| 释义 |
mouthful|ˈmaʊθfʊl|
[f. mouth n. + -ful.]
a. A quantity that fills the mouth; as much as a mouth can hold or take in at one time; hence, a small quantity (of something).
1530Palsgr. 247/1 Mouthfull, baufre. c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1017 In their mouthfull takyng refection. 1608Shakes. Per. ii. i. 35 A [sc. a whale] playes and tumbles, Dryuing the poore Fry before him, And at last, deuowre them all at a mouthfull. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables xxviii. 28 A Goat that was going out one Morning for a Mouthful of Fresh Grass, Charg'd her Kid..not to Open the Door. 1693Dryden Juvenal iii. ad fin., When..You to your own Aquinum shall repair, To take a mouthful of sweet Country air. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. 113 Acquire the power of using the air of one inspiration by mouthfuls. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville I. 176 They were three entire days without a mouthful of food. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 71 He was continually bringing up mouthfuls of dark-coloured mucus.
b. transf. Phr. to say a mouthful, to make a striking or important statement; to say something noteworthy. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1748Smollett Rod. Rand. lvi, I can't have a mouthful of English for love or money. [1790Sessions Papers Sept. 781/1, I never said a mouth full of ill against her in my life.] 1884F. M. Crawford Rom. Singer ii. 31 ‘He taught me to pronounce the name Königgratz, so—Conigherazzo’, said the maestro... ‘Capperi! What a mouthful’, said I. 1922C. Sandburg Slabs of Sunburnt West 7 You said a mouthful. 1924A. J. Small Frozen Gold i. 14 A fight, he says—and he don't know what a mouthful he's said. 1929A. Conan Doyle Maracot Deep vi. 165 He said a mouthful when he asked her to marry him. 1947L. Hastings Dragons are Extra vii. 143 And that says a mouthful. 1973Wodehouse Bachelors Anonymous xii. 153 ‘Nice nurse?’ ‘Ah, there you have said a mouthful, Pickering. I have a Grade A nurse.’ |