| 释义 |
ˈtuft-ˌhunter
[f. tuft n. + hunter.]
One who meanly or obsequiously courts the acquaintance of persons of rank and title (originally at the universities: see tuft n. 7, 7 b); a toady, sycophant.
1755Connoisseur No. 97 ⁋1, I remember to have heard a cousin of mine,..formerly at Cambridge,..mentioning a sect of Philosophers, distinguished by the rest of the collegians under the appellation of Tuft-Hunters. These were..the followers (literally speaking) of the fellow-commoners, noblemen, and other rich students. 1855Thackeray Newcomes xlv, Some..accused him of being a tuft-hunter, and flatterer of the aristocracy. a1884M. Pattison Mem. (1885) 4 My father was too proud to be a tuft-hunter.
So ˈtuft-ˌhunted a., sought after by tuft-hunters; ˈtuft-ˌhunting n., the practice of a tuft-hunter; adj. that is, or is characteristic of, a tuft-hunter.
1849Thackeray On Friendship Wks. 1901 VI. 625 His old acquaintances..set the *Tufthunted down as the Tuft-hunter. 1894Du Maurier Trilby II. 95 Little Billee was no tuft-hunter, he was the tuft-hunted.
1789Loiterer No. 11. 6 The diversion of *tuft-hunting..has been so long..practised in this place [Oxford]. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs xix, Tuft-hunting is snobbish.
1829[H. Best] Pers. & Lit. Mem. 101 He made no disgraceful *tuft-hunting distinctions in favour of noblemen or gentlemen commoners. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. 208 A tuft-hunting sort of Quietism. |