| 释义 |
▪ I. nit, n.1
Forms: α. 1 hnitu, 4 nite, 5 nyte; 4–5 nete, 7 neet. β. 4–6 nytte, 5–6 nitte, 6 nyt, 7–8 nitt, 8 knit, 6– nit.
[OE. hnitu fem. = MDu. nete, nette (Du. neet), MLG. nete, neyt, nette, nit, OHG. niz̧ (MHG. niz̧, niz̧z̧e, G. niss, nisse): cf. ON. gnit (Norw. gnit, knit, Sw. gnet, Da. gnid, Icel. nit). Outside of Teutonic related forms appear in Russ. and Pol. gnida, Czech knida, and Gr. κονιδ-, κονίς.]
1. a. The egg of a louse or other insect parasitic on man or animals; the insect itself in a young state.
αc825Epinal Gloss. 590 Lendina, hnitu. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 364 Hnite & wyrmas on weᵹ to donne ðe on cildum beoð. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 651 And þou forth bringes of þi-self here Nites, lyse, and other vermyn sere. c1340Nominale (Skeat) 226 Woman in the seyme syketh the nete. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxii. (Tollem. MS.), It..amendeþ and doþ awey nites and oþer unclennesse of þe heed. c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 642 Hec lens, nyte. [So c 1475 ibid. 767.] 1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 79 She can wel pyke out lyce and netis [Du. neten] out of mens hedis. 1638Shirley Mart. Soldier iv. in Bullen O. Pl. I. 236 There sits my wife kombing her haire,..all the Neets in't are Spiders.
β1483Cath. Angl. 255/1 A Nitte; tinea capitis est. 1493Festial (W. de W. 1515) 174 Of trees cometh leves, floures, and fruyte, and of the lyce, nyttes, and fleen. 1547Boorde Brev. Health cclxxiii. 91 There be .iiii. kyndes, whiche be to say, head lyce, body lyce, crabbe lyce, and nits. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 58 Let season be drie when ye take them to house, for danger of nittes, or for feare of a louse. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 191 Goats are not troubled with Lice or Nits, but only with Tickes. 1664Pepys Diary 18 July, Thence to Westminster to my barber's, to have my Periwigg he lately made me cleansed of its nits. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. v. lxiii. 290 Inferior silk has many nits and coarse stuff sticking to the threads. 1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. I. (1818) 84 Their nits or eggs are not hatched till the eighth day after they are laid. 1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 152 The egg or nit is pear-shaped, and may be seen attached to the hairs. 1884Med. Ann. 44/2 Dilute Acetic acid destroys the pediculi and dissolves the nits.
Comb.1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 160 The scold..stretched up her hands with her two thumb-nails in the Nit-cracking posture.
fig.1827Hood Craniology 34 The science thus—to speak in fit Terms—having struggled from its nit.
†b. A gnat, or small fly. Obs. rare.
1547Boorde Brev. Health §356 A nytte or a flye comming vnto a mannes mouth, when he doth take in his breth. 1684Otway Atheist i. i, The Nits dance about on't like Atoms in the Sun-shine.
2. Applied to persons in contempt or jest. Now esp., a stupid or incompetent person. colloq.
Influenced by nitwit.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 150 And his Page,..Ah heauens, it is [a] most patheticall nit. 1596― Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 110 Thou Flea, thou Nit, thou winter cricket thou. c1600Day Begg. Bednall Gr. iv. iii, Strowd, y'are a Nit, a Slave and a Pessant. 1622Massinger & Dekker Virg. Mart. ii. iii, And so, sweet nit, we crawl from thee. 1632Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xiv. (ed. 4) 121 They are..nitts and flies compared to his inexorable and supercilious, eminent and arrogant worship. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 49 Nit, a simpleton or fool. 1961Sunday Times 17 Sept. 41/4 Livings's latest work, ‘Sacred Nit’. 1962Melody Maker 11 Aug 6/1 I could see he wasn't very impressed with this nit sitting across the table. 1963[see coot n.1 4]. 1967S. Knight Window on Shanghai xxiii. 97 You ask a crazy question—Xmas???!!! The Chinese certainly enjoy celebrating, but for goodness sake! You nit, Mum—can you imagine them trooping to church on December 25? 1972P. Cleife Slick & Dead ii. ix. 70 If you think..I would be willing to allow you..to board my aircraft..then you must be a nit.
3. In phr. as dead as a nit.
1789Wolcot (P. Pindar) Subj. for Painters Wks. 1812 II. 191 Dead in a minute as a Nit. 1838Thackeray Fashnable Fax Wks. 1900 XIII. 254 Down he fell as dead as a nit. 1874T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd xxi, [The sheep] will all die as dead as nits.
4. Comb., as nit-comb.
1943D. Ibberson Our Towns iii. 72 A square-toothed steel nit-comb..is too expensive for the poorest. 1959F. Donaldson Child of Twenties iii. 39 My mother washed her head again and again, and combed her hair with a nit-comb.
▪ II. nit, n.2 Austral.|nɪt|
[Origin unknown; but cf. nix1 3, a parallel use.]
1. A word used as a signal that someone is approaching.
1899H. Lawson If I could Paint in Stories (1964) 3rd. Ser. 416 I'd call it ‘Nit! There's Mother.’ 1911L. Stone Jonah 8 Suddenly there was a cry of ‘Nit! 'Ere's a cop!’ and the push bolted like rabbits.
2. Usu. in phr. to keep nit, to keep watch, to act as guard. Hence ˈnitkeeper, one who acts as sentinel, usu. while some illegal activity is being carried on.
1935Bulletin (Sydney) 22 May 21/1 That outlaw the sulphur-crested cockatoo is not the only bird to post a ‘nit-keeper’ when transgressing against society. 1940I. L. Idriess Lightning Ridge 20 Bill kept nit for his elder brother who was courting a girl, and earned a shilling. 1943D. Stewart Ned Kelly ii. i. 97 We keep nit and keep quiet. Ned's good watch-dogs! 1947N. Lindsay in B. James Austral. Short Stories (1963) 6 On condition of you kids scooting up the flat to keep nit, case the old man comes down this way. 1952T. A. G. Hungerford Ridge & River 10 Send two men a couple of hundred yards up and down the track to keep nit. 1963F. Hardy Legends from Benson's Valley 108 An elaborate network of nitkeepers on all sides frustrated the new policeman for three weeks. 1971D. Ireland Unknown Industrial Prisoner 77 They had transgressed the unwritten law that you didn't let yourself go to sleep while you were keeping nit for your mates.
▪ III. nit, n.3 U.S. colloq.|nɪt|
[Of obscure origin; perh. a corruption of naught n., nought n.: cf. nit adv.]
None; nothing.
1910‘O. Henry’ Strictly Business v. 66 ‘You fool... Why did you do it? ‘The Stuff,’ explained Thomas briefly. ‘You know. But subsequently nit. Not a drop.’
▪ IV. nit, n.4 Physics.|nɪt|
[a. F. nit (formally adopted in 1948 at the 11th meeting of the Commission internationale de l'Éclairage, and published in its Recueil des travaux (1950) 145), f. L. nit-ēre to shine.]
A unit of luminance equal to one candela per square metre.
1953J. W. T. Walsh Photometry (ed. 2) v. 136 On the c.g.s. system the unit [of luminance] is the stilb, equal to one candela per sq. cm. or the nit, equal to one candela per sq. metre. There is no name for the corresponding unit on the British system; the candela per sq. inch or per sq. ft. is generally employed. 1965G. A. Fry in R. Kingslake Appl. Optics II. i. 18 One nit of luminance is equal to one lux of illuminance per steradian of solid angle. 1965R. Kingslake in Ibid. v. 198, 1 ft-L is equal to 3·43 nits. 1969Amateur Photographer 19 Mar. 80/3 A brightness (or luminous intensity) of 1 Candela per square metre is termed a Nit. Therefore, for example, 60 Candelas per square centimetre equals 600,000 Nits.
▪ V. † nit, a. Obs. rare—0.
(See quot.)
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Nit, wine that is brisk, and pour'd quick into a Glass.
▪ VI. † nit, v.1 Obs. rare.
[f. nit n.1]
1. intr. To pore carefully over a book.
1596Nashe Saffron Walden 15, I haue here tooke the paines to nit and louze ouer the Doctours booke. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. ii. 149 Would it not grieue any good spiritt to sit a whole moneth nitting over a lousie beggarly Pamphlet?
2. To deposit nits. rare—1.
1683Tryon Way to Health 596 Bugs..harbour in Bedsteads, Holes and Hangings, Nitting and breeding as Lice do in Clothes.
▪ VII. nit, v.2 Austral.|nɪt|
[Cf. nit n.2]
To escape, decamp; to hurry away.
1882Sydney Slang Dict. 10/2 Nit, get away (usually from a foe), make tracks. 1897W. T. Goodge Hits! Skits! & Jingles! (1899) 150 And to ‘nark it’ means to stop it, And to ‘nit it’ means to fly! 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 49 To nit, to decamp, get away (from a foe).
▪ VIII. nit, adv.|nɪt|
[? f. Yiddish.]
= not adv. Cf. nit n.3
1895W. C. Gore in Inlander Nov. 63 Nit.., not; sometimes an emphatic not. 1896Dialect Notes I. 421 Nit, a decided negative, much stronger than no.
▪ IX. nit
obs. pa. pple. of knit, v., pa. tense of nite v. Obs. |