| 释义 |
sky-rocket, n.
[sky n.1]
1. A rocket which ascends high into the sky before exploding. Also fig.
1688Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 454 There are various reports how the late fire..began: some say by carelessnesse; others, by a sky rocket falling amongst hay. 1690Dryden Prol. to ‘Mistakes’ 15 He's no high Flyer—he makes no sky Rockets, His Squibbs are only levell'd at your Pockets. 1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3805/8 The Ships..made a very Glorious Show at Night,..some firing several Sky-Rockets. 1765R. Jones Fireworks iv. 136 Six sky rockets, fixed on one stick, and fired together, make a grand and beautiful appearance. 1834Marryat P. Simple (1863) 79 At last I obtained a grumbling assent to my going on shore, and off I went like a sky-rocket. 1846Greener Sci. Gunnery 230 The composition in a sky-rocket, which is required to burn on a graduated scale. 1862Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 108, I should be back like a returned sky-rocket.
attrib.1893Advance (Chicago) 3 Aug., Such successors seldom report in such sky-rocket style after about six months.
2. transf. An enthusiastic cheer, raised esp. by college students; = sis-boom-bah. U.S. slang.
1867Ball Players' Chron. (N.Y.) 25 July 2/2 After cheers had been interchanged, and the Nationals had let off a ‘sky rocket’—namely a sort of finish to three cheers, with a ‘hiss—boom—ah!’—an adjournment was had to the clubhouse. 1894R. H. Davis Eng. Cousins 120 An American misses the rah-rahs, and the skyrocket cries. 1947G. S. Perry Cities of Amer. 222 He is such a stimulating lecturer that many of his classes are preceded by a ‘skyrocket’: a Wisconsin yell reserved for its heroes.
3. Rhyming slang for ‘pocket’. Cf. sky n.1 8.
1879Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 502/1 A slavey piped the spoons sticking out of my skyrocket (pocket), so I got smugged. 1898[see outer colloq. var. out of prep. phr.]. 1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid ix. 98 There's no sense in hanging around in the West End with a cane and Christ knows what else in my sky-rocket. 1962F. Norman Guntz i. 8 He put the letter in an envelope and..handed it to me. I took it and stuffed it in my sky rocket. 1973‘B. Mather’ Snowline xv. 180 Ten trouble-free runs..and you're back in England with five thousand quid in your skyrocket.
Hence sky-rockety a.
1890Voice (N. York) 23 Jan., I began to ask myself questions about this sky-rockety assemblage of words. 1896Godey's Mag. April 348/2 That the sudden and sky-rockety increase last year was unnatural is generally admitted. |