| 释义 |
‖ petto|ˈpɛtto|
[It. petto:—L. pectus breast.]
The breast: in petto (It.), (a) in one's own breast or private intention; in contemplation; undisclosed; ¶ (b) by confusion with petty a. (n.1): in short, in miniature, on a small scale.
1674Blount Glossogr. (ed. 4), In Petto (Ital.), in design, in the breast or thought, and not yet put in execution. 1679J. Smith Narrat. Pop. Plot 2 They reserved them in their Petto, to be made use of upon occasion. 1712S. Sewall Diary 29 Feb., I ask'd the Govr. to take a Copy of it: He said No, It should remain yet in Petto..and put it in his Pocket. 1712Lond. Gaz. No. 5015/1 There are Seven Cardinals still remaining in Petto, whose Names the Pope keeps Secret. 1772Hartford Merc., Suppl. 18 Sept. 1/1 His Majesty nominated some new Counsellors and Senators, declaring..that he kept two in petto. 1838Emerson Jrnl. 19 Sept. (1911) V. 53 Such ostentation in petto I never did see. 1844Disraeli Coningsby I. ii. ii. 185 He commenced a discourse, which was in fact, one of his ‘slashing’ articles in petto on Church Reform. 1845― Sybil iv. xiv, Great constitutional movements in petto. a1846B. R. Haydon Autobiogr. (1853) I. 247 Away we marched, my little guide wearing a red night-cap..till we came in sight of the height, when my grenadier in petto turned round. 1894W. S. Hadley Euripides' Hecuba p. x, The effect thus produced within the compass of a single play is comparable to that brought about on a larger scale by the older trilogy... This trilogy in petto may be regarded as an experiment made by the youngest of the three great tragedians. 1901Kipling Kim xiii. 341 He represents in petto India in transition—the monstrous hybridism of East and West. 1924T. E. Lawrence Let. 1 Jan. (1938) 450 Yes, it will be revised, but only in petto. No good cuts or noble changes, no rewriting: just punctuation and insect-blemishes removed. 1937L. Bromfield Rains Came ii. ii. 258 Mr. Bannerjee's house and garden were a kind of India in petto, overcrowded, confused, swarming with noisy life. 1979Country Life 29 Mar. 947/4 In small (or, as people now cheerfully and wrongly say, in petto). |