| 释义 |
▪ I. stooge, n. slang (orig. U.S.).|stuːdʒ|
[Origin unknown; the possibility that it represents an altered form of student has been suggested (students having frequently been employed as stage assistants).]
1. a. A stage hand. b. A stage assistant, esp. one who acts as the butt or foil for a leading character; a feed, straight man. c. The assistant of a conjuror or similar performer. d. transf.
1913Sat. Even. Post 1 Nov. 64/4 Ben, I want you to plant one of your stooges in that coop with a couple of smoke-pots, so that we'll get the effect of Jack coming through the thickest of it. 1929Variety 24 July 1/1 Stuges perform on the floor with dead-pan faces and unconscious feet beating out the time-step. 1936R. E. Sherwood Idiot's Delight ii. iii. 129, I was a stooge for Zuleika, the Mind Reader. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xxii. 238 You expect me, do you, not only to act as a stooge for you in front of the camera, but to sit smiling in the background while you horn in and swipe my interview? 1940― Eggs, Beans & Crumpets 166 She's a conjuror's stooge... A conjuror's assistant, don't you know. 1941Punch 14 May 468/1 A lament for the absence of that long-suffering, superbly resilient feminine stooge, Margaret Dumont [as partner of the Marx brothers]. 1955W. R. Matthews Brit. Philosopher as Writer 12 In it [sc. one kind of philosophical dialogue] the author sets up one or more ‘stooges’, who..can be made to ask just the questions which he, in the person of another character, can answer. 1967M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour vi. 112 Subjects took part in three three-minute discussions with stooges trained to stare, at distances of two, six and ten feet. 1977Spare Rib June 28/2 Our humour is inter-reactive, there's no stooge. 1979Sci. Amer. May 22/1 A common method of cheating is to rely on what magicians call a ‘stooge’: someone who is watching behind a screen and sending secret signals to the psychic by any one of scores of little-known techniques. 1982Jewish Chron. 9 July 10/3 Their roles—ventriloquist and dummy, reciter and interrupter, smart alec and stooge.
2. A newcomer, a novice (in certain spec. contexts: see quots.).
1930J. Lait Big House i. 6 A first-timer [in prison] is a ‘stooge’. 1935J. Hargan Gloss. Prison Lang. 8 Stooge, first offender. 1942Forbes & Allen Ten Fighter Boys 55 As the squadron was on readiness most of the day, training was difficult to do, but we did some. However, within a fortnight the squadron moved south to ‘K’: we stooges were left behind with one pilot to finish off training.
3. A person whose function is merely to carry out another's directions; an unquestioningly loyal or obsequious subordinate, a lackey; a person used as an instrument by someone behind the scenes, a cat's paw. Also fig.
1937H. G. Wells Brynhild vi. 85, I have to..proclaim you. Be your Aaron. Your John the Baptist. Your—Stooge! 1937― Star Begotten vii. 128 He assembled by wire and telephone all his most trusted henchmen, tools, stooges, subordinates, intimates. 1944Times 6 Jan. 8/3 ‘If the Beveridge plan is adopted, does it mean that we shall all become State stooges?’.. ‘No... I have been a Civil servant myself, and I rather resent the suggestion that a Civil servant is a stooge.’ 1948Observer 7 Mar. 4/2 Communists have no use for democratic Socialists except as stooges, and the end they are working for is not Socialism but the totalitarian police-State. 1951Negro Hist. Bull. (U.S.) Feb. 111/1 Black stooges mouthing the sentiments of the white politicians. 1952R. A. Knox Hidden Stream xvii. 157 If I see a rather nice picture in a shop and..buy it, is that because..I can't resist buying it? But if so, surely my will is not really free: it is just a sort of stooge. 1957M. Spark Comforters iii. 69 At first I thought she was running a gang, but now, all things considered, I think she may be their stooge. 1960Washington Post 28 Apr. a 22/1 But..his habit of surrounding himself with stooges and sycophants, inevitably led to the debacle after an egregiously fraudulent election. 1978Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. a 11/1 Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe..branded the moderate African leaders as ‘sworn stooges of Premier (Ian) Smith’.
4. R.A.F. In war-time: a flight during which one does not expect to encounter the enemy. Also attrib. and in stooge-around.
1942T. Rattigan Flare Path i. 37 It's a raid, I suppose. Teddy. It's not exactly a practice stooge-around. 1945C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 57 Stooge patrol, a patrol on which the pilot does not see, or expect to see, the enemy. 1952M. Tripp Faith is Windsock v. 86 At one stage we saw a Fortress orbiting slowly, presumably on a stooge with a team of W/Ops jamming enemy frequencies.
5. attrib. and Comb.
1940Punch 1 May 482/3 His Lordship..was taken on as a stooge fiance in order to camouflage Felicity's unprincipled intentions. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 183 Stooge pilot, a pilot employed in flying-training aircraft carrying untrained navigators or gunners. 1957R. N. C. Hunt Guide to Communist Jargon xxxiii. 115 The Communists..introduced one-party government, and the various stooge-parties the existence of which they permitted had no influence in determining policy. 1958Observer 16 Mar. 17/6 The sententious, almost stooge-like, quality associated with the chorus in Greek tragedy.
▪ II. stooge, v.|stuːdʒ|
[f. the n.]
1. intr. To act as a stooge (senses 1 and 3) (for someone). slang.
1939R. Chandler Big Sleep xviii. 135 We're glad to stooge for a shamus of his standing. 1955J. Thomas No Banners xxii. 214 One of the Milice degenerates who stooged for the Gestapo. 1973‘G. Black’ Bitter Tea viii. 122 For a time Jeremy stooged in espionage, but that must have hurt his feet. 1979Sci. Amer. May 22/3 That Strang often stooged for Geller is well established.
2. slang (orig. R.A.F.). Of an aircraft: to cruise (about, around, etc.). Hence gen., to drift, wander, move randomly.
1941Illustr. London News 9 Aug. 165/2 (caption) We just stooged about watching the bombers drop their loads. 1942T. Rattigan Flare Path i. 19 We were stooging along over the Dutch coast. 1942[see beat v.1 40 i]. 1953G. Heyer Detection Unlimited xiii. 208 Stooging round with me, and thinking how much better you could do the job yourself. 1956‘J. Wyndham’ Seeds of Time 136 The streets became..full of crowds stooging around. 1958M. K. Joseph I'll soldier no More xiii. 238 Been in 691 Squadron, stooging around the Channel ports all winter. 1973‘N. Graham’ Murder in Dark Room xviii. 128, I noticed the Austin in the mirror... That made me think I'd seen another black Austin stooging around fairly recently.
Hence ˈstooging vbl. n.
1944Times 26 Jan. 4/2 Anti-submarine patrols form another vitally important part of the Coastal Air Force's work; it is often dull, monotonous ‘stooging’, but is also often well rewarded. 1960D. Storey This Sporting Life i. ii. 62, I don't want the thought of your stooging always lying over me. 1978J. Gardner Dancing Dodo xviii. 134, I did some stooging—keeping cave, you know. |