| 释义 |
▪ I. slim, n.
[f. slim a.]
†1. A lanky, lazy, worthless, or despicable person. Obs.
1548Elyot Longurio, -onis, a longe slymme. 1589Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxxi. (1602) 153 Lesse mannerd, and worse gated than this Saturns-Eue-made Slim God neuer made. 1611Cotgr., Couille,..a heartlesse, faint-hearted, or white-liuered slimme. Ibid., Longue eschine, a luske, slimme, longbacke, or slowbacke.
2. A course of slimming, a diet; usu. in phr. sponsored slim.
1977Gay News 7–20 Apr. 8/1 Barrie announced his intention to go on a sponsored ‘slim’. People were asked to sign pledge forms to give a certain amount of money for every pound Barrie would lose between Cambridge and Oxford. 1977Navy News Aug. 30/6 Bill Skilliter went on a sponsored slim and lost 3st.
Add:3. Usu. with cap. initial. [After the severe weight loss associated with the disease.] In Central Africa: = AIDS n. More fully, Slim disease.
1985Lancet 19 Oct. 849/1 A new disease has recently been recognised in rural Uganda. Because the major symptoms are weight loss and diarrhoea, it is known locally as slim disease. 1986Listener 5 June 10/1 Museveni's government has now been forced at least to recognise the AIDS problem (called ‘Slim’ in East Africa). 1987Oxf. Textbk. Med. (ed. 2) I. v. 154/2 Enteropathic AIDS and severe weight loss (frequently due to Cryptosporidiosis) is characteristic in Africa, known in some localities as ‘slim’ disease. 1990Independent on Sunday 1 Apr. (Sunday Rev.) 10/4 Because it is the skilled élite..who have most money to spend on womanising, it is this group which is suffering the worst ravages of Slim.
▪ II. slim, a.|slɪm|
[a. Du. or LG. (also Fris.) slim, repr. MDu. slim(p, slem(p, MLG. slim(m, slym(m, slem, = MHG. slim, slimm- (G. schlimm), OHG. *slimb crooked, perverse, bad, mean, etc.]
1. a. Slender, (gracefully) thin.
Said of persons (or animals), less freq. of things.
(a)1657G. Thornley Daphnis & Chloe 61 He's small and slim, and so will slip and steal away. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables i. lv. 55 A Slim, Thin-Gutted Fox made a Hard Shift to wriggle his Body into a Hen-Roost. 1712Steele Spect. No. 266, I was jogged on the Elbow..by a slim young Girl of..Seventeen. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty xi. 83 Imagine the slim figure of a Mercury, every where neatly formed for the utmost light agility. 1843James Forest Days ii, A man somewhat above the middle size, of a slim and graceful figure. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. (1860) 90 The swiftest and slimmest wolves would have the best chance of surviving.
(b)1824Dibdin Library Comp. 564 Who possess the interminable slim quartos. 1827Hood Tim Turpin 38 With a cudgel in his hand—It was not light or slim. 1886J. H. Ewing Mary's Meadow 69, I put them into a slim glass on my table.
transf.1876Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 241 An organ..capable equally of the trumpet's ardors or the slim delicacy of the flute.
b. Small, slight; of little substance; poor.
a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 I. 326 If this be all they are good for, it is..a very slim benefit they afford. 1717J. Killingbeck Serm. 376 Now how vain and slim are all these, if compared with the Solid..Encouragement which our Religion offers. 1862Maury in Corbin Life (1888) 214 The chances of your getting this [letter] are slim. 1877G. Fraser Wigtown 370 They seemed to have rather slim faith in the stability of the structure.
c. dial. Of fabrics: Flimsy, thin.
1813Picken Poems I. 123 To weer slim trash o' silk. 1880Watt Poet. Sk. 39 (E.D.D.), His claes were the slimmest that ever ye saw.
d. Meagre, scanty, sparse.
1852Bristed Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 130 We had a very slim audience, not more than a dozen. 1892Nation 1 Sept. 156 Various reasons are given for the slim attendance.
e. Delicate; not robust.
1877S. O. Jewett Deephaven (1893) 205 She's had slim health of late years.
f. Of clothes: cut on slender lines; designed to give an appearance of slimness.
1884[see scoop-shovel bonnet s.v. scoop n.1 7]. 1970–71Kay's Catal. Autumn–Winter 145/1 Crimplene Skirt elegantly slim with a raised stripe effect. 1979Daily Tel. 4 June 17/3 (Advt.), One of the most handsome and utterly wearable of this spring's suits is the linen-y slim one in a soft lilac-grey.
†2. Of jests: Sly, malicious. Obs. rare.
1668H. More Div. Dial. i. xxx. (1713) 65 He does indeed say so, but by way of a slim jear to their ignorance. 1681Glanvill Sadducismus i. (1682) 161 It cannot be said by any man in his wits, unless by way of sport or some slim jest.
3. Of persons, their actions, etc.: Sly, cunning, crafty, wily, artful.
In recent use adopted from S. African Dutch.
1674Ray N.C. Words 43 Slim... It's a word generally used in the same sence with Sly. 1703Thoresby Lett. to Ray s.v., A slim customer. 1768Ross Rock & Wee Pickle Tow 67 She was never ca'd chancy, but canny an' slim. 1848Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. ix, I wish I may be cust, Ef Bellers wuzn't slim enough to say he wouldn't trust! 1899Times 26 Oct. 5/2 The issue of the proclamation by the Boers..is regarded..as a ‘slim’ (crafty) move on the enemy's part.
4. Comb.
a. Parasynthetic, etc., as slim-ankled, slim-built, slim-faced, slim-footed, slim-leaved, slim-legged, slim-muzzled, slim-pointed, slim-sandalled, slim-shanked, slim-tailed, slim-textured, slim-waisted, etc.
1824Dibdin Library Comp. (1825) 729 Out of 333 slim-waisted quartos and octavos. 1834F. Wrangham Homerics 11 Him..Pitying, slim-ancled Ino spied. 1838Poe Narr. A. G. Pym xix. 160 Slim-legged hogs. 1862G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 10 And spread Slim⁓pointed seagull plumes. 1866― Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 142 After six a very slim-textured and pale causeway of mare's tail cloud running N.E. and S.W. 1868Morris Earthly Par. (1870) I. i. 371 The slim-leaved trees against the evening sky. 1870Ibid. III. iv. 16 Close by that a slim-trunked tree did grow. 1872Hardy Under Greenw. Tree I. i. ii. 22 The slim-faced martel had knocked 'em down to me because I nodded to en in my friendly way. 1873Howells Chance Acquaintance i. (1883) 22 Villages,..each clustering about its slim-spired church. 1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. x. 95 A long, slim-legged boy, he was, encased in quite a short shirt. Ibid. 96 Into the midst of this peaceful scene burst that slim-shanked boy in the brief shirt. 1885Black White Heather i, A slim-built built and yet muscular young man. 1912W. de la Mare Child's Day 14 But there, Ann dear, You'd rather be A slim-tailed mermaid In the sea. 1914D. H. Lawrence Prussian Officer & Other Stories 20 His slim-legged, beautiful horse. 1922Joyce Ulysses 530 Milly Bloom, fairhaired, greenvested, slimsandalled.., breaks from the arms of her lover. 1923D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 61 Cyclamens putting their ears back. Long, pensive, slim-muzzled greyhound buds. 1927― Mornings in Mexico 83 Donkeys, mules, on they come.. great bundles bouncing against the sides of the slim-footed animals. 1978W. F. Buckley Stained Glass 225 Himmelfarb..grinned at his long-legged, slim-faced, lightly freckled assistant. 1981A. Sewart Close your Eyes & Sleep vi. 57 He was slim-waisted and muscular looking.
b. slim-cake, a kind of plain cake used in Ireland; slim hole Oil Industry, a drill hole of smaller diameter than normal; usu. attrib. (with hyphen); slim volume, a book of verse by a little-known poet (freq. mildly derog.); hence slim vol colloq. abbrev.
1847Paddiana (1848) I. 219 His share of the *slim-cake alone would have furnished him with indigestion for a month. 1894Blackw. Mag. Sept. 318 Where we found tea and Irish slim-cakes provided for us.
1953World Oil June 112/3 Analysis of areas favorable and unfavorable to *slim hole drilling may have been influenced by the performance of available bits in the various types of formations encountered. 1959Wall St. Jrnl. (Eastern ed.) 20 July 15/3 ‘Slim-hole’ drilling..employs conventional equipment—but less of it. The idea is to substitute small pipe and other tinier tools to do a job historically done by larger, more costly units. 1972L. M. Harris Introd. Deepwater Floating Drilling Operations iii. 16 Some companies use slim-hole designs and special-clearance couplings on casings. 1975A. P. Szilas Production & Transport of Oil & Gas iv. 345 (caption) Bottom-hole arrangements for the sucker-rod pumping of slim holes.
1920E. Wallace Daffodil Mystery iii. 23 Thornton Lyne was a store-keeper, a Bachelor of Arts,..and the author of a *slim volume. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 242 The accent, I gather, is on culture—lots of slim vols in the house now. 1979Church Times 1 June 5/3 Friends will..welcome a slim volume of his poems that has come out.
Add:[1.] g. Of commodities, etc.: low in price or value; economical. colloq.
1970Which? Sept. 272/2 Pricewise they want it slim. When you get there they're standing over you wanting a Rolls-Royce job. 1981Times 31 July 20/3 Aeronautical & General tumbled a further 18p to 340p,..now 60p slimmer than a week ago.
h. Of an organization: trimmed down to an efficient or economical level, in terms of staffing, business, etc.
1976Birmingham Post 16 Dec. 6/4 A slimmer public service was inevitable. 1989Forbes (N.Y.) 20 Mar. 129/1 Unum has become slimmer and more focused since..he..cut $25 million out of annual expenses.
▪ III. slim, v.
[f. slim a.]
1. trans. With away: To waste (time) in idling. Chiefly dial.
1812Thom Amusem. 35 (E.D.D.), Bids them mind their meat and wark, And not to slim their time away.
2. To scamp (work). Also with over. Chiefly dial.
1808Jamieson s.v., In the very same sense we say, To slim o'er, to do one's work in a careless and insufficient way. 1847Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 393 Postie had also helped to beat the carpets, considering that Eaves was rather slimming them. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., A shoemaker, who brought his apprentice up before the magistrates, complained that ‘he slimmed his work so, he could put up with it no longer’.
3. a. To make slim or slender. Chiefly dial.
1862Mrs. Norton Lady of La Garaye I. 115 The rich purple of her velvet vest Slims the young waist, and rounds the graceful breast.
b. fig. To reduce in size or extent. Freq. const. down.
1963Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 16 Dec. 19/1 He set out to slim the budget. 1971Daily Tel. 16 Aug. 11/6, I have slimmed down my holding of Westland Aircraft..by selling 1,250 at 46½p. 1976A. White Long Silence xix. 169 We'd been able to slim our plan down considerably, to make do with the minimum of men. 1980Daily Tel. 18 Jan. 1/8 Sir Charles Villiers, British Steel's chairman, ended weeks of speculation over the future of two plants..when he said both works would be slimmed.
4. intr. To try to reduce one's weight by dieting; to become slim. Also with down. Also fig.
1930Punch 2 Apr. 366/2 The hostess ate hardly any. She is slimming. 1937L. C. Douglas Forgive us our Trespasses xiii. 254 As the minutes slimmed down to four, three, two, Dinny found his heart beating rapidly. 1963‘E. McBain’ Ten Plus One xii. 158, I was too fat... But the funny part was, once I slimmed down, I didn't want to be an actor any more. 1975G. Howell In Vogue 1/2 ‘Dressing on a war income’ was a regular feature [in British Vogue],..recommending that women should slim in order to use less fabric.
Hence ˈslimmed-down ppl. a.; also ˈslim-down (usu. attrib.).
1978Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. b14/5 Other corporations are impressed by their strong cash positions, their slimmed-down lease structures and their good earnings. 1978N.Y. Times Mag. 23 July 23/2 Frye-boot chic was swept aside as big-top looks became slimdown looks. 1980Daily Tel. 4 Nov. 1/2 There may be a repeat of the late-1979 confrontation over the British Leyland slimdown and efficiency programme. 1981Times 7 Aug. 20/3 Mercantile House continued to advance in its slimmed-down form. |