单词 | to lock horns |
释义 | > as lemmasto lock horns (also antlers) Phrases P1. to lock horns (also antlers). a. Originally U.S. To engage in conflict; to argue, quarrel (with someone). ΚΠ 1835 Daily Evening News (Jeffersonville, Indiana) 2 Sept. Many a time has your correspondent and he (in their infancy) locked horns and fought over a game of marbles. 1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. lxx. 562 The Boss of Tammany, with whom Mr. Cleveland had at an earlier period in his career ‘locked horns’. 1892 S. B. Dod Highland Chron. xi. 235 When reason and destiny lock antlers, there can be but one issue to the struggle. 1901 Academy 25 Mar. 240/2 We should hardly feel warranted in locking horns with Tammany Hall. 1940 S. H. Holbrook Ethan Allen x. 183 He knew that Washington and Lord Cornwallis were then locking horns, and he hoped that any hour would bring news of his Lordship's defeat. 2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane v. 119 I took a deep breath, reminding myself of the promise I had made to Anu not to lock horns with Mrs Suri. b. Of horned animals: to clash or entangle horns together while engaged in head-to-head combat. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > contend [verb (intransitive)] > engage in hostile encounter counter1330 encounter1555 to come to grips1640 to come to gripesa1645 buckle?1650 to lock horns (also antlers)1850 face1922 1813 J. Lambert Trav. Lower Canada & U.S. (rev. ed.) II. xxx. 128 It is supposed that the two animals had been fighting, and had forcibly locked their horns together in the onset, and being unable to extricate themselves, they both perished.] 1850 Graham's Mag. Apr. 240/2 The bulls paraded themselves, occasionally tearing up the soil with their hoofs, bellowing, and locking horns with a chance antagonist. 1865 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta in Calydon 942 Then shall the heifer and her mate lock horns. 1902 W. J. Long School of Woods 303 With a quick lunge he [sc. the bull] locked antlers in the grip he wanted; a twist of his massive neck and shoulders forced the opposing head aside. 1970 Life 20 Feb. 49 Two giant sable antelope lock horns in a territorial dispute. 1992 E. Field Counting Myself Lucky 302 It is easy to spot two bulls—they lock horns on sight. P2. lock up your daughters: used humorously as a warning to prepare for the arrival of a sexually attractive, promiscuous, or predatory male, or the occurrence of a sexually-charged event.The phrase was popularized by the musical Lock up your Daughters (1959), lyrics by Lionel Bart (1930–99), book by Bernard Miles (1907–91), an adaption of Henry Fielding's Rape upon Rape (1730). ΚΠ 1928 Commerc. Telegraphers Jrnl. Aug. 159/3 Mothers, lock up your daughters! Brother Durkin, alias ‘Kid’ Durkin, has bought himself a shiny new Essex coupe, with full equipment, including a horn. 1943 Hutchinson (Kansas) News-Herald 8 Mar. 1/2 Robb said that many men at the Hutchinson Naval Air station are ‘good Kansas boys’ but warned his audience to ‘lock up your daughters’ when the professional sailors arrive. 1989 Sun Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 24 Sept. 25 Lock up your daughters. Raunchy rockers Bon Jovi..are about to spark a 1989 version of Beatlemania in Sydney. 2004 Time Out 25 Aug. 131/1 Batten down the hatches, lock up your daughters, tie down the bassbins: this is a monster of a drum'n'bass affair. 2011 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 23 Aug. c5 Lock up your daughters, Americans: Prince Harry will be spending a few weeks in Arizona and California doing Apache helicopter training. P3. to lock and load: (a) to prepare a firearm for firing by pulling back and ‘locking’ the bolt and loading the ammunition (frequently in imperative, as an order); (b) figurative to ready oneself for action or confrontation. ΚΠ 1940 N.Y. Times 19 Nov. 12/3 Lieut. Col. Joseph T. Hart, range officer, boomed through his microphone, ‘Lock and Load’. 1983 R. B. Parker Love & Glory x. 59 ‘Lock and load,’ one of the range cadre yelled. ‘One round ball ammunition.’ 1990 Snow Boarder Sept. 49/1 He was locked and loaded in the starting gate, completely focused and obviously amped for his final run. 1996 Cardozo Stud. Law & Lit. 8 135 One legitimate response to the legal situation he describes is to ‘lock and load’. 2003 Financial Times 27 Dec. 2/1 This was the year when the grey suits of institutional investing took up the cry of ‘lock and load’ as they prepared to do battle with the dark forces of boardroom ineptitude and excess. 2006 Daily Tel. 21 June 13/1 National Guard troops arrived..armed, locked and loaded and prepared. < as lemmas |
随便看 |
|
英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条,基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法,是英语学习的有利工具。