英和和英

動詞

weathervane (third-person singular simple present weathervanes, present participle weathervaning, simple past and past participle weathervaned)

1. (transitive) To unbrake a crane so that it naturally aligns with the wind to prevent toppling.
2. (intransitive) (of a grounded or hovering aircraft) To naturally align with the wind.

発音

• (General American) IPA: /ˈwɛð.ɚ veɪn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈwɛð.ə veɪn/

名詞

weather vane (plural weather vanes)

1. A mechanical device rotating around one axis and attached to an elevated object such as a roof for showing the direction of the wind.

   Synonyms: vane, weathercock

   • 1913, Willa Cather, “Neighboring Fields, I”, in O Pioneers!:

     From the graveyard gate one can count a dozen gayly painted farmhouses; the gilded weather-vanes on the big red barns wink at each other across the green and brown and yellow fields.

   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:

     This one is surmounted by a clock-tower with a bent weather-vane - the latter being the only disorderly object in sight.

2. An indicator; something that reflects what the current situation is.
   • 2017, Susan Shifrin, Women as Sites of Culture:

     Since Elaine Showalter's 1985 article on the topic, Ophelia has been singled out as a role that depends for its power on the expression of female sexual desire, and, because of this, one that acts as a weather vane for attitudes towards women's sexuality.

   • 1918 July 25, “General Market Conditions”, in Hardwood Record, volume 45, number 7, page 17:

     Possibly though the best weather vane of the shippers' condition is the attitude of the mill trade as a whole toward present laxness in new orders.

   • 1967, United States. Congress, Congressional Record, page 16726:

     But since this measure involves comparing the private judgments of different sets of teachers, it is less reliable as a weather vane of achievement than the results of standardized tests.

3. (figurative) A person or organization that changes their attitude and position based on the prevailing conditions rather than displaying any conviction.
   • 1960 November 23, The Christian Century, volume 77, page 1373:

     The man who changes with every wind of doctrine is not a thinker but a weather vane.

   • 2003, Michael Curtis, Verdict on Vichy: Power and Prejudice in the Vichy France Regime:

     Laval was a political weather vane, perpetually mobile, but always resting on the same base, himself, the Talleyrand of Aubervilliers.

   • 2011, Christopher Stewart, 2206 : Window Onto A New World, page 37:

     < > repeated the federalist, appalled as always by the weather vane attitude that the Syndicate was well-known for adopting at such times, yet not letting his personal opinion transpire, < > he insisted, much to the astonishment of his interlocutor.

等位語

• anemoscope
• windsock

Further reading

• weather vane on Wikipedia.Wikipedia