| 释义 |
▪ I. short cut, short-cut, n.1
[cut n.2 16.]
†1. A short passage or journey. Also fig. Obs.
a1568R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 151 In the short cut of a priuate letter..small shew of difference can appeare. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 198 If the winde sende him a short cut you shall in the second part heare what newes he bringeth. 1631May tr. Barclay's Mirr. Mindes i. 270 From thence is but a short cut to Swethland. 1673S' too him Bayes 25 Both sayls and reason insufficient for so short a cut.
2. A path or a course taken between two places which is shorter than the ordinary road. (In early use almost exclusively shorter or shortest cut.)
1618Bolton Florus (1636) 169 Out-stripping the Enemy by shortest cuts [L. occupatis compendiis]. 1643Trapp Comm. Gen. xxxiv. 21 They should take a shorter cut to Dan and Bethel. a1774Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 279 [A ray of light] takes a shorter cut in passing through diamond than glass. 1796F. Burney Camilla I. 309 The baronet..declared that if there was a short cut, they should not part company, for he could walk it himself. 1820Keats Cap & Bells xxiii, He ‘knew the city’, as we say, of yore, And for short cuts and turns, was nobody knew more. 1889Spectator 14 Dec. 837 Those for making ocean short-cuts behind the backs of peninsulas and angles of land. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 126 By-tracks and short cuts, by..which the road was materially shortened.
b. fig. A compendious method of attaining some object.
1589Marlowe Faustus 287 Therefore the shortest cut for coniuring Is stoutly to abiure the Trinitie. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 208 He is the short cut (as we used to say) and the nearest way to an outgate of all your burdens. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 246 The degenerate fondness for tricking short-cuts, and little fallacious facilities, that has in so many parts of the world created governments with arbitrary powers. 1807Southey Espriella's Lett. III. 314 In England they..have made many short cuts to philosophy for the accommodation of ladies and gentlemen. 1873Spencer Study Sociol. (1882) 402 Between infancy and maturity there is no shortcut by which there may be avoided the tedious process of growth and development. 1891Kipling Light that Failed vii. (1900) 115 What will you give me if I tell you a sure short-cut to everything you want.
c. attrib.
1885Daily Tel. 10 Sept. (Cass.), Men who have been to the University..have been known before now to take the short-cut road to their meaning which swearing unhappily supplies. 1903Critic XLIII. 382/2 To make war the short-cut solution of the existing difficulties.
▪ II. short cut, short-cut, a. and n.2
[cut pa. pple.]
A. adj. Cut to a short length. (See short a. 1. i.)
1596Nashe Saffron Walden Ep. Ded. B 1, Content..to trauerse the subtile distinctions twixt short cut and long taile. 1786Jackson's Oxf. Jrnl. 8 July 2/3 A grey Poney, with a short cut Tail, broken winded. 1873Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 83/2 The curls or knots [should be] formed by turning a short-cut hair pencil.
B. n. (ellipt.)
1. A kind of tobacco.
1789G. Parker Life's Painter (c 1800) 140 Part swig'd barley swipes, As short-cut they were smoaking. 1839‘J. Fume’ Paper on Tobacco 119 About forty years ago short cut was the favourite with those for whom the common shag was too strong.
2. A ham that is cut short or round.
1906Times 2 June 12/6 A parcel of hams, ‘short-cuts’ called in the trade. |