| 释义 |
grown-up, ppl. a. and n.
[See grow v. 13.]
A. ppl. a.
1. Having reached the age of maturity; adult.
1633Massinger Guardian v. iv, Denying A grown-up maid the modest conversation Of men. 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 103 She had her three grown-up sons standing round her. 1798Malthus Popul. (1817) II. 25 Labour appropriate to grown-up persons. 1849Sir G. C. Lewis Lett. (1870) 209 In politics they seem to be nothing but a set of grown-up children.
2. Befitting, suitable to, characteristic of, an adult; sensible, worthwhile.
1852C. M. Yonge Two Guardians vi. 93 As to books, all the real good grown-up ones are down in Mr. Lyddell's library where no one can get at them. 1907E. Wharton Fruit of Tree xxv. 382 Gravely measuring Cicely's milk in to a ‘grown-up’ teacup. 1958Sunday Express 22 June 15/4 This film somehow manages to be memorable, moving, and outstandingly grown-up. 1960Times 17 May 3/7 It is also capable of undertaking long journeys at ‘grown-up’ average speeds. 1964V. Nabokov Defence x. 164 It was impossible to express his recollections in words—there simply were no grown-up words for his childish impressions.
B. n. A grown-up person; an adult.
1813Jane Austen Lett. (1884) II. 208 They bring Isabella and one of the grown-ups. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. i, No children for me. Give me grown-ups. 1892Furnivall Hoccleve's Min. Poems I. Forewords 48 ‘May we children have the boat all to ourselves? None of you grown-ups’.
attrib.1799H. More Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 166 The approach of her first grown up ball. 1870M. Bridgman Ro. Lynne II. xiii. 283, I may wear grown-up dresses in future.
Hence grown-up-dom; grown-up-ness.
1862Mrs. Speid Last Years Ind. 7 Rejoicing in their strength and grown-up-ness. 1871G. M. Hopkins Let. 25 Apr. (1938) 41 There was such a youngladyship and grownupdom about the address. 1900Westm. Gaz. 7 July 2/1 They will say a conventional ‘Thank you’..; the manners of youth being..superior to those of grown-up-dom. 1925‘R. Crompton’ Still—William v. 85 He seemed to them to be free of all the drawbacks that usually accompany the state of grown-upness. 1944‘G. Orwell’ Crit. Ess. (1951) 154 The grown-upness, the lack of surprise or denunciation, the pity and irony with which the story is told, show the advantage, when one is handling a theme of this kind, of being a European. 1969Daily Tel. 2 May 17 Most parents really want their children to grow up and become successful adults. But many find it hard to accept the onset of grown-upness soon enough. |