| 释义 |
‖ au fait, advb. phr.|o ˈfɛ|
[Fr.; au at the, to the, fait fact, point, question, under discussion.]
In phr. to be au fait in or at: to be well instructed or ‘up to the mark’ in, thoroughly conversant with, expert or skilful in. to put a person au fait of (= F. mettre au fait de): to instruct thoroughly in. Also const. to, or (most freq. in recent use) with.
a1743Ld. Hervey Mem. (1952) v. 221 Your Majesty being au fait of all transactions..for these last ten years. 1748H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann II. 255 Being au fait he went up to him at Ranelagh and apostrophized him. 1821New Monthly Mag. II. 220 Yet, to be au fait at nonsense, is no easy matter. 1828A. Granville Autobiog. II. 286, I..will put you au fait of all the circumstances of the case. 1849C. Brontë Shirley I. vi. 157 For the benefit of those who are not ‘au fait’ to the mysteries of the ‘Jew-basket’ and ‘Missionary-basket’,..these ‘meubles’ are willow-repositories. 1859De Quincey Incognito Wks. XI. 11 The gallant troops were not quite au fait in the art of loading. 1881Daily News 7 Mar. 2/3 (Boat-race), Not quite so au fait at the work as Mr. West. 1906Nature 13 Sept. 485/1 The author is..not au fait with any up-to-date work. 1916T. E. Lawrence Let. 22 Dec. (1938) 213, I hope..to run up first to Feisal and so put you au fait with his intentions. 1936Punch 3 June 624/2 Now Daniel would have been perfectly au fait with such a situation. |