| 释义 |
▪ I. Joey1|ˈdʒəʊɪ|
Also joey.
[Diminutive from Joe n.2: see -y.]
1. A fourpenny piece: see quot. 1876. Obs. slang or colloq.
1865H. Kingsley Hillyars & B. xlii, A young man as has owed me a Joey. 1876E. Hawkins Silver Coins Eng. 421 In 1836 it was resolved to issue groats for general circulation... The legend, four pence..These pieces are said to have owed their existence to the pressing instance of Mr. [Joseph] Hume, from whence they for some time bore the nick-name of Joeys. 1884Blackmore Tommy Upm. I. 288 Here is the eightpence—a couple of Joeys, as you call them.
2. A threepenny bit. slang.
1936‘G. Orwell’ Keep Aspidistra Flying i. 7 A Joey. He took out the miserable little threepenny-bit. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. v. 109 3d.,..joey. 1965Australasian Post 4 Mar. 46 Threepence, ‘joe’ or ‘joey’, though these..two words are now rarely heard. (A ‘joey’ was originally London slang for a fourpenny bit; and later was transferred to the English threepence). 1966F. Shaw et al. Lern Yerself Scouse 33 Joey, threepence.
▪ II. Joey3 colloq.|ˈdʒəʊɪ|
[Familiar abbrev. of the name of the clown Joseph Grimaldi (1779–1837).]
A clown.
1896G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) II. 105 Its [sc. philosophic comedy's] common Joeys with red-hot poker and sausages. 1926Amer. Speech Feb. 283/2 I'm through with bein' a joey. Gettin' too old, thought I would never troupe again. 1962D. H. Laurence in G. B. Shaw Platform & Pulpit p. xiii, Thus was created a paradox of the public simultaneously decrying Shaw for playing a ‘Joey’ rôle and seeking desperately to set a jester's cap upon his head. 1973J. Wainwright Devil you Don't 121 A pensioner—gnarled hand gripping a walking-stick, grey hair peeping from beneath an old-fashioned flat cap, pullover, frayed jacket and baggy trousers—like a Joey, without make-up. |