| 释义 |
Niagara|naɪˈægərə|
[The name of a N. American river, flowing from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, on which there is a famous waterfall.]
1. A cataract, torrent, deluge.
1841F. A. Kemble Let. 28 Dec. in Rec. Later Life (1882) II. 153 Such a Niagara of information did surely never pour from the lips of mortal man! 1861T. L. Peacock Gryll Gr. xiv, That Niagara of sound under which it is now the fashion to bury it. 1872Ruskin Fors Clav. (1896) I. xxiv. 492 Phlegethon falls into the abyss in a Niagara of blood. 1894Westm. Gaz. 13 June 3/2 There is a deluge,..a very Niagara of concerts. 1909Chambers's Jrnl. June 383/1 In the savage blizzards of a frozen Sahara this [ice-]drift becomes a roaring, hissing, blinding Niagara of snow, rising hundreds of feet into the air. 1912I. S. Cobb Back Home 321 Rivers of red pop had already flowed, Niagaras of lager beer and stick gin had been swallowed up. 1931A. Huxley Let. 24 Aug. (1969) 352 We are reading Monte Cristo aloud. What a book! I had never read it before: it is a kind of Niagara! 1970P. Laurie Scotland Yard iii. 86 A Niagara of tinted hair. 1974Times 9 Jan. 6/5 Mr Nixon was swept towards what the White House once called a ‘Niagara’ of accusations last spring.
2. U.S. (See quot.)
1864Sala in Daily Tel. 10 June, One of her ‘Niagaras’ or ‘cataract curls’—the name given to the shower of true or false ringlets the ladies are in the habit of wearing at the backs of their heads.
Hence Niagara v., intr. to pour in a deluge. (In quot. stressed niaˈgara.) Also Niagaˈrean, Niagaˈrian adjs., resembling Niagara.
1799Southey St. Gualberto xxii, The fountain streams..Had niagara'd o'er the quadrangle. 1835Court Mag. VI. 242/2 Retribution rushed upon me fiercely like a Niagarean torrent. 1839Reynolds Pickw. Abroad lvi, A Niagarian fall of tears, and a Vesuvian eruption of sighs. 1882J. G. Holyoake in 19th Cent. July 95 The Niagarian flood of denunciation which was poured out. |