| 释义 |
ˈrazzle-ˈdazzle, n. slang.
a. A word, app. of U.S. coinage, used to express the ideas of bewilderment or confusion, rapid stir and bustle, riotous jollity or intoxication, etc. Also, deception, fraud; extravagant publicity.
1889Gallup (New Mexico) Gleaner 18 Mar. 4/2 A Kansas paper..recently told of a ‘regular old razooper, who, having got a skate on, indulged in a glorious razzle-dazzle’. 1890Gunter Miss Nobody xv (heading) Little Gussie's Razzle Dazzle. 1892Kipling & Balestier Naulahka 88 There isn't enough real downright rustle and razzle-dazzle..to run a milk-cart. 1898G. B. Shaw Mrs. Warren's Profession i. 175, I don't bet much and I never go regularly on the razzle-dazzle as you did when you were my age. 1899Westm. Gaz. 10 Mar. 3/1 Dick, who is still on the ‘razzle dazzle’. 1928New Yorker 15 Dec. 24/1 Suspecting some sort of razzle-dazzle, the wiser of the two men said he would buy the seats at their box-office value. 1938Sun (Baltimore) 20 Jan. 3/2 With such razzle-dazzle financing the general practice, it is not surprising to find oil derricks sprouting up on the grounds of the State capitol. 1962‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed vii. 51 The razzle⁓dazzle I had handed the two drug-ring musclemen. 1969New Yorker 29 Nov. 47/1, I want models, I want a private plane, I want this, I want that, I want some razzle-dazzle. 1977Time 19 Sept. 25/1 Lance ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, using the financial razzle-dazzle that later was to become such a liability. 1978New York 3 Apr. 17/3 It [sc. a musical] has pizzazz and razzle-dazzle, bursts of energy and invention, music and laughter.
b. (See quots.)
1891Daily News 27 July 3/1 A new type of roundabout, called ‘Razzle-Dazzle’, which gives its occupants the pleasant (or otherwise) sensations of an excursion at sea. 1896[see switchback a.]. 1935Amer. Mercury June 230/2 Razzle-dazzle, kelsy [i.e., a prostitute]; also used by the public in reference to carnival rides, although not so used by carnies themselves. 1968D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. iii. 34 The steam swing and ‘Razzle Dazzle’ drew inspiration from mechanisms in the spinning frame, [etc.]. Ibid. 60 Four years before his death in 1897, Savage patented the ‘Razzle Dazzle’, otherwise known as ‘Whirligig’ or ‘Aerial Novelty’.
c. attrib. or as adj. Of, pertaining to, or characterized by, razzle-dazzle; dazzling, spectactular.
1889Road (Denver, Colorado) 28 Dec. 5/1 Clint Butterfield incloses us a razzle-dazzle card of some kind that has a very neat little design of a nightmare etched in blood red and India ink. 1946N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 4 Aug. 5/1 A great many people are reading Mr. Wakeman's razzle-dazzle novel these days. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 10/2 The newsreel is provided with a razzle-dazzle accompaniment. 1965Economist 22 May p. xxiv/1 A front page [of a newspaper] full of short items and a Gallic profusion of typefaces, alike in text and headlines—..what the Americans call ‘circus’ or ‘razzledazzle’ make-up. 1971Daily Tel. 19 Oct. 19 Mr Thorley's chairmanship is, or was, intended to be an interregnum between the razzle-dazzle rule of Sir Derek Pritchard and the accession of the Showering dynasty. 1974Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 13 Oct. c. 12/6 Freshman halfback Pat Healy scored three touchdowns, the last on a razzle-dazzle 32-yard pass from quarterback Bruce Basile. 1977Time 13 June 39/1 Erdman comes to his subject with the sure hand of one who knows, from the inside, what lurks in the hearts of financial razzle-dazzle artists.
So razzle-dazzle v. trans., to dazzle, daze, ‘bamboozle’, etc. razzle-dazzler (see quot.).
1890Gunter Miss Nobody xiv, I'm going to razzle-dazzle the boys..with my great lightning change act. 1897Daily News 10 Aug. 5/2 Two dozen pair of plain socks and half a dozen pair of the sort known as ‘razzle-dazzlers’. 1976Houston (Texas) Chron. 22 Sept. 7–4/4 Lady Bird eats it in an orange print pants suit and that Texas smile that razzle-dazzles 'em. |