| 释义 |
flat out, advb. phr.
[Cf. flat adv. 2.]
1. Using or involving all one's (or its) strength or resources; at top speed; = all out advb. phr. 4. Also as adj.
Several of the quots. illustrate common Australian colloq. phrases.
1932Daily Dispatch (Manch.) 25 July 6/4 Driving flat out. 1942We speak from Air 51, I followed my bombs down until I was just above the ground again, and then I beat it, flat out, across the roof-tops of Nantes. Ibid., We raced over the chimney-pots, our engines flat out. 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 29 Flat out. At full speed. Borrowed from motor-racing parlance early in the Great War, full speed being attained on the straight flat run of the track. 1944J. Devanny By Tropic Sea & Jungle 227 The young [rat-kangaroo]..ran straight, as flat out as a lizard drinking. 1945Coast to Coast 1944 157 I'm flat out!.. Flat out, like a lizard on a log. 1946E. S. Tompkins Speed Camera 37 There is much more going on..than there is in straight flat-out running. 1957Economist 16 Nov. 581/2 If the unions decide on war, they will have a strong incentive to choose the inexpensive guerrilla type rather than a flat-out effort. 1959Baker Drum 110 Ideas of lying flatly (on one's face, not one's back) and of travelling or working at great speed are recorded in the phrases ‘flat out like a lizard drinking’ and ‘flat out like a lizard on a log’. 1962Listener 29 Mar. 542/1 A flat-out strategic war. 1969Private Eye 23 May 14 I've been flat out, like a lizard drinking, lugging your kiddies round the back paddock. 1969New Yorker 14 June 44/2 Running flat out, Graebner hits a superb hard backhand.
2. Phr. to be flat out for (something): to direct one's attention, energies, etc., towards securing, effecting, doing, etc. (something). (Emphatic form of to be out for: out adv.).
1930Morning Post 7 Aug. 10/1 Everyone is ‘flat out’ for flying—my trouble is to persuade anyone to do anything else. 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 29 Flat out for, in favour of. |