| 释义 |
drive-by, n. and a. orig. U.S.
Brit. |ˈdrʌɪvbʌɪ|, U.S. |ˈdraɪvˌbaɪ|
[‹ drive v. + by adv.]
A. n.
1. An act of driving past, esp. in order to carry out a cursory examination or appraisal of a roadside property. Also fig.
1951Lima (Ohio) News 29 June 27/1 (advt.) Shown by appointment only. No drive bys. 1976Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 4 June d5 (advt.) You get qualified buyers, not just lookers, and we get them inside your home, no ‘drive-bys’. 1994Toronto Sun (Nexis) 26 Aug. 17 Yesterday's convoy of around 80 cabs ran into a police roadblock as it tried to drive past Diamond offices... When things threatened to turn ugly, police allowed a driveby on condition no one stopped. 2003Columbia Journalism Rev. Sept.–Oct. 63/1 How did the broadcast media respond? Unfortunately..they did a typical drive-by... Viewers got one- or two-sentence morsels of audiotape. 2005Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch (Nexis) 20 Oct. 1 c, Clearly a drive-by on that property would indicate that it was not worth $310,000.
2. A shooting carried out from a passing vehicle.
1977Los Angeles Times 24 July (Centinela South Bay section) b1/3 We..don't have nearly as many ‘drive-bys’ and random shootings as they do in East Los Angeles. 1991Police May 34/2 Most drive-bys utilize the power of AK-47s. 2000P. Cornwell Last Precinct (2001) 137 It looked like a drive-by since he was in the street and his head was bloody.
B. adj.
1. Designating or relating to an action carried out from a passing vehicle, esp. a shooting or a cursory examination of a property.
1968Amending TVA Act of 1933 (U.S. Congress House Comm. on Public Works) 94 It was a drive by appraisal from the road. They did not come on the property. 1977Los Angeles Times 24 July (Centinela South Bay section) b4/2 In a driveby shooting involving several gangs in Hawthorne, four girls and a boy were wounded. 1997Y. M. Murray Locas 160 The driveby bullets only plugged up his legs and his left hand. 1999Empire Nov. 122/1 It harks back to the time before John Hughes—a time of drive-by moonings, panty raids, toga parties and unashamed joie de shag. 2001Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 18–24 May 2/2 Drive-by shootings and bombings moved from the Cape Flats into white Cape Town.
2. fig. Mildy depreciative. Brief and superficial; hurried; makeshift.
1992N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 24 May 5/3 Broder and..Woodward correctly chide the political press for practicing ‘quick, drive-by journalism’ rather than trying ‘to elevate the level of discussion, focusing on substantive questions’. 1995Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 22 Nov. Among the concerns about ‘drive-by deliveries’ are the physiologic changes both new mothers and newborns experience on the second and third days after birth. 1996Internet World. July 72/1 For some businesses,..the important thing is to make a quick buck. So you get this ‘drive-by’ spamming. 2005N.Y. Times (National ed.) 22 Dec. a28/5 A drive-by confidential briefing of some leaders of Congress does not amount to Congressional approval. |