单词 | roaring forties |
释义 | roaring fortiesn. 1. Nautical. Stormy ocean tracts that occur between latitudes 40° and 50° south, where the prevailing wind blows strongly from the west, unimpeded by continental land masses; (sometimes also) that part of the Atlantic Ocean between 40° and 50° north latitude. Occasionally applied to the winds themselves. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > specific seas > [noun] > Atlantic Ocean > roaring Forties Long Forties1776 roaring forties1841 the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > global system > specific winds of trade wind1652 westerly1845 variable1846 anti-trade wind1853 brave west winds1883 counter-trade1917 roaring forties1953 1841 United Service Jrnl. Sept. 68 It is..the most southerly of the New Zealand islands... They come within the limits of what the sailors call ‘the roaring forties’, (40° of latitude), which always furnish a larger share of both wind and rain. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 146/2 The region of the ‘brave west winds’, the ‘roaring forties’ of sailors. 1893 J. A. Barry Steve Brown's Bunyip 165 Older shipmasters laughed..saying that they found the Roaring Forties quite strong enough for them. 1953 A. A. Miller Climatol. (ed. 8) xi. 199 In the southern hemisphere the disturbance of the planetary winds is much less; ‘Roaring Forties’ and the ‘Brave West Winds’ blow all the year round with considerable force. 1966 F. Chichester in Sunday Times 30 Oct. 3/6 Twice I have entered the Roaring Forties and been driven out by gales and squalls. 2002 D. Lundy Way of Ship (2003) v. 162 In the roaring forties and the furious fifties, around the Horn itself, the sky was cloudy most of the time. 2. figurative. a. The fifth decade of life, esp. regarded as a period of vigour and activity. ΘΚΠ the world > life > source or principle of life > age > [noun] > specific age yearOE scorea1400 seventeena1568 threescorea1616 jubileea1640 military age1656 legal age1658 tecnogoniaa1676 sixty1717 forty1732 fifty1738 seven-year-old1762 teen1789 septuagenarianism1824 sexagenarianism1824 day-old1831 seventeen-year-old1858 centenarianism1863 roaring forties1867 twenties1874 leaving age1875 school-leaving age1881 octogenarianism1883 reading age1906 three1909 teenage1912 eleven-plus1937 1867 Harper's Mag. Sept. 509/2 A very pretty woman, whose bark of life had not as yet drifted into the ‘roaring forties’. 1901 M. Hewlett New Canterbury Tales i. 5 He had been eight years younger!—still, as he expressed it, in his roaring forties. 1930 H. K. Pasma Close-Hauled ii. 211 I am in my roaring forties now. 1987 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 25 Feb. (Features section) 15 I am a writer in my roaring forties... If you're about my age, relaxed,..intelligent,..I'd like to meet you. 2009 Sunday Life (Nexis) Feb. 12 (title) The Roaring Forties!; Surveys show that women in their 40s are having the best sex of their lives. b. Nautical slang (with pun on sense 1). Treated as singular: a naval commander aged between 40 and 50, esp. one who ‘roars’ commands. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > seafaring warrior or naval man > leader or commander > [noun] > naval officer > officers by personality tarpaulinc1690 x-chaser1904 man-eater1929 boffin1941 roaring forties1948 1948 E. Partridge et al. Dict. Forces' Slang 156 Roaring forties, Lieutenant Commanders between 40 and 50 years of age. 1962 W. Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 96/2 Roaring forties..a slang name for certain taut-handed lieut-commanders in their forties, who are always roaring up the hands. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.1841 |
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