| 释义 |
jim-jam|ˈdʒɪmdʒæm|
[A reduplicated term, of which the elements are unexplained; perhaps only whimsical: cf. flim-flam, trim-tram, whim-wham, etc. Connexion with the first element of gimcrack is possible, but the latter is not found till later.]
1. A fanciful or trivial article, a gimcrack, a knick-knack. colloq.
a1550Image of Hypocr. in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 446 These be as knappishe knackes As ever man made, For iavells and for iackes, a iymiam for a iade. 1565Harding in Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 381 To shew vs..whether he had some iimjam made for him to take it vp, hold it and put it on handsomely. 1592Nashe P. Penilesse 13 A thousand iymiams and toyes haue they in theyr chambers. 1890Kipling Phantom 'Rickshaw 85 There was half a dozen big stone idols. Dravot he goes to the biggest..and says: ‘That's all right..all these old jim-jams are my friends.’
2. pl. Fantastic ways, peculiarities. colloq.
1899Daily News 16 Dec. 8/3 Oh, that's all right. Every regiment has its little jim-jams.
3. pl.
a. Delirium tremens. slang.
1885J. Runciman Skippers & Shellbacks 42 I'll die on the flags with the jim-jams before I'll wet my lips with it again. 1897Blackw. Mag. May 702 One man was just recovering from an attack of the jim-jams.
b. The fidgets, jitteriness; a fit of depression. colloq.
1896‘Mark Twain’ in Harper's Mag. Sept. 537 They gave me the jimjams and the fantods and caked up what brains I had. 1904Strand Mag. Dec. 770/2 By Gosh, look there. Enough to give a fellow the jim-jams, isn't it? 1926Galsworthy Silver Spoon i. vi. 44 Who was the old buffer?..he gave me ‘the jim-jams’. 1931C. Mackenzie Buttercups & Daisies xiii. 169, I reckon if you put him in the upper circle at Charley's Aunt he'd give half the audience the jim-jams and upset the whole piece. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xix. 332 ‘There is someone out there,’ he said. ‘Or else I'm giving myself the jim-jams.’ 1961R. M. Patterson Buffalo Head vi. 223 The sides gave me the jim-jams merely to look at them: on the south, sliding rock and then a drop of 2000 feet down. |