| 释义 |
▪ I. potty, a. colloq.|ˈpɒtɪ|
[f. pot n.1 + -y1.]
1. a. As a general term of disparagement: indifferent, feeble; petty, insignificant, esp. in potty little.
1860Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) 193 Potty, indifferent, bad looking. [ed. 3 (1864), indifferent, bad looking,—said of a rotten or unsound scheme.] 1870Times 12 Aug. 10/3 Then came a single, and then a catch from a ‘potty’ hit. 1899E. Phillpotts Human Boy 72 It is such a potty little place, hardly worth calling a wood. 1904Kipling Traffics & Discov. 270 'Think they'll take you an' your potty quick-firers? 1907Galsworthy Country House iii. iv. 246 We stand on our petty rights here, And our potty dignity there. 1927Chesterton Secret of Father Brown v. 178 Who would, or could, have killed him up in that potty little place? 1930― Four Faultless Felons 236 It was within reasonable distance of revolution; not a potty little palace revolution. 1939G. B. Shaw Geneva iii. 57 What I think of the mob of bagmen from fifty potty little foreign states that calls itself a League of Nations. 1980‘M. Innes’ Going it Alone xx. 178 They've..smashed their way in. Just the idea I had with that potty litle motor-mower.
b. Easy to manage, accomplish, or deal with; easy, simple.
1899E. Phillpotts Human Boy 127 Ferrars..got regularly muddled over a potty question about Jacob. 1916E. F. Benson David Blaize iv. 70 It was quite certain that Helmsworth would have won had not that ass Blazes..dropped the ‘pottiest’ catch ever seen. 1922Blackw. Mag. July 55/2 It's potty on this scaffolding.., no end of cross-pieces to hold on to.
2. a. Crazy, mad; out of one's senses; eccentric, ‘dotty’.
1920Cornh. Mag. Jan. 7 Next day, at tea time, the producer of the comedy solemnly thanked Jess for saving a situation past praying for... In your potty part, you put 'em all to bed. How did you do it? 1921Chambers's Jrnl. July 511/2 Pull yourself together. You'll be going potty if you don't get a move on. 1925Punch 7 Jan. 7 Hear about Mary, Mums? Gone potty! Broke off her engagement 'cos her people disapproved. 1929W. Faulkner Sartoris iii. 170 Aunt Sally, a potty little woman. 1930‘R. Crompton’ William the Bad iv. 113 ‘I don't know what you're talking about,’ she said. ‘You seem to me quite potty today.’ 1942Sun (Baltimore) 25 July 8/1 Confronted, in the final scene, with the prospect of winning and wedding this incurably potty creature, he lets out an anguished yawp. 1952[see Baconian a. and n. 2]. 1960Times 21 Sept. 3/7, I realized Floss had put the boot in. I have been going potty about this. When I ‘jumped’ him we didn't mean to kill or hurt him. 1976K. Bonfiglioli Something Nasty in Woodshed i. 19 Violet's mother..is, I suppose, either potty or an alcoholic. 1977Daily Mirror 12 Apr. 17/1 He played the joyously potty day-dreamer.
b. Madly in love; mad about, gone on (someone or something).
1923E. V. Lucas Advisory Ben xxxix. 206 I'm potty about her. 1926Punch 8 Dec. 622/3, I suppose you're potty about the poor fish? 1928‘R. Crompton’ William—the Good ix. 228 ‘Hector's potty on her too,’ said Ginger. 1930A. P. Herbert Water Gipsies xx. 292 Jane..confessed to herself that she was mad about Mr. Bryan—just potty. 1975Reveille 20 June 11/7 Women are potty about pans—they can't resist buying them.
Hence ˈpottily adv.
1977Times Lit. Suppl. 3 June 686/3 Contributors to anthologies can pursue minor themes more selectively, if occasionally pottily.
▪ II. potty, n.|ˈpɒtɪ|
Also pottie.
[f. pot n.1 + -y6.]
A nursery word for a chamber-pot; occas. applied also to a lavatory.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §84/14 Chamber pot,..potty. 1952C. Hayes in S. Rogers Children & Language (1975) iv. 283 Don't flush the soap down the potty, dear. 1959Observer 22 Mar. 21/5 Pram bedding, waterproof sheets, potties. 1960S. Foot Emergency Exit ii. 20 Awful little bedside tables which..have place for potty. 1960News Chron. 20 Aug. 6/8 Granny soaking her corns and Baby..shaking his pottie. 1966Auden About House 26 Lifted off the potty, Infants from their mothers Hear their first impartial Words of worldly praise. 1976Milton Keynes Express 4 June 22/3 (Advt.), White baby bath and potty, {pstlg}1.25.
2. attrib. and Comb., as potty-chair, a child's commode; potty-mouth U.S. (see quot. 1968–70); potty-seat = potty-chair; potty-training vbl. n., the training of a child to use a chamber-pot; also fig.; hence (as a back-formation) potty-train v.; potty-trained ppl. a.
1961Webster, Potty-chair. 1965M. Shadbolt Among Cinders ii. 11 The only thing I really saw was a little kid's potty-chair. 1977Time 19 Sept. 41/3 The junk in his basement, including ‘one used potty-chair, a tricycle with no handle bars, one broken ski, an old door⁓knob and six bags of leaves’.
1968–70Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 95 Potty mouth, n. A person who repeatedly uses foul language. 1976Time 10 May 79/2 Potentially even more annoying is the widespread abuse of the channels—especially by so-called potty mouths using obscenities.
1961L. Mumford City in Hist. Note to plate 10, Full of objects that bring the daily life near, from a clay sausage-griddle to a ceramic potty-seat with holes for the child's legs. 1974E. Tidyman Dummy xiv. 195 He did go to school for a while, but..he wasn't potty trained at the time. 1978F. Weldon Praxis xxii. 211 Justin was not, as they said in the nursery world, ‘potty-trained’.
1958R. Martin Before the Baby—and After xiii. 274 The number of modern young mothers who have erroneous views on ‘potty’ training is amazing. 1969New Scientist 13 Mar. 31/1 There is no necessary link between outstanding cleanliness and tidiness and outstanding research work. Strict potty-training is not the key to the Royal Society. 1978P. O'Donnell Dragon's Claw xii. 262, I expect you suffered from poor potty training as a baby. |