| 释义 |
rum-tum
[A fanciful formation.]
1. dial. A jovial diversion or prank.
1876Blackmore Cripps liv, The Lord only knows what a fool I be, to carry on with such rum-tums now.
2. Boating. A form of light racing-boat for one sculler, with outriggers and sliding seat, used on the lower Thames. Also attrib.
First built and named at Putney about 1888. The rum-tum is shorter and broader than the gig, and was originally an open boat, but is now canvassed in fore and aft. (N.E.D.)
1891Lock-to-Lock Times 24 Oct. 6/2 May I ask why a new class of boat has sprung up, bearing the inelegant name of ‘Rum-Tum’? Why ‘Rum-Tum’? 1898Ansted Dict. Sea Terms, Rum-tum race, a race among Thames rowing men in boats supplied to them by the clubs to which they belong... The practice of rum-tum racing has only been instituted within the last few years.
3. Used in imitation of a regular rhythmic sound; also attrib.
1898G. B. Shaw Perfect Wagnerite 139 The strings play a rum-tum accompaniment. 1917― London Music in 1888–89 (1937) 380 The accompaniments are a derisive rum-tum. 1922Joyce Ulysses 51 Of all the glad new year, mother, the rum tum tiddledy tum. 1958Times 28 Nov. 8/4 The rum-tum bars in Malcolm Arnold's United Nations tone-poem. 1963Times 14 May 15/1 Mr. Charles Groves..brought out the rum-tum rhythms more successfully than the great arches of melody they support. |