| 释义 |
▪ I. retro, n.2 and a.|ˈrɛtrəʊ|
[a. F. rétro n. and adj. (1973), abbrev. of rétrograde adj.]
A. n. Something that imitates or harks back to a former style; esp. a style or fashion (of dress, music, etc.) that is nostalgically retrospective.
1974Guardian Weekly 18 May 14/1 The icy charms of the Group TSE's productions, beginning as far back as 1969's ‘Eva Peron’, have been in the vanguard of the French vogue for ‘retro’. 1983Daily Tel. 18 Mar. 17/4 No retro from this designer,..but just gorgeous colour. 1985Times 19 Mar. 13/2 At Hyper Hyper the young innovators mixed 1960s and 1970s retro with dandyish frock coats. 1986Q Oct. 69/3 Carmel have set up camp on that sacred turf the Americans now delight in calling ‘retro’. A throw-back. Something you missed the first time round but wouldn't mind a small portion reheated because you always wondered what it tasted like. 1987Daily Tel. 12 Aug. 11/7 ‘Retro’..is the latest ‘in’ word in California's ever-surprising lexicon and may be applied in a laudatory sense to anything from the past that is being brought back into fashion.
B. attrib. and as adj. Of, pertaining to, or characterized by this style; that looks back to or is a revival of something in the past.
1977Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Jan. 25/2 She will be eighty-five this year, so her Georgianism is real, not retro. 1979N.Y. Times 24 Jan. c8/4 We thought that if we closed our eyes, retro fashion would go away. No such luck. 1982Face May 38/2 It managed..to reconstruct Art Deco as a complete period fantasy, dutifully retro but also fantastically modern. 1984E. Jong Parachutes & Kisses ix. 157 She..slipped a scrawled card into his breast pocket... Kevin was delighted... (Any guy who wore a ‘retro’ tux would have to be.) 1985Village Voice (N.Y.) 8 Jan. 55/3 The rhythmically retro little track, for instance, exposes the not-necessarily-endearing frailty of her voice. 1986Times 1 July 11 Black patent Grace Kelly handbags, long black gloves and high-heeled slingbacks are retro accessories to the elegant look.
▸ As the first element in compounds forming nouns and adjectives denoting a cultural phenomenon (or its adherents) considered redolent or imitative of an earlier era, movement, or style; esp. a nostalgic or fashionable revival of a style of music, dress, design, etc., from the recent past, or qualities, characteristics, or behaviour associated with such a revival; as retro-chic, retro-cool n. and adj., retro-culture, retro-design, retro-disco, retro-fashion, retro-jazz, retro-mania, retro-punk, retro-rock, etc.
1976Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Sept. 1076/1 If any decade of the twentieth century stands out as drably horrible, it is the 1940s; but this has not stopped retro-merchants glamorizing its homely glamour. 1979Washington Post 29 May b3/5 To be fashionable,..retro-slang must be musty enough to be conspicuously self-conscious. 1984Chicago Sun-Times 1 Feb. 71/1 ‘Retro-dressing’ is a way of life for many people who often are between the ages of 18 and 35. 1984Washington Post 13 Apr. 37/4 Willis' retro-rock regurgitates most of the lyrical and musical cliches of the early '60s, but not cleverly. 1987Wilson Libr. Bull. Mar. 57/2 This track represents..a resounding battle cry for retropunk in general—a full-scale re-evaluation of the form. 1987Restaurant Business Mag. (Nexis) 1 July 177 (heading) Retro-mania... Bopping to the hop in saddle shoes in a diner-like setting is old news. 1989Face Jan. 56/1 The youth of the city have established a deeply rooted retro-culture based on cannabis and the music of Pink Floyd. 1990Artnews Apr. 174 Retro-chic doesn't mean a point of view. 1991Premiere Aug. 19/2 Buffa's unconscious retro-cool decor and age-ripened ambience are dominated by the incessantly chattering headwaitress and resident legend, Adele. 1992Gramophone Jan. 25/3 All this retro-jazz currently being released..has nothing slower than crochet = 200 on it. 1995Independent 6 Oct. (Suppl.) 25/1 The first rule of retro-fashion..is that if you are old enough to remember wearing it the first time, don't even think about wearing it on the revival. 1996Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 8 Jan. 19 Retromania is rife just now, and I wasn't ready to relive the Thatcher Era quite so soon. 2000Independent 12 May ii. 1/5 The roadside diner, with its chrome-edged lunch counter, mock-leather booths and tabletop juke-boxes, has ceded so much ground to McDonald's and Burger King that it is starting to return as retro-chic parody.
▸ retro-futurist adj. = retro-futuristic adj. at Additions
1986New Yorker 10 Feb. 109/3 He presents a *retro-futurist fantasy..and keeps it perking by cartoon techniques and black humor. 1999Independent (Nexis) 9 July 16 The sci-fi-inspired artwork..depicts the Brothers making a dramatic departure.., carried by retro-futurist jet packs.
▸ retro-futuristic adj. having both retro and futuristic elements; of or resembling a style or aesthetic considered futuristic in an earlier era.
1983N.Y. Times 27 Oct. a23 (advt.) Silverized steel and sleek grey linked for a *retro-futuristic look. 1998Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 26 Sept. 31 Her albums..set..retro-futuristic analog synth sounds against weird ruminations on colour theory. 2006Daily Tel. (Australia) (Nexis) 27 Sept. 51 Described as ‘space age’ in 1968, it now has a slightly retro-futuristic look about it.
▸ retro-futurism n. the use of a style or aesthetic considered futuristic in an earlier era.
1990Newsday (N.Y.) 5 July iii. 7/2 Mugler's Vinyl Moon Suits. *Retro futurism from the showman of French fashion. 2002National Post (Canada) (Toronto ed.) (Nexis) 5 Oct. 1 It's..the kind of building designed by a guy in the '90s imagining what a guy in the '50s would think a building in the '90s would look like. Retro-futurism, if you will.
▪ II. retro, n.|ˈrɛtrəʊ|
[Short for retro-rocket.]
= retro-rocket b.
1961New Scientist 21 Sept. 719/3 Whether because of the timing of the order, or the impulse of the retros, or drift of the wind.., the robot cosmonaut got away from its shepherds on the sea and fell into the water seventy miles from the nearest waiting ship. 1962S. Carpenter in Into Orbit 56 The pilot must..have the capsule pointed exactly right when the retros fire. 1966Word Study Dec. 1/2 Commander Alan B. Shepard, whose flight lasted only fifteen minutes, was precise and terse: ‘Disarm.’ ‘Auto retro jettison circuit.’
▪ III. ‖ ˈretro, adv. rare.
[L. retrō: see next.]
Backwards; into past time.
1771Encycl. Brit. II. 931/1 The compensation, after it is admitted by the judge, operates, retro,..to the time that, by the parties acknowledgment, the debt became due. 1885Law Rep. 10 App. Cases 383 note, Such presumption of use retro may be re-argued. |