| 单词 | to gain on the swings and lose on the roundabouts |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto gain on the swings and lose on the roundabouts b. Colloquial phrase to gain on the swings and lose on the roundabouts and variants, according to which one's losses in one quarter balance one's gains in another. Also allusively. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > equality [phrase] > balance out to gain on the swings and lose on the roundabouts1912 1912 P. R. Chalmers Green Days & Blue Days 20 For ‘up an' down an' round,’ said 'e, goes all appointed things, An' losses on the roundabouts means profits on the swings! 1927 Times 24 Mar. 15/5 By screwing more money out of tax-payers he diminishes their savings, and the market for trustee securities loses on the swings what it gains on the roundabouts. 1944 G. B. Shaw Everybody's Polit. What's What? xv. 121 I was taxed at a higher rate than my fellow capitalists who had smaller incomes. But then I had to pay at a lower rate than others who had bigger incomes. Whether I lost on the swings what I gained on the roundabouts I do not know. 1964 Eng. Stud. 45 (Suppl.). 98 The more a word loses in meaning, the more it gains in functional, as distinct from semantic, importance. What we lose on the swings we win on the roundabouts. 1976 Listener 18 Nov. 641/1 There is a certain rough justice in charging for the possibility of using the [broadcasting] service... Swings and round~abouts. < as lemmas |
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