| 释义 |
screwball, n. and a. Chiefly U.S.|ˈskruːbɔːl|
Also screw-ball, screw ball.
[f. screw n.1 + ball n.1; for sense 2 cf. oddball.]
A. n.
1.
†a. Cricket. A ball bowled with ‘screw’ or spin. Obs.
b. Baseball. A ball pitched with reverse spin against the natural curve. Also fig. and attrib.
1866‘Capt. Crawley’ Cricket 35 A ‘screw’ ball, which in slow bowling would describe the arc of a circle from the pitch to the wicket, becomes in fast bowling a sharp angle. Ibid. 36 The dotted line shows the direction of a slow screw ball screwing in from the leg. 1928N.Y. Times 7 Oct. xi. 2/3 Haines is a large, healthy individual with..a ‘screw ball’ that ducks under many a well-meant swing with a hickory bludgeon. 1933Ibid. 2 Aug. 20/1 Hubbell pitched his customary shrewd game for five innings then his deceptive screw ball lost its baffling influence. 1937Sun (N.Y.) 1 June 24/3 ‘I thought Joe Robinson was mentioned [for the Supreme Court].’ ‘Yes, but it seems the President insists on screwball pitching.’ 1949Sun (Baltimore) 15 Oct. 12/5 Buxton, a 35-year-old screwball artist, was purchased from Oakland. 1960Time 3 Oct. 47/2 Spahn started to perfect a screwball and a slider. 1971L. Koppett N.Y. Times Guide Spectator Sports i. 15 Baseball men use the term screwball for either type of reverse curve, but the pitch is used primarily by left-handers.
2. a. An eccentric; a madman, a ‘nut-case’; a fool. Freq. as a term of mild abuse. slang.
1933P. Gallico in Sat. Even. Post 12 Aug. 56/3 McKabe was already heading for the door. He heard Billers say: ‘Who is that screwball?’ 1939Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime viii. 115 You are going to Blandings Castle now, no doubt, to inspect some well-connected screwball? 1944H. S. Truman Let. 18 Aug. in M. Truman Harry S. Truman (1973) ix. 184 He should have been arrested as a screwball but wasn't. 1954J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday xxv. 163 He was a scientist, but whether brilliant or a screwball nobody ever knew. 1956E. Pound tr. Sophocles's Women of Trachis 20 No use bothering with this screw-ball. 1956W. H. Whyte Organization Man (1957) xviii. 239 To talk of the problem in terms of the lone genius or the screwball is to confuse the issue. 1978S. Brill Teamsters v. 186 The word one got on Carey at Teamsters headquarters..was that he was a ‘screwball’, ‘a weirdo’, a ‘strange guy’, or..‘a naïve kid’.
b. spec. Used, chiefly attrib. or as adj. (esp. as screwball comedy) of a kind of fast-moving, irreverent comedy film produced in the U.S. in the 1930s, of which eccentric characters were the chief feature, or of persons, etc., connected with such films.
1938Collier's 26 Feb. 58/3 Wellman was named ‘Screw⁓ball Bill’ six or seven years ago and has, beyond any doubt, lived up to his title. 1938N.Y. Times 2 Sept. 21/2 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer..has popped up with another of those screwball comedies—this one called ‘Three Loves Has Nancy’. 1939L. Jacobs Rise of Amer. Film 536 Among the women Carole Lombard is the most outstanding in her ‘screw-ball’ activity. 1959Times 6 Apr. 3/4 The situation, that of girl thwarted at every turn in her moneyless search for somewhere to sleep, suggests a 1930s screwball comedy. 1974S. H. Scheuer Movie Bk. 190 Perhaps James Whale's Remember Last Night? (1935) first brings together all of the elements of the classic screwball comedy—beautiful people with money to burn [etc.]... The pace and movement are pure screwball. Ibid., [Cary] Grant developed the perfect screwball hero. 1978Time 3 July 44/2 Heaven Can Wait is a light, screwball fantasy about a Los Angeles Rams quarterback (Beatty) who dies and comes back to life as an eccentric millionaire.
3. slang. Fast jazz improvisation or unrestrained ‘swing’. Also attrib.
1936Delineator Nov. 10/2 Barrel-house, gut-bucket, screw-ball, Dixieland..the cats are lickin' their chops, they're friskin' their whiskers. 1938[see barrel-house 2]. 1947R. P. Dodge in A. McCarthy Jazzbook 64 When inspiration leaves the player..he becomes what is known as a screw-ball player. I must say that I prefer the jump style to the screw-ball style.
B. adj. Eccentric; mad, crazy. Also absol. slang.
1936Metronome Feb. 21/4 Screw-ball, crazy without knowing. 1938E. Hemingway Fifth Column (1939) ii. i. 53, I think he is screwball. 1943R. Chandler Lady in Lake (1944) xxxi. 167 That purple hat.., that messed-up make-up.., the jittery screwball manner. 1948F. Brown Murder can be Fun (1951) iv. 51, I know it all sounds screwball, but here we go. 1958S. Ellin Eighth Circle iii. i. 173 ‘It must have done you a lot of good.’ ‘If I get home in one piece from this screwball deal, I'll know it did.’ 1976National Observer (U.S.) 6 Mar. 11/3 You and I know that there is a correlation between the creative and the screwball. 1976J. McClure Rogue Eagle ii. 34 The only whites..are two old guys who run the place—a couple of screwball recluses.
Hence as v. intr., to pitch a screwball; also transf., to travel like a screwball; ˈscrewballism, (a) screwball behaviour, lunacy; (b) the screwball genre in films.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §676/15 Pitch a curve,..put hooks on the ball, screwball. 1946J. W. Day Harvest Adventure iv. 48 Partridges sky⁓rocketed and screwballed overhead and fled to safety. 1947Sun (Baltimore) 9 Aug. 8/4 Jesse Flores was screwballing along with no signs of trouble. 1971D. E. Westlake I gave at the Office 182 The dividing line between apocalyptic visions and screwballism is a very fine one indeed. 1974S. H. Scheuer Movie Bk. 190 William Powell playing the servant to a whole wacky family in My Man Godfrey,..or Claudette Colbert smiling her way through Midnight,..immediately come to mind as high points of screwballism. |