| 释义 |
▪ I. sweetheart, n.|ˈswiːthɑːt|
Forms: see sweet a. and heart n.
1. a. (Properly two words: see heart n. 14.) A term of endearment = darling: used chiefly in the vocative. Also used ironically or contemptuously.
c1290St. Kenelm 140 in S. Eng. Leg. 349 Alas..þat ich scholde.. a-bide Þat mi child, mi swete heorte, swych cas schal bi-tide. c1325Orfeo 100 Swete hert, he sayde, how may this be? c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 1183 For-yeue it me myn owene swete herte. [Cf. 1820 Troylus..Is with Criseyde his owne herte swete.] 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. (Percy Soc.) 65 Alas! fayre lady, and myne owne swete herte. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 221 Curtsie sweet hearts, and so the Measure ends. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. 1905 III. 108 So hath he his Barnabe and Anthony for his minions and sweet-harts. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 285 Ros. Vndone, and forfeited to cares for euer. Par. What's the matter sweet-heart? 1613Middleton Triumphs Truth Wks. (Bullen) VII. 241 O welcome, my triumphant lord, My glory's sweetheart! 1648–9in Eikon Bas. (1649) App. 274 The King taking the Duke of Glocester upon His Knee, said, Sweet-heart now they will cut off thy Fathers Head. 1679Tryals Robt. Green, etc. 65 My Husband..called to me, prithee, sweetheart, what hast thou got for my Supper? 1727Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) I. 136 What interest I have, I shall be very willing to make use of for my sweetheart's service, but nothing can be done till he is sent to school to Westminster. 1845James Arrah Neil i, A gay cavalier..pulled up..and seeing the girl he exclaimed,..‘Which is the way to Bishop's Merton, sweet⁓heart?’ 1859Tennyson Grandmother xiii, Sweetheart, I love you so well that your good name is mine. 1890Hall Caine Bondman iii. vi, ‘Ot's the name of your 'ickle boy?’ ‘Ah, I've got none, sweetheart.’ 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? iv. 51 (addressing a man) ‘Hiya, sweetheart,’ he said. 1977F. Parrish Fire in Barley viii. 82 Try harder, sweetheart, or I'll plug you in the guts.
b. N. Amer. Anything especially good of its kind. Cf. honey n. (a.) 5 b.
1942Amer. Speech XVII. 105/1 Sweetheart, piece of equipment which performs well. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 27/7 (Advt.), 68 Renault R10, deluxe, radio, a little sweetheart. 1978Detroit Free Press 2 Apr. 15f/4 (Advt.), Lovely 3 bedrm brick ranch, 1½ baths, re rm, a sweetheart for $45,900.
†2. One who is loved illicitly; a paramour. Obs.
1589[? Lyly] Pappe w. Hatchet Wks. 1902 III. 399 Ye like not a Bishops rochet, when all your fathers hankerchers were made of his sweete harts smocke. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 379 Edith his wife, who..had been one of King Henrie the First his sweet hearts and lig-bies. 1696Aubrey Misc., Appar. (1784) 107 A gentlewoman, a handsome woman, but common, who was Mr. Mohun's sweet heart. 1796Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Sweet Heart,..a girl's lover, or a man's mistress.
3. A person with whom one is in love.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 309 One hanges himselfe under his sweetehartes windowe with a twyned haulter. c1597Breton Figure of Foure ii. §89 Foure creatures goe willingly to their businesse: a Bride to Church, a boy to breckfast, an heire to his land, and a sweet-heart to his loue. 1600Holland Livy xxvi. 623 Your sweet-heart and best beloved [orig. sponsa] I have entertained, as well,..as she should have bene with your father and mother in law. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 161 ⁋3 Her Sweet-heart, a Person of small Stature. 1782Jrnl. Yng. Lady of Virginia (1871) 38 Miss Nancy's sweetheart came to-day. 1802in Nairne Peerage Evidence (1874) 165, I shall be well pleased to hear from M. Serre the sweet heart of Sussanne all that concerns them. 1855Dickens Dorrit ii. xxiii, Your old sweetheart an't far off, and she's a blabber. 1863Reade Hard Cash li, The prejudiced statements of friends and sweethearts, who always swear from the heart rather than from the head and the conscience.
4. colloq. and dial. in various transf. senses.
a. A sugar cake in the shape of a heart; a jam tart. b. Applied to the burs or thorny seeds or sprays which attach themselves to a person's clothes; also, a plant bearing these, as species of Desmodium. c. A tame rabbit.
1732Swift Exam. Abuses Dublin Wks. 1735 IV. 321 There is another Cry.., and it is that of Sweet-hearts [Note, A Sort of Sugar-Cakes in the Shape of Hearts]. 1750G. Hughes Barbados 213 Sweet-Heart. The pod is intirely incrusted with small setæ or hooked bristles, by which means they tenaciously stick to the cloaths of those who walk among them. 1840D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §2683 Four kinds of rabbits are acknowledged among dealers and fanciers,—warreners, parkers, hedgehogs, and sweethearts... Sweethearts are the tame varieties. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Sweetheart, a piece of thorn or briar which becomes attached to a woman's dress and drags along after her. 1888Sheffield Gloss., Sweetheart, a thin tart made by spreading a layer of jam between thin slices of paste. 1913C. Pettman Africanderisms, Sweethearts, the hooked seeds of Bidens pilosa.
5. A variety of Rosa wichuraiana developed by M. H. Walsh about 1903 which bears clusters of small pink flowers; also = sweetheart rose, sense 6 b below.
1905Country Life Amer. VII. 625 Sweetheart..delicate blush. 1920R. Pyle How to grow Roses 106 Some roses have acquired new names... Sweetheart P. Mlle Cecile Brunner. 1955H. van P. Wilson Climbing Roses v. 75 Sweetheart (1901)... Rose-pink buds open to very double, 2½-inch, white flowers that are richly fragrant.
6. attrib. or as adj.
a. Designating a contract, agreement, etc., arranged privately (i.e. without genuine collective bargaining) by trade unions and employers which is beneficial to themselves but prejudicial to the interests of the workers; hence applied to persons, etc., prone to such collaboration. Also transf. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1959Washington Post 5 Feb. a2/2 The Administration's ban..would stop an honest union from picketing a shop that had made a substandard ‘sweetheart’ deal, recognizing a racket union. 1962N. S. Falcone Labor Law xi. 321 Some employers engaged in collusion with unions and paid union officials to get ‘sweetheart’ contracts. 1965Wall St. Jrnl. (Eastern ed.) 23 Sept. 1/6 The mine manager is a ‘sweetheart’ operator... In the classic ‘sweetheart’ situation, corrupt union leaders accept or extort payoffs from employers in exchange for assuring labour peace or winking at contract violations. 1967G. Tyler Labor Revolution xi. 243 The contract is a ‘sweetheart agreement’ to give the union heads an income, to give the employer relief from a real union, and to give the workers nothing. 1974Australian 12 Nov. 3 Miss Martin said Mr Jones' description of the..award as a sweetheart agreement was farcical. The award had been decided by arbitration, not by negotiation between Qantas and the unions. 1975Publishers Weekly 14 July 54/2 She takes us to three factors, one unorganized, a second with a sweetheart union, the third with an excellent local. Ibid. 24 Nov. 53/1 Caffery, a 35-year-old hockey star... Keeping his medical problem secret Caffery negotiates a sweetheart contract to jump league to Texas. 1977Time 1 Aug. 32/2 William Safire..raised the question of whether the $3.4 million loan that was granted on Jan. 7, after Lance had accepted the sensitive OMB job, was a ‘sweetheart loan’. 1979Times 21 Nov. 20/3 What are known as ‘sweetheart’ transactions (when [supermarket] checkout operators reduce the bill for those they know). 1981Times 30 Nov. 15/1 Mobil has accused US Steel of an illegal ‘sweetheart deal’ with Marathon board members at the expense of the shareholders.
b. Special Comb.: sweetheart neck(line), a heart-shaped neckline on a dress, blouse, etc. (see quot. 1968); sweetheart plant, either of two species of Philodendron, P. cordatum or P. scandens, epiphytic herbs of tropical America which have large heart-shaped leaves; sweetheart rose U.S., one of several roses having small pink, white, or yellow flowers, particularly attractive as buds, esp. the climbing polyantha Cécile Brunner; see also sense 5 d above.
1965Housewife Jan. 16/1 She has a great feeling for a return to the late forties. ‘Wide shoulders, *sweetheart necks.’ 1980B. Bainbridge Winter Garden xvi. 129 Enid..sauntered through the cool reception hall in her pink summer dress with the sweet⁓heart neck and emerged into the evening sunshine.
1968J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 54 *Sweetheart neckline, a neckline cut in front in two almost semicircular curves, like a heart. 1974Country Life 17 Jan. 106 Sweater with a sweetheart neckline. 1981Daily Tel. 21 May 17/2 The bride, of course, was a stunner—all demure in white broderie anglaise with a sweetheart neckline.
1963Reader's Digest Compl. Libr. of Garden II. 658/1 P[hilodendron] scandens (*sweetheart plant) origin: Puerto Rico, Panama. A popular and attractive climbing plant. 1981Times 28 Mar. 11/4 A 6½ ft sweetheart plant..cost {pstlg}29.
1936J. H. Nicolas Year in Rose Garden xv. 72 Cécile Brunner (*Sweetheart Rose): Light pink tea-like flowers. 1976Columbus (Montana) News 27 May 6/4 She carried a bouquet of yellow sweetheart roses.
Hence ˈsweetheartdom, ˈsweetheartship (nonce-wds.): see -dom, -ship.
1887A. J. Wilson At Mercy of Tiberius xiv, In the magical days of sweetheartdom, a silvery glorifying glamour wraps the world. 1898Tit-Bits 30 Apr. 85/1 The premature sweetheartship that existed between them.
▪ II. ˈsweetheart, v.
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To make a sweetheart of; to court, make love to.
1804R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. 79, I yence sweethearted Madge o' th' Mill. 1861Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 390 One of his mates sweethearted the servant. 1893Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Z. II. 87 Mark Runham running after two girls, sweethearting both.
2. intr. To be, or act the part of, a sweetheart; to court a sweetheart, make love.
1798T. Morton Speed the Plough v. i. (1800) 70 Remember how I used to let thee zit up all night a sweethearting. 1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 444 Teevo,..one who learns the rules of affectation, who sweethearts with warmness seemingly. 1873G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xvi. 135 He had gone in the country for his Sunday outing, sweethearting. 1883Harper's Mag. July 165/1 The lanes in which he has sweethearted. 1898R. Kearton Wild Life at Home 53, I watched a pair of red-backed shrikes or butcher-birds, sweethearting.
Hence ˈsweethearting vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also ˈsweethearter.
1812Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1839) IV. 68 Then her Spanish sweet-hearting, doubtless in the true Oroondates style. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 379/2 It's that I go for, love and sweet-hearting. 1854R. S. Surtees Handley Cross lxxix. (1901) II. 276 Venting her spleen on Doleful and all dilatory sweethearters. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxiii, There was this sweethearting after old Simon's daughter. 1866Morn. Star 18 Apr. 4/5 The sweet⁓hearting portion of the audience. 1874L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. iv. 104 She remembered..how she and William had carried on in those happy sweethearting days. 1886Hall Caine Son of Hagar i. vii, You Colebank chaps are famous sweethearters, I hear. |