| 释义 |
▪ I. sleaze, n. slang.|sliːz|
[Back-formation from sleazy, sleezy a.]
1. Squalor; sordidness, sleaziness; dilapidation; (something of) inferior quality or low moral standards. Also attrib.
1967Listener 14 Sept. 326/2 For all its brazen sleaze, Soho is a pretty fair working model of what a city neighbourhood should be. 1975Publishers' Weekly 29 Dec. 68/2 Obviously written to cash in on ‘Mandingo’, this isn't even readable sleaze: the plot's sloppy, Gilchrist hasn't the knack for writing commercial sex, and the hero is too despicable to be seductive. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 17 July 16 (heading) At home with the sleaze king. 1981New Yorker 9 Mar. 104/1 These stores are vast, computerized sleaze centers, where you can buy almost anything—pills, toys, candy, liquor, stockings, pillows, and gadgetry.
2. A person of low moral standards.
1976Telegraph (Brisbane) 3 Aug. 10/3 When I made the mistake of calling them ‘sleazy’ to their faces, their reaction was outrage. ‘Don't call me a sleaze,’ said Miss Currie. 1977Time 28 Feb. 48/1 Oh God, red nail polish—I look like a sleaze.
Add:3. Comb. sleazebag orig. U.S., a sordid, despicable person, esp. one considered morally reprehensible; also attrib. or as adj.
1981Time 9 Nov. 112/1 Guy Caballero, a *sleazebag in a modified Panama and a white three-piece blend, appears frequently on-camera to..fawn before his audience. 1985National Times (Austral.) 22 Nov. 7/1 We are not giving away any principles, because we do have a few on this side of the House, unlike the sleazebags over there. 1986Legal Times 16 June 8/1 ‘This was no sleazebag lawyer.’ In more stately language, the committee says the same thing.
sleazeball U.S. = sleazebag; also attrib. or as adj.
1983Atlantic Monthly July 44/2 ‘What kind of a *sleazeball are we dealing with here?’ Tsongas put that question in a form that made the TV news. 1986R. Ford Sportswriter i. 13 It was stated in court by X's sleaze-ball lawyer. 1990Sounds 3 Feb. 12/1 Boss Hog are the sweat-stained, mutoid metal noise product of the festering minds of those gun-slinging, sleazeball lovers, Jon Spencer and Christina.
sleaze factor, the sleazy or sordid aspect of a situation; spec. (U.S. Pol.) applied to scandals and alleged corruption involving officials of an administration.
1983L. Barrett Gambling with Hist. xxvii (chapter-title) The *sleaze factor. 1984Sunday Times 26 Aug. 17/8 Lurking round the campaign trail now will always be the shadow of her husband and his own sleaze factor. 1988Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 7 July 6/5 Mr Meese..had become the outstanding symbol of the so-called ‘sleaze factor’ which has bedevilled the Reagan administration.
▸ spec. Political corruption or impropriety; corrupt or scandalous behaviour by public officials. Cf. sleaze factor n.
1980Washington Post 4 Feb. a6/1 Public perceptions may lump all 535 House and Senate members together in a great ball of sleaze, but in the real world of Capitol Hill it is not that way. 1984Guardian 8 Oct. 17 (heading) The White House approach of distancing itself from all the sleaze does work. 1994Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 3 Nov. a23/5 Unfortunately, political campaigns that are long on sleaze and short on substance have become the norm. 2000Econ. Affairs 20 58/2 So to overcome allegations of sleaze, irrelevance and voter apathy, politicians are co-opting pressure groups to help make policy.
▪ II. sleaze, sleeze, v.|sliːz|
[Prob. f. as prec.]
1. dial. (See quots.) ? Obs.
1777in Eng. Dial. Dict. 1825J. Jennings Observations on Some of Dialects in W. of England 69 To sleeze,..to separate; to come apart: applied to cloth, when the warp and woof readily separate from each other. 1904Eng. Dial. Dict. V. 513/1 Sleeze,..v. Of loosely or badly woven cloth: to separate, part asunder; to wear away; also with away.
2. slang. To move in a sleazy fashion.
1964Punch 30 Dec. 986/2 Other plays, sleazing across the West End boards. 1978W. F. Buckley Stained Glass xxii. 211 The depressing, unseasonal föhn that sleazes over Europe with dumpy barometric pressures that enervate and depress. 1978Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario) 31 Mar. a6 When not thumping.., they [sc. a rock group] just kind of sleaze along, a little like Lou Reed at his best. |