| 释义 |
ˈout-ˈback, adv. a., and n. Australia.
Also out back, outback.
[f. out adv. + back adv.]
A. adv.
1. Out in or to the back settlements or back-country.
1878‘R. Boldrewood’ Ups & Downs iii. 31 There was not a streak of crimson in the pearly dawnlight, as the whole party..rode silently along the indistinct trail which led ‘out back’. 1890― Col. Reformer (1891) 308 That gentleman having been all day ‘out back’. Ibid., There's been one or two fine thunderstorms out back. 1893H. Lawson Coll. Verse (1967) I. 447 Scenery outback isn't like Illawarra. 1901M. Franklin My Brilliant Career iii. 12 The boys, as they attained manhood, drifted Out Back to shear, drove, or to take up land. Ibid. xxxiv. 289 George Melvyn had a large station Out Back. a1903Mod. Austral. Newspr. He decided to go out-back. 1909Daily Chron. 29 Jan. 4/7 Under the title of ‘The Church Outback’, Dr. G. H. Frodsham, Bishop of Northern Queensland..has published in an Australian paper a lively account of his experiences in..his enormous diocese. 1936I. L. Idriess Cattle King i. 2 Fascinating stories..of the big mobs outback. 1942C. Barrett On Wallaby i. 13 Out Back I have met honest sundowners. 1944Living Off Land iii. 49 Anyone who has been out⁓back..will know..how every waterhole becomes alive with frogs.
2. (As two words.) Outside at the back of a house or other building; in or into the back garden or back yard. U.S.
1892‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claimant iii. 36 There was a message, now, from out back, and Colonel Sellers went out there in answer to it. 1964T. Wolfe in Esquire Feb. 97 If this wasn't such a high-class joint we would take wiseacres like you out back and beat you into jellied madrilene.
B. adj. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Australian interior or back-country.
1900H. Lawson Darling River in Prose Wks. (1948) 269 ‘The Queenslan' rains’..seem to be held responsible..for most of the out-back trouble. a1903Mod. Austral. Newspr. At a recent examination held in an out-back district in Australia. 1906A. B. Paterson (title) An outback marriage. 1913W. K. Harris Outback in Australia i. 2 Of course, you get various opinions of Outback hospitality. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Oct. 738/1 Sydney was the natural centre of outback adventurers. 1957Times 11 May 7/6 In its own way the project is as brave as any bit of outback pioneering for metals or minerals. 1971Southerly XXXI. 27 We've already rejected the proposition that wallabies are too shamingly outback to be possible material for poetry. 1977A. Wilson Strange Ride R. Kipling iii. 157 ‘Men only’ bars are disappearing even in outback Australia.
C. n.
1. The Australian interior or back-country.
1907Gentl. Mag. July 78 These young dwellers in the Out Back have often no educational opportunities. 1911in E. M. Clowes On Wallaby iv. 115 The Outback can still breed some true mates. 1920B. Cronin Timber Wolves 9 In the seclusion of the outback they are at liberty to revert to grossness unspeakable. Ibid. ii. 40 Such men are not uncommon in the outback. 1930Times Lit. Suppl. 10 July 577/2 Its travesty of the essentially peaceable ‘out⁓back’ is no worse than the scenario writer would think permissible. 1955Times 6 July 17/3 The Duke of Edinburgh..cited, and discussed in detail, the scope for aircraft in the outback. 1971Sunday Australian 8 Aug. 17/3 Australia's tourist future lies in the outback. 1977Hongkong Standard 12 Apr. 9/6 It still has not as yet agreed to finance the cost of building a prototype solar-energy collection and storage plant in the Australian outback.
2. transf. Applied to other regions or countries with allusion to the Australian interior. Also fig.
1959Listener 15 Jan. 140/3 Tramp your way through Wales's ‘outback’. 1963Times 20 Apr. 9/7 The recent wave of village school and mosque building in this hitherto neglected outback [in Turkey]. 1972Guardian 3 Apr. 2/5 Senator Humphrey's statement came after a 14-hour swing around the Wisconsin outback. 1975Times 5 Dec. 1/4 Mr. Wilson's statement..provided a field day for..skinheads of the parliamentary outback. 1976J. van de Wetering Tumbleweed x. 91 Cunucu, that's the outback, the outback of Curaçao. 1978Globe & Mail (Toronto) 4 Mar. 8/3 A B.C. government plan to use television and radio to bring higher learning to the outback has thrown academia into a tizzy.
Hence ˈoutbacker, a native or inhabitant of the out-back; ˈoutbackery, the cultivation of attitudes and values characteristic of the out-back.
1913W. K. Harris Outback in Australia i. 3 Another feature in the character of the Outbacker..is his honesty. 1918R. H. Knyvett Over There iii. 28 In their enthusiasm the people of the capital city practically mobbed these ‘outbackers’, loading them..with cigarettes and candy. 1927Blackw. Mag. Oct. 461 A grove of giant Tasmanian tree-ferns,..the ‘old man’ fern of outbackers. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Jan. 11 Paddy Whelan is far from being the first outbacker to do a perish for water. 1966T. Ronan Once there was Bagman 124 The phase of life, now sneered at by our pharisaical, suburban, scholarship-nurtured intelligentsia—‘Outbackery’, they call it—has its intervals of excellence. 1971Southerly XXXI. 22 We began to dismiss the image of the explorer, the bush⁓ranger, the whole outbackery. 1971Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Aug. 49 No violence, no sex, no self-conscious outbackery; the only complaint, the book is too short. |