| 释义 |
ostrobogulous slang.|ɒstrəʊˈbɒgjʊləs|
[Etym. obscure; see quot. 1973.]
A word associated with the writer Victor B. Neuburg (1883–1940), used with various shades of meaning to describe the bizarre, unusual, or interesting (see quots.). Hence ostroˈbogulatory a.; ostroboguˈlation, ostroboguˈlosity, ns.
1951A. Calder-Marshall Magic of My Youth i. 31 ‘Ostrobogulous’ was Vickybird's favourite word. It stood for anything from the bawdy to the slightly off-colour. Any double entendre that might otherwise have escaped his audience was prefaced by, ‘if you will pardon the ostrobogulosity.’ 1952A. Graves Ostrobogulous Pigs 7 Once upon a time there were..five ostrobogulous skipperty flipperty filthy grubby muddy little pigs. Ibid. 10, I can no longer endure this ostrobogulatory behaviour. Ibid. 11 ‘I can no longer endure the odorous and objectionable ostrobogulations of those creatures,’ said Angelina Boghurst-Fisher. 1963Sunday Times 29 Dec. 19/2 (heading), An ostrobogulous year for the toy men. Ibid. 19/6 Minnie King works full time for Ostrobogulous—which is a word, they say, used by children and means ‘mischievous but gorgeous’. 1965J. O. Fuller Magical Dilemma V. Neuburg i. iv. 58 Some of the entries were not printed because they were ostrobogulous. This was a wonderful word of Vicky's. It was used in the place of indecent or pornographic, and had the advantage..that it implied no moral attitude. Ibid. 59 He would speak of an ostrobogulous tale. .. He took Morton's opinion as ostrobogulosity. 1968Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Oct. 1196/3 There has been no developing tradition of the ribald, raw and ostrobogulous (to use the word Victor Neuburg applied to this work) merely because there have been no similar collections. 1972Ibid. 30 June 757/4 His career, fabulous, prestigious, sordid, sinister, and in the word of Victor Neuburg ostrobogulous. 1973Ibid. 27 July 871/2 It was sick, dirty, or more precisely, ‘ostrobogulous’, which according to Victor Neuburg..meant etymologically full of (Latin, ulus) rich (Greek, ostro) dirt (schoolboy, bog). |