| 释义 |
▪ I. down-beat, n.|ˈdaʊnbiːt|
[down adv. 41.]
A downward beat; spec. in Mus., (the downward stroke of a conductor's baton or hand, indicating) the first or most heavily accented note of a measure; = thesis 1.
1876[see up a. 4]. 1879Grove Dict. Mus. I. 95/2 We make the down beat for the strong accents, and raise our hand for the others. 1891[see thesis 1]. 1937John o' London's 7 May 217 To convert the energy of a down-beat in flapping flight into that forward thrust which gives to birds their speed through the air. 1946P. Rosenfeld tr. R. Schumann's Music & Musicians 169 Music itself sought to return to its origins where the laws of downbeat did not yet oppress it. 1955G. Abraham in H. van Thal Fanfare for E. Newman 13 Each wind instrument enters on a down-beat.
▪ II. down-beat, a. orig. U.S.|ˈdaʊnbiːt|
[cf. prec.]
Pessimistic, gloomy, sombre; relaxed, unemphatic.
1952N.Y. Times Mag. 6 Jan. 10 The visitor to Europe may be..distressed by the down-beat mood of the people. Ibid. 16 Mar. 22 No type of film is more chancey..than the one that is loaded with misery and ends on a note of despair... Such pictures have, in recent years..been tagged ‘down-beat’ films. 1955N.Y. Herald-Tribune 19 Sept., That pictorially memorable march up the twilit hill of a dusty Southern town has an inexplicably plodding and down-beat air about it. 1958Times 9 May 13/7 The checks among the men continue in down-beat tones. 1958Observer 30 Nov. 16/7 It [sc. a play] had a nice natural down-beat ending. 1966Listener 20 Jan. 88/2 Two of Austria's three goals were from half-chances driven home like a bullet. A lot of the time they cruised with typical continental down-beat deliberation. |