| 释义 |
▪ I. fudge, int. and n.|fʌdʒ|
[Origin obscure.
The int. as used by Goldsmith (quot. 1766) seems from the context merely to represent an inarticulate expression of indignant disgust, though later writers who adopted it from him use it with a more definite meaning. The n. appears to have been developed partly from the int., and partly from fudge v. The etymology suggested in the annexed quot. 1700 can hardly be correct, though Captain Fudge, ‘by some called Lying Fudge’, (Letter of 1664 in Crouch Posthuma Christiana 1712, p. 87) was a real person (the surname is still common in Dorset). The nautical phrase ‘You fudge it’, associated in 1700 with the name of the mendacious captain, prob. belongs to fudge v. 1. In a dialogue of 1702, ‘The Present Condition of the English Navy’, one of the interlocutors is called ‘Young Fudg of the Admiralty’, perh. with allusion to the same verb.
1700Remarks on the Navy in D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Neology (1841), There was, sir, in our time one Captain Fudge..who..always brought home his owners a good cargo of lies, so much that now aboard ship the sailors, when they hear a great lie told, cry out, ‘You fudge it’.]
A. int. Stuff and nonsense! Bosh!
1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xi, The very impolite behaviour of Mr. Burchell, who..at the conclusion of every sentence would cry out Fudge! c1818Peel in Croker Papers (1884) I. iv. 116 To all the latter part of your letter I answer..Fudge. 1842Barham Ingol. Leg., Bloudie Jacke, But others cry ‘fudge’. 1876F. E. Trollope Charming Fellow I. xv. 200 Anything of consequence to say? Fudge! He is coming begging.
B. n.
1. Contemptible nonsense, ‘stuff’, bosh.
1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest x, That is all fudge to frighten you. 1838Lowell Lett. (1894) I. 28 As for my dependence on my own powers, 'tis all fudge. 1865E. C. Clayton Cruel Fortune II. 105, I only hope your marriage will cure you of your silly fudge.
2. A made-up story, a deceit.
1797A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) III. 112 But that must be all a fudge; because, you see, he did not over⁓take you. 1841Lytton Nt. & Morn. ii. vii, Very genteel young man—prepossessing appearance—(that's a fudge!) highly educated. 1878Emerson Misc. Papers, Fort. Republ. Wks. (Bohn) III. 399 'Tis a wild democracy; the riot of mediocrities and dishonesties and fudges.
3. An impostor, humbug.
1794A. M. Bennett Ellen III. 132 What an old fudge! You won't give her up, I hope, Charles.
4. A patch of print, esp. a piece of late news, inserted in a newspaper page; also, a machine or cylinder for inserting such patches. Also attrib., as fudge-cylinder, fudge-plate, fudge-shaft, fudge-space, fudge-unit; fudge-box (see quot. 1929).
1899Daily News 23 Sept. 5/1 The blank space left for ‘fudge’ while the evening paper is being printed off is caused by the presence of the empty fudge-box. 1902Daily Mail 27 June 7/5 After the paper has passed through the big cylinders that print the entire sheets, it goes past the small cylinder which prints the contents of the ‘fudge box’ in the vacant space. 1910E. Wallace Nine Bears vi. 45 ‘Issued at 4.10,’ he said, glancing at the ‘fudge’ space, where the result of a race had been printed. 1929Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 508/1 This late news is printed into the blank spaces by a contrivance called a ‘fudge box’ which is circular in form and into which are secured linotype slugs. The ‘fudge’ is fastened on to an auxiliary cylinder equipped with inking mechanism. 1964Gloss. Letterpress Rotary Print. Terms (B.S.I.) 13 Fudge cylinder, plate, shaft, unit. 1967Evening News 13 July 4/4 (caption) You must excuse me while I break off to stamp-in the 20th lap positions for our 3.30 fudge.
5. A soft-grained sweetmeat prepared by boiling together milk, sugar, butter, etc. orig. U.S.
1896W. C. Gore in Inlander Jan. 147 Fudges, a kind of chocolate bonbons. 1902Queen 3 May 763/1 The greatest ‘stunt’ among college students is to make Fudge. Ibid., Nut Fudges... Fruit Fudge. 1905Buffalo Express 16 Jan. 2 The overturning of an alcohol lamp over which some girls were cooking fudge. 1960Good Housek. Cookery Bk. (ed. 5) 431/1 The fudge is poured into an oiled tin or caramel bars and cut up as soon as it is firm. 1971Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 18 July 2/1 A batch of fudge which all enjoyed.
Add:[B.] [2.] b. An act of fudging (in sense *1 d of fudge v.); an unsatisfactory or makeshift solution, esp. one reached for the sake of expediency. Also, sophistry, prevaricatory or imprecise language or reasoning. Chiefly in political contexts.
1980Observer 22 June 5/1 The right wing of the party believes that, in concocting his fudge, Mr Callaghan has sold the pass. 1981Guardian 10 Sept. 12/1 Given the choice between fudge and mudge and a firm statement of its views on incomes policy the TUC can usually be counted upon to come out clearly for ambiguity. 1986Sunday Express Mag. 31 Aug. 42/4 On secret ballots there is still a hint of fudge in the Brighton air. 1990Economist 22 Sept. 72/2 Unwillingness to put up with political fudges.
c. fudge factor, a factor speculatively included in a hypothesis or calculation, esp. to account for some unquantified but significant phenomenon or to ensure a desired result.
1977Aviation Week 24 Jan. 62/3 Meeting criteria for the FAA, jet transport A/C do not land on runways based on actual rollout distance. Thrust reversing is not included and many fudge factors are added. 1983Nature 21 July 210/1 Bohr's boldness in formulating what would now be called fudge factors was vindicated: by formalizing the unexplained, Bohr set up the challenge that was eventually met when the entirely new physics of quantum and wave mechanics was expounded. 1989Financial Times 22 Feb. 22/7 The market soon recognised the fudge factor—half a point tacked on for the drought effect—and settled back into more familiar expectations on growth.
▪ II. fudge, v.|fʌdʒ|
[app. an onomatopœic alteration of fadge v., with vowel expressive of more clumsy action.]
1. trans. To fit together or adjust in a clumsy, makeshift, or dishonest manner; to patch or ‘fake’ up; to ‘cook’ accounts. Often in schoolboy language: To make (a problem) look as if it had been correctly worked, by altering figures; to conceal the defects of (a map or other drawing) by adjustment of the parts, so that no glaring disproportion is observed; and in other like uses. Cf. fadge v. 3. Often with up.
The first quot. is open to doubt, as the word may be a misprint for fridged.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. Ep. Ded., They may..be..fudged up into such a smirkish liveliness, as may last as long as the Summers warmth holds on. 1771Luckombe Printing 498 Fudge, to contrive without necessary Materials or do Work in a bungling Manner. 1861Sala Dutch Pictures xvi. 255 Do they go to chapel in surplices, and fudge impositions? 1867M. E. Braddon Birds of Prey i. ii, Any one who can fudge up the faintest pretence of a claim to it. 1879F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. Burmah II. 99 They fudged their accounts so as to give little or no trouble to the almighty control department. 1886C. D. Warner Their Pilgrim. xiv. 297 A stout resolute matron..with a lot of cotton lace fudged about her neck. 1890W. Westcott in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Mar. 620 The root of the white bryony..is sometimes fudged up by dealers to imitate the mandrake root.
absol.1888Rye Record-searching 9 Straining coincidences, presuming identities, and fudging judiciously.
b. To thrust in awkwardly or irrelevantly; to foist in.
1776Foote Bankrupt iii. Wks. 1799 II. 128 That last suppose is fudged in. 1824Blackw. Mag. XVI. 708 This adjected part of the plan, which has been fudged in with so much unnecessary haste.
c. Naut. to fudge a day's work: to work a dead reckoning by rapid ‘rule of thumb’ methods.
1830Marryat King's Own viii, He could fudge a day's work. 1836― Midsh. Easy xviii, Before they arrived at Malta, Jack could fudge a day's work.
2. intr. To fit in with what is anticipated, come off; also, to turn out, result; = fadge v. 4.
Is fadge the true reading in these passages?
1615Chamberlain Let. 15 June in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1849) I. 366 Sir Fulk Greville is once more in speech to be made a baron..but, if that fudge not, the Bishop of Winchester is in the way to be lord privy seal. 1829Scott Jrnl. 2 Feb., We will see how this will fudge. 1831Ibid. 20 Jan., We will see how the matter fudges.
3. [f. fudge int. or n.] To talk nonsense, tell ‘crams’. Also quasi-trans.
1834Tait's Mag. I. 205 The Duchess..feeds, flatters and fudges them into allegiance. 1884Chester Gloss., Fudge, to talk nonsense; especially with the intent to cram another person.
Hence fudged ppl. a., ˈfudging vbl. n.
1860R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. I. v. 132 He had..an addiction to ‘fudging’, which rendered the severest over⁓seeing necessary. 1885Rye Hist. Norfolk 226 A lot of fudged heraldry. 1895Edin. Rev. Apr. 465 A circular dome can easily be raised with only a little fudging of the surfaces.
Add:[1.] d. intr. To reach a makeshift solution by glossing over differences or blurring distinctions; to prevaricate or temporize.
to fudge and mudge [mudge: fanciful rhyming alteration of fudge], first recorded in a speech on 2 October 1980 by British politician David Owen: see quot. 1980.
1888W. Rye Record-searching 9 Straining coincidences, presuming identities, and fudging judiciously. 1974S. Delany Dhalgren vii. 817 Are you lying?..as you put it. Are you fudging?—which is how I'd put it. 1980D. Owen in Guardian 3 Oct. 1/3 We are fed up with fudging and mudging, with mush and slush. We need courage, conviction, and hard work. 1983Listener 29 Sept. 4/3 Defence is the field in which a Liberal tendency to fudge and mudge has most offended him. 1988A. Lurie Truth about Lorin Jones ix. 171 Polly swallowed, distressed to hear herself lying—fudging, at least—to her son. 1989Observer 18 June 15/1 He asked her three times to put the record straight. Three times she hedged and fudged. |