smidgen

可能基于smiddum、smeddum (“细粉末”)的变体，受到了低地蘇格蘭語 smitch (“污渍；小点，污点；一点，一丝”)的影响。另，源自*smitching，smitch的指小形式。对比诺森布里亚方言英语smiddum (“铅矿的细小颗粒”)。 低地蘇格蘭語 smitch（亦作smutch），可能派生自英语方言词smit、smite (“一点，一丝”)、古英語 smytta、smitta (“污渍、斑点、污点”)，与古英語 smītan (“涂抹，弄脏”)有关；或者可能源自*smuddian, *smyddan, *smydecian, *smydegian (“弄脏，玷污”)，可能与中古低地德語 smudde (“肮脏的”)、smudden (“弄脏，玷污”)、中古高地德語 smotzen (“肮脏”)有关。若如此，则与smudge同源。
其他词源理论认为smidgeon与蘇格蘭蓋爾語 smidin (“小音节”)有关，但考虑到这样所必需的语义变迁，可能性极低。

Would you like some more cake? —I'll have a smidgen.

你还要再吃蛋糕么？——再来一点点就行。

Move it a smidgen to the right.

I could listen to forty million men like this candidate expound his views and it wouldn't alter me one smidgen in the belief that Carson Dwight has acted only as a true Christian would.

1907, Will N. Harben, 章號 XXXVII, 出自 Mam' Linda:

"You did! Aw right, you go right in and tell 'em the truth, all of it, every last smidgen."

1921, William Patterson White, 章號 XVIII, 出自 The Heart of the Range:


hit it off

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-hit it off.wav

喜欢上 （尤指初次见面时）

I really hit it off with Jack, and hired him without needing an interview.

我很中意Jack，没有面试就直接把他录用了。

Those two are really hitting it off. I wouldn't be surprised if they started dating soon.

那两位很喜欢对方，我觉得他们要开始确立关系了。

“My profile said ‘Australian tennis player’ so I think Savannah had visions of me at Wimbledon,” he laughs. “In reality, I was paying for the opportunity to play at an academy.” Even so, they soon hit it off.

2023年February6日, Lizzie Cernik, “How we met: ‘He sent 40 Valentine’s cards with all the different things he loved about me’”, 出自 The Guardian, →ISSN:


butt heads

源自带角动物用角互相顶撞来争斗的习惯。

They always seem to butt heads when they end up talking about politics.

他们聊到政治的时候似乎老是吵起来。

"Eventually, I just pieced it together, figuring your butting heads could probably be explained by a break up. Years of anime shipping trained me for this."

2018年November21日, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 1101 - Rose:

For long spells, City butted their heads against Chelsea’s well-organised lines and the upshot was the end of their push to complete a treble.

2021年May29日, David Hytner, “Chelsea win Champions League after Kai Havertz stuns Manchester City”, 出自 The Guardian:


trudge

16世纪中叶。原可能是指“用雪鞋走路”的习语。可能源自斯堪的纳维亚语言。对比冰島語 þrúga (“雪鞋”)、挪威語 truga (“雪鞋”)和瑞典语方言词trudja (“雪鞋”)。

The morning after the landslip, with rain still pouring down, it was an unpleasant trudge through deep mud to get there.

2020年September9日, Paul Clifton, “Heavy rainfall causes landslip in Hampshire: At the scene...”, 出自 Rail，第 10 頁:


trudge

拖着沉重的步子走，艰难地走

This famous archaeological site marks the farthest limit of human migration out of Africa in the middle Stone Age—the outer edge of our knowledge of the cosmos. I trudge to the caves in a squall.

2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)https://web.archive.org/web/20150212214621/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text


all the more

Lytle’s progress as a boxer is all the more remarkable when taking into account his unique circumstances.

考虑到他的特殊情况，Lytle在拳击手上的进步更加值得肯定。

I had to work all the harder with two people off sick.

两个人请了病假，我得干更多的活。

If your crush likes football, that's all the more reason for coming with us to the game tomorrow night!

你喜欢的人喜欢足球的话，你就更应该明晚跟我们去看比赛！

Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It’s all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely resolve and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear.

2019年May12日, Alex McLevy, “Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, 出自 The A.V. Club:


fall foul

falls foul
falling foul
fell foul
fallen foul

冲撞，攻击 （+ on、of或upon）

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd版, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

He was, literally speaking, drunk; which circumstance, together with his natural impetuosity, could produce no other effect than his running immediately up to his daughter, upon whom he fell foul with his tongue in the most inveterate manner [...]

1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling [棄兒湯姆·瓊斯的歷史], 第 (please specify |volume=I to VI) 卷, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book v:

Sky News fell foul of its own woolly reporting on Tuesday, when it reported "human remains" had been found on Saddleworth Moor. Ever keen to spin a good yarn, they immediately linked the story to moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley - only for the police to emerge seven hours later and announce that, after very careful inspection, they could confirm the carcass was not human …

2008, The Guardian, Media Monkey, 4 Aug 2008:

If Chelsea were to fall foul of profit and sustainability, they would be expected to cite unforeseen circumstances, much as some clubs have claimed Covid writedowns: their books would have been sound but for the pandemic.

March 11 2022, David Hytner, “Chelsea are in crisis but there is no will to leave club on their knees”, 出自 The Guardian:


bat an eyelid

源自bat (“震颤”)，约1900年。

bats an eyelid
batting an eyelid
batted an eyelid

flinch

关心，注意，有反应，理睬

关心，注意，有反应，理睬

When laptop computers first came out they were something of a novelty. These days, nobody bats an eyelid.

笔记本电脑刚问世的时候很新奇，现在大家都见怪不怪了。

[…]he got the drop on Cox, the only time I had seen or heard of its being done — had his pistol out and stuck in Cox's face before Cox could bat an eyelid.

1914, Edgar Beecher Bronson, The Vanguard，第 155 頁:

If you were to walk into a salon in America after a few 10–12 hour days of sweaty, dusty travel with no shower, you'd probably be politely asked to leave and not return until you've cleaned up. But here in a land whose resources and infrastructure cannot sustain such frivolity, the barber doesn't even bat an eyelid.

2006, Pete Takeda, An Eye at the Top of the World，第 116 頁:

Dublin's not a bad place to be gay. Most people wouldn't bat an eyelid at public displays of affection between same-sex couples[…]

2007, Fionn Davenport, Dublin Encounter，第 153 頁:


bat an eye

bats an eye
batting an eye
batted an eye


bat an eyelash

bats an eyelash
batting an eyelash
batted an eyelash


might makes right

为了押韵而如此翻译，仿译自古希臘語 δυνατὰ δὲ οἱ προύχοντες πράσσουσι καὶ οἱ ἀσθενεῖς ξυγχωροῦσιν (dunatà dè hoi proúkhontes prássousi kaì hoi astheneîs xunkhōroûsin，强者做自己能做的，弱者承受所必须承受的），出自修昔底德著《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》，5.89.1。


out and about

出门在外的，在日常活动的

He carried a cellular phone so that friends could reach him when he was out and about.

他带着手机，好让自己在外面时朋友能联系上他。

She had been in hospital, but now she is out and about again.

她之前住院，现在已经又可以出门了。


take stock

takes stock
taking stock
took stock
taken stock

At the outset of any inquiry it is proper to take stock of the results obtained by previous explorers of the same field.

1882, Leslie Stephen, The Science of Ethics

In 2009, he underwent heart surgery for an aortic valve replacement at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, an event that Mr. Williams said caused him to take stock of his life.

2014 August 11, Dave Itzkoff, "Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63 in Suspected Suicide," New York Times

[…]and the pillar of smoke which had recently begun to dissipate, as many of the fires amidships had been smothered by the onrushing water, was replaced by a vast mushroom cloud of steam, smoke, flame, and debris as the magazines detonated. In the pall of this apocalyptic destruction, the U.S. fleet takes stock.

2021年May5日, Drachinifel, 片头起42:53, 出自 Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?，於2022-08-19歸檔自原頁面:


ascribe

源自中古英語 ascriben，源自古法語 ascrivre (“题写；归功；归咎”)，源自拉丁語 āscrībere (“以书面声明”)，等价于a- + scribe。

将...归因于，将...归咎于

One may ascribe these problems to the federal government; however, at this stage it is unclear what caused them.

这些问题可能可以说是联邦政府导致的，但目前还是不能确定原因。

将...归为...所著，将...归为...所创作

It is arguable as to whether we can truly ascribe this play to Shakespeare.

能否真的说这出戏剧是莎士比亚写的还有待商榷。

[…]and two enormous Scottish poems, the Buik of Alexander, which has been improbably ascribed to Barbour, and Sir Gilbert Hay's Buik of Alexander the Conquerour; one nearly complete Prose Life of Alexander and fragments of four others; a stanzaic translation of the Fuerres de Gadres which survives only in a fragment, the Romance of Cassamus, and three separate translations of the Secreta Secretorum.

2012, William Matthews, The Tragedy of Arthur, University of California Press，第 68 頁:

A survey of the literature reveals that many who have commented on the signaling of animals ascribe to the view that all of their communicative signals are manifestations of emotion or affect.

1997, James A. Russell & José Miguel Fernández-Dols, The Psychology of Facial Expression, →ISBN，第 133 頁:

If we take a holistic view of human beings, we ascribe to the idea that humans are multidimensional and that they are greater than the sum of their parts – for example, their physical, psychological and spiritual aspects.

2010, Beverley Joan Taylor, Reflective Practice for Healthcare Professionals: A Practical Guide, →ISBN:

There are plenty of people who ascribe to the idea that, if they only have a short time on this earth, they want to be “used up” when it's their time to go.

2012, Joan Friedlander, Business from Bed, →ISBN:

And the truth is, I don't ascribe to the belief that God is more successful at drawing women to him than men.

2012, Mike Nappa, The Jesus Survey: What Christian Teens Really Believe and Why, →ISBN:


party to

对...知情的；参与...的


the long and short

The speech went on for hours, but the long and short of it is that not much has changed since last year.

演讲持续了几个小时，但是它的主题较去年没有多大变化。

Shepard: What's your relationship with Cerberus?
Zaeed: Easy. Cerberus is paying me a lot of money to help you on your mission. That's the long and short.

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, 經由 PC, →OCLC，幕：Omega:


in droves

Viewers are switching off news and current affairs programmes in droves with shows such as Panorama, Tonight with Trevor McDonald and even Watchdog failing to connect with audiences, a new report claims.

2002年October31日, Owen Gibson, “TV audiences desert news in droves”, 出自 The Guardian:

The difference to 2020 has been marked. People have returned to the railway in their droves, far faster than the pessimists predicted - especially this year, now that international travel restrictions have been lifted, bringing back foreign tourism.

2022年November30日, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, 出自 RAIL, 第 971 期，第 79 頁:


good head on one's shoulders

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-good head on one's shoulders.ogg


ex-convict

ex-con的另一種寫法


dilly-dally

No one can accuse the filmmakers of dillydallying; no sooner have the opening credits ended than we’re watching, via a mirrored ceiling, a couple writhing naked in coital ecstasy.

2022年March20日, Jason Bailey, “‘Basic Instinct’ at 30: A Time Capsule That Can Still Offend”, 出自 The New York Times, →ISSN:


do in

By the eighth mile, I was sure that finishing the 10-mile hike would do me in.

走了8英里以后，我觉得走完10英里的远足我就累死了。

We very nearly did in an entire keg of beer that weekend.

那个周末我们差点就干掉那一整桶啤酒了

Slasher fans rejoiced—for a couple years anyway, until the boom swiftly faded, done in by the same causes that fell so many other eruptions of a style or genre, of any medium: The host of imitators are never as good as what inspired the affection in the first place.

2017年October27日, Alex McLevy, “Making a Killing: The Brief Life and Bloody Death of the Post-Scream Slasher Revival”, 出自 The A.V. Club，於2018-03-05歸檔自原頁面:

使...累死，使...累坏，使...筋疲力竭

I’m off to bed. I’m completely done in.

I’m off work at the moment; I’ve done my back in.

我现在请假了，我把我的腰闪了。


rubbernecker

源自rubberneck (动词) + -er (表示做此动作的人或物，构成施动者名词)。

/ˈrʌbəˌnɛkə/

/ˈrʌbɚˌnɛkɚ/

The minor accident caused a traffic jam as rubberneckers slowed down to get a good view of the battered cars.

那起小事故因为一群围观的人放慢脚步来看撞坏的车，引起了堵车。

Gentlemen will leave their pocket flasks with the captain, and will limit themselves to two bunches of cigarettes each. Rubber neckers will be executed without trial. Glasses will be needed to protect the eyes from the dust, and you MUST "Keep off the grass."

1898, The Michigan School Moderator, 第 18 卷, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Michigan School Moderator, →OCLC，第 30 頁，第 3 列:

I suppose that fellow was a rubber-necker, and got killed peeping over the trenches.

1899, Stephen Bonsal, “Under the Mango-tree”, 出自 The Fight for Santiago: The Story of the Soldier in the Cuban Campaign, from Tampa to the Surrender, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday & McClure Co., →OCLC，第 283 頁:

He is a great "rubber-necker." What he don't see aint worth looking at.

1899年March25日, “A Bobbin Boy’s Essay on His Boss”, 出自 Jos[eph] M. Wade 編, Fibre and Fabric: A Record of American Textile Industries in the Cotton and Woolen Trade, 第 XXIX 卷, 第 734 期, Boston, Mass.: Jos. M. Wade, →OCLC，第 63 頁，第 2 列:

We are taught the importance of hygiene of the mouth, of the body, and of the hair, but little concerning the nose, which is the "rubber-necker" which is expected to discover any laxity of cleanliness of other parts of the body or the air around us.

1899年November3日, W. Cheatham, “Hygiene of the Nose”, 出自 The American Practitioner and News, 第 XXVIII 卷, 第 12 期, Louisville, Ky.: John P. Morton & Company, 出版於 15 December 1899, →OCLC，第 441 頁:

"The train's whistle was blowin' the whole time and, Lord, it sounded like a bomb had went off when they hit," said Patty Fay McNair, a waitress at the Torch, to a rubbernecker who'd asked if she'd seen what happened.

1991, Barry Gifford, “Consuelo’s Kiss”, 出自 Sailor’s Holiday: The Wild Life of Sailor and Lula, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN; quoted in Thomas A. McCarthy 編, The Rooster Trapped in the Reptile Room: A Barry Gifford Reader, New York, N.Y., Toronto, Ont.: Seven Stories Press, 2003, →ISBN，第 256 頁:

A huge crowd of Muscovites had gathered around the distant approaches to the building, beyond the cordon of military and police. [...] Stray bullets flew in their direction, too, and several people were wounded. Some were even killed. Nevertheless the crowd of rubberneckers kept growing.

2000, Roy Medvedev, “Privatization, Government Crisis, and Elections (1993)”, 出自 George Shriver（譯者）, Post-Soviet Russia: A Journey through the Yeltsin Era, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Myths and Realities of Capitalism in Russia)，第 125 頁:

[...] Snake River breaching [...] will attract tourists, fly-rodders, kayakers, birders, botanists, Lewis and Clark buffs, and rubberneckers from all over the globe to ogle the mothballed dam remnants, study the returning plants, birds, and wildlife, [...]

2001, David James Duncan, “A Prayer for the Salmon’s Second Coming”, 出自 My Story as Told by Water […], 1st paperback版, San Francisco, Calif.: Sierra Club Books, →ISBN，第 212 頁:

[...] Shane kept looking into the open box with the morbid curiosity of a freeway rubbernecker passing a fatal accident. All of his mid-nineties career pileups were collected there.

2001 January, Stephen J[oseph] Cannell, “The Tin Collectors”, 出自 Vertical Coffin; The Tin Collectors, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Griffin, 出版於 January 2004, →ISBN，第 156 頁:

'A rubbernecker checking out where you lived.' / 'Why would anybody do that?' / 'I guess it kind of makes you a celebrity.'

2014, Christopher Fowler, Bryant & May: The Bleeding Heart, London: Bantam Books, 出版於 2015, →ISBN，第 133 頁:

The new season is unrelentingly bleak – gone is [Margaret] Atwood's astute social commentary, turning the audience into rubberneckers peering at the carnage.

2018年June16日, Fiona Sturges, “Cattleprods! Severed tongues! Torture porn! Why I’ve stopped watching the Handmaid’s Tale”, 出自 Katharine Viner 編, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC，於2020-02-05歸檔自原頁面:


unfazed

more unfazed (comparative)
most unfazed (superlative)

不害怕的，不犹豫的，不动摇的，不惧的，无畏的

Say, but isn't Annie Watson a dandy witness? She testified as straight as a book. And she stood a hot cross-examination unphased.

1885年November9日, “They Talk About It”, 出自 St. Paul Daily Globe, St. Paul, MN，第 5 頁:

The Johnnie O'Briens and the Barney O'Rourkes were there, too, apparently unfazed by the magnificence of the surroundings.

1889年March11日, “Social and Personal”, 出自 Washington Critic, Washington, DC，第 2 頁:

Stu couldn't believe I was so unfazed by the whole incident, though inwardly I resolved that I wouldn't let this bastard have the last laugh.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin，第 131 頁:

After stumbling and landing on her face, the toddler picked herself up and continued unfazed.

跌倒摔到脸上以后，幼童爬起来，没有迟疑继续走。

The tall man throughout was "unphased" -- the dewy and least compact one surrendered!

1855年December10日, T. B. Thorpe, “Remembrances of the Mississippi”, 出自 Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 第 xii 卷, 第 lxvii 期, New York, NY，第 35 頁:

Being a lad of a little upwards of a century, and maintaining, as all widowers do, that I was unfazed by time ...

1874, Moses Adams, What I Did With My Fifty Millions, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.，第 106 頁:

He next, while the flame continued to heat the chimney to the utmost, dashed upon it a dipper of water, and still the chimney was unfazed

1876年January18日, “Local News”, 出自 State Journal, Jefferson City, MO，第 3 頁:


bite the dust

bites the dust
biting the dust
bit the dust
bitten the dust

Ulysses killed Demoptolemus, Telemachus Euryades, Eumæus Elatus, while the stockman killed Pisander. These all bit the dust, and as the others drew back into a corner Ulysses and his men rushed forward and regained their spears by drawing them from the bodies of the dead

1900, Samuel Butler, transl. The Odyssey, Book XXII., page 293

Three more warriors bit the dust...

1877, Frances Fuller Victor, Eleven years in the Rocky Mountains and a life on the frontier, Chapter IX, p. 156

Tons of engine sheds would bite the dust with the end of steam, and many would be demolished with their time in the spotlight over. We're lucky that the one at Didcot survived into preservation.

2021年December29日, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Didcot (1932)”, 出自 RAIL, 第 947 期，第 61 頁:

London calling, now don't look to us / Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust

My old backpack finally bit the dust the other day.

前几天我的旧背包终于坏了。


of late

I have not visited them of late, but I hear they are doing well.

我最近没有去看他们，但是我听说他们过得挺好的。


all the while

the while

与此同时 （常指较长的时间）

与此同时 （常指较长的时间）

The good fortune which attended him throughout life may have been partly owing to this cause as well as to his undoubted valour, for though he never lost a battle, nothing is more astounding than his imprudence and the easy confidence with which he trusted Somerset, Warwick, Montague, and others, all the while they were betraying him.

1889, Leslie Stephen, Dictionary of National Biography，第 82 頁:

Sulla, encamped near Scipio, and amusing him with caresses under pretence of an approaching peace, was all the while corrupting his troops.

1891, Plutarchus, Plutarch's Lives，第 8 頁:

And all with that vital piece of evidence burning a hole in his pocket the while!

1986, Michael Dibdin, A Rich Full Death，第 60 頁:

All the while, my intention was to amuse her, and divert her out of her hellish thoughts, and show to her the wide world of which she could now be a part.

1991, Anne Rice, The Witching Hour，第 281 頁:


stake out

stake out land

to stake out a new road

击中场中央的标竿结束比赛


leg it

After snatching my handbag he just legged it.

抢了我的包以后他逃走了。

As soon as I heard about the fire I legged it over here as fast as I could.

我听到火灾以后以最快速度跑了过来。


I'll be damned

I'll be hanged

表示自己不会允许某事发生的情绪激动的发言。

表示自己不会允许某事发生的情绪激动的发言。

I'll be damned if I'm having a thief like him stay in my house.

我绝对不会允许他那样的贼住在我家里。

My mechanisms / Of defense are down / And my resistance / Is out on the town / I was alarmed by your attack / This isn't a boxing match / But I'll be damned if I ever let you win

2011, Lenka and Ben H. Allen （作曲作詞）, “Roll with the Punches”, 出自 Two, 演出者 Lenka:


play hard to get

plays hard to get
playing hard to get
played hard to get

故作纯洁，故作无知，故作忸怩，惺惺作态，假装不感兴趣 （常指在寻找，追求对象时，假装自己不感兴趣来激起对方追求自己的兴趣）


pull out of one's ass

pulls out of one's ass
pulling out of one's ass
pulled out of one's ass

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-pull out of one's ass.ogg

Don says his community is 95% Caucasian, but I think he pulled that figure out of his ass.

Don说他的社区有95%的人是白种人，但我觉得那个数字是他胡诌的。


PIDOOMA

pulled it directly out of my ass (“我瞎说的”)之首字母縮略詞。


quake in one's boots

quakes in one's boots
quaking in one's boots
quaked in one's boots

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-quake in one's boots.ogg

The thought of climbing that high had him quaking in his boots.

想到爬到那么高的地方他就怕得不行。


shake in one's boots

shakes in one's boots
shaking in one's boots
shook in one's boots
shaken in one's boots


quake in one's shoes

quakes in one's shoes
quaking in one's shoes
quaked in one's shoes

“I was quaking in my shoes working with that guy, because I’m such a fan. He’s incredible at this sound we were making — the best in the business,” he said in a statement.

2020年September1日, Josh Martin, “Soul Coughing’s Mike Doughty returns with new project Ghost Vroom, shares new single ‘Rona Pallona’”, 出自 NME:


shake in one's shoes

shakes in one's shoes
shaking in one's shoes
shook in one's shoes
shaken in one's shoes

“I’d be shaking in my shoes to ride in the Preakness,” said Desormeaux, who finished dead last in his first Preakness in 1988. “Now, not only have I won it twice [in 1998 on Real Quiet and in 2008 on Big Brown], I’ve lived life. I’ll be as cool as a cucumber in the saddle” with Exaggerator on Saturday.

2016年May17日, Don Markus, “For Kent Desormeaux, Preakness is a welcome Maryland homecoming”, 出自 The Washington Post:


call it quits

calls it quits
calling it quits
called it quits

call it even

表示扯平，表示欠的已经还清

One afternoon, after twenty minutes of desperate efforts to annihilate each other according to set rules that did not permit kicking, striking below the belt, nor hitting when one was down, Cheese-Face, panting for breath and reeling, offered to call it quits.

1909, Jack London, 章號 15, 出自 Martin Eden:

The West's longest-serving foreign minister called it quits last week.

1992 May 11, "A One-Two Punch Rattles Germany," Time:

表示扯平，表示欠的已经还清


POW

其他形式：P.O.W.

After his capture he was taken to a camp for POWs.

他被俘虏后，被带到了一个收押战俘的营地。

PoW (“工作量证明”, proof of work的缩写)的大小寫替代形式


mince words

"I ask you, William, could I suppose that the Emperor of Austria was a damned traitor—a traitor, and nothing more? I don’t mince words—a double-faced infernal traitor and schemer."

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, 章號 20, 出自 Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], 出版於 1848, →OCLC:

The detective did not mince words. "It's plain that you're a boob," he said.

1920, Upton Sinclair, 100%: The Story of a Patriot, ch. 2:

We remember, too, those admirable reports issued to every passenger during the final stages of the Kent Coast electrification, which did not mince words about the disruption of normal working, but which often turned the situations into an instructive illustration of the complexity of modern railway working.

1962 August, “Let's have plain speaking”, 出自 Modern Railways，第 73 頁:

They all sought the President's views on the world situation in general and the Asian situation in particular. Without mincing words he would comment on his favorite theme, namely, the insidious scheme of the international Communists to conquer the free world.

1983, James C. H. Shen, “Rejoining the Government”, 出自 Robert Myers 編, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC，第 28 頁:

The coroner did not mince words, in charging the jury with their duty: "The bridge had been utterly neglected from the time that it was built and there had been no proper inspection of it... [...]."

2022年July27日, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Bridge disasters that spanned an Empire”, 出自 RAIL, 第 962 期，第 58 頁:

有關使用本詞的更多用例，請參閱Citations:mince words。


stillborn

unfruitful

流产的，不成功的，未遂的

Queen Anne, before Elizabeth, bore a still-born son.

1768, Horace Walpole, "Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III,"

Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?

1978, Holy Bible (New International Version), Job 3:16,

流产的，不成功的，未遂的

This, gentlemen, is a list of the joint-stock companies created last year. . . . Of these some were stillborn, but the majority hold the market.

1859, Charles Reade, Love Me Little, Love Me Long, ch. 11,

His lips framed themselves to whistle the first bars of a popular song, but the sound died stillborn.

1915, William MacLeod Raine, The Highgrader, ch. 18,


stillborn

About 35% of stillborns are discovered to have major structural anomalies by chromosomal studies and autopsy findings.

2016, Alok Sharma, A Practical Guide to Third Trimester of Pregnancy & Puerperium


make headway

makes headway
making headway
made headway

I worked on them all day, but barely made headway at all.

我做了他们一天的工作，但是几乎没有什么进展。


then and there

When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

1897年 12月（標示為1898年）, Winston Churchill, 章號 5, 出自 The Celebrity: An Episode, 紐約: The Macmillan Company；倫敦：Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

'Well, I soon saw to that, I told him to bolt it then and there[.]'

1934, Agatha Christie, 章號 4, 出自 Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, 出版於 2017，第 99 頁:


row house

The walls in Eduardo's row house were so thin he could hear the neighbors two houses down.

Eduardo的联排房屋的墙太薄了，都可以听到旁边两个房子邻居的声音。


thusly

thus + -ly，可追溯回19世纪，可能是教育水平高的写作家为了嘲讽假装斯文但没文化的人而造的词，主要是嘲讽认为thus并非副词的错误观念。

Ar, tell me it is not so thusly as this thusness wouldst seem!

1865, Hingston (ed.), Artemus Ward (His Travels) Among the Mormons:

His course can only be akkounted for thusly:

1866, Petroleum V. Nasby, Life of Androo Johnson

He had an attack of catarrh not long ago, and it happened, as J. Billings would say, "thusly:"

Stories never lose anything in the recital, and consequently this one grew thusly.

1893, Isabel Burton, The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton KCMG, FRGS, 第 II 卷:

The history of the Universe has been summed up thusly: "Hydrogen is a light, odorless gas, which, given enough time, turns into people."

1995 December, John P. Wiley Jr, quoting Edward R. Harrison, Smithsonian Magazine:

Going thusly, unwillingly at the bell,

1996, Charles Harding, High Rise Dwelling:


afresh

源自中古英語 a-fresche，等价于a- + fresh。对比古英語 afersċean (“使...清爽；变清爽”)。

more afresh (comparative)
most afresh (superlative)

We ditched the original design, and decided to start afresh.

我们放弃了原来的设计，决定从头开始。


rain or shine

无论如何；不管下不下雨，不管天气怎么样

同類詞：come what may、hell or high water、no matter what

The game will be held on Saturday rain or shine.

不管天气怎么样，比赛都会在周六举行。

He always showed up right on time, rain or shine.

无论如何他都总是按时到。

This very morning we begin rebuilding the windmill, and we will build all through the winter, rain or shine.

1945年August17日, George Orwell [筆名；本名 Eric Arthur Blair], 章號 6, 出自 Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:


Spetsnaz

源自俄語 спецна́з (specnáz)，略自войска́ специа́льного назначе́ния (vojská speciálʹnovo naznačénija, “特别用途部队”)。

斯佩茨纳兹，俄罗斯特种部队


perish the thought

源自弃用及物义项perish (“使...消失”)，其本身可能是源自将固定短语中的虚拟语气当做及物用法的误解（即“[may it] perish, the thought”）

别这样想；想都别想，想得美 （字面意思为“让这个想法消失吧”）

What! was he to lose his hold over these boys, and that because he was unable to cope with a boy much smaller and younger than himself? Perish the thought!

1885, Horatio Alger, Hector's Inheritance, ch. 13:

According to industry gossips, Richard and Judy may soon go their separate ways. Not maritally; no, perish the thought.

2007 June 22, Grace Dent, The Guardian, G2, p. 3:


pull out all the stops

暗指organ stop (“琴栓，音栓”)。在管风琴中，将琴栓拔出可以打开其一系列发声管，然后才能发出声音。将栓全部拔出后，其所有声音均能发出，也同时达到最大的音量。

pulls out all the stops
pulling out all the stops
pulled out all the stops

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-pull out all the stops.ogg

They pulled out all the stops for the gala wedding.

他们在婚宴上全力以赴[准备]了。


put one's feet up

puts one's feet up
putting one's feet up
put one's feet up

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-put one's feet up.ogg

kick one's feet up

放松，松口气 （字面意思为“把脚抬起来”）

放松，松口气 （字面意思为“把脚抬起来”）


kick one's feet up

kicks one's feet up
kicking one's feet up
kicked one's feet up


snap out of

snaps out of
snapping out of
snapped out of

从...（突然）摆脱出来 （指摆脱某种感情）

I felt sad that he had left, but I had to snap out of it and get on with my life.

他离开了我很伤心，但是我必须振作起来继续我的生活。


ooh la la

表达惊叹，有时带有很强的性暗示。性暗示仅出现于英语中，不存在于法语原词内。

Ooh la la, monsieur, you do have big muscles after all.

啧啧啧，先生，您的肌肉好壮实呀。


fly on the wall

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-fly on the wall.ogg

旁观者，（暗中的）见证者，偷看者

James W. Gerard, ex-Ambassador to Germany, the first speaker of the evening, said that at that moment he would like to be a fly on the wall of the palace at Potsdam to hear what the Potsdam gang were saying about our soldiers.

1918, "Clark Would Draft Even Men of 68," New York Times, 9 Aug., p. 11 (retrieved 28 Oct. 2008),


up to one's ears

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-up to one's ears.ogg


up to here

仅按字面意思，并无比喻或俗语义；参见up、to、here。（到这里为止）

Just fill the bucket with water up to here.

往桶里加水加到这里为止。

I have been up to here in paperwork all week.

They have their lives to live and I'm up to here in disgust with mine.

1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, chapter 12

I have had it up to here with his sarcasm.

我已经受不了他的讽刺挖苦了。

I am stuffed up to here with appetizers.

我开胃菜都已经吃得饱得不行了。


traipse

多半借自法語 trépasser (“穿过”)。

四处走 （尤指很努力地或者徒劳地走）

After traipsing about in the fog they found the grave sure enough.

While you were traipsing round Africa, I had to take care of mum and dad!

你在非洲四处游走的时候，我在照顾爸妈！

So after all that work, I traipsed down to the shop to grab something to eat.

干完那堆活以后，我疲惫地走下去，到商店买了点东西吃。

疲惫地走，费力地走 （一段路程）

She only got handy the Union-house on Sunday morning 'a b'lieve, and 'tis supposed here and there that she had traipsed every step of the way from Melchester.

1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd:

邋遢地走，难看地走；走过泥土

在...闲逛，在...四处走，在...散步


traipse

多半借自法語 trépasser (“穿过”)。

it was an easy traipse down the rocky slope

2021, Neal Stephenson, Termination Shock:

It was a long traipse uphill all the way home.


weird out

（因自己奇怪而）吓到，使...不自在，让...觉得古怪

Man, somehow that weirds me out more than the whole bloodsucking thing.

I don't know why you're so weirded out. This is not San Quentin, it's just a nuthouse.


touched in the head

more touched in the head (comparative)
most touched in the head (superlative)

I believe he's more touched in the head than I am.

1990, Reinaldo Arenas, The Palace of the White Skunks，第 136 頁:

Who could say, perhaps Nastasya was even more touched in the head now, and if she used to make up stories about the old man crying and bleeding when she was here, maybe she had moved on to death over there?

1991 [1979], Valentin Rasputin, Antonina W. Bouis (translator), Farewell to Matyora, page 199:

It is broad daylight and if she can not simply guide the car along the highway then this bitch was more touched in the head that^([sic]) I thought.

2003, Tracee A. Hanna, A Little Bit of Sinning，第 163 頁:


faxer

I don't want to refinance my house, invest in penny stocks, buy insurance, or do any of the other things those faxers are pushing, and I surely don't want to pay for their unwanted sales pitch!

2006, Sandra Felton, Organizing Magic: 40 Days to a Well-Ordered Home and Life (page 80)


nature calls

nature beckons

（我）内急 （用来指某人（一般是说话人）需要排尿或排便。）

（我）内急 （用来指某人（一般是说话人）需要排尿或排便。）


veg out

vegs out
veges out
vegges out
veging out
vegging out
veged out
vegged out

After an exhausting day at work, I would veg out in front of the TV.

上了一天很累的班以后我就会瘫在电视机前。


me three

将me too诙谐性地解读为me two的双关语。还可以后接me four、me five等。

我也是 （用来在某人说“me too”以后表示同意，还可以后接me four、me five等。）

“...Come if you can—he’d like that a lot.” / “Me, too.” / “Me, three.” She gave a girlish giggle and unlocked her door.

1982, Richard Kluger, Un-American Activities, Doubleday Publishing, page 524

“I hate saying good-bye,” Lulu said sadly. / “Me too,” Pam said. / “Me three,” Anna said.

1995, Jeanne Betancourt, Give Me Back My Pony, Scholastic Paperbacks,, →ISBN，第 16 頁:

Perhaps a first worker complained about an aspect of their work environment, and others chimed in—Me too, me three!

2006, Michelle Murphy, Sick Building Syndrome and the Problem of Uncertainty: Environmental Politics, Technoscience, and Women Workers, Duke University Press, ISBN 0822336715, page 1


me three

我也是 （上面那句话本身）

Mostly, I just wanted to say sort of a me-too, or me-three, or me-ten statement at this point: The census is extremely important.

1980 June 7, in U.S. House Subcommittee on Census and Population, Oversight hearings on the 1980 census: hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Population of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first [-second] session, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 95


sheepish

源自中古英語 schepische、shepisse、shepisshe，等价于sheep + -ish。

more sheepish (comparative)
most sheepish (superlative)

a sheepish girl

a sheepish grin


squidgy

squidgier (comparative)
squidgiest (superlative)

He was one of those dangerous people who are soft, squidgy and cowlike provided they have what they want. And because he had always had what he wanted, and had seemed easily pleased with it, it had never occurred to anybody that he was anything other than soft, squidgy and cowlike.

1987, Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Simon & Schuster，第 102 頁:

It consists of two layers of ground cashew nuts, mixed with breadcrumbs, onions, nutmeg and vegetable stock, and separated by a vibrant green herb stuffing, the main ingredient of which is also bread. Although surprisingly moist, thanks to the stock (indeed, the contrast between the crisp exterior and the squidgy middle is horribly moreish), the combination of parsley, garlic and breadcrumbs reminds me of a very fancy loaf of garlic bread – and all but overpowers the sweet flavour of the cashews.

2011年December15日, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, 出自 Guardian:


demo-

源自古希臘語 δῆμος (dêmos, “人民”)。


drive home

drives home
driving home
drove home
driven home

强行、用力将...放入某处

He grunted as he drove each nail home.

1969, James Plunkett, Strumpet City，第 396 頁:

Karli shook himself, drove home the last nail with a flat stone, straightened up.

1996, Harry Harrison, One King's Way，第 186 頁:

Just as Ione began to slow, she struck Ione's sword aside and drove her own blade home.

2004, Judith Tarr, Queen of the Amazons，第 293 頁:

用有力的示范强调，让...深入人心，让...入木三分

The urgent need for vaccines was driven home by the expected postponement on Monday of Britain’s plan to reopen, caused by the spread of a variant known as Delta among the unvaccinated population.

2021年June14日, Mark Landler, “Boris Johnson’s ‘Global Britain’ Makes Shaky Start at G7 Summit”, 出自 The New York Times, →ISSN:

仅按字面意思，并无比喻或俗语义；参见drive、home：开车回家

He decided not to drive home right away.

He was afraid he would doze off on the long drive home.

他怕开车回家那么长的路上睡着了。


fulminates

fulminate的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


fulminated

fulminate 的過去式和過去分詞


nigga

源自nigger，源自无r音的英语方言。

nigger的發音拼寫。

但在非洲裔美國人白話中常作爱称

I'd never betray you, cuz you muh nigga, man.

我永远不会背叛你，因为你是我哥们。

但在非洲裔美國人白話中无冒犯意

As soon as I walked into the class and saw that sea of white faces, I felt alone, so I sat next to the only other nigga there.

我走进教室，看到茫茫一片白人脸，感到很孤独，所以我坐到了除了我唯一另一个黑人旁。

"I mean, if you're not interested, it ain't nothing but a thang, baby girl. Just let a nigga know."

2010, Chunichi, The Return of a Gangster's Girl，第 26 頁:

主要用於非洲裔美國人白話

White niggas be like, this is too spicy.

白人整天就说啥，“这个好辣啊！”

All these freshman niggas are so annoying.

These niggas out here bein' fake.

男人 （与女性做对比时使用）

但在非洲裔美國人白話中无冒犯意

Niggas on my dick more than my bitches.

2003, “If I Can't”, 出自 Curtis Jackson 作詞, Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo 作曲, Get Rich or Die Tryin', 演出者 50 Cent, New York City: Shady Records:

I read somewhere I'm homophobic. Shit, go through the hood. There's mad niggas on my dick.

2005, “Ryder Music”, 出自 Curtis Jackson 作詞, Tony Cottrell 作曲, The Massacre, 演出者 50 Cent, New York City: Shady Records:


niggah

nigger的發音拼寫，代表了非洲裔美国人白话英语或美国南部英語。源自19世纪初叶。

nigga的另一種拼寫法

nigger的另一種拼寫法


nigguh

nigger的發音拼寫。

“Them big nigguhs didnʼt bother me, neither.”

1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014)，第 53 頁:


niqqa

有關本詞的更多用例，請參閱Citations:niqqa。


for what it's worth

依我之见，我是觉得，但是吧 （用来谦虚地表示自己说的话不一定有用，有关，但是还是（为了它“可能具有的有限的价值”）说出来，汉语中没有很准确的等价词）

Take my advice for what it’s worth—don’t marry Garth: marry some old fool.

“Well,” said he, “I have a suggestion to make, for what it’s worth.”

1908, Armand Both, The Half-smart Set, Frederick A. Stokes Company, page 276:

There were seven of us from America, and, for what it’s worth, I thought it was a fairly impressive group.

1999, Bruce Northam, Brad Olsen, In Search of Adventure: A Wild Travel Anthology, →ISBN，第 21 頁:

For what it’s worth, the same holds true for fish bowls: overfill and you’ll suffocate the guppies.

2005, Jennifer Rosen, Waiter, There’s A Horse In My Wine, →ISBN，第 253 頁:


full of oneself

more full of oneself (comparative)
most full of oneself (superlative)

自满的，自以为是的，得意洋洋的

I thought it not amiss to write him a line to let him know the regard you had for him, for as I know him to be vastly vain and full of himself I thought this might be a spur to his zeale.

1897, Andrew Lang, 章號 8, 出自 Pickle the Spy:


sell on

Rather than sell the company's products on commission they, like distributors, buy stock from head office and sell it on for profit.

1994, Richard Welford, Kate Prescott, European business: an issue-based approach

说服...接受，让...服气

I was opposed to his ideas, but he sold me on them.

我本来反对他的想法，但他说服我了。

I have indeed been sold on higher inductive types!


full of it

more full of it (comparative)
most full of it (superlative)

full of shit (“在撒谎的，在放屁的”)的碎誓形式。

Do you believe him? I think he's full of it.

你信他吗，我觉得他在放屁。


Chan

源自粵語 陳／陈 (can⁴)。


Chan

源自泉漳話 曾 (Chan)。


Chan

源自官話 詹 (Zhān)。


Chan

借自漢語 禪／禅 (Chán)的官話拼音轉寫，源自中古漢語 禪那 (/d͡ʑiᴇn.nɑ/)，源自梵語 ध्यान (dhyana, 字面意思是“冥想”)。dhyana和Zen 的同源對似詞。

It is possible that highly calligraphic painting styles, including the extreme forms of “flung-ink,” began at this time, but probably not under Ch’an Buddhist influence, which figured in the religious life of the dynasty.

書法式的繪畫風格，包括所謂極端的“潑墨”藝術，可能就是從那時開始的。儘管禪宗這一佛教流派在當時的宗教生活中佔有相當重要的地位，它可能並沒有對前者產生太大的影響。

[1964, Sherman E. Lee, “The Rise of the Arts of Painting and Ceramics in China [中國繪畫及瓷器藝術的興起]”, 出自 A History of Far Eastern Art [遠東藝術史], New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, →LCCN, →OCLC，第 261 頁，第 2 列:


Chan

高棉語 ចន្ទ (can)。


Zeng

源自官話 曾 (Zēng)的拼音轉寫。


Tsang

源自粵語 曾 (zang¹)。


Chang

源自官話 張／张 (Zhāng)的威妥瑪拼音 Chang¹。Teo 的同源對似詞。


Chang

源自官話 章 (Zhāng)的威妥瑪拼音 Chang¹。


Chang

源自官話 常 (Cháng)。


Chang

源自漢語 鄭／郑，經由客家語 Chhang 或粵語 zeng⁶。


Chang

源自朝鮮語 장 (jang)。


Chang

源自朝鮮語 장 (jang)。

印度東北部的一種孔亚克语支語言


Teo

Teos (“古希臘城市”)的另一種寫法


Teo

借自閩南語 張／张 (Tiuⁿ, Tioⁿ)，經由馬來西亞和/或新加坡傳入。Chang 的同源對似詞。对比他加祿語 Tiu / Tio。


Pi

源自官話 郫 (Pí)。

郫縣（縣名，位於中國四川成都）。


Hwang

源自漢語 黃／黄 (Huáng)、朝鮮語 황 (Hwang)。


Shi

官話 石 (shí)、史、師／师 (shī)、時／时、士 (shì)、釋／释、施的羅馬化。


Shih

來自官話 石 (shí)、史、師／师 (shī)、時／时、士 (shì)、釋／释、施的威妥瑪拼音。Thach 的同源對似詞。

源自官話的姓氏，Shi 的變體。


Kannada

源自卡納達語 ಕನ್ನಡ (kannaḍa)。


authorial

more authorial (comparative)
most authorial (superlative)

autorial

作者的，作家的 (常指书籍的作者)

auctorial

作者的，作家的 (常指书籍的作者)

作者的，作家的 (常指书籍的作者)


testy

中古英語 testif (“任性的”)，源自古法語 testu，源自teste (“头”) + -u。对比现代法語 tête (“头”)、têtu (“固执的”)。

testier (comparative)
testiest (superlative)

He made testy remarks.

Otherwise, we could end up with a repeat of what happened with social media companies after the 2016 election — a collision of Silicon Valley power and Washington ignorance, which resulted in nothing but gridlock and testy hearings.

2022年August24日, Kevin Roose, “We Need to Talk About How Good A.I. Is Getting”, 出自 The New York Times, →ISSN:


go downtown

goes downtown
going downtown
went downtown
gone downtown

Rappin about going downtown on the kitty Let me do you and I won't cum too soon.

Go downtown on her for an oral dessert.

2016, David James, Love and Sex at the Post Office:

You see my mistress needs new sexy lingerie and a VACATION TO A REMOTE ISLAND FAR FROM THE CITY where my wife resides. I must provide this for her, because, she goes downtown on me.

2017, Melisa Karpinske, Twelve Rounds With Cancer & Life，第 54 頁:

Are these normal reactions to your still-hot looking ex? I suppose so. I mean, it was merely a month ago since that mouth went downtown on my body.

仅按字面意思，并无比喻或俗语义；参见go、downtown：去市中心


bean counter

可能是源自德語 Erbsenzähler (字面意思是“数豌豆的人”)。

过于精打细算的人（常指那些纠结于成本和利润而无视其他东西或大局的人，广泛略带贬义，有时甚至诙谐地作accountant (“会计”)、CEO、CFO或其他管理财政决策等的政府、企业官员的近义词）

As any good bean counter will tell you, it costs money to treat people at a hospital.

1985 Aug. 2, "Editorial: Sniffing at DOC health costs," Gainsville Sun, p. 14A (retrieved 13 Sep 2009):

And, in our case, the accounting firm of Halpern & Mantovani, CPA, in Encino, Calif., Chais' chief bean counter, pumped out the quarterly statements as if it were all rock solid.

2008 Dec. 23, Robert Chew, "Who Is Bernie Madoff? Many Investors Didn't Ask," Time (retrieved 13 Sep 2009):


regift

Be upfront when giving the re-gifted item.

2007, Sue Fox, Etiquette for Dummies，第 252 頁:

Don't tell the person who is receiving the gift that he/she is being regifted.

2008, Jeanne Bice, The Ultimate Christmas: The Best Experts' Advice for a Memorable Season with Stories and Photos of Holiday Magic，第 231 頁:

It's not usually acceptable to regift an item that's used rather than new. On the other hand, regifting something that's important to you and thus sharing its value with the recipient is actually quite generous and thoughtful.

2008, Yvonne Jeffery, Liz Barclay, Michael Grosvenor, Green Living For Dummies，第 125 頁:

But before you do any real regifting, you need to learn the rules.

2009, Delilah Scott, Emma Troy, The Upside-Down Christmas Tree: And Other Bizarre Yuletide Tales，第 112 頁:


regift

Fortunately, I'd brought a selection of consolation prizes, Christmas regifts all, and so Ritchie the stranded F-250 driver became the recipient of a very nice scented candle.

Some regifts, particularly distinctive ones, may make the rounds (see “How to Repurpose a Fruitcake,” facing page) and end up being regifted to the original giver, a situation you may find hard to explain.

2007, Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht, The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook，第 374 頁:

Food and drink are the most likely type of unwanted items to be passed along, accounting for 35 percent of all regifts, versus 23 percent for beauty and bath products and 18 percent for trinkets and collectibles.

2008, Jeanne Bice, The Ultimate Christmas: The Best Experts' Advice for a Memorable Season with Stories and Photos of Holiday Magic，第 233 頁:


indeedy

indeed (“的确，没错”)之同義詞

Yes, indeedy!


gleefull

more gleefull (comparative)
most gleefull (superlative)


judgement day

If God's a-coming, he ought to make it by then / Maybe he'll look around himself and say / “Guess it's time for the judgement day!”

1968, Zager and Evans （作曲作詞）, “In the Year 2525”:

But when I woke up this morning / I could have sworn it was judgement day

1982, Prince （作曲作詞）, “1999 [title]”, 出自 1999:


scrounge

1915年，方言词scrunge (“偷偷找，翻找”, 1909年)的变换形式，其词源不详。可能源自方言词scringe (“打探，刺探”)，或可能与scrouge、scrooge (“推搡，推挤”，同时在伦敦方言中指“人群”)有关，可能引人联想到screw、squeeze。在第一次世界大战时在军队的影响下普及开来。

四处找，寻觅 （尤指一般价值的事物）

Now you don't seem so proud about having to be scrounging your next meal.

1965, Bob Dylan （作曲作詞）, “Like a Rolling Stone”:

scrounge for food

找到，得到 （尤指一般价值的事物）

As long as he's got someone who'll let him scrounge off them, he'll never settle down and get a full-time job.

只要他有人可以给他东西，他就不会安顿下来找份全职工作。


scrounge

scrounger

寻找事物的人 （尤指一般价值的事物）

寻找事物的人 （尤指一般价值的事物）


in the same breath

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-in the same breath.ogg

同时地，一起地，连起来地，紧接着地 （一般用来说其说或做自相矛盾的事）


high-maintenance

根据Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang，比喻义经由1989年恋爱喜剧《当哈利碰上莎莉》（When Harry Met Sally...）普及开来。

more high-maintenance (comparative)
most high-maintenance (superlative)

让人操心的，让人放不下心的，让人费心的

There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance.

1989, Nora Ephron, When Harry Met Sally... (motion picture), 角色 Harry Burns（Billy Crystal）:

He has this incredibly high-maintenance girlfriend; if he doesn't tell her that he loves her every five minutes, she tends to break down into hysterical depressive weepy fits.

他的女朋友很麻烦，如果他没有每五分钟告诉她他爱她，她就会歇斯底里痛不欲生地哭起来。


on the cheap

Well, if you buy things on the cheap what do you expect?

唉，你都想买东西省钱了，你还指望什么？


go potty

goes potty
going potty
went potty
gone potty

I simply came outside to go potty, and found myself abandoned, having to rely totally on my primal urges! ... Like the sudden urge to go potty again.

2000年October4日, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

I have to go potty!


go potty

源自把potty作insane (“发疯的”)的俚语的英国用法，可能受到了petty的影响。


shandy

源自方言词shand (“无价值的”)的加长形式，或源自shand (“耻辱”) + -y。

shandier (comparative)
shandiest (superlative)

平和的，温柔的，害羞的，不情愿的

难看的，不好的，平庸的；不整洁的，凌乱的


humongous

more humongous (comparative)
most humongous (superlative)

/ˌhjuːˈmʌŋɡəs/

/ˌhjuːˈmɒŋɡəs/

[çu̟ːˈmʊŋɡəs]

[ˌçu̟ːˈmɐŋɡəs]

Solomon had pulled this humongous fish that was bigger than anything weʼd ever seen.

2015, Chigozie Obioma, The Fishermen, ONE，第 19 頁:


humungous

more humungous (comparative)
most humungous (superlative)


damsel in distress

仿譯自法語 demoiselle en détresse，源自大量戏剧表现形式中的经典主题。

需要帮助的少女，在困境中的少女

I am not a pretty girl / That is not what I do / I ain't no damsel in distress / And I don't need to be rescued

1995, Ani DiFranco （作曲作詞）, “Not a Pretty Girl”, 出自 Not a Pretty Girl:

The damsel-in-distress archetype probably conjures up images of delicate maidens and chivalrous gentlemen. That is precisely what it is designed to do — for white people.

2020年May27日, Ruby Hamad, “A White Damsel Leveraged Racial Power and Failed”, 出自 New York Times:


splurge

（使...）涌出，（使...）喷出

The tomato sauce was splurged all over the chips.

But the steamboats come in their time ; and I am sure that I address a large crowd of sympathizing auditors, now that I come to speak of the magnificent old "Fanny," spluttering and paddling, and splurging up to the little wharf under the lea of Peppers Hill, where the pine wood lay piled in fabulous quantities.

1884, Donald Grant Mitchell, Bound Together, A Sheaf of Papers/Norwich, 1659-1859, Norwich:

She waited a moment, quivering with the expectation of her husband's answer; then, as none came except the silent darkening of his face, she walked to the door and turned round to fling back: "Of course you can do what you like with your own house, and make any arrangements that suit your family, without consulting me; but you needn't think I'm ever going back to live in that stuffy little hole, with Hubert and his wife splurging round on top of our heads!"

1913, Edith Wharton, “Chapter XXXVIII”, 出自 The Custom of the Country:

"And boy," he splurged, "we are filming a peach, a pip and a wow! Is it a knockout? Oh, baby! A prize-fight picture entitled 'The Honor of the Champion,' starring Reginald Van Veer, with Honey Precious for the herowine. Boy, will it pack the theayters!"

1930, Robert E. Howard, Sailors' Grudge:

挥霍，大方地花 （自1911年）

They decided to splurge on the biggest banana split for dessert.

I could see Schultz think, and revive, and splurge with his bets again.


splurge

挥金如土 （自1928年）


cripes

天啊，啧 （语气较轻的咒骂或表达惊讶）


damoiselle

damsel的已棄用拼寫


bucket of bolts

rattletrap

破烂，废铁 （没用、破旧的机械，如旧车等）

rustbucket

破烂，废铁 （没用、破旧的机械，如旧车等）

破烂，废铁 （没用、破旧的机械，如旧车等）

On the outside, the Trans-Am still looked like a rusty bucket of bolts, but if all his little adjustments kicked in as planned, the thing should take off like a rocket.


goody two shoes

一般认为源自书籍The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes的标题。然而，该书出版的至少一世纪以前就已经有使用。


honest to God

对比swear to God。原用作短句副词或叹词，来修饰整个从句或表达方式，honest用法类似于“Honest, I had no idea! (“说实话，我真不知道”)”。


honest to God

真的，千真万确地 （用来表示强调）

Honest to God, I thought you already knew!

我说真的，我以为你已经知道了。

She is honest to God brilliant.


honest-to-God

He's an honest-to-God saint; I don't know what I would do without him!

他是个如假包换的圣人，没他的话我都不知道怎么办才好。


honest-to-God

She is honest-to-God brilliant.


odd duck

怪人 （性格乖僻或行为怪异的人）

This lad Kelley is an odd duck in many ways. . . . Unlike most college youngsters, he has no hobbies.

1936 Dec. 11, Bill Lush, "Kelley Reveals Technique of Successful Pass Play," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. 27 (retrieved 28 July 2010):

If you are a married woman over 45 and are thinking of taking a plunge into the job market bear in mind that you won't be an odd duck in the employment pool.

1971 June 18, "The Job Market: A New Start—Mature Women Who Work," The Dispatch (North Carolina), p. 6 (retrieved 28 July 2010):

Is [Peter] O'Toole—skinny, tottering, eccentric in everything from costume to line-readings—wonderful in this role? Indeed he is. Always more of an odd duck than a leading man, age (he's 74) has given him license to play his essential weirdness.

2006 Dec. 21, "Sentiment—Not Sentimentality" (film review of Venus), Time (retrieved 28 July 2010):


odd fish

We are constantly told how normal and honorable Thoreau was, yet it seems that we would get much further in understanding him if we began, by conceding that he was an odd fish, full of peculiar conceits.

2001, Paul Theroux, Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings (page 355)

The second work is more promising, but something of an odd fish: the anonymous German treatise Schwester Katrei.

2010, Stephen Mossman, Marquard von Lindau and the Challenges of Religious Life:


strange bird

怪人 （性格乖僻或行为怪异的人）

Jena Janovy is a strange bird—a college basketball player who is a) female and b) short (5 feet 3 inches) and, perhaps oddest of all, lets neither of those things dampen her rabid enthusiasm for the game.

1987, Karen Stabiner, "Putting her Heart through the Hoop," New York Times, 14 June (retrieved 29 July 2010):

I never saw him, but Jackie Langley told me Kerouac was a strange bird, stayed drunk, talked crazy, brooded.

1992, Kaye Gibbons, "My Mother, Literature, and a Life Split Neatly into Two Halves," in Janet Sternburg (ed.), The Writer on Her Work, vol. 2, ISBN 9780393308679, p. 56:

"You're a strange bird, Meehan," Leroy told him. "When you find out whose house you're in, call me back."

2003, Donald E. Westlake, Put a Lid on It, →ISBN，第 57 頁:

In this land, too, there dwelled a young man who was a fowler, but a bit of a strange bird he was, for he only captured his birds, preferring not to slaughter them.

2004, Tony K. Stewart, Fabulous Females and Peerless Pīrs: Tales of mad adventure in old Bengal, Oxford, →ISBN，第 67 頁:


Fas

巴布亞新幾內亞的一種語言


camouflages

camouflage的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


saving grace

For all his treachery and deception, he had one saving grace: good manners.

With Gambier Bay and Hoel sinking and Roberts not much longer for this world, the Johnston is now set upon by four cruisers and a number of destroyers. The ship's crew patch holes as fast as they can, but the ship is literally gradually being taken apart by repeated salvos. The fact that this particular set of Japanese ships is STILL using armor-piercing instead of high explosive is the only saving grace.

2019年February27日, Drachinifel, 片头起31:46, 出自 The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?，於2022-11-03歸檔自原頁面:


twiddle one's thumbs

twiddles one's thumbs
twiddling one's thumbs
twiddled one's thumbs

使大拇指压在另一个大拇指上 （闲着或等待时玩弄手指的时候的动作）

He twiddled his thumbs for almost a week while he waited for somebody to set up his computer.

他等别人帮他配置电脑，干等了一星期。


loose change

我在沙發墊子下面找到了一些零錢。

I found some loose change under the sofa cushions.

你能藉給我一些零錢來付停車費嗎？

Can you lend me some loose change for the parking meter?


simmer down

simmers down
simmering down
simmered down

"Silence! Now ye had better go slow, my good fellow. This is two or three times you've tried to get off some of your insolence. Lip won't do here. You've got to simmer down."

1870, Mark Twain, "Goldsmith's Friend Abroad Again," letter 4:

The agitation, thus deprived of its chief hope, might very well have been expected to simmer down, to die away slowly.

1910, Stewart Edward White, The Rules of the Game, ch. 73:

Although the street demonstrations have simmered down, protests have continued in other forms.

2003 June 30, Nazila Fathi, "British Minister Presses Iran To Allow Nuclear Inspections," New York Times (retrieved 9 Apr 2009):


calm down

Calm down before you hurt somebody.


doe-eyed

more doe-eyed (comparative)
most doe-eyed (superlative)

眼神无辜的，眼神温柔的，眼神澄澈的，眼神迷离的

The graphic energy of their martial arts combat was toned down, their slit-eyed ethnic specificity was made into doe-eyed racial ambiguity and their cynical sneers softened into eager grins.

2000, Dudley Jones, Tony Watkins, A necessary fantasy?: the heroic figure in children's popular culture (page 273)

[H]owever hard she pushed the tough-talkin' shtick, she remained doe-eyed, glowing and somehow unassailably demure.

2014年January21日, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to hell for this ...': Julia Roberts reveals why her violent, Oscar-nominated performance in August: Osage County made her feel 'like a terrible person' [print version: 'I might actually go to hell for this ...' (18 January 2014, p. R4)]”, 出自 The Daily Telegraph (Review):


washed up

more washed up (comparative)
most washed up (superlative)

完蛋的，失败的，到头了的，没有前途的

Pavarotti's washed up as a singer, in my view.

我觉得Pavarotti的歌手生涯已经完蛋了。

It would be difficult, for example, to imagine a bigger, more obvious subject for comedy than the laughable self-delusion of washed-up celebrities, especially if the washed-up celebrity in question is Adam West, a camp icon who can go toe to toe with William Shatner as the king of winking self-parody.

2012年June3日, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, 出自 (請指定書籍名或刊物名):

Reize: 'WOAH! ARE YOU FOR REAL, MISTER? [...] AND YOU EVEN GOT A BELT WITH YOUR NAME ON IT?! THE BAZ... I KNEW IT! YOU MUST BE A NOBLE WARRIOR!' / Baz: 'PSHHH. SCRAM, KID. I'M JUST A NOBODY. I'M ALL WASHED UP. IT JUST AIN'T MY DAY.'
（請為本引文添加中文翻譯）

2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, "Story" (Reize), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch:


washed up

wash up 的過去式和過去分詞


sassy

saucy的变换形式，原用在美式英语。

sassier (comparative)
sassiest (superlative)

不要脸的，粗鲁的，无礼的 （自1833年）

Yes, gemmen, we mus stan on our zarve rights. Wat! shall de sassy wite man Nullifly the Guberment? and shall not we, de color men, Nullifly de wite one?

1833, Elnathan Elmwood [pseudonym; Asa Greene], “A Meeting of Black Politicians—Cæsar Johnson’s Speech on Nullification”, 出自 A Yankee among the Nullifiers: An Auto-biography, 2nd版, New York, N.Y.: Printed and published by William Pearson; Cortlandt-Street, →OCLC，第 111 頁:

When the red skins seed that the British and Americans war going to clapper clawing, they thought it war time for them to raze up thar brissls, and look out for plunder. They begun to be a leetle too sassy for cumfirt.

1840, [Davy] Crockett, “Colonel Crockett’s History of the Life of Gen. [William Henry] Harrison, alias Old Tippecanoe”, 出自 The American Miscellany of Popular Tales, Essays, Sketches of Character, Poetry, and Jeux d’Esprit. By Transatlantic Authors, 第 II 卷, 第 49 期, London: G. Berger, Holywell Street, Strand; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.; and all booksellers, →OCLC，第 315 頁，第 1 列:

Oh, did n't I handle my gun, boys, – / My gun, boys, with shout upon shout? / And did n't the balls rain among us? / And did n't the blood run about? / A shipmate was dashed dead beside me; / The splinters flew – death-yells uprolled; / Oh, sassy that fight of old Erie! / More sassy, though, Perry the Bold!

1867, Alfred B[illings] Street, “Perry the Bold”, 出自 The Poems of Alfred B. Street. In Two Volumes, 第 II 卷, New York, N.Y.: Published by Hurd and Houghton, 459 Broome Street，第 129 頁:

Brought her down with a crack of the bull-dogs, jest as she was makin' off: she's the sassiest of the whole lot, as white wenches always be.

1873, M. A. Avery, “The Guerillas.—Death of Major Hunter.”, 出自 The Rebel General’s Loyal Bride: A True Picture of Scenes in the Late Civil War, Springfield, Mass.: W. J. Holland and Company, →OCLC，第 116 頁:

Jokes about blacks were more closely drawn from English jokes mocking servants and Irish people […] Many other jokes featured sassy servants besting their masters by playing dumb and taking instructions overly literally—another trope common in English servant jokes.

2006, John Wood Sweet, Bodies Politic: Negotiating Race in the American North, 1730–1830, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN，第 303 頁:

But for those of you that don't know, what men really like, is for you to talk to them with a feisty little attitude. You spark their fire when you do that. The feistier and sassier you act, the better.

2014, Rachel Renee, “Dirty Talk”, 出自 She Rules: A Must Have Rulebook for Dating, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN，第 125 頁:

The top isn't really slutty. Just a little sassier, more revealing than I'd usually go for.

2014, Jane Costello, 章號 20, 出自 The Time of Our Lives, London: Simon & Schuster UK, →ISBN，第 179 頁:

There was only so much packing one could do that was appropriate for army training and I was pretty sure my sassiest outfit and latest face enhancers were not required.

2014, Kate O'Leary, 章號 1, 出自 Twell and the Rebellion (The Como Chronicles; book 2), White Bear Lake, Minn.: Fire and Ice, Melange Books, →ISBN，第 5 頁:

活泼的，精力充沛的，活跃的

Olives and preserved lemons add sassy tartness to salads, chicken tagines, and fish dishes […]

2012, Jeff Koehler, Morocco: A Culinary Journey with Recipes from the Spice-scented Markets of Marrakech to the Date-filled Oasis of Zagora, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN，第 10 頁:


toasty

toastier (comparative)
toastiest (superlative)

The toasty smell of baked baguettes pulled out of the oven, of vanilla, butter and sugar from the pastries, resonated in the air.

2013, Michelle Zarrin, From My Heart to Yours，第 1 頁:

[…] would you want to go to the expense of setting up a furnace in the cellar? It would make the whole house toasty warm; […]

1918, Gene Stratton-Porter, A Daughter of the Land:


toasty

Ciara and I were in the backroom having a cup of tea and a ham and cheese toasty, along with a bowl of potato leek soup we'd ordered from the café next door. Ciara set her toasty down and took a sip of her soup.

(Can we date this quote?), Cindy Kline, Shamrocks, Shenanigans and Murder: A Molly McGuire Cozy Mystery Book 3, Cindy Kline:

Before we begin, let's get one thing straight: a grilled cheese sandwich is not just a cheese toasty. A toasty is made in one of those pillow-shaped machines (preferably with a baked bean and Cheddar filling). A grilled cheese sandwich,[…]

2019年August8日, John Whaite, A Flash in the Pan: Simple, speedy stovetop recipes, Octopus Books, →ISBN:


sweet cheeks

翘臀 （用于称呼臀部漂亮的人）


under-handed

more under-handed (comparative)
most under-handed (superlative)


Ame-no-Uzume

借自日語 天宇受売命、天鈿女命 (あめのうずめ, Ame-no-Uzume)。

Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto

天钿女命 （一个代表拂晓、欢乐和春天的女神）

天钿女命 （一个代表拂晓、欢乐和春天的女神）


everyone and their mother

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everyone and their mother.ogg

DS Andy Wainwright: You do know there are more guns in the country than there are in the city.


everyone and their dog

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everyone and their dog.ogg

"Mind you, this was years before everyone and their dog had a cell phone."

2009, Susan Case, That's a Dead One Alright, Tate Publishing, →ISBN，第 114 頁:


everybody and his mother

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everybody and his mother.ogg

On Thursday the same remark would have applied equally to Tokomairiro; everybody and his mother seemed to be paying us a visit.

1868年February5日, “Clutha Ferry Races”, 出自 Bruce Herald, Bruce, NZ:


everyone and his mother

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everyone and his mother.ogg

Golf is supposed to be a gentleman's game, but I curse everyone and his mother out there. I have to win.

1983年January24日, “THE KILLER D”, 出自 Miami Herald:


everybody and their dog

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everybody and their dog.ogg

Everybody and their dog in that town had the "fever and ague," and they walked about like ghosts.

1894, "Reminiscences", The Station Agent, February 1894:


everyone and their brother

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everyone and their brother.ogg


everybody and their brother

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everybody and their brother.ogg


everyone and his brother

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-everyone and his brother.ogg


raw dog

來自raw (“沒有保險套”) + dog out (“以性慾來接近某人”)。

I advise against going raw dog unless you are in a committed relationship and somewhat certain she is not screwing other guys, but if you do it raw then make sure you never ejaculate inside her, even if she is on the pill.
我建议不要无套做爱，除非你的恋爱关系已经稳定，并且确定她没有和其他男人鬼混，但如果确实无套了，那么请确保你永远不会在她体内射精，即使她服用了避孕药。

And she lets me fuck her raw dog now, and cum all up in her until her ears pop.

2009, Omar Tyree, Dirty Old Men (And Other Stories), Strebor Books, 出版於 2009, →ISBN，第 254 頁:

[…] When you were eating my pussy and going raw dog in me, you wanted to hear every little thing I had to say. . . "

[…] 当你舔我的屄、无套插我的时候，你想听我说的每句话…”

2010, Cydney Rax, Brothers and Wives, Three Rivers Press, 出版於 2010, →ISBN，第 23 頁:


raw dog

來自raw (“沒有保險套”) + dog out (“以性慾來接近某人”)。

Never go raw dogging with the other woman; it's just not safe.

永远不要和其他女人无套做爱；这并不安全。

2005, Erica L. Perry, A Lesson or a Blessing, AuthorHouse, 出版於 2005, →ISBN，第 27 頁:

[…] You don't now^([sic]) shit about that girl yet you round here raw dogging her. That ho could be dying from HIV or AIDS, she could have a million kids and trying to set you up to be her next baby daddy, you fucking dummy. For all I know she could be a fucking psycho.”

2006, Cheryl Sutherland, Chocolate Ty, Platinum Peach Press, 出版於 2006, →ISBN，第 42 頁:

“Well, you know...taking you into consideration and everything, I ended up letting him raw dog my coochie. […]

“嗯，你知道……考虑到你和其他一切，我最终还是让他无套肏了我的屄。 […]

2008, Allison Hobbs, Big Juicy Lips: Double Dippin' 2, Strebor Books, 出版於 2008, →ISBN，第 44 頁:

The friend who did this raw dogged her drunk.

做这件事的那个朋友在她喝醉后还无套肏了她。

2011, John Tamar, 1,001 Drunk Acts, Strategic Book Group, 出版於 2011, →ISBN，第 163 頁:

没有防护措施或没有中间人地做

Rather than using a framework, he's apparently just raw dogging HTML.

他好像没用框架，就硬写HTML。


skeleton in the closet

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-skeleton in the closet.ogg

难以启齿的秘密，丢人的秘密


innovent

So in effect, the millennials are generating 3 key trends: Innoventing, Neo-Bartering, and Q-Rewarding. Innoventing. They say you can’t reinvent the wheel, but millennials definitely believe they can make it better. They are innovative inventors that are re-creating and bettering existing products and technologies.

2011年October21日, Cheryl Swanson, “Millennials and the Recession Trends: Innoventing, Neo-Bartering, and Q-Rewarding”, 出自 Popsop，於2017-09-11歸檔自原頁面:

There are the classic inventions (a magical new mech), the innovations (a new animated IP or a board game that’s built a fan base already from a crowdfunding site) and then there’s both (Paw Patrol, the magical toy mech plus the story). When you combine both, you get innoventing. If you can create an idea that has the combination of inventing (conceiving a unique idea) and innovation (executing that unique idea so it has the ability to disrupt) then you’re ‘innoventing’ – you’ve gone beyond the raw invention and shown the vision by applying it to a commercial market.

2019年March20日, Fi Murray, “Innoventing: a new era of inventing?”, 出自 Mojo Nation，於2021-01-17歸檔自原頁面:

And I wish readers success in innoventing with this book. Good luck!

2020年January18日, Michael A. Orloff, Modern TRIZ Modeling in Master Programs: Introduction to TRIZ Basics at University and Industry, Springer Nature, →ISBN:

During about last four decades, besides nature’s ferocities and degradation of environmental ecosystem, new risks and challenges are from cyber criminals. Digital assets are their targets for extracting ransoms in millions. They infiltrate through the pores of system peripherals and spread malwares using digital tools. The irony is that, they use mostly the same tools, e. g., AI, ML, RPA, etc. to spawn new malwares, which digital scientists use for ‘innoventing’ solutions and creating deterrents for malwares. This battle is gradually taking dreadful dimensions.

2020 February, Paritosh Basu, “DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION – RISK ENABLED PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE”, 出自 The Management Accountant, 經由 Magzter，於2023-01-12歸檔自原頁面:


quisse

cuisse的罕用寫法。

有關本詞的更多用例，請參閱Citations:quisse。


ridiculises

ridiculise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


count one's blessings

counts one's blessings
counting one's blessings
counted one's blessings

知足，感激自己现在的状况

Rupert Murdoch isn't somebody to sit back and count his blessings.

1995, Richard Lacayo et al., "Bart Simpson Calling," Time, 22 May:

The other out-of-town Dons patiently listened, perhaps counting their blessings that each had a city all to himself.

2006, Mark Winegardner, The Godfather's Revenge, →ISBN，第 175 頁:


hourglass figure

沙漏形身材 （胸部大，腰部细，臀部大，形似沙漏的身材）


recopies

recopy的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


inventories

inventory的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


shotgun wedding

暗指新郎被新娘的亲戚用霰弹枪逼上婚礼堂。

If Red Skelton's joke can still elicit laughs, it is only because there is a minority who can still remember a shotgun wedding and even recall the understandings that lay behind that insistence, now seeming quaint, that a couple sleeping together should really be married.

2012, Charles W. Dunn, American Culture in Peril, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN，第 48 頁:

以类似方式强行促成的关系

But all this fails when we try to have a shotgun wedding between the two great theories of nature, relativity and quantum theory.


go gaga over

goes gaga over
going gaga over
went gaga over
gone gaga over

He always goes gaga over his favourite band's newest album.

每次他最喜欢的乐队发新专辑时他都很激动。


like two peas in a pod

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-like two peas in a pod.ogg

一模一样的，一个模子里刻出来的


reap what one sows

源自《圣经》中《加拉太书》 6:7（詹姆斯王译本，拼写已现代化）：“Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”（國語和合譯本：“不要自欺、神是輕慢不得的．人種的是甚麼、收的也是甚麼。”）

reaps what one sows
reaping what one sows
reaped what one sowed
reaped what one had sown
reaped what one has sown
reaped what one had sown

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-reap what one sows.ogg

"We will reap what we sow; live with what we do not act to change," he said.

2005 November 15, Tony Blair, The Guardian:


string along

strings along
stringing along
strung along

哄骗，画饼 （让对方长时间误解自己有某种打算）

She's been telling me for ages that she wants to meet up, but won't give me a date. I'm convinced she's stringing me along.

她一直说想和我见面，但是就是不约日期，我觉得她在耍我。

What irks is the DfT's response of stringing the industry along. Far better would be for the DfT to say: "No, we are not upgrading this or that part of the railway - we must make the best of what we have."

2021年May5日, Philip Haigh, “I think we need better than this from the rail industry”, 出自 RAIL, 第 930 期，第 51 頁:


trice

源自中古英語 trīcen、trice、trise (“拉或推；掳走；偷窃”)，源自中古荷蘭語 trīsen (“升起”)（现代荷蘭語 trijsen）或中古低地德語 trissen (“拉斜杠帆”)。之后词源不详。同源词包括丹麥語 trisse、tridse (“用滑轮拖”)、低地德語 trissen、tryssen、drisen、drysen、德語 trissen、triezen (“烦扰，折磨”)。

The tent is made of light, close, unbleached duck, […] A window, six inches square, is fitted at the upper end with a flap to trice up or haul down.

1875 August, Clements R[obert] Markham, “Arctic Ice-travels”, 出自 E[dward] L[ivingston] Youmans 編, The Popular Science Monthly, 第 VII 卷, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC，第 479 頁:

（尤指用绳子）拖； 用绳子拉起或绑起来

... the fold of his double chin hung like a bag triced up close under the hinge of his jaw.

One of the two men landed had shot and wounded the mate, and the other, known as "Doublin Jack," had knocked the second mate down with a handspike. Captain Low put both these men in irons, triced them up in the mizzen rigging, and gave them each four dozen lashes of ratline stuff, which they had well earned.

1911, Arthur H[amilton] Clark, “California Clippers of 1852—The ‘Sovereign of the Seas’”, 出自 The Clipper Ship Era: An Epitome of Famous American and British Clipper Ships, Their Owners, Builders, Commanders, and Crews 1843–1869, New York, N.Y., London: G. P. Putnam's Sons […], →OCLC，第 215 頁:


trice

源自中古英語 trīce、trise，用于短语at a trīce (“很快地，一下子”, 字面意思是“用一拉”)，后亦用于短语in a trice、on a trice以及with a trice。最终源自中古英語 trīcen，见[[#词源 1]]。

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
 It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May."
 And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
 Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

1907, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, 出自 The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses, New York, N.Y.: Barse & Hopkins, publishers, →OCLC，第 53 頁:

And in a trice he has clambered onto the kitchen dresser and is reaching for the top shelf.

2013, J[ohn] M[axwell] Coetzee, 章號 22, 出自 The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Vic.: The Text Publishing Company, →ISBN，第 220 頁:


trice

源自中古英語 trīce、tryys、tryyst，源自中古荷蘭語 trīse、trijs（现代荷蘭語 trijs (“滑轮，绞盘”)）或中古低地德語 trīsse、trītse (“起重用的绳子，索具”)；可能与[[#词源 1]]的动词trice和古英語 tryndel (“滚筒，滚轮”)（详见trend、trindle）有关。英语词与丹麥語 tridse、trisse (“滑轮”)、低地德語 trissel (“眩晕”)、德語 trieze (“吊车；滑轮”)、挪威語 triss (“滑轮”)、瑞典語 trissa (“滑轮”)同源。


trices

trice的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


triced

trice 的過去式和過去分詞


chase one's tail

chases one's tail
chasing one's tail
chased one's tail

People wanting to get married . . . would have to trail around separately to arrange flowers, cars, a photographer, the cake and a reception venue. . . . "At the moment, they have to chase their tail making sure all these things are done."

1994 Aug. 4, Lynn Eaton, "Planning a wedding in one easy stop," The Independent (UK) (retrieved 26 June 2014):

"You're forever chasing your tail when you're dealing with such large areas. . . . It was difficult to see how we would ever get on top of the problem."

2001 July 2, Lisa Clausen, "Warren Peace Australia missed its first chance to wipe out the rabbit scourge," Time (retrieved 26 June 2014):

The phone rings pretty much immediately and I have a conversation, usually apologising for something or explaining why I haven't managed to do something. I'm always chasing my tail.

2006 Aug. 14, Natalie Hanman, "Hidden passions," The Guardian (UK) (retrieved 26 June 2014):

“If you end up changing your strategy based on hot or cold tendencies, more often than not, you’re chasing your tail and you’re actually destroying value rather than sticking to what you know is right based off the data over a longer period of time,” Luhnow said.

2012 Aug. 12, Tyler Kepner, "Astros Begin Again, Starting With Youth and Hope," New York Times (retrieved 26 June 2014):

What is unbearable, in fact, is the feeling, 13 years after 9/11, that America has been chasing its tail; that, in some whack-a-mole horror show, the quashing of a jihadi enclave here only spurs the sprouting of another there; that the ideology of Al Qaeda is still reverberating through a blocked Arab world whose Sunni-Shia balance (insofar as that went) was upended by the American invasion of Iraq.

2014年November17日, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 9]”, 出自 The New York Times:


chase one's own tail

chases one's own tail
chasing one's own tail
chased one's own tail


of old

In days of old.

I know him of old.

The station has been refurbished both at ground level and below ground, where the wide, fluorescently lit platforms are an almost unrecognisable metamorphosis of the dingy, reeking Low Level of old.

1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, 出自 Trains Illustrated，第 713 頁:

These deals have made them more like the radio and TV stations of old — picking popular acts, paying handsomely for their work, assuming greater responsibility for their output — and less like the neutral platforms they once claimed to be.

2022年January31日, Kevin Roose, “Spotify’s Joe Rogan Problem Isn’t Going Away”, 出自 The New York Times, →ISSN:


nosier

nosey 的比較級形式。


nosied

nosy 的過去式和過去分詞


nosiest

nosey的最高級形式。


nosies

nosy的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


destines

destine的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


worlds apart

In terms of technology, today's media and that of the 19th century are worlds apart, but they still serve the same purpose.

在技术上，现在的媒体和19世纪的媒体已经如同天壤之别，但是它们的目的还是一样的。


imposes

impose的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


prowled

prowl 的過去式和過去分詞


prowling

无所事事；鬼鬼祟祟地四处徘徊

nightly prowlings


prowls

prowl的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


walk out on

walks out on
walking out on
walked out on

离开，丢下 （尤指自己的伴侣）

What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?

1967, “With a Little Help from My Friends”, 出自 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 演出者 Beatles:


on the prowl

在找东西，在觅食；鬼鬼祟祟地四处徘徊

The cat was always on the prowl for bit of string or a dangling shoelace.

那只猫老是到处找线或者垂下来的鞋带。


wretchful

more wretchful (comparative)
most wretchful (superlative)

The wretch had the pernicious habit of writing in Milanese dialect. He was doubly wretchful when he took the liberty of giving birth to parodies of the Divine Comedy.

2012, Rudolph Altrocchi, PhD; Edited by Paul and John Altrocchi, The Playful Spirit: Italian Humor - Page 130:


dead wood

Everybody knows that when you have a layoff, you use it as chance to get rid of the people you wanted to get rid of anyway, but couldn't document or hadn't bothered documenting as bad employees […]。If you don't have much dead wood, you hope they make you use a seniority list, because then you can say it's out of your control.

2001, Michael B. Arthur, Denise M. Rousseau, The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era, Oxford University Press, →ISBN，第 140 頁:

仅按字面意思，并无比喻或俗语义；参见dead、wood。


scaredy-cat

I don't care — I wouldn't be such a scaredy-cat for anything.

1918, Florence Kiper Frank, “The Child and the Little Sister”, 出自 The Midland, 第 4 卷，第 61 頁:

Oh, yes, do let's dance together—it's so nice to meet a man who isn't a scaredy-cat about catching my beri-beri.


old wives' tale

在这一语境中，“wives”指“女人”不指“妻子”，还保留了古英語 wīf (“女人；妻子”)的原始词义。该短语可能重构自古英語 ealdra cwēna spell，或仿译自拉丁語 anīlis fābula，两者字面义均为“老太婆的故事”。


excuses

excuse的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


punctus

源自中世紀拉丁語 punctus (“标点符号”)。

中世纪时使用的一种结束句子的标点符号（‧），为句号的前身

In the sacerdotal prayers in col. a the punctuation is by punctus flexus, punctus elevatus and punctus.

1993, Malcolm Beckwith Parkes, Pause and Effect, Plates and Commentaries，第 197 頁:

The most common item of punctuation was the punctus or point.

2011年July22日, Tadao Kudouchi, English Historical Linguistics and Philology in Japan, De Gruyter, →ISBN，第 172 頁:

Curiously, the punctus versus was largely replaced with a punctus by ca.1100.

2015年August31日, “Medieval Manuscripts”, 出自 Albrecht Classen 編, Handbook of Medieval Culture, 第 2 卷, De Gruyter, →ISBN，第 1015 頁:


punctum

Thus, from what has been stated, we see that neither the white puncta nor the minute white branchwork of lines were ever tubular.

1861, The Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Zoology, Botany, and Geology:


the jig is up

jig曾指“活泼的舞蹈”，在伊丽莎白时代，还曾经是指“恶作剧”的俚语。该词即派生自这个弃用俚语词。

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-the jig is up.ogg

（当自己说时）我们被打了个措手不及，我们完蛋了，我们穿帮了；（当对他人说时）你们已经被拆穿了，你们完蛋了

We knew then the jig was up, and it was no grin matter for us.

When I first told 'em how the jig was up with us, that the British were going to have the land, without any fighting about it, I never see fellows so mad before in my life, unless it was Major Eaton at Washington when he sot out to flog Mr. Ingham.

1833, Seba Smith (as Jack Downing), The life and writings of Major Jack Downing, of Downingville, away down East in the State of Maine, Lilly; Wait; Colman & Holden，第 176 頁:

After I had returned home in the spring of 1893 from Washington, where I saw so many gray-haired men who had held high elective office begging for the crumbs from Cleveland's table, I gave my wife an account of what I observed, and told her that when the jig was up for me I would hasten back to Missouri to begin the practice of law once more and be a man among men.

1920, Champ Clark, My Quarter Century of American Politics, Harper & brothers，第 96 頁:

The universe works in strange ways: just when you think the jig is up, you get a second chance.

2007, Mary Newport, in Jerry Newport and Mary Newport, Mozart and the Whale: An Asperger's Love Story, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN，第 248 頁:


beat the daylights out of

beats the daylights out of
beating the daylights out of
beat the daylights out of
beaten the daylights out of
beat the daylights out of

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-beat the daylights out of.ogg

Punching fast and furiously, I would beat the daylights out of them until they were bloody all over.

1993, Lester Sumrall, The Life Story of Lester Sumrall, →ISBN:

让...惨败 （尤指在肢体冲突中）

The guy beat the daylights out of me, and I made a dollar. My wrestling license cost five dollars.

2007, Greg Oliver, The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels, →ISBN，第 42 頁:


beat the daylight out of

beats the daylight out of
beating the daylight out of
beat the daylight out of
beaten the daylight out of
beat the daylight out of


aggro

源自aggravation 的截斷形式 + -o (指小后缀)，受到了aggressive的影响。

But the thing to remember was that some women were prepared to provide an outlet, in spite of all the aggro, if the money was right. And lots of guys were prepared to pay, in spite of the aggro. And what the aggro boiled down to, if you thought about it, was the shame of being known to be the person who had been involved.

2011, Helen DeWitt, Lightning Rods，第 25 頁:

暴力行为，暴行；咄咄逼人的行为 （不一定发展为暴力）

Move along, lads; we don't want any aggro.

走开吧，兄弟，我们可不想动手。

That is the case because, according to Marsh, soccer hooliganism is one of Britain's principal forms of aggro. If it is true that there is an absence of aggro traditions in the USA — and there is a wealth of evidence which suggests that Marsh is wrong on this score — then it is reasoble to deduce from Marsh′s arguments that it is unlikely that phenomena such as soccer hooliganism could or ever will develop there.

1999, Eric Dunning, Sport Matters : Sociological Studies of Sport, Violence and Civilisation，第 162 頁:

‘We ain′t got a name yet. We′re into aggro.’
‘Aggro?’
‘Yeah, you know, aggression, aggravation. Aggro’.

2011, Jake Arnott, The Long Firm，unnumbered 頁:

仇恨值 （游戏中评估玩家的行为有多好战的数值，越高越容易遭到敌人攻击或者越容易吓走敌人）

To reduce one player's aggro level, the other must build up his own.

2007, Bendik Stang, Morten A. Osterholt, Erik Hoftun, The Book of Games Volume 2: The Ultimate Reference on PC & Video Games，第 98 頁:

What isn't so gimmicky is the Aggro System, where you draw fire onto yourself by acting aggressive, while your partner sneaks off blindsiding distracted enemies. Aggro depends on how big your current weapon is and how often you act aggressive.

We asked for an ability to trasnfer^([sic]) our aggro to another player—were told that could cause some abuse.

2010, World of Warcraft and Philosophy: Wrath of the Philosopher King，第 187 頁:

仇恨 （敌人进攻的焦点）

You just pulled aggro off the tank and wiped the raid.

你刚刚把仇恨从坦克身上引开，让整个队团灭了。


aggro

more aggro (comparative)
most aggro (superlative)

“The Chuckster say you two be finding aggro idiot who kilt Long,” said Dude.
I thought I understood but looked at Charles for help.
“Aggro means pissed off.” translated Charles. He still hadn't cracked a smile. Tardiness made Charles aggro.

2011, Bill Noel., The Marsh: A Folly Beach Mystery，第 70 頁:

At the beginning of the twenty-first century the physically adept aggro femme had become a recurring motif in new circus and physical theatre.

2005, Peta Tait, Circus Bodies: cultural identity in aerial performance，第 131 頁:


aggro

They'll aggro on you if you get too close.

你离它们太近它们就会打你。

引...的仇恨，让...开始攻击

I aggroed the enderman by looking in its eyes, and it killed me.

我看了末影人的眼睛拉了仇恨，然后被它打死了。


moralises

moralise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


rebaptises

rebaptise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


maximises

maximise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


in the buff

源自buff (字面意思是“褐黄色的”)，表示了皮肤的颜色。

She was in the buff on the beach.

The streaker ran across the playing field in the buff.

裸跑者光着身子跑过了操场。

Not to mention, nudity can be just plain convenient. “Laundry is minimal,” Schulte notes. It also doesn’t hurt that being in the buff spices up his workday.

2021年October18日, Ian Lecklitzner, “The Inevitable Rise of the Work-From-Home Nudist”, 出自 MEL Magazine:


restructures

restructure的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


dead as a doornail

源自中古英語 ded as dore-nail。字面意思为“死得和门钉一样的”。
最早在英语中的使用例之一是威廉·朗兰的诗歌Piers Plowman A. i. 161 "Fey withouten fait is febelore þen nouȝt, And ded as a dore-nayl"，但是不太可能是朗兰所造。此外还有William of Palerne l. 628 "For but ich haue bote of mi bale‥I am ded as dore-nail"，以及押头韵的辩论诗The Parlement of the Thre Ages内"Dede als a dore-nayle doune was he fallen" 65。这些文字记录的出现时间不详，可能比朗兰要早。
一种说得通解释是，门是只用木板和手工锻造的钉子制成的：钉子会长到足够dead nail (“钉死”)垂直的木板和水平的横档，让它们无法轻易分开。要达到这种效果，需要将钉子的突出部分敲入木头里。弯成这样，难以拉出的钉子一般称为“dead”，本词由此而来。

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-dead as a doornail.ogg

I picked up the phone, but the line was dead as a doornail.

我拿起电话筒，但里面完全没有声音。

We finally found John's cat run over in the next road. It was as dead as a doornail.

我们在另一条路上终于找到了John的猫，但它已经被碾过了，死透了。

音頻： (檔案)


opinant

Could Mr. Sayers have held out for three minutes, for five minutes, for ten minutes more? He says he could. So we say we could have held out, and did and had beaten off the enemy at Waterloo, even if the Prussians hadn't come up. The opinions differ pretty much according to the nature of the opinants.

1860, The Cornhill Magazine, 第 1-2 卷s，第 757 頁:


opines

opine的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


rake over the coals

最早用例见于1565年：“S. Augustine, that knewe best how to fetche an heretike ouer the coles.”（牛津英语词典）。源自天主教会将异教徒拖过烧着的炭的酷刑。

rakes over the coals
raking over the coals
raked over the coals

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-rake over the coals.ogg


take exception

takes exception
taking exception
took exception
taken exception

(及物带 to) 对...感到不快，反感，受到...的冒犯；反对

I think he took exception to the joke about environmentalists.

我觉得那个开环保主义者玩笑的笑话冒犯到他了。

I take exception to the assumption that simply because I am young I am not able to discern fact from fiction.

觉得只是因为我年轻我就没办法区分现实和虚构的成见让我感到不快。

I am sorry to learn that the senior medical staff of the Dreadnought Hospital take exception to portions of Sir Henry Burdett's letter […] which was published in the Times of July 11th.

1898 July 20, Percival A. Nairne, letter, published in the Lancet of 1898 December 10, page 1575:

[…] the body of a deceased Indian, wrapped in a blanket and reposing on the limbs of an old tree in the sandhills. Horatio Walker, then President of the Club and generally so sympathetic with artists, seemingly took exception to it, and Morris felt the silent criticism […]

1984, Jean S. McGill, Edmund Morris, Frontier Artist, Dundurn Press, →ISBN，第 165 頁:

Upset, about 20 Kuala Lumpur-based judges met on 25 March and decided that Salleh should write to the king explaining their position. The king apparently took exception to the letter or to the manner in which it was sent […]

1989, “Asia Yearbook”, 出自 Far Eastern Economic Review，第 167 頁:


dead set

猎犬指示猎物方向时的静止姿势

The judge at the dog show took points off the Irish setter's dead set because its right ear twitched a few times.

狗狗表演比赛的裁判扣了那条爱尔兰雪达犬的示意猎物方向姿势好几分，因为它的右耳抽动了好几次。

to be at a dead set

I might not graduate first in my class, but I'll make a dead set at it.

我可能不能做班上第一个毕业的，但是我会尽力争取的。

The result was that everyone made a dead set on Collins. It was the same in conversation. When he put his head in everyone turned on him. He was roared down unmercifully, with the inevitable result that he lost his temper.

2018, Frank O'Connor, The Big Fellow: Michael Collins and the Irish Revolution:


dead set

more dead set (comparative)
most dead set (superlative)

hell-bent

坚定的，执著的，死心塌地的，专注而不动摇的

坚定的，执著的，死心塌地的，专注而不动摇的

If John is dead set on marrying Catherine, his parents' objection will only provoke a falling out.

如果John一定要娶Catherine，他的父母肯定会过来闹翻的。

The governor is dead set against the concealed weapons permit legislation and will veto it even if it costs her the re-election.

There are people here who are dead set on convincing everybody this hurricane is the result of climate change.

2018年September11日, Rush Limbaugh, “Hurricane Florence Heads for the Carolinas”, 出自 The Rush Limbaugh Show (radio)，於2019-04-17歸檔自原頁面:

He is a dead set fool.

他就是个如假包换的笨蛋。


dead-set

dead set的另一種拼寫法


dead-set

more dead-set (comparative)
most dead-set (superlative)

dead set的另一種拼寫法


cut of one's jib

源自cut (“样子，风格”)和jib (“艏三角帆”)，原为航海用语，指通过帆的形状来辨别远处航行的船只。俗语意可能是因为三角帆形似人的鼻子而产生。

cut of their jibs (plural)
cuts of their jibs (plural)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/En-au-cut of one's jib.ogg

（人的） 外貌，外表，风格 （自19世纪初叶）

I have seen that girl on the deck, and I like the cut of her jib. I like the way she walks. Her independence suits me.

1896, Robert Barr, 章號 XIII, 出自 A Woman Intervenes: Or The Mistress of the Mine, New York, N.Y., London: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, →OCLC，第 122 頁:

Jack thinks, by the cut of their jibs, they were Frenchmen, one an officer and the other his servant.

1911, John Oxenham [pseudonym; William Arthur Dunkerley], “An Unexpected Guest”, 出自 The Coil of Carne, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp, Clark Co., →OCLC，第 157 頁:

Mr Bloom watched her as she limped away. Poor girl! That's why she's left on the shelf and the others did a sprint. Thought something was wrong by the cut of her jib. Jilted beauty. A defect is ten times worse in a woman.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13: Nausicaa]”, 出自 Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey]，第 351 頁:

We were drawn together from the first as young men will be: we liked the cuts of each other's jibs: we were both sailors (and there is only one sea-service in spite of the guns and gold-lace) and then the far distant dim relationship gave us the feeling that many of the barriers, of race and faith and custom, were down from between us.

1934, John Masefield, The Taking of the Gry, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC，第 22 頁:

"By the cut of their jibs I shall know them!" That's the way Ham Hamberger summed it up as he looked ahead to his coming battle employment, and speculated upon those with whom he would be called upon to serve—not knowing. And by the cut of their jibs he did know them when the time came, and they him, […]

1959, Ken Jones, “The Eagles Gather”, 出自 Destroyer Squadron 23: Combat Exploits of Arleigh Burke’s Gallant Force, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: Book Division, Chilton Company, →OCLC，第 60 頁:

"You don't like me much, do you?" / "Let's just say I don't like the cut of your jib, Mr. Tate."

2003 June, Ted Bell, 章號 42, 出自 Hawke […], New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, →ISBN，第 277 頁:


have one's cake and eat it too

字面意思为“（想同时）拥有蛋糕，和吃掉它”，因为吃了蛋糕就没有了，吃蛋糕和拥有蛋糕两件事无法同时达成。

has one's cake and eats it too
having one's cake and eating it too
had one's cake and ate it too
had one's cake and eaten it too

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-have one's cake and eat it too.ogg

又要马儿好，又要马儿不吃草 （同时达到两个互斥的目的）

It's not possible to get your savings and keep the piggy bank intact. You can't have your cake and eat it too!

你没办法又能拿到存着的钱，又要存钱罐完好无损。鱼和熊掌不可兼得。


at the mercy of

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-at the mercy of.ogg

任凭...处置的，对...束手无策的

The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.

1897年 12月（標示為1898年）, Winston Churchill, 章號 1, 出自 The Celebrity: An Episode, 紐約: The Macmillan Company；倫敦：Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

The ball game is scheduled for Saturday, but we're still at the mercy of the weather.

球赛定在周六，但是还是得看天气。


chow down

We're all famished; it's time to chow down.

我们都饿坏了，该好好吃一顿了。


foobar

FUBAR的发音拼写，它可能是Fucked up beyond all recognition的首字母缩略词，或者派生自foo。

一种元句法变量名，作为单词的占位符，对比foo, bar


get the ball rolling

gets the ball rolling
getting the ball rolling
got the ball rolling
got the ball rolling
gotten the ball rolling

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/en-au-get the ball rolling.ogg

Did you ever get the ball rolling on your plans to build a shed?

你有没有开始着手你的建小屋计划？

The execution of Littlefinger is formal, although his trial admittedly gives us ample opportunity to appreciate the tables finally turning on the man who got the ball rolling on all this bloodshed.

2017年August27日, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, 出自 The Onion AV Club:


uniformises

uniformise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


utilise

源自法語 utiliser，源自意大利語 utilizzare，源自utile (“有用的”)，源自拉丁語 ūtilis，源自ūtī (“使用”)。最早見於c. 1810。

The bodywork employs, where possible, the same constructional methods as for the standard B.R. coaching stock, in order to utilise existing jigs and press tools.

1959 March, “The 2,500 h.p. electric locomotives for the Kent Coast electrification”, 出自 Trains Illustrated，第 125 頁:

Since then we have had the opportunity to travel in them and were much impressed by the internal styling and comfort of the seating (with the minor exception of the single seats which have been tucked in longitudinally alongside some of the entrance vestibules and which are so cramped that only the slimmest of female figures could be comfortable in them; the space they occupy would have been better utilised to increase standing room).

1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, 出自 Trains Illustrated，第 715 頁:


utilises

utilise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


urbanises

urbanise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


valorises

valorise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


volatilises

volatilise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


vandalises

vandalise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


vectorises

vectorise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


verbalises

動詞alise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


vulgarises

vulgarise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


stylises

stylise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


subjectivises

subjectivise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


territorialises

territorialise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


terrorises

terrorise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


titularises

titularise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


solubilises

solubilise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


sodomises

sodomise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


swish

swisher (comparative)
more swish (comparative)
swishest (superlative)
most swish (superlative)

This restaurant looks very swish — it even has linen tablecloths.

这个饭店看起来很高级，居然还有亚麻桌布。

All the shabby railway buildings in front of the station concourse have either been removed or transformed into a shopping complex and swish homes.

2020年June3日, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Cambridge”, 出自 Rail，第 23 頁:

When the boys go swish, they always score

2004, “Ladyflash”, 出自 Thunder, Lightning, Strike, 演出者 The Go! Team:

The Saints, who started the day third in the table, went marching on thanks to their own swish play and some staggering defending by the visitors.

2014年October18日, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, 出自 The Guardian:


swish

（常指物体摩擦时发出的）嘎吱声

（物体快速拂过空气时发出的）嗖嗖声

（液体在容器中流动发出的）声音

空心球，空气球 （不碰篮筐、篮板的进球）

"Fairies, nances, swishes, fags, lezzes — call 'em what you please — should of course be permitted to earn honest livings […]

1992, Leigh W. Rutledge, The gay decades: from Stonewall to the present:

He got a little swish downriver.


swish

The cane swishes.

In the stern of the low-laden canoe his paddle swished steadily and powerfully, with thrust of straight, stiff upper arm backed by a twisting swing of the body from the waist, and with every stroke the little craft leaped as if a giant hand had shoved her forward.

1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:

to swish a cane back and forth

After Virginia came the twins, who were usually called "the Star and Stripes", as they were always getting swished.

1906, Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost:

Doctor Wordsworth and assistants would swish that error out of him in a way that need not here be mentioned.

c. 1842, William Makepeace Thackeray, Character Sketches

I shall not swish; I'll merely act limp-wristed.

Swish the mouthwash around the mouth and between the teeth for one minute.

在口中及牙齿间涮漱口水一分钟。


swish

嗖 （模仿快速拂过空气时发出的声音）

"Just like parade it had been a minute before then stumble, bang, swish! Wiped out!" he said.

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann，第 84 頁:


conk out

可能是模仿抛锚内燃机的一个拟声词。可能是英国摩托骑手在约1910年所造。

He wasn't there, just the dog, conked out on the porch.

他不在那里，只有那只狗睡在门厅那。

The old car conked out halfway up the hill.

He lived to be 90, then conked out in his sleep.

他活到了90岁，然后睡梦中咽气了。


stay put

I'm not moving there; I'd rather stay put.

I keep adjusting the focus, but it won't stay put.

我一直在调焦，但是它就是固定不下来。


hit it

He looks at the band behind him and says, “Hit it, boys!” The band launches into its own rendition of happy birthday.

2010, E. K. Schiller, Holly Schiller, The Midnight Hour，第 196 頁:

If I say you look fuckable, how would you react?
 Starin' at you, daydreamin' 'bout hittin' it from the back

仅按字面意思，并无比喻或俗语义；参见hit、it。


beat it

beats it
beating it
beat it
beat it
beaten it

[…] and he said, "You beat it." So I beat it two squares up to Seventeenth Street and went into a saloon.

1916, United States. Commission on Industrial Relations, Francis Patrick Walsh, Basil Maxwell Manly, Industrial relations: Final report and testimony，第 10986 頁:

Showin' how funky and strong is your fight / It doesn't matter who's wrong or right / Just beat it

1983, Michael Jackson （作曲作詞）, “Beat It”, 出自 Thriller:

仅按字面意思，并无比喻或俗语义；参见beat、it。


conscientises

conscientise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


satirises

satirise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


scandalises

scandalise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


sectorises

sectorise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


sexualises

sexualise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


signalises

signalise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


socialises

socialise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


racialises

racialise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


radicalises

radicalise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


rationalises

rationalise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


relativises

relativise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


rivalises

rivalise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


robotises

robotise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


romanises

romanise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


paralysant

more paralysant (comparative)
most paralysant (superlative)


paralysant

Other mythographers say that […] where the saliva of Cerberus fell on the ground, up sprang the witch-flower aconite – which is a poison, a paralysant and a febrifuge

1948 (revised 1952), Robert Graves, The White Goddess, Faber & Faber 1999, p. 48:


paralyses

paralyse的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


parabolises

parabolise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


pasteurise

借自法語 pasteuriser。源自路易·巴斯德，这一消毒方法的发明者， + -ise。

/ˈpæst͡ʃəɹaɪz/

/ˈpɑːstʃəɹaɪz/


pasteurises

pasteurise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


pelletises

pelletise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


phosphorises

phosphorise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


polygonises

polygonise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


pressurise

pressurize在非牛津英式英語的标准拼写


pressurises

pressurise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


psychiatrises

psychiatrise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


psychologises

psychologise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


lightskin

A man who is getting ahead tends to seek a lighter mate, and because “a good man is hard to find,” it would be difficult for a lightskin girl consistently to reject darker people. A darker man who offers security, through social position and other advantages, may well be preferred to a lightskin man of little enterprise.

1941, W. Lloyd Warner, Buford H. Junker, Walter A. Adams, “Lightskin Women”, 出自 Color and Human Nature: Negro Personality Development in a Northern City, Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education，第 193 頁:


harmonises

harmonise的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


purifies

purify的第三人稱單數簡單現在時直陳式


wide awake

more wide awake (comparative)
most wide awake (superlative)

完全清醒的；警醒的，警觉的

"They are almost awake, not quite," said Lucy. She knew she herself was wide awake, wider than anyone usually is.

1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia:

I woke with a start. With the blackout curtains closed I didn't know what time it was. I looked at my watch. It said four o'clock. I had been asleep for only two hours, but I was wide awake.

1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1973-1974”, 出自 RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL，第 1085 頁:


shut-eye

With the night so quiet and peaceful, though, there was nothing he could do except return to camp and try to get a little shut-eye himself.

2008, William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone, Preachers Showdown, Pinnacle Books, →ISBN，第 172 頁:


pooped

more pooped (comparative)
most pooped (superlative)

Well, I've walked 35 miles since yesterday to get here, so I'm pooped

2000, Jeff Alt, A Walk For Sunshine: A 2,160 Mile Expedition for Charity on the Appalachian Trail，第 138 頁:


pooped

poop 的過去式和過去分詞


catch some z's

源自常用来表达人睡着时发出的声音的Z。

catches some z's
catching some z's
caught some z's

His boss found him catching some z's at his desk yesterday.

他老板昨天抓到他在自己的桌上睡觉。


catch some zs

catches some zs
catching some zs
caught some zs


catch some Zs

catches some Zs
catching some Zs
caught some Zs


catch some Z's

catches some Z's
catching some Z's
caught some Z's