| 释义 |
helter-skelter, adv., a., n., and v. colloq.|ˈhɛltəˈskɛltə(r)|
[A jingling expression vaguely imitating the hurried clatter of feet rapidly and irregularly moved, or of many running feet.
In its form it resembles hurry-scurry; but the latter is a jingle upon the intelligible hurry, while no satisfactory explanation of helter (other than its echoic suggestiveness) has been offered. Cf. also harum-scarum.]
A. adv. In disordered haste; confusedly, tumultuously, pell-mell.
1593Nashe 4 Lett. Confut. 27 Helter skelter, feare no colours, course him, trounce him. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 98 Helter-skelter haue I rode to thee, and tydings do I bring. 1598Florio, Alla rinfusa, pelmell, helterskelter. 1668R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 210 All running helter⁓skelter, to and again, like mad. a1704T. Brown Declam. Adverbs Wks. 1730 I. 40 Neither diligently enough, nor carefully..but helter skelter, slap-dash, confusedly. 1872Baker Nile Tribut. xvii. 294 Away we all went, helter skelter, through the dry grass.
B. attrib. or adj. Characterized by disorderly haste or headlong confusion.
1785Span. Rivals 25 'Tis a helter-skelter journey we have taken. 1798Coleridge Poems, Mad Ox xv. 89 This helter-skelter crowd. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy iii, A wild helter-skelter sort of fellow. 1894Albion Citizen (Michigan) 290 Something can be done on the harem-scarem helter⁓skelter plan.
C. n.
a. A helter-skelter run or flight.
1713C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 57 Dost think..That, when he proffers Aid and Shelter, Will rudely fall to Helter-Skelter? 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. v. Foot of Alps, Such a helter-skelter of prayers and sins! 1887T. A. Trollope What I remember I. xiii. 266 The helter-skelter that ensued..furnished Paris with laughter for days afterwards.
b. (Also helter-skelter lighthouse.) A tower-like structure used in fun fairs and pleasure-grounds, with an external spiral passage for sliding down on a mat.
1906Westm. Gaz. 1 June 10/2 The World's Manufacturing Company, examples of whose ‘helter-skelter’ lighthouses are at Earl's Court, Blackpool, Southport, and other places. 1907Daily Chron. 4 Sept. 2/7 All sorts of fearsome things..from a helter-skelter..to a smashing saloon and a ‘coker nut’ alley. 1927Sunday Express 5 June 4 They will travel on the merry-go-rounds... They will go down with the mats on the helter-skelter, and up with the swings. 1945G. Millar Maquis i. 8, I began to feel that I was sitting on a mat on top of a helter-skelter. That somebody would give me a push and I would be away with..nobody at the bottom to pick me up. 1968D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. 24 Vertical features like the ‘Big Wheel’, ‘Helter Skelter’ and ‘Chair-o-Planes’..are valuable advertising symbols.
†D. v. trans. To throw away or off, in disordered haste. Obs.
1600Look About You xvii. in Hazl. Dodsley VII. 436 Here are two crack'd groats To helter-skelter at some vaulting house. 1782E. N. Blower Geo. Bateman III. 116 He has helter-skeltered off his horseman's coat, palmer's weeds, or what not. |