| 释义 |
right and left, right-and-left, adv. (v.), a., and n.
A. adv.
1. a. On or towards the right and the left; on both sides, in both directions.[a1300Cursor M. 21639 Ouer and vnder, right and left.] 1829Examiner 196/1 He would lay about him right and left, what havoc he would make! 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxv, The Spaniards recoiled right and left. 1865― Herew. xiv, Right and left of her..sat the other great ladies.
b. transf. On all hands; on all sides. Also, from every quarter; indiscriminately.
1839F. Hastings Let. 8 Mar. in R. B. Martin Enter Rumour 51, I wished you to know the truth..and you are welcome to tell it right and left. 1863Mrs. Gaskell in All Year Round VIII. 560/1 Mr. Wilkins has written everywhere, right and left. 1873‘Mark Twain’ Gilded Age 319 You still begin to squander a fortune right and left. 1876C. Schreiber Jrnl. 26 July (1911) I. 472 Froeschel, of Hamburg, was there buying right and left. 1884G. Meredith Let. 13 May (1970) II. 735, I am now rejecting kind invitations right and left, for I see I shall not be released before the first or second week of next month. 1893F. F. Moore Gray Eye or So II. 221 He is being robbed right and left. 1912T. Dreiser Financier xxx. 341 The stocks had been unloaded freely right and left. 1927J. N. McIlwraith Kinsmen at War xix. 194 Stephen struggled and slashed right and left. 1962P. Gregory Like Tigress at Bay xiv. 142 Rudy was there now, smirking, bowing to the customers, giving orders right and left.
2. ellipt. as v. To turn right and left; to dodge.
1855Dickens Dorrit vii, It took him a matter of ten weeks to set to his creditors, lead off, turn the Commissioners, and right and left back to his professional pursuits.
B. adj. Of or pertaining to the right and the left hand, side, etc.; turning to the right and the left; fitting the right and left hand or foot respectively. right-and-left screw, one having the threads at the two ends running opposite ways.
1854Woodward Mollusca ii. 280 They are essentially unsymmetrical, and right-and-left valved. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting viii. 342, I missed having an excellent right-and-left shot at wild dogs this morning. 1871Figure Training 117 Comfort..is easily attained by wearing right and left stockings and boots made on strictly anatomical principles. 1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 288 Through these the coal is forced by a right-and-left screw.
C. n.
1. A method of beating the drum. rare—0.
1688Holme Armoury iii. xix. (Roxb.) 154/2.
2. A right-and-left shot. Also transf. and fig.
1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. i. v. 52/1 In many cases very wild birds will allow him to come up and get ‘a right and left’. 1886Pall Mall G. 27 Aug. 5/1 With single ‘right-and-lefts’, however, our crack marksmen are no longer inclined to rest content. 1892Greener Breech-Loader 191 In taking a double rise from traps, or in making a right and left at game. 1935A. P. Herbert What a Word! vii. 221 This is the best right-and-left I have found. Issue is a ‘conclusion’ in one sentence and ‘question’ in the next. 1978R. V. Jones Most Secret War xli. 390, I felt that we had achieved one of the best ‘right and lefts’ of all time by picking out the 14th and 15th Companies. |