| 释义 |
big house
[big a. 3.]
1. A large house, a mansion; spec. (freq. with capital initials) the principal house of an estate. Also attrib. orig. U.S.
1823J. F. Cooper Pioneers xli, The big house has rung with merriment this month past! 1848A. Somerville Autobiogr. Working Man i. 13 The stack-yard..and cattle sheds..were at Thriepland Hill, while the ‘big house’, the stables, and some other offices..were at Branxton. 1867Trollope Claverings II. xxiii. 287 We might as well stay with them at the big house. 1926J. Devanny Butcher Shop 15 A passage leading to the ‘big house’ as the homestead is generally called. 1941L. MacNeice Poetry of Yeats v. 102 Yeats's cult of the Big House is to be correlated with his dislike for democracy. 1959L. Lee Cider with Rosie vii. 138 There were other stories of Big House life.
2. The workhouse. (Cf. house n.1 2 a.) slang.
1851Mayhew London Lab. I. 48/2 As long as they kept out of the ‘big house’ (the workhouse) she would not complain. 1868J. Hartley Yorks. Ditties (1873) 13 But him 'ats as poor as a maase..He mun point his noas up to th' big haase.
b. A prison. slang (orig. U.S.).
1916Lit. Digest 19 Aug. 424/3 The malefactor is sent away to the ‘big house’. 1940F. Scott Fitzgerald Let. 11 Apr. (1964) 68, I feel like a criminal who has been in a hideout, been caught, and has to go back to the Big House. 1942‘D. Hume’ Destiny is my Name ii. 21 You'll land yourself in the big house for fourteen years. |