| 释义 |
ˈmuck-raker
[-er1.]
A person who uses a muck-rake. In literary use only fig. †a. A miser. Obs. (Cf. muckworm 2 a.) b. One who seeks out and publishes scandals, allegations of corruption, etc., about prominent people, esp. public officials. orig. U.S. c. A prurient inquirer into private morals; a writer of pornography.
The source of this figurative use in b is T. Roosevelt's speech (itself reminiscent of Bunyan) cited s.v. muck-rake n.
1601A. Dent Plaine Mans Path-Way to Heaven 102 We see the world is full of such pinch-pennies, that wil let nothing goe, except it bee wrung from them perforce, as a key out of Hercules hande. These gripple muck-rakers, had as leeue part with their bloud, as their goods. 1906S. Ford Shorty McCabe xi. 233 That's the style you live in when..you've got to be a top-notch grafter that the muck⁓rakers ain't jungled yet. 1914R. Brooke Let. Apr. (1968) 579 Damn it, we're not muck-rakers or German novelists. 1921G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah iv. i. 159, I leave them to the chumps and noodles, to the blockheads and the muckrakers. 1950G. Barker True Confession iii. 16 And the muckrakers I have known. 1973Guardian 26 May 1/3 He is a sanctimonious creep..a muck raker. 1974Times 9 May 21/4 In its origins the term ‘muckraking’ described a tradition of American journalism around the turn of the century which was committed to the exposure of trusts and monopolies and of corruption..; the Muck⁓rakers..were responsible for progressive reforms. |