| 释义 |
doldrum|ˈdɒldrəm|
Usually in pl. doldrums.
[app. in its origin a slang term, prob. a deriv. of prec., or of dol, dull. For the form cf. tantrum.]
†1. slang. A dullard; a dull, drowsy, or sluggish fellow. Obs.
1812Examiner 7 Sept. 571/1 A doldrum is, we believe, the cant word for a long sleeper. 1824Scott Let. to Son 22 Oct. in Lockhart, I hope you will make your way to the clever fellows and not put up with Doldrums. [a1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Row in Omnibus 1 Doldrum the Manager sits in his chair.]
2. pl. the doldrums.
a. A condition of dullness or drowsiness; dumps, low spirits, depression.
1811Morning Herald 13 Apr. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1812) XV. 175, I am now in the doldrums; but when I get better, I will send you [etc.]. 1835Marryat Jac. Faithf. xi, ‘Come, father, old Dictionary is in the doldrums; rouse him up with another stave.’ 1862Athenæum 30 Aug. 266 A glass of brandy-and-water is a panacea for the doldrums. 1886C. Keene Let. in G. S. Layard Life xi. (1892) 363 The great thing is to evade ‘the Doldrums’.
b. The condition of a ship in which, either from calms, or from baffling winds, she makes no headway; a becalmed state.
1824Byron Island ii. xxi, From the bluff head where I watch'd to-day, I saw her in the doldrums; for the wind Was light and baffling. 1833Marryat P. Simple xliii, As we ran along the coast, I perceived a vessel under the high land in what the sailors called the doldrums; this is, almost becalmed, or her sails flapping about in every direction with the eddying winds.
fig.1883Times (weekly ed.) 16 Feb. 10 The ship of State has escaped the tornado, but seems becalmed in a kind of political and financial doldrums. 1895Sir T. Sutherland in Westm. Gaz. 11 July 1/3 At the present moment the trade appears to be in the doldrums.
c. An intellectually non-plussed condition.
1871G. Meredith H. Richmond xxvii, My wits are in the doldrums. 1878J. R. O'Flanagan Irish Bar (1879) 142 The Counsellor's questions put him in a doldrum.
3. transf. A region in which ships are specially liable to be becalmed; spec. (equatorial doldrums), the region of calms and light baffling winds near the equator, where the trade winds meet and neutralize each other.
(Apparently due to a misunderstanding of the phrase ‘in the doldrums’, the state being taken as a locality.)
1855Maury Phys. Geog. Sea x. §583 The ‘equatorial doldrums’ is another of these calm places. Besides being a region of calms and baffling winds, it is a region noted for its rains. 1883E. F. Knight Cruise Falcon (1887) 26 The sultry doldrums, where a ship may lie for weeks..a region of unbearable calm, broken occasionally by violent squalls. |