| 释义 |
roach motel, n. orig. and chiefly U.S.
Brit. |ˈrəʊtʃ ˌməʊtɛl|, U.S. |ˈroʊtʃ moʊˌtɛl|
[‹ roach n.4 + motel n.]
1. A proprietary name for: a type of cockroach trap.
1976Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 23 Nov. tm322/2 Roach Motel... For Waterbug and Roach Traps. First use May 7, 1976. 1991Science 252212/2 The fungus is dispensed in a chemical bait station, which looks somewhat like a ‘Roach Motel’. 1994Sci. Amer. July 85/3 The aggregation pheromone might be used to lure the insects into the kind of sticky trap sometimes marketed as a roach motel.
2. Something from which it may be difficult or impossible to be extricated (also occas., of a person).
[1981N.Y. Times 1 Mar. br3 Hobson University Medical Center..where Robin Cook..has set his latest medical thriller, is less like a hospital than one of those ‘Roach Motels’ where the guests check in but fail to check out.] 1981V. Canby in N.Y. Times 10 July c6/2 Manhattan becomes a sort of super Roach Motel: the inmates check in but they don't check out. 1991Economist 7 Dec. 126/3 The illiquidity of small companies' shares tended to dampen venture capitalists' profits. Wary investment managers dubbed such shares ‘Roach Motel’ stocks, after an insect trap for which it was claimed that ‘the roaches check in, but they don't check out’. 2000U.S. News & World Rep. 3–10 Jan. 62/1 He warns them against..becoming stealth researchers whose distrust of others makes them..roach motels for information.
3. An extremely dirty or run-down building or dwelling, esp. a motel.
1990N.Y. Times 21 Feb. c6 My husband works for the Government and when he is on the road he stays in roach motels. 1999Indiana Daily Student (Bloomington) 14 Jan. (Spring Break section) 12/4 We decided to look for hotels, but even the roach motels were booked. |