| 释义 |
what-not, whatnot|ˈhwɒtnɒt|
[Properly an ellipt. interrog. phr. (see first quot. below, and cf. what A. 5).]
1. a. Usually and preferably as two words |ˈhwɒtˈnɒt|: Anything whatever; everything; ‘anything and everything’; ‘all sorts of things’: mostly, now only, as final item of an enumeration: = anything else, various things besides; ‘whatever you like to call it’. (Also occas. of persons.)
1540Palsgr. Acolastus v. ii. Y iij b, Excesse of fleshely pleasures..hath taken awaye all thynges..my goodes or substance, my name .i. my good name and fame, my frendes, my glory .i. my renoume or estimation, what not? .i. what thyng is it that she hath not taken from me? 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 185 His minde was so altered, his conditions so changed, and what not in him so alienated. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. ii. 110 Marrie peace it boads, and loue, and quiet life, An awfull rule, and right supremicie: And to be short, what not, that's sweete and happie. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. v. iv, I have..Borne out the shock of war, and done, what not, That valour durst. 1663Pepys Diary 21 Dec., The strange variety of people..bakers, brewers, butchers, draymen, and what not. 1718Pope Lett. (1735) I. 263 Our evening Walks in the Park, our amusing Voyages on the Water, our Philosophical Suppers, our Lectures, our Dissertations, our Gravities, our Reveries, our Fooleries, our what not? 1741Richardson Pamela I. xix. 46 A Gentleman..who is my Master, and thinks himself intitled to call me Bold-face and what not. 1849in B. Gregory Side Lights (1898) 462 Well off with the profits of his books and whatnot. 1852Thackeray Esmond ii. iii, The blessed king's rosaries, the medals which he wore, the locks of his hair, or what not. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xxix. 391 We had our chops and what not in the parlour of the inn. 1876E. W. Heap Diary 11 June in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. (1969) lii. 56 [We] all started out on our grand excursion Picnic fishing party or what not. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xiii, Fencing, dam-making, cattle-droving, what not. 1911Athenæum 24 June 711/1 They were too apt to go to law and fight over their lands and fishing rights and what-not.
b. A thing or person that may be variously named or described; a nondescript. rare.
1602How Chuse Good Wife v. i. I 2, Why you Iacke sawce, you Cuckold, you what not. 1903A. M. Earle Two Cent. Costume Amer. II. 481 Besides the furbelows and prétintailles, or ‘whatnots’, were hurly-burlies and fanfreluches.
¶ Confusedly used in pl. for ‘various things’.
a1861T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) 53 Passengers who are constantly to make portages will not encumber themselves with what-nots. 1862Thackeray Philip ix, I profess to be an impartial chronicler of poor Phil's fortunes, misfortunes, friendships, and what-nots.
c. Used as a euphemism for something the speaker does not wish to name.
1964in Hamblett & Deverson Generation X 85 By the time I was fourteen I'd been a court witness in an indecent exposure case after an Indian doctor had been caught flashing his whatnot at me in an Adventure Playground. 1977Custom Car Nov. 28/2 What ho, a twace of the fairer whatnot in the old Panther eh? 1977M. Riley Ideal Friend iv. 30 She said..tapping the Cellophane-covered éclairs, ‘I don't know about you but these always put me in mind of nignogs' whatnots.’
2. An article of furniture consisting of an open stand with shelves one above another, for keeping or displaying various objects, as ornaments, curiosities, books, papers, etc.
1808Lady S. Lyttelton Corr. (1902) 54 The old chairs, tables, what-nots, and sofas. 1831–4R. S. Surtees Jorrocks's Jaunts (1838) 330 There was a ‘what not’ on the right of the fire-place. 1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 5674, Canterbury what-not. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home, About Warwick I. 140 Such delicate trifles as we put upon a drawing-room table..or a whatnot.
Hence ˈwhatnotism, any or every kind of ‘ism’ (as a final term in an enumeration of ‘isms’).
1915Galsworthy in Fortn. Rev. 1 Nov. 928 What is wanted in a work of art is an..adequate correspondence between fancy and form..so that one shall not be distracted by its naturalism, mysticism, cubism, whatnotism. 1951Koestler Age of Longing i. v. 113 Those convicted of formalism, neo-Kantianism,..and whatnotism were given their deserved punishment. |