| 释义 |
down and out, adj. phr. orig. U.S. colloq.
[down adv. 5, out adv. 19 c.]
Completely without resources or means of livelihood; absolutely ‘done’; also transf. (see quot. 1934). Also absol. (‘the down and out’) and as n.
1889Kansas Times & Star 28 Nov., The brewers, saloon-keepers and sports will meet..to provide a turkey feast for the ‘down and outs’ in their line. 1901‘H. McHugh’ John Henry 31 Say! I was down and out—no kidding! a1910‘O. Henry’ Trimmed Lamp (1916) 183 I'm down and out; but I'm no traitor to a man that's been my friend. 1917J. Farnol Definite Object vi. 49, I don't want 'em to think I'm floatin' around with a down-an'-out from Battyville. 1921H. Walpole Young Enchanted iii. vi, Everybody over forty is tired and down and out, and everybody under thirty has swelled head. 1922G. M. Trevelyan Brit. Hist. 19th Cent. xxiii. 375 France was down and out. 1923H. L. Foster Beachcomber in Orient x. 215 Nowhere in my travels had I ever found a city so full of the down-and-out as was Singapore at that particular moment. 1924W. B. Selbie Psychol. Relig. 87 The down-and-outs converted there. 1928H. Walpole Wintersmoon iii. v, Next to Wildherne was a down-and-out with holes in his boots. 1928Galsworthy Swan Song iii. vi. 259 ‘You've never been down and out, I imagine, Mr. Forsyte?’ ‘No,’ answered Soames. 1933‘G. Orwell’ (title) Down and out in Paris and London. 1934Amer. Speech IX. 11 Down and out refers to the opening lead of an Ace followed by the lead, in the order of their rank, of the next lower cards in the same suit. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Jan. 15/2 After leaving school he emigrated into what he calls Fitzrovia—a world of outsiders, down-and-outs, drunks, sensualists, homosexuals and eccentrics. 1968T. Parker People of Streets 31 The assistance is for the poor people really, the ones who they call the down-and-outs. Ibid. 159 Billy Costello, down-and-out dosser, twenty-four years old.
Hence down-and-out v. trans., to ‘do for’, destroy; down-and-outer, one who is ‘down and out’; down-and-outness.
1909Springfield Weekly Republ. 4 Mar. 2 Compliments from political enemies follow the most distinguished down-and-outer of his day into the seclusion of private life. 1914G. Atherton Perch of Devil ii. 298 You don't..put it over without running the risk of being shot by some sort of down-and-outer. 1916‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 186 That machine-gun upstairs is a certain invitation to sudden death and the German gunners to down and out us. 1922H. L. Foster Adv. Trop. Tramp ii. 20 The down-and-outers of whom my old sea-captain had spoken. 1926Blackw. Mag. Aug. 235/2 In the process of investigating the reason for their down-and-outness, he considered that the applicant had been a knave. 1967Boston (Mass.) Sunday Herald 2–8 Apr. 27/2 Film..Two down and outers, looking for some rich people to marry, find each other. Down and out. |