| 释义 |
spree, n. Chiefly colloq.|spriː|
[A slang word of obscure origin: cf. spray n.4]
1. a. A lively or boisterous frolic; an occasion or spell of somewhat disorderly or noisy enjoyment (freq. accompanied by drinking). Also transf. and as shopping, spending spree, etc. (see under the first element).
1804W. Tarras Poems 73 I'm blythe to see a rantin spree. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXV. 69 Wednesday ― wanted a spree. 1840E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports For. Lands II. v. 145 A stanch sportsman, always foremost in a spree of this kind. 1856B. Taylor North. Trav. 34 The little public square..was crowded with people, many of whom had already commenced their Christmas sprees. 1878Besant & Rice Celia's Arb. xxii, We went ashore, the men had a spree, and the officers made themselves agreeable to the young ladies.
transf.1849Mrs. Carlyle New Lett. & Mem. (1903) II. 4, I have taken a spree of Novel reading, too. 1955Times 29 Aug. 11/1 What has been described as a profit boom and a dividend spree is being used to foster the idea that wage claims can be advanced one after the other without respite. 1976J. Snow Cricket Rebel 21 A six-hitting spree by Jim Pressdee who..made 115. 1983Times 22 Feb. 17/2 (heading) Kellock joins own shares buying spree.
b. spec. A more or less prolonged bout or spell of drinking; a drunken carousal.
Not always clearly separable from prec.
1811Lexicon Balatronicum, Spree,..a drinking bout. 1854Poultry Chron. II. 381 The cock was half seas over, or in other words, drunk, and having a regular spree. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 132 A strong man gets over it..till the time of the next spree comes round.
c. In the phrases on a spree, on or upon the spree.
(a)1847Illustr. Lond. News 10 July 27/3 The balloon looked something like the dome of St. Paul's out on a spree. 1865Holland Plain Talk v. 168 It is further complained that operatives drink and go on sprees. 1880Webb Goethe's Faust ii. vi. 144 She's out on a spree!
(b)1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 446 We were too fond of what was called getting on the spree. 1859Slang Dict. 99 ‘Going on the spree,’ starting out with intent to have a frolic. 1892Stevenson Across the Plains 113 The cheap young gentleman upon the spree.
2. Rough amusement, merrymaking, or sport; prolonged drinking or carousing; indulgence or participation in this.
1808Jamieson, Spree, innocent merriment. 1828Sporting Mag. XXIII. 34, I will give you a frequent line on the spree of the West. 1899F. T. Bullen Log Sea-waif 291 The captain..did not return for several days, being supposed..to have entered upon a steady course of spree.
Hence spree v. intr., to have or take part in a spree; also with it and trans., to spend (money) recklessly; ˈspreeing vbl. n., indulgence or participation in a spree or sprees; also attrib.; ˈspreeish a., given to indulgence in sprees; slightly intoxicated; also absol.
1825C. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 382 The spreeish or the sprightly. 1845in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) iv. 137 They both had been spreeing it the evening before with some members of Congress. 1855Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xvii, I've longed for to be a man to go spreeing, even if it were only a tramp to some new place in search o' work. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 438 To spree it, to get intoxicated. 1860Spreeing [see bumming vbl. n.]. 1864Ramsbottam Lanc. Rhymes 38 While aw'd brass, aw'r sure to spree. 1874Elmslie in Brit. Wkly. (1911) 2 Nov. 138/3 We generally ‘spree together’, whenever we can find time. 1885‘Mark Twain’ Let. 11 Sept. (1917) II. 457 The drunkenness (and sometimes pretty reckless spreeing) ceased before he came East. 1888Times (weekly ed.) 16 Nov. 3/4 [She was] not drunk, but..a little spreeish. 1890Gunter Miss Nobody x, Paying their spreeing expenses when occasion offered. Ibid. xvii, After the wicked has been spreeing, gaming, and tooting all night. 1897‘Mark Twain’ Following Equator i. 33 It was the remittance-man's custom to..spree away the rest of his money in a single night. 1907G. B. Shaw Let. 27 July (1972) II. 703 The guarantee fund shall not be drawn upon for current expenses at the Savoy (Barker would spree it on a single scene in Peer Gynt). 1928― Intelligent Woman's Guide Socialism lxiv. 296 They destroy the sense of security which induces the possessors of spare money to invest it instead of spreeing it.
▸ spree killer n. orig. U.S. a person who kills in a frenzied, random, apparently unpremeditated manner with no obvious motive; spec. one who kills a number of people at one particular time and location in this manner; cf. serial killer n. at serial adj. and n. Additions.
1983People 3 Oct. 92/2 They met in 1972 while filming Badlands—he designed the sets, she played a *spree-killer's sweetheart. 1996Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 19 Sept. 18 What Sir Jerry conveniently seems to forget is that the last three spree killers in Britain..all held legal gun licences. 1997Time 28 July 32/1 Some experts on murder say the term serial killer, which usually describes someone who returns to a normal routine between bursts of rage, doesn't quite fit [him]. They've been rolling out ‘spree killer’. It's more appropriate for somebody on a full-time lethal tear.
▸ spree killing n. orig. U.S. an instance of random, multiple murder, usually confined to one time and location, as carried out by a spree killer.
1989St. Petersburg (Florida) Times 16 Apr. a12/1 Mass murder and *spree killings are more numerous today than 30 years ago, and when they occur they are widely reported and have great emotional impact. 1993Courier-Jrnl. (Indiana) (Nexis) 19 Oct. a1 Kohl termed the shooting a ‘spree’ killing—‘walking in, going to one location, killing several people and leaving’. 1996Independent 14 Mar. 3/8 Mass killings like Dunblane, he said had been split in recent years into three broad groups: mass murders, spree killings, and serial killings. |