| 释义 |
monkey-wrench, n. and v. Senses 1 and 2 of the noun, and sense 1 of the verb formerly at monkey n. IV 18 a in Dict.|ˈmʌŋkɪˌrɛntʃ|
Also monkey wrench, monkeywrench.
[f. monkey n. + wrench n.2
It has been suggested that the term may derive from a corruption of various proper names. See, for example, G. Stimpson Bk. about Thousand Things (1946) 287, and Amer. Gas Jrnl. (1927) Aug. 52.]
A. n.
1. A wrench or spanner having an adjustable jaw; an adjustable spanner.
1807in E. S. Dane Peter Stubs & Lancashire Hand Tool Industry (1973) 219 Fleetwood, Richard..Parr, Rainford. Screw plates, lathes, clock engines..monkey wrenches, taps. 1858P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products, Monkey-wrench. 1865in B. Pitman Assassination President Lincoln 86/1, I did not give them the rope and monkey-wrench. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 132/2, I luckily had a pair of gas pliers in my valise which I used as a monkey-wrench. 1915S. Lewis Trail of Hawk ii. xiii. 132 He had laughed away the straw boss who tried to make him go ask for a left-handed monkey-wrench. 1973Times 29 Dec. 10/2 The stereotypes of the German as a man born with a monkey wrench in his hand and eating vast quantities of sausage and sauerkraut..should really be discarded. 1989G. Drohan et al. Plumbing (ed. 2) i. 50/2 With a monkey wrench, unscrew the nuts that attach the trap to the tailpiece.
2. fig. An obstruction or hindrance; esp. in colloq. phr. to throw (or hurl) a monkey-wrench into the machinery and varr., to cause trouble or confusion, to interfere disruptively (cf. to throw a spanner in the works s.v. spanner n.1 2 b).
1920Everybody's Mag. May 36/3 Don't throw a monkey-wrench into the machinery! 1931Daily Express 16 Oct. 1/2 Mr. Lloyd George hurled a monkey wrench last night into the creaking and decrepit machinery of Liberalism. 1937M. Allingham Dancers in Mourning viii. 108 White Walls normally contained an excitable household... This morning..the proverbial monkey-wrench had landed squarely in the middle of the brittle machinery. 1966D. Varaday Gara-Yaka's Domain xi. 126 Just as I was about to squeeze the trigger an ebb wind threw the monkey wrench into the works. The rising ill-wind struck the back of our necks, carrying our scent down to the elephant. 1971Black Scholar Apr.–May 30/2 It is the black inmate who throws the monkey wrench into the works. 1975Jewish Chron. 16 May 2/3 Mr Eban has thrown a monkey-wrench into the Israeli information campaign in the United States. 1993Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Jan. e7/1 Even a one-day cancellation can throw a real monkey wrench into the schedule.
B. v.
1. trans. To force, turn, etc., with a monkey-wrench. Also absol.
1904W. N. Harben Georgians 267 He..dug down in the road whar his pipe j'ined the main, till he got to it, an' then he monkey-wrenched it off. 1993Westcoast Logger Feb./Mar. 6/2 The program owns its own machinery, I-D4E Cat..and a crew-cab. Needless to say there are many hours spent monkey-wrenching and welding to keep this tired iron running.
2. trans. [with allusion to the title of E. Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975)] to sabotage, spec. to disrupt or damage (ecologically detrimental activity, machinery, etc.) as a form of environmentalist protest; also absol.
1986Washington Post 3 Aug. (Parade Suppl.) 9/2 He will monkey-wrench any deal with the Soviets that shows even a molecule of promise. 1987Nation (N.Y.) 2 May 568/2 There are a number of ways to monkey wrench, not all of which involve destruction. ‘You could file an injunction against a timber sale,’ said Foreman. 1990San Francisco Chron. 1 Jan. b3/4 A proposed freeway through a scenic Carmel canyon may be forever monkey-wrenched by a movement named Noel Mapstead. 1993Guardian 10 July (Outlook section) 27/6 ‘To an Elf a CAT (earth mover) is just a large chunk of metal, probably from somewhere like Papua New Guinea,’ says Elm. ‘If you monkey wrench it, you're returning it. Those machines have no right to exist, they've been turned into monsters.’
So ˈmonkeywrenching vbl. n., the sabotage of industrial sites or equipment by ecological activists; ˈmonkeywrencher n.
1985D. Foreman Ecodefense i. 10 Monkeywrenching is non-violent resistance to the destruction of natural diversity and wilderness. Ibid. 12 Monkeywrenchers are very conscious of the gravity of what they do. 1985Chicago Tribune 20 Aug. i. 1/2 By night,..they range about the countryside engaging in ‘monkey-wrenching’—sabotaging oil rigs, logging sites, road-building machinery, ranch fences and other efforts to develop natural resources in the West. 1986Nation (N.Y.) 18 Oct. 368/1 This motley collection includes Foreman and his band of monkey-wrenchers; grass-roots activists on issues such as hazardous waste and garbage incineration. 1990New England Monthly Mar. 33/2 Muscular monkeywrenchers showing their ability to..desurvey a mile of road in under 6 minutes. 1992Tucson Weekly 15 Apr. 5/4 Millett was one of two of the five Earth First! defendants who received jail sentences for monkeywrenching. |