| 释义 |
greengrocer|ˈgriːnˌgrəʊsə(r)|
[See green and grocer.]
A retail dealer in vegetables and fruit.
1723Lond. Gaz. No. 6188/9 Samuel Stubley..Green-Grocer. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1753 (1847) 81/1 Covent-garden, where the green-grocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers. 1793Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ep. to Pope Wks. 1812 III. 198 As from their shops Green⁓grocers for the palate Deal Garden-stuff of all complexion. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVII. 255 A green grocer of Brighton was convicted..for..exposing in his shop..twenty partridges and two hares. 1860W. G. Clark in Vac. Tour 17 A species of tax..is levied [in Naples] upon cabmen, small greengrocers, fishmongers, and other tradesmen.
Hence ˈgreenˌgroceress [see -ess] rare, a female greengrocer. ˈgreenˌgrocery [see -ery], the business of a greengrocer; the articles retailed by a greengrocer. Also attrib.
1806H. Siddons Maid, Wife & Widow II. 28 Retailers of chandlery and green-grocery. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxvii, Mr. Raggles himself had to supply the green⁓groceries. 1868Mrs. H. Wood in Argosy June 46 A miserable greengrocery shed. 1884Academy 16 Feb. 107/3 The motherly Genoese greengroceress..is a charming sketch. 1885Law Times 16 May 47/1 In the present case the business of greengrocery was not ancillary to that of grocery. 1899Westm. Gaz. 25 Jan. 9/1 Exposing green⁓grocery for sale on the carriage way.
▸ greengrocer's apostrophe n. (also greengrocers' apostrophe) > n. (or its plural) + apostrophe n.2, with allusion to greengrocers' apparent predilection for its use (see quot. 1991) Brit. an apostrophe used irregularly; spec. one placed before the terminal s of a plural noun (although cf. apostrophe n.2 2).
[1991K. Waterhouse English our English 43 Greengrocers, for some reason, are extremely generous with their apostrophes—banana's, tomatoe's (or tom's), orange's etc. Perhaps these come over in crates of fruit, like exotic spiders.] 1992Oxf. Compan. Eng. Lang. 75/1 The apostrophe of plurality continues in at least five areas:... In the non-standard (‘illiterate’) use often called in BrE the *greengrocer's apostrophe, as in apple's 55p per lb and We sell the original shepherds pie's. 1993Independent (Nexis) 14 Feb. 23 The best greengrocer's apostrophe I've ever seen is ‘asparagu's’. 1998Daily Tel. (Electronic ed.) 28 Aug. Linguists who use the ubiquitous greengrocer's apostrophe with abandon. 2000Scotsman (Electronic ed.) 3 July Linguistic pedants are still engaged in debate about the greengrocers' apostrophe and the vital difference between implication and inference. |