| 释义 |
outpost, n.|ˈaʊtpəʊst|
[out- 1.]
1. a. A post at a distance from the body of an army; a detachment placed at a distance from a force, when halted, as a guard against surprise.
1757Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 478 The uncertain and difficult communication with the out-posts. 1779Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 33 Sometimes a serjeant at an out-post..sends an account of his having discovered on a certain spot, a parcel of spice trees. 1803Lake in Owen Mrq. Wellesley's Desp. (1878) 394 When we had encamped..our outposts were attacked by a body of the enemy. 1844Regul. & Ord. Army 272 Officers, Soldiers, and Followers of the Camp, are not, on any account, to be suffered to pass the Out-Posts, unless they are on duty, or present a regular permit. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 375 The outposts of the Cameronians were speedily driven in.
b. transf. and fig.1813Eustace Italy (1815) I. i. 74 Saltzburg, a subalpine city,..may be considered..as forming one of the outposts of Italy. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. i. (1858) 9 A lower line of hills, which form as it were the outposts of the Sinaitic range itself. 1881D. G. Rossetti Ballads & Sonnets 196 Shall my sense pierce love,—the last relay And ultimate outpost of eternity? 1917E. V. Lucas (title) Outposts of mercy.
c. attrib.1823Moore Fables 80 The sun, who now began To call in all his out-post rays. 1859Lang Wand. India 394 [He] was tried for being drunk whilst on out-post duty. 1776Battle of Brooklyn ii. i. 19 We are the remains of the out post guard. 1870De B. R. Keim Sheridan's Troopers 206 This simple means is also resorted to by the troops on outpost duty. 1923Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 226 The blockhouse..was absorbed into our outpost-line. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 175 In Berlin and Hamburg..and on airfields and outpost stations, the R.A.F. has taken root. Ibid. 176 Then, these outpost men are busy.
2. A trading settlement situated near a frontier or at a remote place in order to facilitate the commercial contacts of a larger and more centrally situated town or settlement. Also, by extension, any of various other kinds of remote settlements and institutions (see quots.). Also attrib.
1802in E. Coues New Light on Early Hist. Greater Northwest (1897) I. 204 [I] made up the assortment of goods for the outposts, equipped the summer men, clerks, etc. 1911A. K. Chignell (title) An outpost in Papua. 1955W. G. Hardy Alberta Golden Jubilee Anthol. 212 In Alberta, after World War I, it set up ‘outpost hospitals’ for the brides and families of soldier-settlers in the outlying reaches of the province. 1956H. S. M. Kemp Northern Trader 17 The red [thumbtacks] represent the Company's permanent, year-round establishments; the blue ones, the winter posts and outposts. 1961L. van der Post Heart of Hunter i. v. 80 Tsane had once possessed a district commissioner, but had declined into a remote police outpost. 1970Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 22 Feb. 5/3 The post here [sc. Cambridge Bay] is what is called an Outpost where goods are landed to be drawn on by other posts that may run short.
3. The furthest territory of an empire, esp. in the phr. outpost of Empire (i.e. the British Empire), common since the end of the nineteenth century, and now occasionally used in a nostalgic or ironic sense. Also attrib.
1912Kipling Songs from Books 94 There he shall blaze a nation's ways with hatchet and with brand, Till on his last-won wilderness an Empire's outposts stand. 1924E. M. Forster Passage to India xx. 182 His simple words had reminded them that they were an outpost of Empire. 1924Granta 25 Apr. 361/1 Attock Fort, in the Punjab... An outpost of Empire, where the Cabul and the Indus meet. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions ii. vii. 448 May she marry the outpost-of-Empire lad in the Sudan. 1934Dylan Thomas Let. 25 Apr. (1966) 111 Then I shall walk back..covering up a..weakness with a look of fierce & even Outpost-of-the-Empire determination. 1937‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier ix. 173 In an ‘outpost of Empire’ like Burma the class-question appeared at first sight to have been shelved. 1970R. Johnston Black Camels ii. 26 You've sure got an impressive outpost of empire here. 1971R. Roberts Classic Slum vi. 81 Some families..had male members..who had soldiered in the outposts of empire.
Hence ˈoutpost v. trans., to place as an outpost.
1864Masson in Reader 13 Aug., The thoughts that habitually come and go in the mind so privileged and out⁓posted to meditate and to sing! |
