| 释义 |
ˈspooky, a.
[f. spook n. + -y1.]
1. a. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of spirits or the supernatural; frightening, eerie. colloq.
1854Wide West (San Francisco) 16 July 1/5 After treading many dark passages, the guide, having unlocked all sorts of ‘spooky’ looking iron doors,..ushered us before the tomb. 1883Harper's Mag. Nov. 929/1 'Tis a spooky place, that grave-yard. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xviii. 239 There was somethin' spooky 'n' soopernatural erbout er pertickler weird 'n' unaccountable erfluvium. 1929T. Wolfe Look Homeward, Angel xxvii. 378 Don't start that..spooky stuff! It makes my flesh crawl. 1948Time 1 Nov. 90/2 Shakespeare's Macbeth is a turbulent melodrama, full of spooky claptrap. 1960R. Dahl Kiss, Kiss 187 This..is really beginning to get interesting—a trifle spooky, too. 1977J. F. Fixx Compl. Bk. Running viii. 104, I had the spooky feeling that I was dressed up in somebody else's body. 1980G. Mitchell Whispering Knights ix. 98 ‘It's a spooky-looking place,’ said Capella nervously.
b. Surfing. slang. Of a wave: dangerous or frightening.
1966Surfer VII. iv. 48 Morne Plage features a left breaking over a coral reef and tapering into a big black deep spooky pass a half a mile from the coast. 1970Studies in English (Univ. Cape Town) I. 34 Waves, especially the bigger and more powerful ones, are often dangerous and frightening, and can sometimes be referred to as spooky... Spooky might indicate the difficult or the unpredictable, as in: ‘Things get a little spooky when you're faced with fifteen feet of soup.’
2. Of a person (or animal): nervous; easily frightened; superstitious. N. Amer. slang.
1926D. Branch Cowboy & his Interpreters 12 There were times when the steer would get spooky and mad. 1932L. Golding Magnolia St. ii. v. 354 I'm not a spooky person but I sometimes think he was the Devil. 1947Westerners Brand Bk. (Denver Posse) 51 Range cattle..were too ‘spooky’ in those days for man-made bridges. 1962G. MacEwan Blazing Old Cattle Trails i. 4 Attendants knew that the nervous and spooky longhorns were easily alarmed and would stampede at the slightest provocation. 1979Fortune 26 Mar. 24/2 Even those spooky about coping with Italian traffic can easily find the well-marked way to Monza, about ten miles northeast of Milan.
3. Of or pertaining to spies or espionage. U.S. slang.
1975Times 12 June 18/4 The Central Intelligence Agency spooks are the most spooky spooks. 1979L. Pryor Viper iv. 79 They're tough, crusading terrorists... That isn't going to make your job..any easier... Keep your spooky friends out of my life. 1980J. Melville Chrysanthemum Chain 120 Somebody on the spooky side of the Embassy might have a view.
Hence ˈspookily adv., in a spooky manner; ˈspookiness.
1890Critic 4 Jan. 3/2 An air of spookiness pervades the volume. 1955R. Hobson Nothing too Good for Cowboy xviii. 186 These wild ones [sc. steers] were held in one bunch and slithered spookily along immediately behind my saddle horse. 1959‘P. Quentin’ Shadow of Guilt xiv. 126 We both stood looking at the shirt... It had a spookily human quality. |