| 释义 |
self-ˈservice
[self- 1 a.]
1. A system whereby customers in a shop, restaurant, etc., serve themselves instead of being attended to or waited on by the staff, usu. paying for all purchases in one place. Also, an establishment or department where this system obtains.
1919Ladies' Home Jrnl. Jan. 65/2 The Duffy-Powers Company, operating a full-fledged department store in Rochester, New York, inaugurated self-service—that is, the customers, not the store, provide the service—in its grocery department. 1928Daily Mail 7 Aug. 3/3 This same principle of self-service has..been successfully applied to food shops. 1944M. Paneth Branch Street 6 The outing ended in a ‘Lyons’ with ‘self-service’. 1952Economist 29 Nov. 636/1 Food shops..may soon be turning over to self-service. 1961Listener 7 Dec. 983/1 Big stores, self-services, cinemas losing business. 1962H. O. Beecheno Introd. Bus. Stud. xi. 101 Self-service is..a very suitable form of retailing for pre-weighed or measured, pre-packed goods which the customer can select for himself and pay for at a cash-taking position as he leaves the shop. 1972J. Mann Mrs Knox's Profession v. 31 She had pulled into the motorway café..and had gone into the self-service to buy a cup of tea.
2. attrib. or as adj. Designating:
a. A place where customers may serve themselves.
1919Ladies' Home Jrnl. Jan. 65/3 After several months.., not only are all the self-service departments reported on a self-supporting basis, but with sales increasing. 1950‘N. Shute’ Town like Alice xi. 330, I sat on the veranda with Jean, studying her drawing of the layout of the self-service grocery. 1952D. Riesman in Antioch Rev. Dec. 430 The self-service supermarket, with its abundance of foods capably displayed. 1967Times 16 May 21/1 The situation with self-service filling stations is a classic case. 1977B. Pym Quartet in Autumn ii. 24 Letty did her shopping..at a small self-service store run by Uganda Asians that stayed open till eight o'clock in the evening.
b. A system of this nature.
1919Ladies' Home Jrnl. Jan. 65/2 It [sc. a department store] followed this with an even greater inauguration—the self-service system in the sale of shoes..and women's wearing apparel. 1969Which? Nov. 338/2 For clothes, some people liked self-service arrangements... Older women preferred the help..of an assistant.
c. A facility operated by the customer or user.
1952S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) xiv. 240 Then he walked back into the house and went up in the self-service elevator. 1960[see coin-operated adj. s.v. coin n. 8].
d. Merchandise bought by self-service.
1958Spectator 18 July 118/1 Packaging for ‘self-service’ retailed goods. 1967M. Drabble Jerusalem the Golden viii. 194 They..collected themselves a large self-service meal.
Also self-ˈserve attrib. (chiefly N. Amer.).
[1916Amer. Mag. Oct. 69/1 ‘We told the customers to make their own selection, which they did.’ ‘It was a sort of serve-self arrangement, like a restaurant,’ I said. ‘Serve self..,’ repeated Garner. ‘Serve-Self Sale. I have it.’] 1931W. Faulkner Sanctuary xxxi. 305 A self-serve place, where the customers moved slowly along a railing in single file. 1981Univ. Coll. London Bull. Dec. 4/2 Self-serve counters would replace the current type. |