| 释义 |
greenhorn|ˈgriːnhɔːn|
[See green a.]
†1. An appellation given to an animal, ? orig. to an ox with ‘green’ or young horns. Obs.
c1460Towneley Myst. ii. 25 Io furth, greyn-horne! and war oute gryme! Drawes on..What! will ye no forther, mare?
†2. A recently-enlisted soldier; a raw recruit.
1650Relat. Fight near Leith (1806) 214 The Scotch king being upon the castle-hill to see his men, which he called his Green Hornes, beaten. 1682C. Irvine Hist. Scot. Nomencl. 241 Tyrones, fresh-water Souldiers, or new levyed; Greenhorns: also it signifieth novices in any profession.
3. A raw, inexperienced person, esp. a novice in a trade (cf. greener); an ignoramus; hence, one easily imposed upon, a simpleton.
1682[see sense 2]. 1753Scots Mag. Oct. 490 The scale..consists of eight degrees; Greenhorn, Jemmy, Jessamy, Smart, Honest Fellow, Joyous Spirit, Buck, and Blood. Ibid. Peculiarities which..would have denominated me a Greenhorn. 1790J. B. Moreton Mann. W. Ind. 92 Overseers are glad to get green-horns, because they can impose hardships on them. 1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (ed. 3) I. 176 If we stand that..we should be greenhorns. 1835W. Irving Tour Prairies xx. 175 He..looked down upon them with contempt as greenhorns, little versed in the noble science of woodcraft. 1859Greeley Overland Journ. 359 The chances for ‘big strikes’ in the mines are few, and greenhorns cannot share them. 1885Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines ii. (1886) 29, I suppose you are not hoaxing us? It is, I know, sometimes thought allowable to take a greenhorn in.
attrib.1845P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 255 Some greenhorn dandies.
Hence ˈgreenhornism, the character or condition of a greenhorn, inexperience.
1831Disraeli Yng. Duke iv. vi, As for Lady Afy, he execrated the greenhornism which made him feign a passion and then get caught where he meant to capture. 1844P. Hawker Instruct. Yng. Sportsm. 491 Nothing, therefore, betrays greenhornism more than expecting to make a shot under the latter circumstance. |