| 释义 |
ˈsledge-hammer, n.
[sledge n.1]
A large heavy hammer used by blacksmiths.
1495Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 194 Slege hamers of yron. 1791Bentham Panopt. i. Postsc. 163, I would arm another part with another gentleman's sledge-hammers. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. vi, The door was instantly assailed with sledge-hammers. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 398 Smiths will not care how long they detain horses, provided they can get the assistance of the ploughman at the sledge-hammer. 1894Crockett Raiders 317 The strikers with the sledge hammer were swept away.
attrib.1843Dickens Let. 24 Sept. (1974) III. 572, I sent Miss Coutts a sledge-hammer account of the Ragged schools. 1844Hood Forge 238 Some cumbrous sort Of sledge-hammer retort At Red Beard. 1887R. N. Carey Uncle Max iii, I was used to this sort of sledge-hammer form of argument.
fig.1799T. Holcroft Jrnl. 13 Jan. in Memoirs (1816) III. 123 Yet having read mine, you come with a sledge hammer of criticism, describe it as absolutely contemptible. 1874L. Stephen Hours Libr. (1892) II. i. 18 Johnson's sledge hammer smashes his flimsy platitudes to pieces. 1890Spectator 12 July, The author demolishes his opponents, sometimes, with almost too heavy a sledge-hammer.
Hence ˈsledge-hammer v. trans., to strike, work at, as with a sledge-hammer. Also ˈsledge-hammering vbl. n.
1834Sir G. C. Lewis Lett. (1870) 32, I send you..an admirable letter written by Sedgwick, in order that you may see what is meant by sledge-hammering a man. 1840Whately Let. in Life (1866) I. 473, I have been to-day sledge-hammering your idea about Simeon into a sermon. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. xv, I grant a sledge-hammering sort of merit in him. 1884Contemp. Rev. Dec. 796 The concluding pages of one of his sledge-hammerings on the heads of his adversaries. 1963A. Smith Throw out Two Hands xvi. 167 Sledge⁓hammering a steel spike into the ground. 1976CRC Jrnl. July 19/1 It is perfectly possible to understand what is going on on stage without having the point sledgehammered home.
▸ Brit., Austral., and N.Z.to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut and variants: to take a disproportionately drastic approach to the solution of a relatively small problem. Also (N. Amer.) to use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat and variants.
[1851L. C. Judson Sages & Heroes Amer. Revol. i. 235 He at once became the nucleus around which a band of patriots gathered and formed a nut too hard to be cracked by the sledgehammer of monarchy.] 1923G. B. Clarkson Industr. Amer. in World War xix. 359 The Board never used a sledgehammer to kill a gnat. 1934C. Stead Salzburg Tales 19 He loved to crack a walnut with a sledge-hammer. 1934Times 7 Nov. 7/4 The great National Government had taken hold of this sledge-hammer to crack this nut. 1944Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 107184 They might occasionally let that favourable position mar their work by using a sledge-hammer to kill a gnat. 1997Daily Mail 15 Jan. 42/3 The taxman is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut by asking thousands of people to appear before magistrate-style tribunals to explain why they are behind with their tax affairs. |