| 释义 |
rule of thumb
Also hyphened.
[rule n.]
1. A method or procedure derived entirely from practice or experience, without any basis in scientific knowledge; a roughly practical method. Also, a particular stated rule that is based on practice or experience.
1692Sir W. Hope Fencing-Master 157 What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by Art. 1721Kelly Scot. Prov. 257 No Rule so good as Rule of Thumb, if it hit. 1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Thumb, by rule of thumb, to do a thing by dint of practice. 1802Sporting Mag. XX. 17 Too often did she apportion the drugs by the rule of thumb. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. v. 159 The English..have in all their changes proceeded, to use a familiar expression, by the rule of thumb. 1887Besant World Went xxv, [He] knew nothing save by rule of thumb of navigation. 1906[see drill book s.v. drill n.2 7 b]. 1965C. D. Eby Siege of Alcázar (1966) vii. 135 In doubtful cases a rule of thumb applied: if the prisoner employed one servant in his household or two workers in his business, then he was a Fascist. 1967G. F. Fiennes I tried to run a Railway ii. 14 George Jackson who timed by rule of thumb faster and as accurately as any Grapher. 1976Inorg. Chem. XV. 1032/2 The i.r. spectra..show no apparent deviation from the rule of thumb that vibrational spectra of mixed-valence compounds are approximate superpositions of the single-valence spectra. 1976Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 11 Nov. 3/7 The rule of thumb over the tenancy of a council home should be ‘follow the children’. 1977National Observer (U.S.) 1 Jan. 7/2 The usual rule of thumb in the real-estate business is that a family can afford a house 2 to 2½ times its income. 1980Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Feb. 166/2 By day that same boy's master, and overlooker, and fellow-workmen, are all teaching him..that rule of thumb is the only safe guide.
transf.1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iii, Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no fibs. I procured them by the rule of thumb.
2. attrib.
a. Of methods, etc.: Based merely upon practice or experience. Also in predicative use.
1837Lockhart Scott (1839) VIII. 92 Beyond this rule of thumb calculation, no experience could bring him to penetrate his mystery. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxi. (1889) 196 We never learnt anything..except a little rule-of-thumb mathematics. 1878Abney Photogr. Pref., Though rapid advance has been made of late years in rule of thumb photography. 1935E. Waugh Edmund Campion ii. 55 Old-fashioned priests..came to him when they found their simple, rule-of-thumb dialectics insufficient to cope with their trained opponents. 1947E. M. Forster in Harper's Mag. July 15/2 Virginia Woolf..believed in reading a book twice. The first time she abandoned herself to the author unreservedly. The second time she treated him with severity and allowed him to get away with nothing he could not justify. After these two readings she felt qualified to discuss the book. Here is good rule of thumb advice. 1962W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use iii. 53 This attitude..however rule-of-thumb it may be, is reasonable enough. 1977N.Y. Rev. Bks. 24 Nov. 16/1 Ridiculing the ‘rule of thumb’ methods used in the household.
b. Of persons: Working only by methods derived from practice.
1841B. Hall Patchwork III. 83 Unlooked-for results often occur to distract the mere rule-of-thumb navigator. 1878Abney Photogr. (1890) 10 A great difficulty to the beginner or to the rule-of-thumb photographer. 1947[see nomographer].
Hence rule-of-ˈthumbite, a person who works by rule of thumb (nonce-wd.).
1916H. G. Wells Mr. Britling i. i. 16 Ruskin and Morris..were as reactionary and anti-scientific as the dukes and the bishops. Machine haters. Science haters. Rule of Thumbites to the bone. |