| 释义 |
‖ pretzel, bretzel U.S.|ˈprɛtsəl, ˈbrɛtsəl|
[G. pretzel, bretzel, in OHG. brizzilla = It. bracciello (Florio) a cracknel; usually taken as ad. med.L. bracellus a bracelet; also a kind of cake or biscuit (Du Cange).]
1. A crisp biscuit baked in the form of a knot and flavoured with salt; used esp. by Germans as a relish with beer. Also fig. and attrib.
1856[see blutwurst]. 1857C. Kingsley Two Yrs. Ago III. ix. 271 After him came..like in Struwelpeter, Caspar, bretzel in hand. 1858Harper's Mag. Aug. 327/1 Eating pretzels and drinking what is here called bière de Bavière. 1889Harper's Mag. Apr. 692/1 The German beer-houses, with their baskets of ‘pretzel’, are more frequent as we approach the commercial quarters. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 134/1 She brought me some pretzels and a stein that she said her mother brought from the fatherland. 1915Lit. Digest 12 June 1443/1 Prunella's painting pretzels in Przemysl. 1932E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost vii. 45 The pretzel man with his basket and the roast-chestnut man have come out again. 1933R. L. Sutton Arctic Safari 24 The booby prize was a string of pretzels at least four feet long. 1933Sun (Baltimore) 15 Aug. 8/7 In the old days your newest reporter would have been sufficiently cultured to know that one doesn't twist pretzels; one bends them. Hence the artisan or craftsman who performs the work is a pretzel bender. 1945Finito! Po Valley Campaign (15th Army Group) 5 The air forces twisted the enemy's rail lines into pretzels of steel. 1961Wodehouse Ice in Bedroom xvi. 128 You know as well as I do that Chimp Twist is as crooked as a pretzel. 1968Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 7 Feb. (1970) 627 Little round tables with cokes and pizza, peanuts and pretzels. 1973Times 25 June 11/3 Ervin Committee Member Lowell Weicker, dropped in for beer and pretzels. 1975New Yorker 31 Mar. 29/2 She dumps an armful of immense pretzel stick cuttings into the pail. 1976R. Cowper Paradise Beach in Custodians 71 He snatched her hands to his lips and set about them as if they were a pair of pretzels.
2. Mus. slang. (See quots.) Also pretzel bender.
1936Metronome Feb. 61/2 Pretzel—French horn. 1936Amer. Mercury May p. x/2 Pretzel bender—one who favors the French horn. 1945L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 16 Pretzel, French horn. Ibid. 31 Pretzel bender, French horn player. |