| 释义 |
▪ I. downscale, v. U.S.
(stress variable)
[down adv.]
To reduce in size or scale, to scale down (scale v.3 4 b), esp.: a. trans., to render more appropriate to the lower end of the market or (social) scale; cf. downscale a.; b. intr. and trans., to reduce the size of (a business operation, etc.).
1945Newsweek 2 Apr. 68 Mullikin's new crazy kitchen began as a good-will idea, aimed at the building trades, to ‘downscale’ futuristic advertising by means of ridicule. 1980Washington Post 22 Apr. b4/3 Listen to these lunch-time bureaucrats..hashing it out..‘But if you want to downscale for retrofitting...’ 1981N.Y. Times 30 July c2/3 The appliance business will continue to downscale, with the eventual production of the pocket washer and dryer, tiny machines convenient for laundering a single pair of underpants or socks. 1984Washington Post 1 Dec. d2/6 ‘I think we're staying away from elegant this time,’ said Deaver,..referring to the administration's plans to downscale the pomp and circumstance this time around.
▪ II. ˈdownscale, a. U.S.
[down prep.]
At the lower end of a (social) scale; inferior, of poor quality, ‘down-market’. Contr. with upscale a.
1966[see upscale a.]. 1980New Yorker 24 Mar. 116 Some of the dream..derives from the movie version of Edna Ferber's ‘Giant’: that huge Victorian house rising out of the flat Texas landscape in the middle of nowhere. The Ewings' ranch house is certainly cast in the same image, but, as the advertising people say, it is definitely downscale from ‘Giant’. Large but not huge; white, serene, and grandly suburban. 1982Fortune 26 July 39/2 A 35-mm camera is like a Sony Walkman, a piece of jewelry to wear around your neck. On the other hand, Kodak's name is very downscale, almost plebeian. |