| 释义 |
smoke and mirrors
smoke S0498500 (smōk)n.1. a. A mixture of gases and small suspended particles of soot or other solids, resulting from the burning of materials such as wood or coal.b. A cloud of such gases and suspended particles.c. A vapor, mist, or fume that resembles this.2. Something insubstantial, unreal, or transitory: "What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow, mere smoke of opinion" (Henry David Thoreau).3. a. The act of smoking a form of tobacco: went out for a smoke.b. The duration of this act.4. Informal Tobacco in a form that can be smoked, especially a cigarette: money to buy smokes.5. A substance used in warfare to produce a smokescreen.6. Something used to conceal or obscure.7. A pale to grayish blue to bluish or dark gray.8. Baseball Pitches thrown at high velocity; fast balls: threw a lot of smoke in the early innings.v. smoked, smok·ing, smokes v.intr.1. a. To draw in and exhale smoke from a cigarette, cigar, or pipe: It's forbidden to smoke here.b. To engage in smoking regularly or habitually: He smoked for years before stopping.2. To emit smoke or a smokelike substance: chimneys smoking in the cold air.3. To emit smoke excessively: The station wagon smoked even after the tune-up.4. Slang a. To go or proceed at high speed.b. To play or perform energetically: The band was really smoking in the second set.v.tr.1. a. To draw in and exhale the smoke of (tobacco, for example): I've never smoked a panatela.b. To do so regularly or habitually: I used to smoke filtered cigarettes.2. To preserve (meat or fish) by exposure to the aromatic smoke of burning hardwood, usually after pickling in salt or brine.3. a. To fumigate (a house, for example).b. To expose (animals, especially insects) to smoke in order to immobilize or drive away.4. To expose (glass) to smoke in order to darken or change its color.5. Slang a. To kill; murder.b. To defeat decisively, as in a competition.6. Baseball To throw (a pitch) at high velocity.Phrasal Verb: smoke out1. To force out of a place of hiding or concealment by or as if by the use of smoke.2. To detect and bring to public view; expose or reveal: smoke out a scandal.Idioms: go up in smoke1. To be destroyed by fire.2. To experience complete failure in an attempt to do or achieve something: Our plans to open a bakery went up in smoke when we were unable to secure funding. smoke and mirrors Something that deceives or distorts the truth: Your explanation is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
[Middle English, from Old English smoca.]
smok′a·ble, smoke′a·ble adj.smoke and mirrors n irrelevant or misleading information serving to obscure the truth of a situation [C20: reference to the use of smoke and mirrors in conjuring illusions]smoke′ and mir′rors
n. (used with a sing. or pl. v.) something that distorts or blurs facts, figures, etc.; artful deception. [1980–85] smoke and mirrors
smoke and mirrorsTrickery, deception, or misdirection. The candidate has been accused of using smoke and mirrors during the debate to undermine the credibility of his opponent. Before computer generated effects, filmmakers had to use a lot of smoke and mirrors to make fantastic, unbelievable things look realistic in their movies.See also: and, mirror, smokesmoke and mirrorsdeception and confusion. (Said of statements or more complicated rhetoric used to mislead people rather than inform. Alludes to the way a magician uses optical illusion to create believability while performing a trick. Fixed order.) Most people know that the politician was just using smoke and mirrors to make things look better than they really were. Her report was little more than smoke and mirrors. No one will believe any of it.See also: and, mirror, smokesmoke and mirrors Smoke and mirrors are words and actions that are intended to deceive or confuse people, especially by making something seem better than it really is. The president claims that his economic plan is free of the smoke and mirrors of previous presidential budget proposals. Thousands of shareholders learned too late that the company's image of success had been created with smoke and mirrors. Note: Magicians sometimes use smoke and mirrors when they are performing tricks, in order to confuse or deceive people. See also: and, mirror, smokesmoke and mirrors the obscuring or embellishing of the truth of a situation with misleading or irrelevant information. chiefly North American 1998 Sunday Telegraph Ministers accused the Conservatives of a ‘smoke and mirrors’ con trick. See also: and, mirror, smokesmoke and ˈmirrors used to describe ways of tricking people or of hiding the truth: He said the government had used smoke and mirrors to raise taxes. ♢ The commission has declared war on the smoke and mirrors of sales promotions.See also: and, mirror, smokesmoke and mirrors n. a strategy of deception and cover up. Her entire report was nothing but smoke and mirrors. Who could believe any of it? See also: and, mirror, smoke smoke and mirrors Something that deceives or distorts the truth: Your explanation is nothing but smoke and mirrors.See also: and, mirror, smokesmoke and mirrors
smoke and mirrorsMarketing deceptions. The term is mainstream in this generalsense. Among hackers it's strongly associated with bogusdemos and crocked benchmarks (see also MIPS,machoflops). "They claim their new box cranks 50 MIPS forunder $5000, but didn't specify the instruction mix - soundslike smoke and mirrors to me." The phrase has been said toderive from carnie slang for magic acts and "freak show"displays that depend on "trompe l"oeil' effects, but alsocalls to mind the fierce Aztec god Tezcatlipoca (lit. "SmokingMirror") for whom the hearts of huge numbers of humansacrificial victims were regularly cut out. Upon hearingabout a rigged demo or yet another round of fantasy-basedmarketing promises, hackers often feel analogouslydisheartened.MedicalSeesmokeAcronymsSeeS&M |