| 单词 | to have swallowed a dictionary |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto have swallowed a (or the) dictionary 4. to have swallowed a (or the) dictionary: (originally in similative contexts) to use long or obscure words in speech, esp. excessively or unnecessarily; to speak grandiloquently or bombastically. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > embellish [verb (transitive)] > set forth in ornate language windc1315 gild1340 embroidera1610 rhetorize1611 to have swallowed a (or the) dictionary1829 1680 R. L'Estrange Citt & Bumpkin: 2nd Pt. 31 If you had him but one half-hour upon the Talking-Pin, you'd swear that he had swallow'd Calepines Dictionary whole, and spew'd it up again.] 1829 G. Griffin Collegians I. v. 40 Why then I seen a schoolmaster westwards that had as much Latin and English as if he had swallowed a dictionary. 1853 G. E. Jewsbury Hist. Adopted Child 226 What has come over the lady all at once, that she speaks so grand, as if she had just swallowed a dictionary. 1858 H. A. Reid Harp of West 39 In contempt of a sarcasm of the author's school-fellows, that he had ‘swallowed the Dictionary’. 1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days ii. 29 Have you swallowed a dictionary?.. We shall have to sack this fellow if he gets to talk English too well. 1966 ‘M. Torrie’ Heavy as Lead x. 124 ‘The whole point is that my Society deprecates, as much as you do...’ The voices began again, ‘Aw, cut it out!’ ‘Put a sock in it!’ ‘'Ev've swallered the dictionary!’ 2001 I. McEwan in Granta Spring 29 ‘Divagation was nice. Where d'you get that one?’‘He swallowed a fucking dictionary,’ Corporal Nettle said proudly. < as lemmas |
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