| 释义 |
Raffles|ˈræf(ə)lz|
The name of A. J. Raffles, hero of The Amateur Cracksman (1899) and other books by E. W. Hornung (1866–1921), used allusively of a gentleman who engages in crime, esp. burglary. Also attrib.
1908‘O. Henry’ Gentle Grafter 142 It's part of my business..to play up to the ruffles when I want to make a riffle as Raffles. 1930G. Smithson Raffles in Real Life i. 16 What an ignominious ending to the ambitious ideas that had filled my mind when I set out on the perilous career of a modern Raffles! Ibid. 18 By steady, if somewhat painful, steps, I had graduated from a middle-class cracksman to a Raffles of the gentleman type. 1953J. Trench Docken Dead viii. 113 It [is] a good thing to look to one's way of retreat. Have you thought of that, my good Raffles? 1960John o' London's 31 Mar. 384/3 An educated renegade..in the classic Raffles tradition. 1974Listener 21 Feb. 242/3 Damiaen van Doorninck, a Dutch Naval officer, made a reputation..as a cracksman—‘the Raffles of Colditz’. |