| 释义 |
▪ I. Frankenstein|ˈfræŋkənstaɪn|
The name of the title-character of Mrs. Shelley's romance Frankenstein (1818), who constructed a human monster and endowed it with life. Commonly misused allusively as a typical name for a monster who is a terror to his originator and ends by destroying him. Also attrib. Hence Frankenˈsteinian a.
1838Gladstone in Murray's Handbk. Sicily (1864) p. xlvi, They [sc. mules] really seem like Frankensteins of the animal creation. 1889S. Webb in G. B. Shaw Fabian Ess. 38 The landlord and the capitalist are both finding that the steam-engine is a Frankenstein which they had better not have raised. 1907Sat. Rev. 6 Apr. 414/1 Is Great Britain creating for herself something of a Frankenstein monster on the Nile? 1931R. Campbell Georgiad i. 14 No sooner was our Frankenstein set free Than for a name he racks his nimble wits. 1958I. Asimov Naked Sun xiv. 172 Do you know robots started with a Frankenstein complex against them.? They were suspect. Men distrusted and feared robots. 1965J. Wainwright Death in Sleeping City ii. 107 Like some Frankensteinian monster, the Police Machine moved forward. 1971B. Callison Plague of Sailors i. 51 The Frankensteinian exhibit in the alcohol bath. 1971Daily Tel. 3 May 1/4 There are now growing indications that the Nationalists in South Africa have created a political Frankenstein which is pointing the way to a non-White political revival.
▸ Frankenstein food n. colloq. (chiefly derogatory) genetically modified food; (in early use also) irradiated food.
1989Sunday Times 3 Dec. b5 (heading) Fear of *Frankenstein food. 1993Townsend Let. for Doctors & Patients (Nexis) May 422 (heading) Legal/ethical/political issues in wholistic health care: Frankenstein food. 2005Newsweek (Atlantic ed.) (Nexis) 18 July 14, I feel sorry for Americans: you live in a place that pollutes endlessly, eat Frankenstein food made from GM crops in a fractured society ruled by sects, and have no health coverage.
▪ II. Frankenstein, v.
Brit. |ˈfraŋk(ɪ)nstʌɪn|, U.S. |ˈfræŋkənˌstaɪn|
Forms: also with lower-case initial.
[‹ the name of Victor Frankenstein, the title-character of M. Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818), who constructs a living monster from the parts of different dead bodies. Compare Frankenstein n.]
trans. To assemble (disparate or ill-matching parts) to form a whole in a manner resembling the creation of Frankenstein's monster; to create or construct in this way.
1827C. Lamb Lett. (1935) III. 110, I want some Howard Paine to sketch a skeleton of..scenes;..and I'd Frankenstein them there. 1909Chicago Daily Tribune 1 Sept. 12/7 There was a sensation of dismay when over her girlish features came the grin of Eddie Foy, or in her voice the dialect of Sam Bernard... The young lady is in danger of being Frankensteined. 1939Amer. Jrnl. Semitic Langs. & Lit. 56 257 Can it be that our biologist is..skilful in ‘Frankensteining’ fragments of lore from many lands? 2002Opera News Feb. 9 It also legitimates the fallacy that someone else's ideas and intentions can be frankensteined into a work of art. |