarines.

1991 Sci. Amer. Dec. 104/1 The warlike Fighting Falcon, F-16, a single-seat dogfighter, hot rod of the missile-carrying world.

missile-firing adj.

ΚΠ

1958 Listener 20 Feb. 303 The missile-firing nuclear-powered submarine will..prove the most potent form of nuclear attack in the future.

1980 Christian Sci. Monitor 4 Dec. (Midwestern ed.) 1/2 The House's seapower subcommittee..will hold hearings on the huge missile-firing submarine.

missile-launching adj.

ΚΠ

1949 Gloss. Guided Missile Terms (GM 51/8) (Res. & Devel. Board, U.S. Dept. Defense) 75 Pad, a permanent or semipermanent base constructed to support a missile-launching device.

1996 Sci. Amer. Mar. 58 Kennedy knew..that the U.S. had at least seven times as many strategic assets—long-range bombers, ICBMs and missile-launching submarines—as did the Soviets.

C2.

missile age n. the era of nuclear weaponry.

ΚΠ

1957 N.Y. Times Mag. 3 Nov. (heading) A military policy for the missile age.

1960 Daily Tel. 29 Nov. 12/2 Apparently, too, the missile-age Navy is going to need more administration to run it.

1992 Washington Post 19 Oct. 27/3 Note that the move on Abu Musa in the mouth of the gulf was taken by a so-called moderate government in Tehran. In the missile age, these tiny places have no strategic importance, but politically they connote Iran's geopolitical ambition.

missile defence n. chiefly U.S. a defensive system designed to repel enemy missile attacks, esp. by the use of anti-ballistic missiles; frequently attributive designating such a system.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > defence > [noun] > means of defence > specific defence system

SAGE1955

missile defence1971

1967 Listener 9 Feb. 185/1 Confusion is nowhere giddier than in consideration of anti-ballistic-missile defence.]

1971 E. Luttwak Dict. Mod. War Foreword 9 The Pentagon had to prod a reluctant Congress to release funds for the Safeguard missile defense system.

1986 T. Clancy Red Storm Rising (1988) xxxi. 512 There was an eyewitness account from an unnamed destroyer about a missile that had leaked through her missile defenses.

2000 Nation 17 June 17/1 The strongest push for missile defense has come from Reaganite true believers in conservative think tanks.

missile gap n. Politics (now historical) a feared imbalance between the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union (originally and chiefly as an issue in the 1960 American Presidential campaign).

ΚΠ

1957 Amarillo (Texas) Daily News 8 Nov. 6/1 (headline) Scientist says missile gap is closing.

1958 J. F. Kennedy Congress. Rec. 14 Aug. 17572/1 Our Nation could have afforded, and can afford now, the steps necessary to close the missile gap.

1962 Listener 19 Apr. 697/1 The passages on the ‘missile gap’ are a little dated, since Mr Kennedy has now told us that it scarcely ever existed.

1991 J. Rifkin Biosphere Politics ii. xix. 149 The missile gap paranoia of the past several decades is likely to be followed by the gene gap paranoia of the 1990s.

1998 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Jan. 53/3 The successful launching of Sputnik in 1957 and Khrushchev's own exaggerated boasting had aroused American fears of a ‘missile gap’.

missile shield n. originally and chiefly U.S. any of various (proposed) systems designed to defend against enemy missile attacks, now esp. by the use of lasers to destroy incoming missiles in space.

ΚΠ

1969 N.Y. Times 13 Mar. 1/8 Nixon to disclose stand tomorrow on missile shield.

1977 Aviation Week & Space Technol. (Nexis) 18 July 18 Ballistic missiles on both sides essentially are unopposed because neither country has erected an extensive antiballistic missile shield.

2001 Nation 4 June 26/2 Given the daunting technical obstacles standing in the way of fielding even a modest missile defense system, Bush's dream of a multitiered missile shield is by no means inevitable.

Missile Technology Control Regime n. an international agreement drawn up in 1987 with the aim of limiting the worldwide escalation of nuclear missile power.

ΚΠ

1987 Aviation Week 20 Apr. 28/2 The export policy statement, formally titled the Missile Technology Control Regime, was signed by the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy and Japan.

2000 Internat. Herald Tribune (Electronic ed.) 13 July South Korean officials say they want to have the same rights as do the 32 countries that are signatories to the Missile Technology Control Regime.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	missile
释义	missilen.adj. Brit. /ˈmɪsʌɪl/, U.S. /ˈmɪs(ə)l/ Forms: 1600s missal, 1600s missill, 1600s–1700s missil, 1600s– missile, 1800s– missle (irregular). Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin missile, missilis. Etymology: As noun < classical Latin missile weapon for throwing, also in plural in sense ‘gifts thrown to crowds’ (see sense A. 1), use as noun of neuter of missilis, adjective. As adjective < classical Latin missilis that can be used as a missile, especially a weapon, also used of a porcupine's spines (see quot. 1757 at sense B. 2) < miss- , past participial stem of mittere to send, to throw or cast (a weapon) (see mission n.) + -ilis -ile suffix. Compare French missile (late 15th cent. in Middle French as adjective; 1636 as noun in sense A. 2a; 1949 in sense A. 2b after English).Late 20th-cent. usage guides note occasional confusion with missive adj. and n.; perhaps compare:1845 J. H. Ingraham Wing of Wind ii. ix. 58 Alone, he tore the seal. The missle read as follows. British dictionaries in the 19th cent. agreed with U.S. ones in giving only a pronunciation with a short vowel in the second syllable. N.E.D. (1907) gives both this ((mi·sil) /ˈmɪsɪl/) and the diphthong. A. n. †1. In plural. Roman History. Gifts, such as sweets and perfumes, thrown by Roman emperors to crowds as largesse. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > giving > gift or present > [noun] > gifts distributed among the people congiary1601 missiles1606 frumentation1623 missive1649 society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > lines or edges > [noun] > division by lines > types of partition mesle1562 missiles1606 dovetail1688 1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 183 Scattered also abroad there were for the people Missils, during the whole time of those Plaies. 1648 A. Ross Mystagogvs Poeticvs (ed. 2) vi. 124 The Romans were very lavish in their missals or largisses at this solemnitie. 2. a. An object propelled (either by hand or mechanically) as a weapon at a target. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > [noun] shaft1576 flinging1619 missive1644 missile1656 the world > movement > impelling or driving > projecting through space or throwing > [noun] > throwing missiles > a projectile cast1556 projectile1654 missile1656 forthcast1674 trajectile1860 trajectory1861 bird1913 1656 T. Blount Glossographia Missil (missile), a dart, stone, arrow, or other thing thrown or shot. 1729 G. Shelvocke, Jr. tr. K. Siemienowicz Great Art Artillery v. 312 Under the head of Missiles, by which is meant Projectiles, we will range Fire-Darts, Arrows and Javelins, Fire-Pots and Flasks. 1794 T. Holcroft Adventures Hugh Trevor I. x. 144 The men seized bellows, poker, tongs, and every other weapon or missile that was at hand. 1829 W. Scott Lett. Demonol. x. 377 Surprisingly quick at throwing stones, turf and other missiles. 1853 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 5) Prol. 3 Some were whelm'd with missiles of the wall. 1897 J. G. Frazer Pausanias I. 534 Despite the cross-fire of missiles and the bitter cold. 1922 ‘R. Crompton’ Just—William vi. 129 She was totally unprepared for being met by a shower of missiles from upper windows. A lump of lard hit her on the ear. 1981 M. Leitch Silver's City xviii. 149 Then something struck him, a stone; it fell at his feet, and in a moment, the air was filled with missiles, curving high to land about him on the roadway. b. Military. A long-distance weapon that is self-propelled, and directed either by remote control or automatically, during part or all of its course.Originally always with modifying word. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > guided or ballistic missile > [noun] missile1945 ballistic rocket1949 ballistic missile1950 I.C.B.M.1955 intercontinental ballistic missile1956 MRBM1960 1945 Newsweek 27 Aug. 25/1 The ‘guided missile’—a rocket projectile that can be aimed accurately over great distances. 1954 Commonwealth 1 Oct. 621/2 The so-called IBM, or intercontinental ballistic missile with nuclear warhead, is the ugly development next to be expected. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 221 Another factor may have been a realization that the arms race was becoming ruinously expensive, and..a partial test ban would prevent the United States from outpacing the U.S.S.R. in research on an anti-missile missile. 1973 Sci. Amer. Nov. 27/2 Under the SALT I agreement the U.S.S.R. is allowed about 25 percent more offensive missiles than the U.S. 1994 Air & Space Technol. Nov. 55/2 Most medium-range missiles in service use semi-active seekers, which sense radar energy reflected from the target. 3. In extended use. ΚΠ 1833 I. Taylor Fanaticism ii. 28 The word [fanaticism] is the favourite missile of that opprobrious contempt [etc.]. 1867 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood I. ix. 281 All my missiles of argument were lost. 1935 B. Malinowski in M. Black Importance of Lang. (1962) 90 It has to be taken as a verbal missile of magical power. 1988 First Down 19 Nov. 4/3 Pittsburgh scored..with..an 89-yard missile from bubby Brister to Lipps and a pair of Anderson short field goals. 1991 Independent 16 Dec. 13/5 Genetic engineers have begun to adapt C. diphtheriae [sc. Corynebacterium] toxin as a missile to destroy malignant cells selectively. B. adj. 1. Of a projectile, esp. a weapon: that can be used as a missile. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > [adjective] missive1548 missile1610 projectile1838 the world > movement > impelling or driving > projecting through space or throwing > [adjective] > of or relating to projectile > projected through space > able to be projected through space missile1610 projectile1838 1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie iv. xiv. 228 The Pheon is the head of an Instrument of the Missile sort which we call a Dart. 1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xvi. 658/2 Women and children assaile the English from their windowes with all sorts of missill things. 1626 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia iii. sig. E3^v The Greekes missill weapons. a1711 T. Ken Edmund xi, in Wks. (1721) II. 313 The Pagans all the Traitors drave before, To shield them from the Anglians missile store. 1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. ix. 183 We bend the bow, or wing the missile dart. 1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xiv. 437 The missile weapons on both sides were soon exhausted. 1817 M. Keating Trav. II. 2 Every missile article being immediately laid hands on by them and showered on us. 1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. Introd. 13 The horseman..used his spears,..as missile weapons. 1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey x They gathered missile stones each a man's weight and cast them down on us off the cliffs. 2. Resembling a missile in shape or effect. Now rare. ΚΠ 1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful iii. §6. 85 The porcupine with his missile quills. 1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xi. 325 With missile force of massy stones. 1813 T. Jefferson Let. 28 Oct. in Writings (1984) 1305 Since the invention of gunpowder has armed the weak as well as the strong with missile death. 1864 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta 60 But Meleager smote, and with no missile wound, the monstrous boar. 1930 H. G. Wells Autocracy Mr. Parham i. iii. 34 Mr. Parham never had an opportunity to exchange more than two or three missile sentences with him. 3. Of a weapon: that discharges arrows, bullets, etc. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > [adjective] missive1780 missile1819 1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe II. xv. 293 Their long bows, slings, and other missile weapons. 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 371 To alter his missile weapon [sc. a gun] into a weapon with which he could encounter an enemy hand to hand. 1993 Warhammer Armies: Empire (BNC) 22 Hits from bows, crossbows or other missile weapons. †4. Zoology. Designating a kind of filament thrown out by certain sea anemones of the genus Actinia when they are disturbed. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1855 P. H. Gosse Man. Marine Zool. I. 29 Actinia..destitute..of missile filaments. 1856 G. Tugwell Man. Sea-anemones vi. 90 By ‘missile filaments’ are meant the white threads which the ‘daisy’ and his allies send out on provocation. Compounds C1. a. missile attack n. ΚΠ 1938 Jrnl. Amer. Mil. Hist. Found. 2 139 Missile attacks at great range..were rarely decisive. 1996 Independent 15 Aug. 11/3 The possibility of a missile attack is thought unlikely. missile base n. ΚΠ 1956 W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 329/1 Missile base. 1958 Listener 3 July 7/2 The Soviet Union's aim is to attract Iceland out of the Nato alliance because she is fearful of the American missile bases there. 1983 Listener 28 Apr. 11/3 The most notable growth in the province..has not been vegetable matter but the new missile base emerging from the wartime airfield at Magliocco. missile battery n. ΚΠ 1960 Aviation Week 14 Nov. 27/3 Under Army plans, Zeus control centers are to be scattered across the country, with each center controlling a number of missile batteries. 1993 Independent 22 Jan. 1/2 US aircraft took out an Iraqi missile battery in the northern no-fly zone. missile carrier n. ΚΠ 1957 Economist 21 Dec. 1025/2 The wheels of the missile-carriers rumble towards Europe from east and west. 2000 Independent (Electronic ed.) 25 Aug. They are built exclusively for an offensive function, whether they are attack boats or strategic missile carriers. missile guidance n. ΚΠ 1952 C. F. Curtiss & J. O. Hirschfelder in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 38 235 In the study of chemical kinetics, electrical circuit theory, and problems of missile guidance a type of differential equation arises which is exceedingly difficult to solve by ordinary numerical procedures. 1993 A. Toffler & H. Toffler War & Anti-war xix. 188 If, say, Pakistan were to come up with handwriting-recognition technology for its postal service, couldn't that be adapted to missile guidance, too? missile interceptor n. ΚΠ 1963 Amer. Math. Monthly 7 795 An illustration of various mathematical techniques used in determining the path of a missile interceptor attacking a target. 1991 Independent 5 Jan. 8/6 Israel's missile interceptor programme has been given a new urgency by the proliferation of medium-range rocket systems in the Middle East. missile launcher n. ΚΠ 1959 Polit. Sci. Q. 74 560 Nuclear-powered aircraft as mobile missile launchers may soon be developed. 1992 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 13 Feb. 18/2 The [Cuban Missile] crisis started when the President received aerial photographs of work in progress to install missile launchers in Cuba. missile silo n. ΚΠ 1965 Amer. Econ. Rev. 55 422 It is difficult to pool maintenance facilities..when missile silos are widely dispersed. 1991 Sky Mag. Feb. 43/3 A misdirected phone call from a US missile silo warning of an attack by Soviet nuclear warheads. missile site n. ΚΠ 1949 Aviation Week 21 Feb. 11/3 (heading) Defense chiefs ask guided missile site. 1992 Spy (N.Y.) June 52/2 The Pentagon's schedule for satellite coverage of Soviet missile sites..was sitting in an unsecured office a few blocks from the Soviet embassy. missile submarine n. ΚΠ 1959 New Statesman 3 Jan. 6/3 A similar sum, according to one estimate, will be needed for the 40 Polaris missile-submarines which the Navy says it requires. 1994 T. Clancy Debt of Honor Prol. 38 He'd never liked the missile submarines. missile warhead n. ΚΠ 1960 Science 131 26/2 They were cited for their contributions in the field of missile warheads. 1997 London Rev. Bks. 23 Jan. 24/4 ‘Boosting’..enables nuclear missile warheads to be far smaller than the four-ton monsters that had to be carried to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. b. missile-armed adj. ΚΠ 1959 Daily Tel. 20 May 10/2 The nuclear-powered, missile-armed submarine offers itself as the costly major strategic weapon of the future. 2000 Financial Mail (Johannesburg) (Nexis) 25 Aug. 32 A strategic lake that could hide enough missile-armed submarines to threaten Canada and the US. missile-carrying adj. ΚΠ 1958 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 52 611 It is believed that the Soviet Union is shifting to nuclear-powered and missile-carrying submarines. 1991 Sci. Amer. Dec. 104/1 The warlike Fighting Falcon, F-16, a single-seat dogfighter, hot rod of the missile-carrying world. missile-firing adj. ΚΠ 1958 Listener 20 Feb. 303 The missile-firing nuclear-powered submarine will..prove the most potent form of nuclear attack in the future. 1980 Christian Sci. Monitor 4 Dec. (Midwestern ed.) 1/2 The House's seapower subcommittee..will hold hearings on the huge missile-firing submarine. missile-launching adj. ΚΠ 1949 Gloss. Guided Missile Terms (GM 51/8) (Res. & Devel. Board, U.S. Dept. Defense) 75 Pad, a permanent or semipermanent base constructed to support a missile-launching device. 1996 Sci. Amer. Mar. 58 Kennedy knew..that the U.S. had at least seven times as many strategic assets—long-range bombers, ICBMs and missile-launching submarines—as did the Soviets. C2. missile age n. the era of nuclear weaponry. ΚΠ 1957 N.Y. Times Mag. 3 Nov. (heading) A military policy for the missile age. 1960 Daily Tel. 29 Nov. 12/2 Apparently, too, the missile-age Navy is going to need more administration to run it. 1992 Washington Post 19 Oct. 27/3 Note that the move on Abu Musa in the mouth of the gulf was taken by a so-called moderate government in Tehran. In the missile age, these tiny places have no strategic importance, but politically they connote Iran's geopolitical ambition. missile defence n. chiefly U.S. a defensive system designed to repel enemy missile attacks, esp. by the use of anti-ballistic missiles; frequently attributive designating such a system. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > defence > [noun] > means of defence > specific defence system SAGE1955 missile defence1971 1967 Listener 9 Feb. 185/1 Confusion is nowhere giddier than in consideration of anti-ballistic-missile defence.] 1971 E. Luttwak Dict. Mod. War Foreword 9 The Pentagon had to prod a reluctant Congress to release funds for the Safeguard missile defense system. 1986 T. Clancy Red Storm Rising (1988) xxxi. 512 There was an eyewitness account from an unnamed destroyer about a missile that had leaked through her missile defenses. 2000 Nation 17 June 17/1 The strongest push for missile defense has come from Reaganite true believers in conservative think tanks. missile gap n. Politics (now historical) a feared imbalance between the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union (originally and chiefly as an issue in the 1960 American Presidential campaign). ΚΠ 1957 Amarillo (Texas) Daily News 8 Nov. 6/1 (headline) Scientist says missile gap is closing. 1958 J. F. Kennedy Congress. Rec. 14 Aug. 17572/1 Our Nation could have afforded, and can afford now, the steps necessary to close the missile gap. 1962 Listener 19 Apr. 697/1 The passages on the ‘missile gap’ are a little dated, since Mr Kennedy has now told us that it scarcely ever existed. 1991 J. Rifkin Biosphere Politics ii. xix. 149 The missile gap paranoia of the past several decades is likely to be followed by the gene gap paranoia of the 1990s. 1998 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Jan. 53/3 The successful launching of Sputnik in 1957 and Khrushchev's own exaggerated boasting had aroused American fears of a ‘missile gap’. missile shield n. originally and chiefly U.S. any of various (proposed) systems designed to defend against enemy missile attacks, now esp. by the use of lasers to destroy incoming missiles in space. ΚΠ 1969 N.Y. Times 13 Mar. 1/8 Nixon to disclose stand tomorrow on missile shield. 1977 Aviation Week & Space Technol. (Nexis) 18 July 18 Ballistic missiles on both sides essentially are unopposed because neither country has erected an extensive antiballistic missile shield. 2001 Nation 4 June 26/2 Given the daunting technical obstacles standing in the way of fielding even a modest missile defense system, Bush's dream of a multitiered missile shield is by no means inevitable. Missile Technology Control Regime n. an international agreement drawn up in 1987 with the aim of limiting the worldwide escalation of nuclear missile power. ΚΠ 1987 Aviation Week 20 Apr. 28/2 The export policy statement, formally titled the Missile Technology Control Regime, was signed by the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy and Japan. 2000 Internat. Herald Tribune (Electronic ed.) 13 July South Korean officials say they want to have the same rights as do the 32 countries that are signatories to the Missile Technology Control Regime. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.adj.1606
随便看	happyslappy happytempered haps hapten haptenic haptens haptera hapteron hapterons haptic haptical haptically hapticcer hapticcest hapticer hapticest haptics haptine haptoglobin haptoglobins haptophore haptophoric haptophorous haptotropic haptotropically