| 释义 |
Peter Pan
[The name of the boy hero of J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up (1904).]
1. Used attrib. to designate various styles of clothing, esp. Peter Pan collar (also with lower-case initials), a flat collar with rounded ends, often white or light-coloured.
1908S. Ford Side-Stepping with Shorty iv. 60 She was sportin' a Peter Pan peekaboo that would have made Comstock gasp. 1909Westm. Gaz. 10 July 15/1 The collars and cuffs are what we call ‘Peter Pan’.., edged with Valenciennes. 1923Daily Mail 12 June 1 (Advt.), Can also be had with Robespierre or Peter Pan collar. 1933M. Lutyens Forthcoming Marriages 204 She was wearing a white Peter Pan collar over a little blue cape. 1948‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair xiv. 148 Miss Tuff had worn peter-pan collars over her dark frock for twenty years. 1958Vogue Sept. 133 Clothes for children with puff sleeves, peter pan collars. 1960Times 15 Jan. 14/3 A white silk shirt with a frilled Peter Pan collar. 1975Listener 10 July 46/1 The maids, they used to wear what we call their print dresses in the mornings. In the afternoon they changed into blue alpaca or black, with white Peter Pan collar and little cuffs.
2. Used allusively for an immature adult (usu. a man); one who is emotionally (occas. physically) retarded. Also attrib.
1914G. B. Shaw What I really wrote about War (1930) ii. 109 It is frightful to think of the powers which Europe..left in the hands of this Peter Pan [sc. the Kaiser]. 1927A. Huxley Proper Stud. 163 An electorate composed in a great part of mental Peter Pans. 1931J. S. Huxley What dare I Think? ii. 62 The Peter Pan type of semi⁓dwarf who, though perfectly proportioned, never grows up fully. 1956I. Bromige Enchanted Garden ii. iii. 99 ‘Fiona..has the wide-eyed simplicity of eternal youth.’ ‘A Peter Pan.’ 1958Sunday Express 15 June 15/2 Bogarde has still got his hooks into the Peter Pan racket... He is still prowling the screen, demanding mother love from his millions of female fans. 1971Guardian 21 Oct. 6/4 Professor Desmond Pond... Professor of psychiatry at the London Hospital,..told of highly-educated students who became ‘Peter Pans’ and never managed to leave adolescence. 1976J. Wainwright Bastard v. 76 He is something of a museum-piece..Peter Pan, in person. The fink who never grew up..never acknowledged the responsibilities of adulthood. 1978Time 3 July 48/2 Warren's conquests of women are not totally successful... But the Peter Pan quality in Warren is very attractive to some. He teaches them to fly, and they have extraordinary experiences with him. Then they grow up and go on, and he keeps flying. Like Peter Pan, he always comes back to another little girl who's ready to fly off with him to never-never land.
Hence Peter ˈPanic (nonce) [joc. f. panic n.2], confused, childish behaviour; also as adj. [-ic], characteristic of a Peter Pan; Peter ˈPan(n)ish a. [-ish1] = Peter Panic adj.; hence Peter Pan(n)ishness; Peter ˈPannery, Peter-Pannery, immaturity; childish quality or behaviour; Peter ˈPanning (see quot. 1974).
1914‘I. Hay’ Knight on Wheels (ed. 2) xiv. 143 Mr. Mablethorpe remained as incorrigibly Peter Pannish as ever. Although his hair was whitening..he declined to grow up. 1928F. E. Baily Golden Vanity xvi. 252 They were all in the early twenties except Joe, and he had an eternal Peter Pan-ish-ness which made the passage of time as marked by the calendar quite immaterial in his case. 1934R. Campbell Broken Record 160 Though not predisposed to this Peter Panic, I had considerable time to see it at work at first hand. 1937Times Lit. Suppl. 10 July 502/3 If we are seeking to know what gives a thinness to much of his fiction..it was not ‘Peter Pannishness’ in the sense of shrinking from adult reality. 1958Listener 12 June 987/3 The Peter-Panish English is not entirely the fault of the translator. 1960Spectator 2 Sept. 345 An occasional embarrassing lapse into peter-pannery. 1962A. Huxley Island ix. 152 A year in jail won't cure a Peter Pan of his endocrine disbalance... For Peter Panic delinquency, what you need is early diagnosis. 1962John o' London's 2 Aug. 115/3 General air of Peter Pannery. 1974Daily Tel. 12 Mar. 3/2 So many people have invented fictitious children to evade income tax that Inland Revenue officials have introduced their own catch phrase for it ‘Peter Panning’. 1975Listener 9 Oct. 464/3 To use one's children's slang is Peter Pannish. 1978Radio Times 28 Jan. 13/4 You could say that Lewis was a latter-day Lewis Carroll... There is a Peter Panishness to his heroes and echoes of Ratty and Badger in his anthropomorphics. |