| 释义 |
torso|ˈtɔːsəʊ|
Pl. torsos.
[a. It. torso stalk, stump (e.g. of a cabbage), core (of apple or pear), trunk of a statue:—L. thyrsus stalk, stem (of a plant), a. Gr. θύρσος the thyrsus (q.v.) or Bacchic wand. The common Romanic form was *turso-, whence also OF. tors, tros, trous, Pr. tros, Sp. trozo stem, stump.]
1. Sculpture. The trunk of a statue, without or considered independently of head and limbs; also, the trunk of the human body. Also attrib.
1797Holcroft Stolberg's Trav. (ed. 2) II. xlvii. 144 The thigh, and torso, or body, from the neck to the hip, are inimitable. 1805W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XX. 43 An antique female statue, or rather the torso of a statue, had formerly stood in the library at Wolfenbüttel. 1833Ellis Elgin Marbles II. 29 The torso of Apteral Victory is 4 ft. 9 in. in height. 1860Hawthorne Marb. Faun v, Headless and legless torsos. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. ii, With..too much torso in his waistcoat. 1875F. Wey Rome xxiii. 300 The Torso of the Belvedere, a colossal fragment of Herculean stature... Michelangelo studied it to such a degree that he was wont to call himself pupil of the Torso. 1899F. T. Bullen Log Sea-waif 296 Clad only in a waist-cloth, his torso was fully revealed.
2. fig. Something left mutilated or unfinished.
1825T. Moore Life R. B. Sheridan xvi. 534 And exhibit little more than the mere Torso of his eloquence. 1852Longfellow in Life (1891) II. 240 We have seen only the brief and mutilated torso of your speech. 1892Stevenson Across the Plains 132 Headless epics, glorious torsos of dramas. 1906H. Black Edin. Serm. 56 Without Christ the Old Testament is only a torso.
3. Comb.: torso-tosser slang, a hootchy-kootchy dancer.
1927Vanity Fair (N.Y.) XXIX. 134/2 A kootch or hootchie kootchie dancer is a ‘torso tosser’. 1954F. P. Keyes Royal Box 361 Barbara Villiers, a torso-tosser who got to be no less than the Duchess of Cleveland. |