| 释义 |
Maginot
(‖ maʒino, ˈmædʒɪnəʊ)
The name of a French minister of war, André Maginot (1877-1932), used to designate the line of fortifications (Maginot Line) built before the war of 1939–45 along the north-eastern borders of France, and in which the French placed excessive confidence. Also transf. (designating other similar lines of defence) and fig.
1936Times 30 Oct. 15/4 The Maginot Line. M. Daladier..inspected the recently completed frontier fortifications between Maubeuge and Valenciennes. 1937A. Vagts Hist. Militarism xii. 457 The American coast is the Maginot Line of the United States. 1938Nation (N.Y.) 23 July 78 Little Steel's Maginot Line against unionism. Ibid. 83/2 Along the border the Czech Maginot Line is artfully concealed. 1940Economist 27 July 118/1 Sea-power is no Maginot Line to lull us again into lethargy. 1940L. B. Namier in 19th Cent. Nov. 468 Her [sc. France's] system of alliances in East-Central Europe was as imperfect and as deceptive as her Maginot line later on. 1947C. S. Lewis Miracles xiv. 146 The belief that nothing but Nature exists and that if anything else did she is protected from it by a Maginot Line. 1972Times 14 Nov. 17/2 The Dow has still to close above what is jestfully known on Wall Street as the ‘Maginot Line’ of 1,000. 1973B. Freemantle Goodbye to Old Friend i. 14 He..lifted out his tray containing pens..and set it..at the head of the blotter. My Maginot Line, he thought. Behind the tray, I'm safe. 1975Guardian 27 Jan. 4/3 Casemate 35/3, a key heavy gun emplacement in the Maginot Line.
Hence attrib. and Comb., as Maginot-minded a., obsessed with the inviolability of the Maginot Line; Maginot(-Line) complex, Maginot mentality, etc.: indicating an obsession with defence (of the status quo, etc.) as an attitude of mind.
1940Economist 13 July 37/1 The efficacy of blockade is a mirage, a delusion comparable to the Maginot-complex that bemused and enervated France. 1942Ann. Reg. 1941 79 People began to wonder whether the Government had not become ‘Maginot-minded’. 1955Bull. Atomic Sci. Mar. 81/1 Maginot-line mentality..denotes..a one-sided preoccupation with putting all reliance on a single strategy. 1962Listener 24 May 893/1 Defence is only relevant to my present argument as evidence of the Maginot attitude of the old and Great Powers. 1962Observer 1 July 7/1 There is also the danger that a national shelter programme could lead to a Maginot Line psychology. 1973New Society 13 Sept. 632/2 The NGA has been attacked by the non-craft unions for having a ‘Maginot line mentality’. |