| 释义 |
smoke-screen|ˈsməʊkskriːn|
Also smoke screen, smokescreen.
[f. smoke n. + screen n.1]
1. A screen of smoke, spec. one produced to conceal military or naval forces or operations, or a stretch of land or sea.
1915F. A. Talbot Aeroplanes 172 The ‘smoke screen’,..an accepted and extensively practised ruse in naval strategy, and..now adopted by its mosquito colleagues of the air. 1937[see blank v. 5 a]. a1944K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) xviii. 107 A straight path would take me behind the..smoke-screen rising and slanting from the carrier. 1977O. Jacks Autumn Heroes xiv. 200 The smoke screen was breaking up patchily to reveal..charred bodies.
2. fig. Something designed to conceal or mislead; a deliberate distraction or diversion. Also attrib.
1926R. Macaulay Crewe Train ii. iv. 107 The winds, doubtless, were a smoke-screen put up to conceal an advance into some more pithy topic. 1928Manch. Guardian Weekly 7 Sept. 184/3 The ‘diplomatic correspondents’..are putting up a smoke-screen of excuse for the Anglo-French naval accord. 1935A. Kennedy Current Eng. xiii. 567. ‘Orismological sesquipedalianism’..has been much employed of late as a form of smoke⁓screen writing intended to assist advertisers. 1943H. Read Politics of Unpolitical ii. 13 The incursions of democracy..are always accompanied by a smoke-screen of righteousness which hides their real nature and dimensions. 1954Encounter Mar. 73/2 Behind the ‘scientific’ smoke-screen of statistical tables, graphs, codes, and rebarbative language there is a continuous propaganda for more, and more varied, sexual ‘outlets’ as physiologically good in themselves. 1973‘H. Carmichael’ Too Late for Tears viii. 109 Telling you about his other women was just a smokescreen.
Hence ˈsmoke-screen v. trans. (a) to deceive by a smoke-screen; (b) to conceal or divert attention from by a smoke-screen; ˈsmoke-screened ppl. a., hidden by smoke; ˈsmoke-screening vbl. n., concealment by smoke-screen, the use of smoke-screens.
1922O. Parkes Ships of R. Navy 147 The sphere of usefulness could be extended to include..smoke screening. 1948Nature 7 Feb. 194/2 Advisory duties at H.Q. Bomber Command..were followed..by duties in connexion with the meteorological aspects of smoke screening. 1950J. D. MacDonald Brass Cupcake ix. 82 Don't let her smoke-screen you, Chief. 1958This Week Mag. 18 May 35/1 Earlier that day, John Foster Dulles had foxily smokescreened the operation by issuing a statement about summit talks with Russia. 1963M. Allingham China Governess iii. 47 Some silly little bit..had got him into a scandal which had to be smoke-screened. 1971N. Freeling Over High Side ii. 106 He lit it [sc. a cigar]... Smoke⁓screened, he looked back. 1979I. S. Black Journey to Safe Place xix. 252 You made a balls of it... Nothing is going to smoke-screen that. |