| 释义 |
gubbins, n. pl.|ˈgʌbɪnz|
Also gubbings. Rarely sing.
[var. of gobbon.]
1. Fragments, esp. of fish; fish-parings. In later use (also const. sing.), trash; anything of little value; a gadget, thingummy. In sing., a fragment. Also fig. and attrib.
1553Respublica i. i. 40 in Brandl Dramas (1898) 286 The skimmynges, the gubbins of booties and praies. 1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe 73 Hough you hungerstarued gubbins, or offalles of men, how thriue you? 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 165 To be a Laundres, imports onely to wash or dresse Lawne, which is as much impeachment as to cal..a Fishmonger, a seller of Gubbins. Ibid. iii. 64/2 All that they could buy, or sell, or barter, Would scarce be worth a Gubbin once a quarter. 1677Miege Fr. Dict., Gubbings, the parings of haberdine, coupures ou rongnures de poisson. 1696Phillips, A Gubbin (old word), a fragment. 1721–1800Bailey, Gubbins, Fragments; the Parings of Haberdine, Codfish, &c. 1754in Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 827 Cold provisions..by a cant name he usually called ‘his gubbins’. 1918P. MacGill Glenmornan v. 106 That gubbin iv land was at one time nothin' but a bare rock. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 112 Gubbins, mere stuff. Trash. Anything of no value—e.g., ‘That's only gubbins, all rot!’ Also, personal effects—e.g., ‘See after my gubbins, will you?’ 1944Amer. Speech XIX. 280 A gubbins is used to describe almost any part of the equipment of a plane, with about the same meaning as gadget. 1958I. Brown Words our Time 60 You can save more petrol by how you drive than with the gubbinses now floating around. 1965Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 5 Dec. 16 Many machines flying have a vast illicit complement of rivets, nails, nuts, bolts, torches, pliers and half-eaten sandwiches... One of the modern test pilot's less enviable jobs is to fly new aircraft upside down and try to catch the gubbins as it hurtles past his face. 1968New Scientist 3 Oct. 8/2 Behind that again is the engine and propeller, the fuel tank and various bits of ‘gubbins’.
2. a. A contemptuous name formerly given to the inhabitants of a district near Brent Tor on the edge of Dartmoor, who are said to have been absolute savages. Obs. exc. Hist.
a1661Fuller Worthies, Devonshire i. (1662) 248 The Gubbings (so now I dare call them secured by distance) which one of more valour durst not do to their Face..The Gubbings-Land is a Scythia within England, and they pure Heathens therein. 1836A. E. Bray Descr. Tamar & Tavy I. Let. xiv. 253 Even at the present day, the term Gubbins is well known in the vicinity..They still have the reputation of having been a wild and almost savage race. 1887Cornh. Mag. Nov. 508 The race of ‘Gubbins’, as Fuller calls them, may die out. 1900Scott. N. & Q. Mar. 139/1 Those Welsh bandits recall the Dartmoor ‘Gubbins’ or ‘gubbings’ familiar to readers of Westward Ho.
b. colloq. A fool, a duffer.
1916E. F. Benson David Blaize vii. 124 ‘Silly gubbins,’ she said. 1955‘E. C. R. Lorac’ Ask a Policeman ii. 25 If we only get these old gubbinses out I could let the rooms proper. 1957[see batter n.4]. |