| 释义 |
tad colloq. (orig. and chiefly N. Amer.).|tæd|
[Orig. uncertain; perh. f. tadpole1.]
†1. (See quots.) Obs.
1845in C. Cist Cincinnati Misc. I. 240 Among a certain class in the eastern cities,..the word Tad, is applied to one who don't nor won't pay. 1851B. H. Hall College Words 297 At Centre College, Ky., there is a society..composed of the very best fellows of the College, calling themselves Tads. 1890E. Custer Following Guidon 213 These youths [sc. graduates from West Point] were called ‘tads’ and ‘plebes’.
2. A young or small child, esp. a boy. Occas. used joc. of old men.
1877Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 4) 688 Tads, little tads, small boys. Old tads, graybeards, old men. 1896Ade Artie xi. 98 Oh, he's a great old tad. 1901F. Norris Octopus i. v. 197 There's a little tad that was just born to be a lady. 1904W. D. Nesbit Trail to Boyland 49 That handle has been broken since he was just a tad. 1928S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge i. 55 One of the bell-boys at the hotel, cute little tad, knew the town like a book. 1935H. Davis Honey in Horn xxii. 370 I've handled more horses than this tad ever heard of. 1949O. Nash Versus 131 The sea lion loves a loveable lad, An urchin, a gamin, a tyke, a tad. 1974W. Garner Big Enough Wreath vii. 93 Nowadays young tads think they know it all. 1983Sunday Times 3 Apr. 33/2 The nuns picked me out when I was still a tad, groomed me for a scholarship.
3. A small amount; freq. used advb. in the expression a tad, a little, slightly.
1940Amer. Speech XV. 448/1 Tad, a very small amount. ‘I want to borrow a tad of salt.’ 1969L. Michaels Going Places 159, I tried to smile. ‘You come back later, baby. I'm a tad indisposed.’ 1976Time 27 Sept. 39/2 ‘Pull 'er up a tad, please, mister,’ said the nonchalant teen-ager pumping gas. 1977Time 14 Mar. 28/3 White House watchers also think they can glimpse a tad of arrogance showing through the good ole boy pose. 1977Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Dec. 8/2 Things are a tad hectic. 1979D. Anthony Long Hard Cure xv. 116 Why don't we sit here on the veranda? There's a tad of breeze. 1980N.Y. Times 12 Aug. a18/1 The Mayor's pitch is a tad exaggerated both on the law's certainty and on the roominess of New York's prisons. |