| 释义 |
ˈPecksniff
[A proper name of fiction: the Warwickshire Wordbk. of G. F. Northall 1896 has ‘Picksniff, paltry, despicable; an insignificant, paltry, contemptible person’.]
The name of a character in Dickens' novel ‘Martin Chuzzlewit’ (1844), represented as an unctuous hypocrite, habitually prating of benevolence, etc. Used allusively. Also as v. intr. and in Comb., as pecksniff-shark (nonce use). Hence Peckˈsniffery, ˈPecksniffism, conduct or utterance resembling that of Pecksniff; Peckˈsniffian a., resembling Pecksniff; whence Peckˈsniffianism (nonce-wd.); Peckˈsniffianly, Peckˈsniffingly advs., in a manner resembling Pecksniff.
1851J. Chapman Diary 1 July in G. S. Haight Geo. Eliot & J. Chapman (1940) 188 Mr B. put on such an exquisitely saintlike Pecksniffian aspect as to seem nearly in heaven. 1874J. Hatton Clytie (ed. 10) 101 It seemed to smile a Pecksniffian smile of pity upon her. 1885Pall Mall G. 17 Mar. 3/1 This odious compound of Tartuffism, Pharisaism, and Pecksniffery. 1888Talmage in Voice (N.Y.) 2 Feb. 7 Ask Thackeray to express your chagrin, or Charles Dickens to expose Pecksniffianism. 1893Athenæum 8 Apr. 430/3 He lectures Pepys for winebibbing, and we feel very much disposed to take him to task for Pecksniffism. 1894Lloyd George Family Lett. (1973) 73 That pecksniffian young gent will have to climb down a peg or two. 1901Scotsman 4 Mar. 6/2 A fine benevolence of phraseology..which, we fear, is not free from a Pecksniffian twang. 1903G. B. Shaw Let. 26 Dec. (1972) II. 386 And that you are to come Pecksniffing at me in this fashion. 1913Wyndham Lewis Lett. (1963) 50 A new form of fish in the troubled waters of Art..the Pecksniff-shark, a timid but voracious journalistic monster. 1914Kipling Lett. of Travel (1920) 232 A government which is not a government but the disconnected satrapy of a half-dead empire, controlled pecksniffingly by a Power which is not a Power but an Agency. 1915G. B. Shaw Pen Portraits (1931) 116 To lie—lie impudently, snobbishly, spitefully, Pecksniffianly, Tartuffily. 1926A. Huxley Let. 25 Dec. (1969) 278, I would have made him survive into the Pecksniffian epoch. 1945R. Hargreaves Enemy at Gate 212 The Tsar himself, temporarily assuming the mantle of Mr. Gladstone's best Pecksniffian manner, continued to give whining expression to pious hopes for some sort of accommodation. 1947K. S. Sorabji Mi contra Fa x. 87 He is apparently unaware..that he is..submitting himself to the judgment of his own upper classes... This is surely nonconformist Pecksniffery gone mad. 1959J. Braine Vodi ix. 131 At least it was recognisably the work of a human being, even if he were a greedy Pecksniffian old get who used to sneak around the factory in carpet slippers. 1963Times 22 Apr. 11/1 Disgust at the Pecksniffian pose that the ruling party has shown in denying the blatantly obvious. 1971M. S. Howard Jonathan Cape vii. 111 Edward Garnett poured scorn on the Pecksniffery of these British officials. |