| 释义 |
stonewall, n.
Also stone-wall and as two words.
1. A wall built of stones; now esp. of rough stones without mortar, as a fence between fields, etc.
c825Vesp. Psalter lxi[i]. 4 Stanwalle [dative: gl. macheriæ]. c1205Lay. 15846 Nulle hit nauere god..þæt þi castel stonde.. ne nauere þi stan wal stille ne ligge. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 713 There was but a ston wal hem be-tweene. 1463Bury Wills (Camden) 20 The stoon wal be the strete syde. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 39 Hunger perseth stone wall. 1621in Trans. Cumb. & Westm. Archæol. Soc. (1903) III. 155 That all the Tennants..make their dike..with Stonewall Five foote high with Cape and Coble. c1640Lovelace Poems, To Althea iv, Stone Walls doe not a Prison make. 1768Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 269 Hills, especially those that are fenced with stone walls. 1856Emerson Engl. Traits v, Wks. (Bohn) II. 43 The last Reform-bill took away political power from a mound, a ruin, and a stone-wall, whilst Birmingham and Manchester..had no representative. 1908[Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 21 A low stone wall and coping.
2. a. Used as an epithet for one who seeks to confound by dogged resistance. Chiefly applied to Thomas Jonathan (‘Stonewall’) Jackson (1824–63), Confederate general during the American Civil War.
1862Texas Almanac Extra 18 Sept. 1/1 Stonewall Jackson was marching on Baltimore with 40,000 men. 1863G. Meredith Let. 7 Jan. (1970) I. 185 Busy my good sir, so as to drive the pen as fast as Stonewall Jackson is driving the federals. 1867John Lillywhite's Cricketers' Compan. 46 ‘Young Stonewall’—as he [sc. H. Jupp] has been called—was in immense form. 1902E. B. V. Christian in Alverstone & Alcock Surrey Cricket iii. 82 The eleven..received very valuable additions in Tom Humphrey and Jupp, or ‘young Stonewall’, the ‘old Stonewall’ being Mortlock, who still played. 1970R. Lowell Notebook 120 Above your fire the blood-crossed flag of the States, A Stonewall Jackson, a Twenty-two at half-cock.
b. Austral. Pol. slang. Parliamentary obstruction, or a body of obstructives: cf. stone-wall vb., etc. below.
1876Victorian Hansard Jan. XXII. 1387 (Morris) Mr. G. Paton Smith wished to ask..whether the six members..constituted the ‘stone wall’..which was to oppose all progress? 1898Daily News 22 Oct. 2/1 The New Zealand Legislation..indulging in what is known in colonial parlance as a ‘stone wall’.
3. attrib. and Comb.
1880‘Brooksby’ Hunting Countries ii. 201 Stonewall jumping. Ibid. 205 Here you get on to the stone wall country, and may not see a hedge all day. 1885F. Gale Hon. Robert Grimston iii. 25 The well-known stone-wall cricketer, Mr. A. Haygarth. 1890Catholic News 20 Sept. 7/3 It displayed..the usual stone-wall stupidity. 1895Ld. Salisbury in Standard 6 July 5 When a Standing Committee by a stonewall majority passed every word of a Bill in spite of every attempt to amend it. 1895J. N. Pentelow England v. Australia 37 Lucas played the stonewall game. 1901Daily-Chron. 29 Aug. 6/3 What excellent stone-wall jumpers almost all the horses were. 1932E. Bowen To North vi. 57 He played..a stonewall game and beat Emmeline.
Hence stonewall v., (a) intr., Cricket slang, to block balls persistently, to play solely on the defensive; also transf.; (b) Pol. slang (orig. Austral., now chiefly N. Amer.), to obstruct business by lengthy speeches or otherwise, to practise obstruction; also trans. to obstruct (business); also, to block (an enquiry, request, etc.); to obstruct (a person or organization). stone-walled |-wɔːld| a., having or enclosed by a stone wall or walls. stonewaller, one who ‘stone-walls’ (in either sense). stone-walling vbl. n., (a) the process of walling with stone; concr. (usually as two words) stone walls collectively, or a length of stone wall; (b) Cricket and Pol. slang, persistent blocking or obstruction (see stonewall vb. above); also attrib. stone-walling ppl. a., that ‘stonewalls’, obstructive.
1889Played On 34 A brother professional..began to *stone⁓wall in a distracting manner. ‘Take care of your wicket and let the runs take care of themselves,’ was his motto. 1914Daily News 15 Apr. 9 Complaint that the Church has been too long stone-walling was made at the annual conference of the Wesley Guild. 1916Contemp. Rev. Nov. 576 Obstruction did not merely consist in stonewalling Government business. 1964M. Gowing Britain & Atomic Energy 1939–1945 xiii. 344 The Combined Policy Committee discussed the matter but the Americans stonewalled. 1972Accountant 23 Mar. 373/2 Often in the past, the Budget speech has been preceded by the unreality of questions to the Chancellor which his junior Ministers have had to stonewall with the traditional: ‘I cannot anticipate my right hon. Friend's Budget statement.’ 1974Newsweek 11 May 23/2 The President himself.. served notice that he would stonewall any further demands for tapes in the Watergate scandal. 1974Globe & Mail (Toronto) 10 Dec. 6/2 What the Government does not seem to realize is that in the process of stonewalling the Opposition, it has, itself, compromised the independence of Mr. Munro. 1976D. Hiro Inside India Today 260 The Congress administration stonewalled again, when Mishra died..and the opposition demanded a ‘high power’ inquiry. 1982Daily Tel. 25 Jan. 12/7 The Nixon administration..also gave the world ‘stonewall’ as a verb and then got out in the attempted practice thereof.
1786G. Frazer Dove's Flight 41 She takes her flight to her *stone-walled refuge.
1891Field 7 Mar. 345/3 Barchard in goal..showed marvellous stopping powers... In him the North possess a regular ‘*stonewaller’. 1895J. N. Pentelow England v. Australia 20 Boyle gave the young stonewaller still better assistance. 1958Economist 2 Aug. 361 He indicated to the Austrians that he thought Mr Dulles the chief western no-man and habitual stonewaller. 1971Jamaican Weekly Gleaner 17 Nov. 27/1 Mrs. A. D. Scott, regarded as one of the toughest stonewallers ever to play locally, was not very happy on the very fast surface.
1799A. Young View Agric. Lincoln. 32, 518 yards of chopped *stone walling. 1875Encycl. Brit. II. 388/2 Over this structure there was clearly another..as extensive remains of fine stone-walling still exist.
1880Gentl. Mag. Jan. 64 If ‘*stone-walling’ tactics are adopted by the oppositionists. 1892Pall Mall Gaz. 5 Sept. 1/2 It is for cricket such as this..that the opponents of stone-walling sigh. 1902Daily Chron. 23 Apr. 3/2 Of ‘stone-walling’ cricketers, Lord Granville [Gordon] entertains a very poor opinion. |