| 释义 |
red rag, red-rag
1. slang. The tongue.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Red-rag, a Tongue. 1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T. s.v., Shut your potatoe trap, and give your redrag a holiday. 1820Combe Syntax, Consol. iv, If your red rag did not show it, By your queer fancies I should know it. 1876W. S. Gilbert Dan'l Druce i, Stop that cursed red rag of yours, will you.
2. A variety of rust in grain.
1851J. M. Wilson Rural Cycl. s.v. Rust, The rust, the red-rag, and the red-robin varieties [of mildew] make the plants look as if they were dusted with a rustiness of some colour from yellow to brown. 1863N. Brit. Rev. May 375 The leaf and chaff of the cereals are subject to a disease called rust, red-rag or red-robin (Uredo Rubigo).
3. (From the phr. like a red rag to a bull.) A source of extreme provocation or annoyance; something which excites violent indignation.
1873C. M. Yonge Pillars of House II. xviii. 151 Jack will do for himself if he tells Wilmet her eyes are violet; it is like a red rag to a bull. 1875‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 219 ‘What do you suppose I told you the names of those points for?’ ‘Well, to—to be entertaining, I thought.’ This was a red rag to a bull. 1885C. Marvin Russians at Gates of Herat 98 These opinions cannot but be so many red rags to English Russo⁓phobists. 1887Saintsbury Hist. Elizab. Lit. v. (1890) 167 Shakesperian clowns are believed to be red rags to some experienced playwrights. 1965Listener 25 Nov. 874/3 Professor Allen has adopted more an ‘inquiry programme’ style to examine some of the sacred cows and red rags of American life.
4. Naut. slang. = red ensign, red duster.
1910D. W. Bone Brassbounder 129 Pluggin' a Dutchman's naethin'; it's th' ‘Rid Rag’ that Kelly's doon oan. 1929D. J. Munro Roaring Forties 23 Up went Old Glory... We followed suit with the ‘Red Rag’ waving in defiance.
Hence red-ˈraggish a., of the nature of a red rag.
1887in Chicago Advance 30 June, Prohibition sounds a little harsh, and is red-raggish to many. |