| 释义 |
squillion, n. (and a.) colloq.|ˈskwɪljən|
[Arbitrary alteration of million, billion, etc.; cf. zillion n.]
a. Hyperbolically: a very large number of millions; an enormous number. Freq. as adj.
1943Z. N. Hurston in Amer. Mercury LVII. 456/2 The deep blue sea..was a pearly blue, like ten squillion big pearl jewels dissolved in running gold. 1982Computerworld 23 Aug. 48/3 (caption) Huh! It doesn't even go up to a zillion squillion. 1986Independent 16 Dec. 14/3 The Prime Minister intends to fill the gap between the Queen's Christmas broadcast and the Boxing Day walk by reading Sir Frank Layfield's squillion-word report on Sizewell. 1988Smash Hits 19 Oct. 79/1 Squillions of francs..were spent.
b. ellipt. for ‘a squillion dollars (pounds, etc.)’; a very large amount of money.
1986Weekend Australian 26 Apr. 15/1 There's a quantum leap between making squillions out of exporting things where no particular care is required to exporting manufactured goods. 1987Financial Rev. (Sydney) 18 Aug. 24 (heading) Goward chases his first squillion with Westmex.
Hence squillioˈnaire n., one who is extraordinarily wealthy; a multimillionaire.
1979United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 547 Objects are exhibited alongside Rembrandts, Titian's ‘The Rape of Europa’, and other pieces collected with the advice of Bernard Berenson, the art scholar who coined the term ‘squillionaire’. 1989Private Eye 1 Sept. 8/1 Several of the squillionaires at the back start shouting abusive remarks about the morality of queue-barging. |