| 释义 |
ˈpin-prick, n.
[f. pin n.1 3 + prick n.]
1. The prick of a pin; a minute puncture such as that made by a pin-point. Also fig.
1862John & I, II. 70, I would never move..to cause you the pain of a pin prick. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 520 When ankle-clonus has disappeared..a pin-prick of the plantar skin will restore it. 1900J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. XI. No. 41. 33 The nails themselves showed..numerous minute pin-pricks. 1927New Republic 12 Oct. 216/2 His pen is so subject to his moods that it can make a pin-prick read like a lightning bolt. 1949E. Coxhead Wind in West vii. 195 At the far end of the stifling tunnel, in which he was condemned to grope for ever, he seemed to see a pin-prick of light. 1978Times 22 July 9/2 Beware of sea urchins and the pinpricks of coral.
2. fig. A petty annoyance, a minute irritation. Also attrib., esp. as pin-prick raid.
policy of pin-pricks, a course of petty hostile acts maintained as a national or party policy: applied first in Nov. 1898 to the policy attributed to France in reference to the conflicting colonial interests of France and Great Britain.
The French use of a corresponding phrase coup d'épingle, ‘pin-stroke’, goes back some centuries; in Eng. ‘pin-pricks’ is found in political use in 1885. On 8 Nov. 1898 the French journal Le Matin deprecated a ‘politique des niches à l'Angleterre’, and ‘de continuelles piqûres d'épingle’; on 16 Nov. The Times, referring to this article, used the words ‘a policy of ‘pinpricks’’; Le Temps of 19 Nov. (publ. evening of 18th) had an article denying on the part of France the existence of a ‘politique de coups d'épingle’, The Times of 19 Nov. quoted this as a ‘policy of pin-pricks’ (see quot.), which forthwith became a political phrase.
1885Public Opinion 9 Jan. 29/2 Petty pin-pricks on the coast of Africa had rather irritated than roused public opinion. 1887R. N. Carey Uncle Max xxviii, It is strange how painfully these little pin-pricks to our vanity affect us. 1887Spectator 16 Apr. 518/1 Wherever the French Government can give the British Government a sharp pin-prick, it gives it. 1898Times 16 Nov. 9/3 Such a policy of ‘pinpricks’ is beginning to be recognized by sensible Frenchmen as a grievous error. Ibid. 19 Nov. 7/2 The Temps to-night contains a long article, entitled ‘The Policy of Pin-pricks’. Ibid. 11/3 According to the Temps there has never been any policy of pin-pricks. 1898Globe 6 Dec. 1/2 Disposed to bring the pin-prick policy to bear upon British interests in the Far East. 1901Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 9/5 Russian provocation is at present but a policy of pin-pricks. 1902Westm. Gaz. 28 Apr. 2/3 The extra penny stamp on cheques..may be a pin-prick, but the prospect is causing a good deal of irritation. 1926T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (1935) i. xv. 104 The tribesmen..hindered and distracted the Turks by their pin-prick raids. 1976A. White Long Silence vi. 49 Sooner or later, the Germans were going to..suspect..the source of the many pinprick raids. 1977Time 4 Apr. 23/2 After launching a few pinprick air raids, Mobutu's Army Chief of Staff..claimed that the intruders were in retreat.
3. pinprick picture, a coloured print pierced with pin-holes to create an illusion of illumination.
1960H. Hayward Antique Coll. 286/2 Pinprick pictures were a more simple form of transformation, since a coloured print was perforated with a number of small holes and, hence, when held to the light would appear to be illuminated. Coloured paper would sometimes be fastened behind the print. 1968Canad. Antiques Collector Oct. 22/1 Pinprick pictures of ancient oriental origin are probably a branch of decoupage.
So ˈpin-prick v., (quot. 1945 is in sense of pin-point v. 1 b); ˈpin-pricked ppl. a., pricked with a pin; spec. pin-pricked picture = pin-prick picture; ˈpin-ˈpricking vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1755Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 272 A dish of twitches, pinches, and pin-prickings. 1881Mrs. C. Praed Policy & P. II. 270 Small slight, pinpricking insults. 1898J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. IX. No. 36. 374 Dry and cracked finger-ends, with pin-pricked finger-nails. 1899Ibid. X. No. 38. 147 A peculiar form of local erosion..in which little pits form as if the nail had been pinched..‘the pin-pricked nail’. 1899Westm. Gaz. 6 Feb. 2/3 A Committee to pin-prick them on the subject. 1909Daily Chron. 15 July 4/4 Every book for the blind is carefully pin-pricked by voluntary workers who can see. 1912J. Bailey Let. 13 Aug. (1935) 132 You shall certainly pin-prick if you will when you come to London, if you don't find anything more amusing to do—and I will listen respectfully and gratefully. 1927Daily Express 5 Dec. 1/4 The move is interpreted..as a step forward to stop the ‘pin-pricking’ that has been going on between the two countries. 1936Discovery Oct. 321/2 That was a tragic pin which pricked out one of the last letters written by Marie Antoinette in the prison of the Conciergerie... The pin-pricked note miscarried. Ibid. 322/2 Some surviving specimens of these pin-pricked pictures date back two hundred years. Ibid. Pin-pricking with them was a fine art. 1945R. A. Knox God & Atom v. 71 Other men's lives are at stake; those..of British or American airmen who might be shot down in trying to pin-prick the targets of Hiroshima one by one, instead of devoting it to a general holocaust. 1950Times 24 Jan. 3/5 We must bring home to the British Government that although most of us are loyal, we will not tolerate the pinpricking of loyalty. 1952C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid xi. 245 Drances, hostile as ever to Turnus, whose high renown Pin-pricked him with sour envy to intrigue against him. 1958B. Hamilton Too Much of Water v. 119 He had..continued, in a small pin-pricking way, to belittle and snub Patricia Odell. 1958R. Godden Greengage Summer iv. 38 Pinpricked all over with fear, I tiptoed away. 1961M. Conway in Conc. Encycl. Antiques V. 231/2 The art of pin-pricking or ‘Piercing Costumes on Paper’ became a young ladies' amusement. Ibid., Extremely attractive pin-pricking effects were achieved by outlining from the front with a fine pin—actually needles were used—the remainder being thickly pierced from the back. 1961Times 1 July 11/1 One variety of pin-prickt picture deals with religious subjects. 1966D. Francis Flying Finish xi. 136 ‘There are some holes in the paper.’ ‘Where he put the pin.’..Simon had pinpricked four letters. 1972Times 26 June 8/5 Much authentic [A.J.P.] Taylor—pinpricking, bubble-bursting. 1973Times (Nepal Suppl.) 14 Apr. p. i/4 Nepal retaliates by such pinpricking gestures as refusing to cooperate wholeheartedly in the extradition of Naxalite terrorists who flee across the border from West Bengal. 1979G. Macdonald Camera Plate 4 A paper print of Venice, garishly coloured by hand then pin⁓pricked for back-lighting in a viewer. |