| 释义 |
ˈunder-ˌbelly
Also underbelly.
[under-1 5 c.]
1. a. A pouch or bag under the belly of an animal; the belly or underside of an animal.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 20 Vnderneath the common belly, there was a skinne like a bagge or scrip, wherin she keepeth..her young ones,..so that the same vnderbelly is her best remedie..to preserue her young ones. 1963Listener 10 Jan. 65/2, I creep along on my cat's underbelly Nursing the floor for smells.
b. transf., esp. of motor vehicles. Cf. underbody 2, 3 b.
1960Times 3 Mar. 8/6 Both propellers were buckled and the front underbelly was severely dented. 1964S. Bellow Herzog 327 The great car got up the hill slowly, scraping its underbelly on rocks.
2. fig.
a. A vulnerable part, esp. in phr. soft underbelly.
1942W. S. Churchill in Hansard Commons 11 Nov. 28 We make this wide encircling movement in the Mediterranean..having for its object the exposure of the under-belly of the Axis, especially Italy, to heavy attack. 1949Life 31 Oct. 36/2 An all-out attack on the ‘soft under⁓belly’ of socialism. 1959E. H. Clements High Tension vii. 130 The educational organisation..attacked the soft under-belly of the nation: the children. 1976J. Crosby Snake (1977) x. 45 She was..sticking her knife into the disgusting underbelly of male chauvinism, and..into the soft underbelly of capitalism. 1980Encounter May 86/2 The plan was to..punch their way through the soft, unsuspecting underbelly of Iran.
b. The underside or inferior part of something, which is often unnoticed or concealed.
1962Listener 6 Dec. 957/2 It is a picaresque language from the under-belly of a culture, the speech of people on the move..of the wagon, railroad, and camp. Ibid. 27 Dec. 1106/3 The many programmes of popular music, the under-belly, so to speak, of the broadcast structure. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 21 Aug. 16/3 What we're seeing is the underbelly of some of the great legends of American history. 1981‘D. Jordan’ Double Red ix. 97 The seamy underbelly of American capitalism. |