| 释义 |
▪ I. squirm, n.|skwɜːm|
[f. the vb.]
a. A squirming or writhing movement; a wriggle.
b. Naut. A twist in a rope.
c. A twisting or curving form of decoration characteristic of art nouveau; hence colloq. (with the), the style itself.
1839Havana (N.Y.) Republican 21 Aug. (Thornton), [The whale gave] a squirm, and roll'd over and over. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 648 Squirm, a wriggling motion like that of an eel. Also, a twist in a rope. 1883Baring-Gould J. Herring II. xxiii. 39 The squirms and languishings of the redeyelashed heiress..were grotesque. 1909[see art nouveau s.v. art n. VI. e]. 1972F. MacCarthy All Things Bright & Beautiful ii. 46 Art nouveau was called ‘the squirm’. When ‘the squirm’ arrived in Britain..Lewis F. Day and Walter Crane were outraged.
▪ II. squirm, v.|skwɜːm|
[app. imitative.]
1. intr. To wriggle or writhe:
a. Of reptiles, etc. Chiefly U.S. and dial.
1691Ray S. & E.C. Words 115 To Squirm, to move very nimbly about, after the manner of an Eel. It is spoken of an Eel. 1743Catesby Nat. Hist. II. 47 This harmless snake frequents the branches of Trees and very nimbly squirms among the leaves. 1828Webster s.v., Squirm..signifies to move as a worm. 1859Hawthorne Transform. (1878) 156 He should press his foot hard down upon the old serpent,..feeling him squirm mightily. 1885H. C. McCook Tenants Old Farm 389, I have seen specimens..hanging by a thread and squirming, bending and snapping their bodies in the oddest ways.
fig.1885Pall Mall G. 5 May 4/1 If you want definite ideas [about vermin] that will squirm in your brain for a lifetime.
b. Of persons.
1756J. Clubbe Misc. Tracts, Physiognomy (1770) I. 24 Let them squirm about as much as they will, and struggle to support their heads from sinking. 1860Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. 177 They find out the red-handed..undergraduate of bucolic antecedents as he squirms in his corner. 1879G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie I. x. 154 At length he could..bear his thirst no longer, and, squirming round on the floor, crept softly towards the other end of the loft. 1890Huxley in 19th Cent. XXVII. 9 These poor little mortals who have not even the capacity to do anything but squirm and squall.
c. Of things.
1872Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 25/1 If there are a few trees near, and the long leafless twigs of one of them twitters and squirms against the window panes. 1888Abp. Benson in Life (1899) II. 220 Leighton said he found it vain to try to remember the turns and angles at which these branches squirmed about. 1905C. I. Dodd Vagrant Englishwoman 78 The sausage squirmed, spluttered, and sang as the lively flames leapt around it.
2. a. To move, proceed, or go with a wriggling or writhing motion. Const. with advs. and preps., as along, forward, in, out, round, to, up.
1759Compl. Lett.-writer (ed. 6) 224 Mrs. Langford..puddled herself into a minuet, and squirmed round and round the room. 1882Cent. Mag. July 348/1 If you insist upon going to the end.., you must squirm along on all fours. 1883Harper's Mag. Jan. 186/2 The shark squirmed out, thrashing about and snapping its jaws. 1891C. L. Morgan Anim. Sketches 235 Wriggling and squirming up a dark green vertical wall.
b. trans. To twist or contort (something) into a new form. rare.
1876‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer xxi. 171 A brain⁓racking effort was made to squirm it into some aspect or other that the moral and religious mind could contemplate with edification.
3. fig. To be painfully affected or sharply touched by something; to writhe under reproof, sarcasm, or the like.
1804[see squirming vbl. n. below]. 1849Knickerb. Mag. Jan. 64 The gambler ‘squirmed’ under the gospel truth; yet..he contrived to sit the sermon out. 1894G. M. Fenn In Alpine Valley I 36 I'll write my Lord..such a letter as shall make him squirm.
4. trans. With out: To utter with a squirm.
1889Gunter That Frenchman xxi. 286 Here Zamaroff squirms out: ‘Do I look like a man who would kill anything?’
Hence squirming vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1804Balance 25 Dec. 410 (Thornton), Some of the late victorious party have discovered *squirmings of resentment. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. (1883) 96 A terrible squirming and scattering of the..population. 1887Spectator 15 Oct. 1378 The British will, after many delays and much squirming, ultimately pay the money.
1859Hawthorne Transform. xv, What a spirit is conveyed into the ugliness of this strong, writhing, *squirming dragon under the Arch⁓angel's foot! 1865Cornh. Mag. July 46 When a great nation..is stirred and shaken..we all know what squirming, slimy things run forth helter-skelter. 1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 223/2 A squirming alligator some three feet long. |