| 释义 |
not-quite, a. and adv.
[f. not adv. 10 + quite adv.]
A. adj. Almost, not wholly; spec. (a) not wholly committed or involved; (b) not wholly acceptable or respectable. Also as n.
1920D. H. Lawrence Let. 28 May (1962) I. 632 There is always a kind of half-measure, half-length, ‘not quite’ feeling about. 1948L. MacNeice Holes in Sky 39 He spelled out True and Good, With their interleaving of half-truths and not-quites. 1955N. Marsh Scales of Justice xii. 236 Kitty, over-painted, knowledgeable, fantastically ‘Not-quite’. 1961M. Beadle These Ruins are Inhabited (1963) vii. 96 We awoke on Sunday to not-quite-fog. 1962Punch 15 Aug. 241/3 Marriage by special licence will be Not Quite. 1968‘Han Suyin’ Birdless Summer 281 The ‘half-caste’. The Anglo-Indian, the chi-chi, the not-quite.
B. adv. Nearly, almost.
1940W. Faulkner Hamlet i. i. 20 The other [face] pumping up and down with metronome-like regularity to the wheel's not-quite-musical complaint. 1944Auden Sea & Mirror in For Time Being iii. 30 The notable absence of the slightest shiver or not-quite-inhibited sneeze. 1975M. Babson There must be Some Mistake xiii. 93 Karen and Jill exchanged glances of not-quite-mock despair. |