| 释义 |
ˈlatch-string
A string passed through a hole in a door so that the latch may be raised from the outside. Hence fig. in U.S. colloq. phrases.
1791in W. R. Jillson Tales Dark & Bloody Ground (1930) 109 The doors and the window shutters are..secured by stout bars on the inside with a latch-string of leather hanging out. 1859Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. III. 342 It is but another proof of the well known characteristics of the people of the west, that they are always to be found with ‘their latch strings out’. 1861Geo. Eliot Silas M. iv, Intending to shake the door and pull the latch-string up and down, not doubting that the door was fastened. 1887E. Eggleston Graysons xxiv. (1888) 254 Zeke impatiently rattled the door of the cabin, the latch-string of which had been drawn in to lock it. 1887Pall Mall. G. 8 Jan. 6/2 We have..hung our latch-string out to you and yours. 1889in Times 5 Mar. 9/2 Her [the United States'] free latchstring never was drawn in Against the meanest child of Adam's kin. 1893Advance (Chicago) 16 Mar. 209 ‘Our latch string is out’, has become a classic expression of cordial hospitality. 1895Daily News 19 Apr. 4/7 The latch-string of English society hangs outside the door for an American. 1937V. D. Scudder On Journey iii. ii. 298 Especially at Commencement time, when the latch-string hangs out for returning alumnae. |