| 释义 |
▪ I. † peter, v.1
[f. Peter n.1 5.]
trans. To apply cosmetics to, to ‘paint’.
1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. 161 My face is now so fresh and ruddy, because people have peter'd it, and coloured it with lakes.
▪ II. ˈpeter, v.2 slang or colloq.
[Origin unknown.]
1. trans. To cease, stop, leave off. slang.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Peter that, synonymous with stow that.
2. a. intr. (orig. U.S. Mining colloq.) To diminish gradually and cease; to run out and disappear (as a stream, a vein of ore); to die out, give out, fail, come to an end. Usu. const. out. Hence ˈpetering-out vbl. n.
1846Quincy (Illinois) Whig 6 Jan. 1/4 When my mineral petered why they all Petered me. If so be I gets a lead, why I'm Mr. Tiff again. 1854H. H. Riley Puddleford vi. 84 He ‘hoped this 'spectable meeting war n't going to Peter-out’. a1865A. Lincoln in McClure Life (1896) 133 The store in which he clerked was ‘petering out’—to use his own expression. 1865S. Bowles Across Continent 133 Humboldt River..runs west and south from three hundred to five hundred miles, and then finds ignominious end in a ‘sink’, or..quietly ‘peters out’. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Peter or peter out, to fail gradually in size, quantity, or quality. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq., Childr. Israel i, But the luck had failed, the mines petered out. 1892Sat. Rev. 9 Jan. 45/1 Human effort of all kinds tends..to ‘peter out’. 1923R. Macaulay Told by Idiot iii. 221 The year and the government petered towards their end. 1926E. F. Spanner Naviators 100 Lucky your engine petered out, Sterne. 1944F. Clune Red Heart 6 The fabulous silver-lead wealth..has enticed a city of 15,000 inhabitants to arise in the desert wastes—and there they will continue to dwell until the lode peters. 1949‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xix. 170 The..petering-out of the poorer suburbs. 1955Times 28 June 3/3 With the end of this partnership, however, the innings virtually petered out. 1976Quoddy Tides (Eastport, Maine) 13 Aug. 4/4 Hurricane ‘Belle’..petered out before reaching the Quoddy area.
b. trans. To exhaust; to cause or allow to peter out; const. away, to squander. Freq. as ppl. adj.
1869Overland Monthly III. 127 After a long desert journey the oxen become much ‘petered’. 1878C. Hallock Amer. Club List & Sportsman's Gloss. p. viii/1 Peter-out, to fail; to exhaust; to collapse. 1943Amer. Speech XVIII. 67/2 Petered out (exhausted), S.C., N.C., Tenn., La., Tex. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) vi. 58 He wouldn't give us nothing but a lecture on how he saved his money and how we petered ours away. 1971‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird xvi. 228 It was another petered-out trail.
3. intr. Whist and Bridge. To play a high card followed by a low one. Cf. Peter n.1 7.
1887N. & Q. 29 Oct. 356/1 The Blue Peter..is..used when a ship is about to start... Calling for trumps at whist or ‘petering’ is derived from this source. 1901C. J. Melrose Bridge Whist 38 Another whist convention, which may occasionally be employed with advantage in Bridge..is known variously as ‘Petering’, the ‘trump signal’ or the ‘call for trumps’. 1939N. de V. Hart Bridge Players' Bedside Bk. 141 At one time..a player petered to show two cards only of a suit. 1961Times 7 June 8/3 My partner had not petered in hearts. 1976Country Life 22 Jan. 202/1 West started by cashing two top diamonds, on which East petered.
4. slang.
a. intr. (See quot. 1925.)
b. trans. To blow open (a safe).
1925Flynn's 7 Mar. 192/1 Peter, v., to use knock-out drops; to use nitroglycerine. 1962B. Knox Little Drops of Blood iii. 65 The Dolman boys are going to peter a pawnshop safe tonight.
▪ III. peter
variant of petre, saltpetre, etc. |