dreadnought, a. and n.
(ˈdrɛdnɔːt)
Also dreadnaught.
A. adj. Dreading nothing, fearless.
| 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 301 Three Kentucky hunters, of the true ‘dreadnought’ stamp. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. 288 The manly and dreadnought character of the seafaring man. |
B. n.
1. a. A thick coat or outer garment worn in very inclement weather; also, the stout woollen cloth with a thick long pile of which such garments are made. Also attrib. Cf. fearnought.
| 1806 A. Duncan Nelson 140 ‘I am Lord Nelson’, replied the hero..throwing aside his green dreadnought. 1828 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 326 Drenched to the skin, in spite of all his ‘dread-nought’ garments. 1834 Southey Doctor lvii. II. 197 One of those dreadnoughts the utility of which sets fashion at defiance. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 11/2 A pair of dreadnought trousers. 1870 Thornbury Tour Eng. II. xxviii. 249 An artful-looking man in a dread⁓nought. |
b. (See quot.)
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Dreadnaught, a heavy, woolen, felted cloth, used as a lining for hatchways, etc., on board ship. |
2. A fearless person.
| [1694 Motteux tr. Rabelais's Pantagruel v. xxxvi. 179, I am as stout as Hercules... My name's William Dreadnought.] 1827 M. Wilmot Jrnl. 3 July in More Lett. (1935) 268 Our Chezy dreadnought has received him into her house. 1832 Scott Redgauntlet (Waverley ed.) I. i. 6 To recollect that the author himself..was one of those juvenile dreadnoughts, is a sad reflection to one who cannot now step over a brook without assistance. |
3. (Freq. with capital initial.) The name of the first British battleship (launched on 18 Feb. 1906) of a powerful type superior in armament to all its predecessors; hence, any of a class of battleships having their main armament entirely of big guns of one calibre. (Now disused.) Also attrib. and transf.
| [1587 Drake Desp. 27 Apr. in Hakluyt Voy. (1904) VI. p. xiv, A great leake sprange uppon the Dreadenoughte.] 1906 Outlook 20 Oct. 495/2 The Atlantic Fleet will consist of three Dreadnoughts and five of the Canopus class. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 14 Aug. 2/2 The mysterious Dreadnoughts which are being built in this country for the Brazilian Government. 1909 Daily Chron. 23 Mar. 1/1 Our Dreadnought strength and our strength in pre-Dreadnought ships, in comparison with those of Germany. 1914 Daily Express 26 Nov. 2/4, 7 Dreadnought Zeppelins: Airships built for the Invasion of Britain. 1915 Ibid. 23 Jan. 1/5 Vessels of the Dreadnought era. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. IV. 634/2 All maritime powers adopted the general design and it became customary to define battleships as dreadnoughts and pre-dreadnoughts. These definitions generally lapsed as the pre-dreadnought ships became obsolete. |
4. N.Z. The name of a strain of wheat.
| 1916 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. 20 Apr. 306 In Canterbury and North Otago the following wheats have given a good account of themselves from the point of view of yield: Red Marvel (French), Dreadnought (French). 1959 J. M. McEwan Wheat Varieties of N.Z. 14 Dreadnought has been grown in New Zealand from 1910 and is believed to be of English origin. |