| 释义 |
▪ I. loop, n.1|lup|
Forms: 5–6 loupe, 6 loppe, Sc. lowpe, 7 lope, loope, 7– loop.
[Of obscure etymology.
Prof. Skeat (Concise Etym. Dict.) suggests that the word may be a. ON. hlǫup, hlaup leap n., comparing the Sw. löp-knut, Da. løb-knude, løb-øie, running-knot. These compounds, however, seem to be merely modern Germanisms; the relevant sense of the verb, Sw. löpa, Da. løbe, being app. foreign to early Scandinavian, and due to the influence of the corresponding G. laufen (LG. lôpen). Further, the mod.Sc. form of ON. hlǫup would be regularly loup, pronounced |lʌup|, whereas the word loop is in Sc. pronounced |lup|; the spelling lowpe in G. Douglas is ambiguous, but prob. represents |lup|; cf. drowpe = droop. The Irish and Gael. lub, formerly suggested by Prof. Skeat, presents at least a noteworthy resemblance of sound and meaning to the Eng. word.]
1. a. The doubling or return into itself of a portion of a string, cord, thong, or the like, so as to leave an aperture between the parts; the portion so doubled, commonly fastened at the ends. Often used as an ornament for dress (cf. loop-lace). † crochets and loops: hooks and eyes. † to prick in the loop: to play fast and loose: cf. pricking in the garter (garter n. 7).
c1400Destr. Troy 2806 Paris with pyne, & his pure brother,..Lauset loupis fro the le; lachyn in Ancres. c1450Bk. Curtasye 446 in Babees Bk., With crochettis and loupys sett on lyour. 1513Douglas æneis v. v. 66 The todir part [of a snake cut in two] lamyt, clynschis and makis hir byde, In lowpis thrawin and lynkis of hir hyde. 1530Palsgr. 241/1 Loupe to holde a button, fermeau. 1551Mathew Bible, Exod. xxvi. 4 Then shalt thou make loupes of Iacyncte coloure, alonge by the edge of y⊇ one curtayne. 1657–8in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 332 A Crooke and Loope to put y⊇ Sword in, 2s. 6d. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 49 There is a Brass Pin in the Center at C for to hang the Plummet and String, with the Lope upon. 1690Evelyn Ladies Dressing-R., Fops Dict. 21 Sultane, a gown trimm'd with Buttons and Loops. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., Those gold loops so common on birthday coats. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) V. 118 A woman..in..a cloak with loops hanging behind. 1771–2Ess. fr. Batchelor (1773) II. 66 This is the identical Jack, who played prick in the loop with so many Lord Lieutenants, and cheated them all. 1782Cowper Gilpin 103 The cloak did fly..Till, loop and button failing both, At last it flew away. 1802C. James Milit. Dict., Loop, is..used to signify an ornamental part of a regimental hat. 1815Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1842) I. 351 There are rows of buttons and loops down the breast of the tunic. 1879Butcher & Lang Odyss. 73 And fixed the oars in leathern loops all orderly. 1890J. P. Ballard Moths & Butterflies 120 A loop-and-link as if he had begun to make a chain. 1891W. C. Sydney Eng. 18th Cent. II. 110 So late as 1799..footmen wore their hair tied up behind in a thick loop called a hoop.
b. spec. in Needlework (see quots.).
1880Plain Hints Needlework 93 To speak correctly, we believe it can be proved that we should speak of a mesh in netting, a loop in knitting. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, Loop, a term used instead of stitch in Crochet, Knitting, Netting, and Tatting. In Lace-making the word Loop is sometimes employed instead of Picot.
c. Mining. (See quot. 1891.)
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, It [the D Link] is a loop in which one man is lowered and raised in an engine⁓pit. 1891Labour Commission Gloss., Loops, slings attached to the end of the ropes which formerly drew the corves to the pit-mouth of a coal mine. 1897Westm. Gaz. 13 May 7/1 There were about 200 men in the pit, who had to be brought out by another shaft in loops.
d. = loopful.
1901Brit. Med. Jrnl. No. 2089 Epit. Med. Lit. 8 A loop of this second dilution is placed..on each cover glass.
e. U.S. The looped portion of a lasso.
f. = noose n. 1.
1907S. E. White Arizona Nights i. v. 93 Some few whirled the loop, but most cast it with a quick flip. 1933, etc. [see honda]. 1944Living off Land vii. 138 Knots..nooses (or loops). 1970G. R. Stewart Amer. Place-Names 264/1 Loop Texas: so called because the postmaster-to-be, at the time of suggesting a name, was playing with the loop of his lasso.
2. A ring or curved piece of metal, etc. employed in various ways, e.g. for the insertion of a bolt, ramrod, or rope, as a handle for lifting, etc.; dial. a door-hinge.
1674–91Ray N.C. Words 44 A Loop; An Hinge of a Door. 1715Desaguliers Fires Impr. 131 A Cover..with a Loop to move it easily. 1735Dyche & Pardon Dict., Loop,..in a Gun, tis a small Hole in the Barrel, to fasten it to the Stock or Carriage by. 1802C. James Milit. Dict., Loop, in a ship-carriage, made of iron,..through which the ropes or tackle pass, whereby the guns are moved. 1824P. Hawker Instr. Yng. Sportsm. (ed. 3) 54 Parts of a Gun... Loops, eyes to barrel which receive the bolts that fasten it into the stock. 1847Infantry Man. (1854) 33 Put it [the ramrod] into the loops. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Loops of a Gun-carriage, the iron eye-bolts to which the tackles are hooked. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Loop, a sleeve or collar, as that upon the middle of a neck-yoke. 1878Jewitt Ceramic Art I. 15 It has on its central band four projecting handles or loops, which are pierced. Nine other looped examples, from Cornwall. 1881Greener Gun 239 The ribs are then soft-soldered on, and the loop fitted in.
3. Something having the shape of a loop, e.g. a line traced on paper, a part of a written character (as the upper part of the usual script {scrb}, {scrh}, {scrl}), a part of the apparent path of a planet, a bend of a river.
1668Wilkins Real Char. iv. i. 388 Adverbs..may be expressed by a Loop in the same place. 1814Scott Lines to Dk. Buccleuch 13 Aug. in Lockhart xxxiii, For this mighty shoal of leviathans lay On our lee-beam a mile, in the loop of the bay. 1818― Rob Roy i, I wish..you would write a more distinct current hand..and open the loops of your l's. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xviii. 127 Our path trended away from the river, crossing its numerous ‘loops’. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. x, He set out..described a loop, turned, and went back again. 1880C. & F. Darwin Movem. Pl. 2 The apex often travels in a zig-zag line, or makes small subordinate loops or triangles. 1900R. C. Thompson Rep. Magicians Nineveh II. p. lxxxix, Jupiter.. appears to have formed a ‘loop’ near Regulus. 1900Blackw. Mag. July 58/1 James Bay, the Southern loop of Hudson's Bay.
4. spec. in scientific and technical applications.
a. Anat. A looped vessel or fibre. loop of Henle, the looped part of a uriniferous tubule.
1846Toynbee in Medico-Chirurg. Trans. XXIX. 309 Loops, convolutions, and dilatations, freely intercommunicating, characterize the tubuli of the surface. 1858H. Gray Anat. 442 Occasionally the elementary [nerve-] fibres are disposed in terminal loops or plexuses. 1885Landois & Stirling Human Physiol. II. 518 The spiral tubule..passes into the descending portion of Henle's loop.
b. Zool. In brachiopods, the folding of the brachial appendages.
1851–6Woodward Mollusca 211 In Terebratula and Thecidium it [the internal skeleton] takes the form of a loop, which supports the brachial membrane, but does not strictly follow the course of the arms. 1860Reeve Elem. Conchol. II. 182 In Terebratula dilatata..the loops are long. 1881P. M. Duncan in Academy 19 Mar. 210 The comparative sizes are also given, and the internal skeleton or loop also.
c. Math. (See quot. 1877.)
1858J. Booth in Proc. Roy. Soc. IX. 261 The difference between the lengths of the loop and the infinite branch is equal to an arc of the parabola together with a right line. 1877W. K. Clifford in Math. Papers (1882) 243 A path going along any line from O to very near A, then round A in a very small circle, and then back to O along the same line, will be called a loop. 1891Wolstenholme Math. Probl. 322 Also prove that the area of the loop is....
d. Acoustics. The portion of a vibrating string, column of air, etc., between two nodes.
1878Ld. Rayleigh Theory of Sound §255 II. 46 Midway between each pair of consecutive nodes there is a loop, or place of no pressure variation. Ibid., The loops are the places of maximum velocity, and the nodes those of maximum pressure variation. 1879W. H. Stone Sound i. 9 The breaking-up of the string into a number of nodes with intervening loops or ventral segments.
e. Railways and Telegraphy. (i) A line of rails or a telegraph wire diverging from, and afterwards returning to, the main line or circuit. Hence in Electr., any complete circuit or path for a current.
1863Culley Handbk. Telegr. 122 Supposing the resistance of the loop to be 100 units. 1873Act 36 & 37 Vict. c. 56 Sched. i. Note a & b, On single lines of Railway, each connection with a portion of double line at loops, terminal stations, or junctions to be stated. 1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 132 For some years the Midland..used the loop via Worcester only for the local traffic. 1889J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat v, They..thought the train was the Southampton express, or else the Windsor loop. 1909Webster, Loop, a complete electric circuit. 1922Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 659/1 If a stout wire be temporarily used to connect the two banks of plates inside, the condenser may be measured as a loop at telephonic frequencies. 1967Electronics 6 Mar. 132/1 The feedback loop is formed by connecting the amplifier's inverting input (pin 2) to potentiometer. 1970J. Earl Tuners & Amplifiers iv. 95 Small mains currents can flow in the loops formed by the several earths, and these can induce hum into the system.
(ii) Electr. A point on an aerial at which the current or the voltage is a maximum.
1922Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 1034/1 A standing wave forms on the simple antenna just as in an organ-pipe with stopped end, there being a node of current at the upper end and a loop at the earthed connection. 1928[see feeder 10 b]. 1968Radio Communication Handbk. (ed. 4) xiii. 3/1 At positions of current loops, the current-to-voltage ratio is high and the wire will behave as a low impedance circuit.
f. In a ‘centrifugal railway’ or the like: That portion of the path which forms a circuit, along the upper portion of which the passenger travels head downwards. Also, a similar path described by an aeroplane. (Cf. loop v.1 6.) Phr. to knock for a loop [knock v. 6 e] and varr.
1900Scientif. American 22 Sept. 186/1 [The car] plunges down the incline of 75 feet,..whirls round the loop, and reaches the station after running up a heavy grade. 1913Aeroplane 25 Sept. 350/2 M. Pégoud succeeded in looping the loop completely. 1923Cosmopolitan Apr. 84/1 It took Hurricane Sherlock just two boisterous rounds to smite 12-Punch O'Bernstein ‘for a loop’, as Hurricane put it. 1936J. G. Brandon Pawnshop Murder v. 46 Something had happened which had knocked even the imperturbable Wibley for the loop. 1968J. Wainwright Web of Silence 126 Have you lost your marbles, Pewter?.. Have you gone for a complete loop? 1969E. Ambler Intercom Conspiracy (1970) vi. 110, I was really confused. That memorandum threw me for a loop. 1971Country Life 18 Feb. 374/2 It was over Tewkesbury that I pointed my nose at the Mill and did my first loop. 1973D. Ramsay Deadly Discretion 153 That little charade of hers had knocked him for a loop.
g. Skating. A curve crossing itself, or any of several elaborations upon this.
1869Vandervell & Witham Syst. Figure-Skating x. 187 The Large Loop. This being done entirely on one edge throughout, requires some medium degree of speed. 1901Encycl. Sport IV. 370/1 Loops are of three kinds—the ordinary variety, the turn loop, and the bracket loop. 1935Encycl. Sports 560/1 ‘Loop’ is effected by over-balancing the body and recovering equilibrium by a quick turn of the foot. 1962T. D. Richardson Art of Figure Skating vii. 60 Loops are not skated in the normal positions..and what is more, they require an entirely different timing. 1973Times 7 Feb. 15/8 Hoffmann was fourth in the rocker but skated the best loops.
h. A configuration in finger-prints.
1880H. Faulds in Nature 28 Oct. 605/1 The right ring-finger..has an oval whorl, but the corresponding left finger shows an open loop. 1894‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. June 235 The bewildering maze of whorls or curves or loops which constituted the ‘pattern’ of a ‘record’ stand out bold and black. 1938G. W. Wilton Fingerprints xvi. 78 Galton had experimented only with thumbprints, grouping his lineations into three classes of arches, loops and whorls. 1970P. Laurie Scotland Yard ix. 193 There are two basic finger-print patterns: loops, where the lines turn through two right angles, and triradii.
i. A slack length of film, flexible strip, or the like left between two mechanisms to allow for a difference between the supply and take-up motions, esp. (in cinematographic equipment) one between a sprocket that turns continuously and one that turns intermittently.
1912F. A. Talbot Moving Pict. vii. 70 A slight loop is made at either end of the gate. 1939Spencer & Waley Cinema To-Day ii. 25 A flickering motion of these loops absorbs the difference between the steady feed of the sprocket wheels and the intermittent feed of the claw. 1962G. A. T. Burdett Automatic Control Handbk. ix. 54 When metal strip is being wound or reeled it is usual to form loops in the feed line to allow for flexibility and avoid undue tension.
j. = loop aerial (see 6).
1922Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 1058/1 Before the advent of high amplification, it was impracticable to use single loops of manageable dimensions. 1936Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XL. 175 To obtain a full direction finding service, it is usual to instal an external circular loop which can be rotated and orientated by the operator when taking a bearing. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. I. 445/2 Use of small loops concealed within the set is a standard practice for broadcast receivers in areas where signal strength is high.
k. A length of film or magnetic tape whose ends have been joined to form an endless strip, so that continuous repetition of the recording is made possible (e.g. in rehearsing the synchronization required for dubbing a foreign-language sound track).
1931K. F. Morgan in L. Cowan Recording Sound for Motion Pict. x. 151 The machine is provided with a film elevator attachment for running a continuous loop of sound track. This attachment is particularly useful for the dubbing of continuous background sounds. 1951R. Spottiswoode Film & its Techniques xii. 355 It is most important [in dubbing]..not to upset the recording order of an emotional scene which has had to be broken down into several loops. 1959Halas & Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 216 Each pencil-test is shot on negative and projected in loops so that it can be viewed over and over again. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 258 A tape loop may be used (a) to provide a repeated sound structure or rhythm (in radiophonics), (b) for an ‘atmosphere’ track where this is regular in quality, (c) in tape delay techniques. 1968Punch 31 Jan. 153 At the Rank Organisation's Pinewood Studios they tell how Sophia Loren dubbed sixty-four loops in an hour and a half, against an average of ten or twelve loops an hour.
l. A sequence of control operations or activities in which each depends on the result of the previous one; esp. (more fully closed loop), one in which there is feedback, the result of a later operation being made to affect one earlier in the sequence, usu. so as to maintain the output at a desired level.
1945L. A. MacColl Fund. Theory Servomechanisms viii. 70 This procedure of adding feedback loops to internal parts of a servomechanism is employed frequently when it is necessary to take special steps to insure that the performances of those parts shall be accurate and reliable. 1948Brown & Campbell Princ. Servomechanisms vii. 227 Figure..shows internal loop within a main closed loop. 1954M. H. Lajoy Industr. Automatic Controls i. 9 The automatic washing machine which operates on a time basis and is not dependent upon whether or not the clothes are clean is an open loop system. 1962F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics ix. 366 There are two basic control systems: the open-loop system and the closed-loop system. The open-loop system is familiar to us all. Examples of this are..a light switch, or the horn button on an automobile... In the closed-loop system a portion of the output is sensed and fed back to the input. The input is then altered to achieve a co-ordinated response at the output... A good example is the modern air conditioning system in which room air is fed back to the thermostat control. 1971J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man vii. 107 Certain cells in the hypothalamus..are very sensitive to slight rises in temperature above the normal (37°C). They then discharge nerve impulses that set in action the mechanisms that cool the body, such as sweating. This cools the blood and switches off the hypothalamus. In order to study such closed-loop feedback systems engineers use the device of ‘opening’ the loop. This has been done..by putting heating electrodes in the hypothalamus and arranging that they keep it at a constant temperature a few tenths of a degree above normal in spite of the cooling blood.
m. Computers. A sequence of instructions which is executed repeatedly (usu. with an operand that changes in each cycle) until some previously specified criterion is satisfied.
1947Goldstine & von Neumann in J. von Neumann Coll. Works (1963) V. 86 When a simple induction takes place, C travels during each step of the induction over a certain path, at the end of which it returns to its beginning. Hence this path may be visualized as a loop. We will call it an induction loop or a simple induction loop. 1954First Gloss. Programming Terminol. (Assoc. Computing Machinery) 12 Loop, the repetition of a group of instructions in a routine. 1955R. K. Richards Arithmetic Operations in Digital Computers xii. 359 Any one program may contain many loops which may interlock one another in a complex manner. 1964C. Dent Quantity Surveying by Computer iii. 28 It will be seen that s in instruction 4 is reduced by unity at every cycle of the loop, by reason of instruction 7, and that eventually..the conditional jump instruction will decide that the number stored by instruction 5 is negative. Control then proceeds with the next sequence according to instruction 9. 1969P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 294 The terminating condition test is usually the last instruction of the loop, but it may be anywhere. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xiv. 215 Loops..are basic to the economy of automatic data processing. It costs a few dollars to have an instruction written, but the computer executes it at a price which may be only a fraction of a cent below what the same operation would cost if it were executed by a human being. The only way of amortizing programming is to arrange for most instructions to be repeated a great number of times.
n. Nuclear Engin. A system of pipes passing through or associated with a reactor that forms a closed circuit (under operating conditions).
1957New Scientist 23 May 33/1 The chemical behaviour of such systems has to be investigated in a reactor by passing a pipe containing a portion of the system under investigation through or close to the reactor core. Such a pipe, with the necessary measuring equipment, is called a test loop. 1958H. Etherington Nucl. Engin. Handbk. v. 142 To satisfy the demand for testing operation under conditions of high temperature and pressure in those reactors using a primary water loop, high-pressure loops have been developed. Questions of fuel stability, heat transfer, water chemistry, radiation-accelerated corrosion, fission-product leakage, and fuel stability under desired operating conditions may be answered in high-pressure water loops. 1974Times 21 Jan. 15/2 The CEGB's first two plants..would be the 52nd and 53rd of their type—the Westinghouse four-loop design, in which a single reactor is linked to four steam-generating boilers. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XII. 897/1 Pressurized water both cools the reactor and carries away the fission-produced heat through the primary system (or loop) to a heat exchanger... The pressurized water then circulates back through the reactor in a constant cycle. In the secondary loop (which is sealed off from the radioactive primary coolant water) the water boils and expands into steam.
o. A type of intra-uterine contraceptive device. Cf. Lippes loop.
1962[see Lippes loop]. 1965Guardian 28 May 6/3 The medical council has authorized the intra-uterine contraceptive device... The IUCD would nearly always prevent pregnancy... The ‘loops’..cost only a few pence. 1967Times 9 Oct. 4/4 [Pakistan] Although the 1970 target of 500,000 vasectomies and five million loop insertions might seem low,..the main object was to retard or halt the growing birth rate. 1971Petticoat 17 July 6/4 There's one excellent method (the coil or loop) only suitable for someone who's already had a baby. 1974Guardian 25 Mar. 10 Will the loop make your periods more painful? If you have comfortable periods before you have a loop fitted, you are unlikely to develop painful periods afterwards.
5. (See quots.) [Perh. a different word.]
1674–91Ray S. & E.C. Words 105 A Loop; A Rail of Pales, or Bars join'd together like a Gate, to be removed in and out at pleasure. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Loop, the part of a pale-fence between one post and another.
6. attrib. and Comb., as loop-handle, loop-head, loop-lock, loop method, loop-net, loop road, loop system, loop way; loop-maker; loop-like, loop-shaped adjs.; loop aerial, antenna Radio, an aerial consisting of one or more loops of wire; loop-artery, an artery that forms a loop alongside the main-duct; loop-drag, -eye (see quots.); loop film, a loop (sense 4 k) of cinematographic film; loop-knot, † (a) a reef-knot (obs.); (b) a single knot tied in a doubled cord, so as to leave a loop beyond the knot (1875 in Knight Dict. Mech.); loop-lace, (a) a kind of ornament consisting of a series of loops; (b) a kind of lace consisting of patterns worked on a ground of fine net; hence loop-laced a.; loop-line, (a) see 4 e; (b) a fishing-line used with the loop-rod (q.v.) to which it is attached by a loop; loop pile (see quot. 1963); loop-rod, a spliced fishing-rod with a strong loop of horse-hair at the top for the attachment of the line; loop-stitch, a kind of fancy stitch consisting of loops; also as v. trans., to connect or attach by means of loop-stitches; so loop-stitching, such work; loop system, a method of connecting electrical supply points (as lamp roses) by taking the wires to each point from terminals at its switch and at the previous supply point, instead of making a separate joint elsewhere in the circuit; loop-test (see quot.); loop-tube = looped tube (see looped ppl. a.1 1); loop-work, work consisting of loops or looped stitches; also attrib.; loop-worm = looper 1; loop yarn (see quot. 1940).
1913Year-Bk. Wireless Telegr. 314 For the directive aerial, the writer had been employing a closed circuit or *loop aerial, tuned with a condenser. 1966J. P. Hawker Outl. Radio & Television xxii. 367 The main advantage of the loop aerial is the two sharp null positions as the loop is rotated, occurring when the plane of the loop is parallel to the wave front. 1968M. Woodhouse Rock Baby xiii. 131, I packed the D.F. set, the loop aerial, and the little transceiver into my rucksack.
1906J. A. Fleming Princ. Electr. Wave Telegr. iv. 280 (caption) Stationary potential oscillations set up on *loop antennæ. 1932F. E. Terman Radio Engin. xvi. 588 All practical direction-finding systems make use of a loop antenna. 1968A. L. Weeks Antenna Engin. ii. 56 Small loop antennas are frequently employed for low-frequency receiving applications.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 239 The blood can enter at each end of the short *loop arteries.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Loop-drag, an eye at the end of a rod through which tow is passed for cleaning bore-holes.
1868Joynson Metals 19 Vertical bars, to which they [horizontal bands] are attached by *loop-eyes or strong screw-bolts.
1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 510/2 *Loop film, the same as band film or cycle film. 1957Oxf. Pocket Bk. Athletic Training (ed. 2) 9 Get a loop film taken of your technique at normal and slow motion speeds.
1949W. F. Albright Archaeol. of Palestine vi. 115 These craters were supplied with two tilted horizontal *loop-handles. 1969E. H. Pinto Treen 387 Some 19th-century planes have 17th-century type ‘loop’ handles.
1876J. S. Ingram Centenn. Exposition ix. 318 These were the larger and most important part of the exhibit, while the rest was made up of..prop nuts, *loop heads, offsets and stay ends.
1795Hutton Math. Dict. s.v. Knot, A *Loop knot [explained as = reef-knot]. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 351/2 We took a stout rope, made a strong loop-knot in it for each person.
1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 52 The sleeves..were cut from the highest to the lowest part..and rejoind with small blacke *loope-lace. 1683Lond. Gaz. No. 1797/4 A new-fashion'd Campaign Coat..gold Loop-Lace down the Seams. 1883Daily News 22 Oct. 7/1 Common Valenciennes and loop laces.
1691Lond. Gaz. No. 2686/4 One Flanders *Loop-laced Combing-cloath.
1896Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 535 A tendency to draw a *looplike rudimentary contour soon emerges.
1859G. A. Sala Twice round Clock 261 Then from the beginning of Italian opera in England, a grand trunk line extending to our days, I shunt off on to innumerable little branches and *loop-lines. 1869Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. 115 A loop line from Peterborough, through Boston and Lincoln, rejoining the main line at Retford. 1885D. Webster Angler & Loop-Rod iv. 71, I..constantly use the spliced rod and loop-line. 1908Daily Chron. 16 May 1/5 The loop-line railway linking up all the railway termini. 1956Railway Mag. Nov. 745/1 The up main and goods loop lines were destroyed or heavily damaged for about 70 yd. 1970Ibid. Oct. 585/2 Passenger trains were diverted over the loop line via Lochwinnoch which is rarely used by other than freight services.
1888G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 90 Then with *loop-locks Forward falling..his twiny boots Fast he opens.
1727Boyer Fr. Dict., *Loop-maker, faiseur d'Agrémens.
1901L. W. Waterhouse Conduit Wiring 51 The wiring in this building has been carried out entirely on the ‘*loop’ method, there being no joints in any of the wires or cables.
1869Game Laws Illinois in Fur, Fin & Feather (1872) 175 That it shall be unlawful..to take or catch fish..by means of any seine, gill-net, tramel net, pike-net, or *loop-net.
1924R. Beaumont Carpets & Rugs vii. 262 The *loop pile may wear flat or bare, but it remains part of the carpet structure. 1963Which? Mar. 69/1 A loop pile carpet has closed loops while a cut pile has the top of the loop cut open.
1909Daily Mail 5 Aug. 5/2 To construct *loop-roads for fast motor traffic round villages. 1960New Left Rev. July–Aug. 23/1 Loop roads for buses would penetrate some distance into the pedestrian precinct. 1963Times 7 Mar. 7/4 Whether the town is to have a loop road or..the High Street is to be widened. 1973M. Yorke Grave Matters iv. ii. 76 He took the loop road that led away from the village.
1885D. Webster (title) The Angler and the *Loop-Rod. Ibid., Pref. p. viii, The art of fishing with what may be styled the loop-rod and line.
1870Rolleston Anim. Life 134 We see a *loop-shaped gland.
1857Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Sewing etc. 19 Then carrying through the latter a loop of the first thread, so as to form a double *loop-stitch. 1901Lady's Realm X. 619 Fig. 22 is the way open loop-stitch is worked... When drawn through, the needle is put in a little way beyond the loop formed.
1932D. C. Minter Mod. Needlecraft 189/1 In fig. 30 the patch edge..is *loop-stitched to the paper.
1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 213/2 The wrong side of the garment is neatened by *loopstitching the two raw edges together. 1969Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 544/1 One such hook and, at the other end, loop-stitching for permanent fixing to container sides.
1896R. Robb Electr. Wiring v. 119 The object of confining this construction to the *loop system is to prevent joints being made in concealed places. 1925G. A. Willoughby House Wiring ii. 73 The loop system of wiring does away with this possibility of fire, because the wires are looped from outlet to outlet and all joints are made within outlet boxes.
1867Culley Handbk. Telegr. (ed. 2) 145 A *loop-test, when two similar wires are disconnected from earth at the distant end and joined together, is free from this source of error. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 276 The advantage of the loop test consists in its being independent, within certain limits, of the resistance of the fault.
1885Landois & Stirling Human Physiol. II. 518 Here it [sc. the narrow loop of Henle] becomes wider..and enters a medullary ray, where it constitutes the ascending *loop-tube.
1929Times 1 Nov. 18/3 Traffic proceeding towards London is being diverted at Hatton cross roads, via Cranford-lane to the Bath road and London (A.A. *loop-way). Ibid., A.A. loop-way signs.
1857Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Sewing etc. 4 Apparatus for producing *loopwork ornaments on woven fabrics. 1888Art Jrnl. 379 By leaving portions of the silk loopwork uncut a less raised pile is produced.
1880Libr. Univ. Knowl. (N.Y.) III. 388 [Canker⁓worms] are often called..*loop worms or geometers.
1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 511/1 *Loop yarn, a fancy yarn, with small loops; composed of three threads folded together, one of which is an effect thread and forms the loops, which are bound by another thread. 1957Simpson & Weir Weaver's Craft (ed. 8) xvi. 214 Curl or Loop Yarn is made by turning a comparatively thick thread around a much finer ground thread so as to form a succession of curls or loops along the surface of the yarn. 1964[see bouclé a.].
Add:[1.] g. in the loop, well-informed; privy to information not generally known; included; part of a process. Cf. in the know s.v. know n.2 Chiefly U.S.
1970Sunday Tel. 22 Mar. 7/7 Fully automatic landing has now been perfected, though it will still be necessary to keep the pilot ‘in the loop’. 1981N.Y. Times Mag. 4 Jan. 10/3 The people at the power center have already adopted the White House favorites—‘in the loop,’ for those privileged to be ‘copied’ by receiving copies of memoranda. 1987Atlanta Jrnl. & Constitution 9 Aug. c2/3 ‘We were not in the loop. When you don't know something,’ he told me, ‘it's hard to react.’ 1993Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 28 Mar. e2/2 A modem hookup to the office and a satellite to the world keeps Frank in the loop.
h. out of the loop, not privy to information; excluded; not part of a process. orig. and chiefly U.S.
1976Aviation Week 12 Apr. 63/2 Automation technology can lead to complacency when it takes the controller ‘out of the loop’ by reducing the need for his interaction with a flightcrew and deemphasizing the cooperative aspects of the air traffic system. 1987Atlanta Jrnl. & Constitution 19 Dec. a16/1 Bush tries to portray himself as the indispensable right-hand man in his boss' successful enterprises, but..out of the loop in Reagan's most deplorable foreign policy debacle. 1989T. Clancy Clear & Present Danger xi. 217 Moore almost replied that Admiral Greer was out of the loop because of his physical condition. 1990Sunday Tel. 9 Sept. 21/7 There was a rumour that Secretary of State Baker was ‘out of the loop’—that for some unspecified reason he had lost the President's confidence and was not being fully consulted. 1993Vanity Fair (N.Y.) May 82/3 Clifford eventually accused Chellino of keeping a new, Clifford-picked agent out of the loop.
▪ II. loop, n.2|luːp|
Forms: 4–6 loup(e, 5–6 lowp(e, 6 loope, 5–7 lope, 7– loop.
[Prob. connected with MDu. lûpen (mod.Du. luipen), to lie in wait, watch, peer; cf. MDu. glûpen (mod.Du. gluipen) of similar meaning, mod.Du. gluip narrow opening, crack of a door. An Anglo-Lat. loupis abl. pl., app. repr. this word, is cited by Du Cange from a document of 1394.]
1. An opening in a wall, to look through, or to allow the passage of a missile; a loop-hole.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 792 Wyth mony luflych loupe, þat louked ful clene. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 288 Eche chyne stoppe, þat no light leope yn at louer ne at loupe. a1470Gregory in Hist. Coll. Lond. Cit. (Camden) 213 They hadde..loupys with schyttyng wyndowys to schute owte at. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 664 A place with a particioun atwene both prynces..made with a lowpe, that eyther myght se other. 1512MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., For makyng off a loope in þe dorter at þe susters syde vjd. a1532Ld. Berners Huon clxvi. 655 The sayd wacheman came to y⊇ wall syde, where as there was a strayte lope into Florence chaumbre. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1215/1 One of them could not so soone looke out at a loope, but three or foure were readie to salute him. 1596Lodge Marg. Amer. 63 A square and curious chamber, with fiue loopes to yeeld light. 1600Fairfax Tasso xi. xxxii. 201 Some at the loopes durst scant out peepe. 1628Coke On Litt. 5 a, Tenellare or tanellare, is to make holes or loopes in walls to shoote out against the Assailants. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i. (1826) 12 Some remains of massy walls, still exhibited loops for archers. c1822Beddoes Pygmalion Poems 160 A blinded loop In Pluto's madhouse' green and wormy wall. 1846Guide Archit. Antiq. Neighbourhood Oxford 164 On the first floor [Northleigh Ch. tower] the windows are plain Norman loops. 1864Browning Worst of It xii, I spy the loop whence an arrow shoots.
b. fig. and in figurative contexts.
1863Kinglake Crimea II. 118 Closing the loops by which a general might seek to escape from the obligation of having to make the venture. 1879T. L. Cuyler Heart-Culture 102 The soul becomes luminous until the interior light and glow blaze out through every loop and crevice.
†2. An opening in the parapet of a fortification; an embrasure. Obs.
c1477Caxton Jason 14 b, They of Oliferne..ran unto the bateillement and lowpes of the walles. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cccxxi. 499 At another lope of the wall on a ladder..the lorde of Sercell..fought hande to hande with his enemyes. 1544Late Exped. Scot. 6 in Dalyell Fragm. Sc. Hist. (1798), They repulsed the Scottyshe gonners from the loupes of the same [gate]. 1553Brende Q. Curtius Cc viii, The walle..was very narowe in the toppe not divided with lopes..but enclosed with one whole and continuall battilment rounde about. 1575Churchyard Chippes (1817) 148 Some beate the lowps, some ply the walles with shot. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 381 A yew tree..cut on the top with loop and crest, like the battlements of a Tower.
fig.a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Q vj b, Euery lightnes done in youth breketh down a loope of the defence of our lyfe.
3. Comb., as loop-window.
1573–80Baret Alv. C 161 A loupe windowe or casement. 1848Rickman Styles Archit. (ed. 5) 94 Some windows of this style are long and narrow,..Similar loop windows with square tops occur occasionally also in Norman work. 1892A. Heales Archit. Ch. Denmark 68 A small round⁓headed loop-window.
▪ III. † loop, n.3 Obs. rare—1.
[Of obscure origin; perhaps a use of loop n.1 (cf. loop v.1 2); but cf. lop n.1]
A wood-louse or hog-louse.
1612Enchir. Med. ii. 58 Your Millepedes, which I take to be loopes or Hog-lice. 1615Thomas Lat. Dict., Oniscus, a lope, a worme which bendeth himselfe like to a bowe when he goeth. It is called of some Millepeda.
▪ IV. loop, n.4|luːp|
Also 5–6 loupe, 9 loup.
[ad. F. loupe, which has all the senses. Cf. G. luppe.]
1. Metallurgy. A mass of iron in a pasty condition ready for the tilt-hammer or rolls; a bloom.
1674Ray Collect. Words, Iron Work 127 The sow at first they roll into the fire, and melt off a piece of about three fourths of a hundredweight which so soon as it is broken off becomes a Loop. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 163 The Metall in an hour thickens by degrees into a lump or mass, which they call a loop. 1731in Bailey vol. II. 1794 H. Cort in Repertory of Arts & Manuf. (1795) III. 365 The method and process, invented..by me, is to continue the loops in the same furnace,..and to heat them to a white or welding heat. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 768 The ore..loses its fusibility, and is collected into lumps called loops. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Loup, the pasty mass of iron produced in a bloomary or puddling furnace.
attrib.18..Whitman To Working Men 6 Iron works—the loup-lump at the bottom of the melt at last.
†2. A precious stone of imperfect brilliancy, esp. a sapphire. Obs.
c1400Mandeville (1839) xiv. 160 Of the Saphire Loupe, and of many other Stones. 14..Lydg. Commend. Our Lady 92–3 Semely saphyre, depe loupe, and blewe ewage, Stable as the loupe, ewage of pite. 1545Test. Ebor. VI. 228 A flower of golde diverslie enamylede, with a rubie, a saphire lupe and a perle. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 130 In the uppermost Rose, was a faire Saphier loupe perced.
3. A knot or bur, often of great size, occurring on walnut, maple, oak, and some other trees.
In some mod. Dicts.
4. ‘A small magnifying-glass’ (Cent. Dict.).
▪ V. loop, v.1|luːp|
[f. loop n.1 App. of recent origin; not in Johnson or Todd. Cf. looped ppl. a.1, which is recorded from the 16th c.]
1. trans. To form into a loop or loops; also with round.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxx. 412 The other end is already looped, or as sailors would say, ‘doubled in a bight’. 1872Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 342 The eyes of the needles were formed by looping the metal round at the head. 1891Nature 10 Sept., The larva..loops its body to and fro with a kind of lashing movement..in the water.
2. intr. To form a loop; spec. of certain larvæ.
1832Fraser's Mag. VI. 384 The roots..twist themselves among the masonry, and the huge boughs come looping through the holes. 1854Woodward Mollusca ii. 173 Pedipes afra..loops in walking, like truncatella. 1885Atlantic Monthly LVII. 595 The currant worms went looping and devouring from twig to twig. 1898E. Coues in J. Fowler's Jrnl. p. xxii, Fowler..went a roundabout way, looping far south to heads of the Whitewater and Verdigris rivers before he crossed the Neosho.
3. trans. To put or form loops upon; to provide (a garment) with loops.
1894Blackmore Perlycross 24 The broad valley..looped with glittering water. 1900Blackw. Mag. Sept. 336/1 Snow loops every ledge and curtains every slope.
4. To encircle or enclose in or with something formed into a loop.
1840Lardner Geom. 248 Let a pencil be looped in the thread... Thus placed, let the pencil be moved in the loop of the thread. 1863–76T. B. Curling Dis. Rectum (ed. 4) 102 Metallic wire..sufficient..to admit of the surgeon..looping his finger with it.
5. a. Chiefly with adv. or phr.: To fasten (back, up) by forming into a loop, or by means of an attached loop; to join or connect by means of a loop or loops. Also intr. for refl.
1837J. Kirkbride Northern Angler 3 Loop on the dropper-flies; the tail-fly should also be looped. 1840Browning Sordello ii. 199 For him was..verse..A ceremony that..looped back the lingering veil Which hid the holy place. 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. viii, His frock-skirts looped over his elbow. 1844Hood Bridge of Sighs 31 Loop up her tresses Escaped from the comb. 1853Mechanics' Mag. LVIII. 375 Each needle carries a separate thread, which are looped into each other alternately. 1863Alford in Life (1873) 366 Their narrow..streets, shady and lofty, looped together with frequent arches from side to side. 1873Black Pr. Thule ii. 28 She had an abundance of dark hair looped up. 1880N. Smyth Old Faiths v. (1882) 208 Every thread of life is inextricably looped with a thousand other threads. 1881Encycl. Brit. XIII. 99/1 The basal processes loop with the horizontal fibres.
b. loop in. trans. (i) To connect into an electric circuit by the loop system.
1893W. J. Hopkins Telephone Lines & their Properties xiii. 203 It was the custom..to ‘loop in’ the several telephones, that is, to place them in series. 1899W. P. Maycock Electr. Wiring iii. 242 At A, three lamps L and switches S are ‘looped in’ to one fuse F. 1965J. H. M. Sykes Beginner's Guide Electr. Wiring v. 113 Lighting circuits may be looped in, using three-plate ceiling roses, to avoid the necessity for joints.
(ii) To form (a wire) into a loop and insert it into a terminal.
1911A. Bursill Princ. & Pract. Electr. Wiring vi. 37 The wires must never be cut where they are looped-in. 1952W. E. Steward Mod. Wiring Pract. 140 Frequently, the description of this [sc. looping-in] system given in books on wiring methods tends to create a false impression in the mind of the reader. From these descriptions it would appear that one length of cable is bared at intervals and looped in at switch and lighting terminals. In practice, when wiring in conduit, the two lengths of wire forming the loop are threaded in separately and the junction is made at the switch, light, or other terminal. 1967G. A. T. Burdett Electr. Installations 226 (heading) Looping-in the cable.
6. to loop the loop, to perform the feat of circling in a vertical loop, orig. on a specially prepared track (see loop n.1 4 f), later in an aeroplane. Also transf., fig., and as n.
Orig. a fairground phrase.
1902Strand Mag. June 708 (heading) Looping the loop on a bicycle. Ibid. 708/1 ‘Looping the loop’ in America has become even more popular than shooting the chutes. Ibid. 708/2 At first he could not induce the ball to loop the loop. 1903G. Bell Let. 8 July (1927) I. 166 We went on a switchback that looped the loop... Hugo..was distinctly conscious of being upside down..for the fraction of a second. 1903Outing XLII. 552/1 He knows how to win the steeplechase..and has been ‘thrown out’ for standing up in the loop-the-loops. [1908A. Bazin in L'Aérophile 15 May, Pourquoi pas ‘looping the loop’ tout de suite?] 1911A. P. Thurston Elem. Aeronaut. iii. 33 A glider..can be made to ‘loop the loop’, or follow any one of a number of curved paths. 1913[see loop n.1 4 f]. 1922A. S. Eddington Theory of Relativity 3 The planets literally looped the loop in fantastic curves called epicycles. 1922Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert ix. 209 A girl of such pronounced beauty that Ramsden Waters' heart looped the loop twice in rapid succession. 1935[see falling ppl. a. 5 b]. 1940O. Nash Face is Familiar (1954) 10 It's pleasant to loop the loop, To daringly seize The flying trapeze With a cry of Allez-oop! 1960B. Keaton Wonderful World of Slapstick (1967) 73 The climax of the act came when he started doing loop the loops, riding upside down. 1961[see aerobatics n. pl.]. 1968Michelin Guide N.Y. City 124 Coney Island..scenic railways, loop-the-loops and Ferris wheels compete with phantom trains, tunnels of love, sputniks.
7. intr. Computers. To execute a loop (loop n.1 4 m).
1958Gotlieb & Hume High-Speed Data Processing vi. 98 A common procedure is to use one sequence of instructions, cycling or looping through this sequence as often as required. 1969P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 293 The ability to loop, and thus reuse instructions without duplicating them and wasting memory, is probably the single most important advantage gained by stored-program computers.
Add:[6.] b. intr. Aeronaut. Of a pilot, aircraft, etc.: to execute an aerobatic loop. Also transf. Hence trans., to cause (an aircraft) to loop the loop.
1913Aeroplane V. 641/1 The interest of the onlookers was centred in Mr. B. C. Hucks, who looped in the most engaging way.a Ibid. 688/2 M. Chanteloup was the first pilot to loop on a biplane. 1914Flight VI. 368/1 Perhaps on finishing a race every pilot will be required to loop on crossing the finishing line. 1918H. Barber Aerobatics 41 The pupil will have no difficulty in continuing to loop in increasingly finished style. 1927C. A. Lindbergh We ii. 32 Slowly pulling back on the stick I began to loop. 1935C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 86/2 A..single seater fighting aeroplane can be looped without any previous dive to gain speed, and an ordinary light aeroplane can be looped after a brief period of nose-down engine-on flying to gain momentum. 1953C. A. Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis II. vi. 265, I stood on the top wing of an airplane while it looped. 1968T. Roethke Coll. Poems 16 The bat..Loops in crazy figures half the night Among the trees. 1988Air Display Dec. 22/3 Westland's Lynx demonstrator looped for the benefit of the crowds.
▪ VI. † loop, v.2
[f. loop n.4]
intr. Of heated iron-ore: To form a loop (see loop n.4).
1674Ray Collect. Words, Iron Work 125 Care also must be taken that it be not too much burned, for then it will loop, i.e. melt and run together in a mass.
▪ VII. loop, v.3
[f. loop n.2 Cf. looped ppl. a.2]
trans. To furnish with loop-holes.
1846Z. Taylor Let. 9 Nov. in N.Y. Morn. Express (1847) 22 Jan. 2/3 The houses are of stone..all looped up for musketry.
▪ VIII. ‖ loop, int. S. Afr.|ləʊp|
[Afrikaans, f. Du. imp. of lopen to walk.]
A word of command to an animal to move forward.
1811W. J. Burchell Jrnl. 18 June in Trav. S. Africa (1822) I. viii. 169 Philip mounted his seat,..with an animated voice calling out to the oxen, Loop! 1927W. Plomer I Speak of Afr. i. 40 ‘Loop!’ he ordered in a loud voice. Shilling cracked his whip and shouted to the oxen. The voorlooper's head could just be seen through a forest of horns. 1937F. B. Young They seek a Country ii. i. 162 ‘Ay, Blauwberg, would you?’ (The long lash curled in the air like a salmon cast and stung the off⁓leader's muzzle.) ‘Loop, you devils, loop!’ |
