| 释义 |
ˈwitch-hunt, n.
Also witch hunt, witchhunt.
[witch n.2]
1. A search for witches, or for someone suspected or accused of witchcraft.
1885R. Haggard K. Solomon's Mines x. 151 To-night ye will see. It is the great witch-hunt, and many will be smelt out as wizards and slain. 1927J. Buchan Witch Wood xvi. 272 David had..seen a witch hunt..as a boy—and then there had been a furious and noisy crowd. 1960D. Hudson Forgotten King 17 Elizabethan inns and beards and witch hunts give place to the coffee house and the Restoration theatre. 1975A. Fraser Whistler's Lane 9 Her mind had been..on the witch hunts of the early seventeenth century.
fig.1915‘I. Hay’ First Hundred Thousand xiii. 178 Platoon commanders were bidden to hold a witch hunt, and smell out a chiropodist.
2. a. A single-minded and uncompromising campaign against a group of people with unacceptable views or behaviour, spec. communists; esp. one regarded as unfair or malicious persecution.
1938‘G. Orwell’ Homage to Catalonia xi. 241 Rank-and-file Communists everywhere are led away on a senseless witch-hunt after ‘Trotskyists’. 1947Partisan Rev. XIV. 344, I don't like Stalin's methods, but I shall never, never join in that witch-hunt. 1950Here & Now (N.Z.) Dec. 8/1 Inside the Labour Party there was a witch-hunt of unbelievable viciousness against the Government's critics. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Nov. 669/4 The story of a security officer in America in the days when McCarthy witch-hunts were frequent and when communists lurked..under every bed. 1972Guardian 31 Aug. 6/7 Delegates to the annual Conference at the TUC at Brighton next week are urged..not to indulge in a witch hunt..when discussing the 34 affiliated unions which have remained on the register of trade unions. 1976Survey Spring 179 Literary zealots..then took part in the anti-zionist and anti-revisionist witch-hunt. 1977Gay News 24 Mar. 3/1 During the operation—labelled a ‘witch-hunt’ by the local gay community—28 men were arrested. 1977Times 28 Apr. 2/1 Mr Orme, Minister for Social Security,..said he was not prepared to countenance a witch-hunt against claimants. 1979A. Price Tomorrow's Ghost vii. 120 We must be absolutely fair... This isn't a witch-hunt. 1983P. Ustinov My Russia i. 8 It is fashionable today to conduct a moderate witchhunt for that pro-Soviet bunch of Cambridge undergraduates..who spied for Russia.
b. A campaign against an individual.
1960Daily Tel. 29 Jan. 1/2 The Opposition Front Bench do not intend to conduct a ‘witch-hunt’ against Mr Marples over his business connections. 1973C. Bonington Next Horizon i. 20 The argument had developed into a witch-hunt against Barrie with, I suspect, very little justice. 1977Daily Mirror 30 Mar. 31/1 After the Germans had strolled home 5-1, the controversial Neale accused non-playing captain Peter Simpson of leading a ‘witch-hunt’ against him. |