| 释义 |
▪ I. mis-ˈstep, n.
[mis-1 4.]
a. A wrong step.
1837Yale Lit. Mag. III. 8 (Th.), Forgetting the round door block, he made a mis-step. 1855Prescott Philip II, iv. vi. I. 460 As he was descending a flight of stairs he made a misstep and fell. 1888B. A. Watson Sportsman's Paradise 193 So that..the game may not be frightened by a mis-step. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 363/2 One mis-step might have resulted in a clear fall of three thousand feet. 1963J. Walsh Shroud (1964) vi. 47 His headlong disregard for bodily care and his courting of the injuries or death that lay only a mis-step away. 1974Sci. Amer. Oct. 87/2 A misstep would not necessarily lead to a stumble or a fall.
b. = faux pas.
a1800Spirit of Farmer's Museum (1801) 205 The Squire..can sit on the sessions, and fine poor girls for natural missteps. 1854Marion Harland Alone xxi, Watchfully, prayerfully, Ida strove to keep her feet in the path, and by no misstep or fall, to cast obloquy upon the name she loved. 1892Harper's Mag. June 152/2 Whatever we think of the first misstep of Tess in the immaturity of her girlhood. 1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday 101 The publishers of the confession magazines..concentrated on the description of what they euphemistically called ‘missteps’. 1934D. Sargent Thomas More iii. 62 As in all diplomatic conferences each side spends a great deal of time waiting for the other side to make a misstep. 1949Sat. Even. Post 1 Oct. 20/3 Russians..turn sick with fear if they make the slightest little misstep. 1974Publishers Weekly 4 Feb. 64/2 Henry Keller..picks up a hitchhiker... For awhile, he shares her sexual favours... Becky is killed accidentally. The police don't care much; neither does Henry's wife, who forgives his misstep.
▪ II. mis-ˈstep, v.
[mis-1 1.]
intr. To take a wrong step; to go astray.
1390Gower Conf. II. 143 Sche schal noght with hir litel too Misteppe, bot he se it al. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. i. (1641) 83 If man from duty never has mis-stept. 1869S. Bowles Our New West v. 102 Mules don't mis⁓step, and even the top-heavy pack jacks..carried their burden and themselves unharmed to the top. |