| 释义 |
ˈcliff-hanger orig. U.S.
[f. cliff + hanger2.]
A serial film in which each episode ends in a desperate situation; hence, any story, play, etc., in which suspense is a main concern. Also transf., fig. and attrib.
1937Amer. Speech XII. 318/1 Cliff-hangers, type of serial melodrama. 1940Sat. Even. Post 6 Apr. 18/1 The picture started out to be one of those cliff-hangers, with Indians, strong and silent men, the great out-doors, mail robbers. 1940Time 15 Apr. 17/1 She is about to join radio's cliff-hangers and soap operas. 1952Time 17 Mar. 19/3 ‘Will Ike come home in time?’ is the greatest cliff-hanger question. 1956‘J. Wyndham’ Seeds of Time 7 The bulk of science-fiction..has been..kept to the cliff-hanger class. 1958Spectator 1 Aug. 165/1 Hamlet was the first of the psychological cliff-hangers and a first-rate highbrow thriller it is. 1965Listener 17 June 894/1 One player who built up cliff-hanger suspense [in tennis]. 1967Oxford Mail 5 Sept. 5/1 The end of this thriller, set in an English country house, is electrifying... All I can tell you is that it is a ‘cliff-hanger’.
Hence (as a back-formation) ˈcliff-hang v. intr.; also ˈcliff-hanging vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1938Time 15 Aug. 21/1 Mr. Oland, who often threatened cinema death to daring, cliff-hanging Heroine White. 1946in Amer. Speech (1956) XXXI. 284 The only thing I will admit is wrong with most soap opera is cliff-hanging. I never, never, cliff-hang. 1949Here & Now (N.Z.) Oct. 10/3 His Government is cliff-hanging by four wisps of grass. 1958Economist 20 Dec. 1090/1 John Diefenbaker can resume his proper role as hero in the greatest cliffhanging serial that Canadians have seen for many a long day. 1959Camb. Rev. 25 Apr. 433/1 Three years wondering whether your tenure of your assistant lectureship will be extended..five years in which to wonder if any of the permanent lectureships..will fall vacant... This way lie..eight years of academic cliff-hanging. |