| 释义 |
song and dance, (to give someone) a song and dance1. A long and elaborate explanation or presentation. Primarily heard in US. The whole song and dance to introduce the keynote speaker lasted longer than her speech!2. A long and elaborate explanation told with the intent to deceive someone or justify something. When I questioned her about her tardiness, she gave me some song and dance about her car breaking down.See also: and, dance, songsong and danceAn elaborate story or effort to explain and justify something, or to deceive and mislead someone. For example, Do you really believe his song and dance about the alarm not going off, being stopped for speeding, and then the car breaking down? or At every annual meeting the chairman goes through the same song and dance about the company's great future plans . This term originally referred to a vaudeville act featuring song and dance. [Late 1800s] See also: and, dance, songsong and dance 1 a fuss or commotion. informal 2 a long explanation that is pointless or deliberately evasive. North American informalSee also: and, dance, songsong and dance, (to give someone) a(To make) an unnecessary fuss; also, a misleading story or statement, nonsense. In the first sense this term dates from mid-nineteenth-century England, where it is usually put as nothing to make a song (and dance) about, meaning this is an unimportant matter. The second sense originated in America in the second half of the nineteenth century. Brander Matthews used it in A Confident Tomorrow (1900): “It ain’t a song and dance I’m giving you either.” The same old song and dance, on the other hand, refers to an overfamiliar, hackneyed routine, whether or not that happens to be an old familiar lie or excuse. See also same old rigmarole.See also: and, give, song |