| 释义 |
▪ I. tacky, n. and a.1|ˈtækɪ|
Also tackey, tackie.
[Origin obscure.]
A. n. U.S.
a. A degenerate ‘weedy’ horse: see quot. 1884.
b. A poor white of the Southern States from Virginia to Georgia.
1800W. Tatham Agric. & Commerce 81 A horse, a cow, or a little tackie, &c. (which last term signifies a poney or little horse of low price). 1839C. F. Hoffman Wild Scenes 117 The land pirates had disappeared, without molesting my tackey. 1884E. Eggleston in Cent. Mag. Jan. 444/2 The scrubby little ‘tackeys’ still taken in the marshes along the North Carolina coast are descendants of the wild horses of the colony. 1888Ibid. Sept. 799/2 If Mr. Catlett will come to Georgia and go among the ‘po' whites’ and ‘piney-wood tackeys’. 1889Farmer Americanisms, Tackey, in the South, a jade of a horse; a sorry beast; and idiomatically a man neglectful of personal appearance. 1896Peterson Mag. Jan. 84/2 Here..is a native of the Virginia wilds, a specimen of the genus ‘tacky’.
B. adj. Dowdy, shabby; in poor taste, cheap, vulgar. Also Comb., as tacky-looking adj. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1862K. Stone Jrnl. 16 Feb. in Brokenburn (1955) 89 What a weary, bedraggled tacky-looking set they were. 1883I. M. Rittenhouse Maud 262 Two little cards (with his name printed on them in gilt. Tackey? Ugh). 1893L. J. Rittenhouse in Chicago Advance 22 June, She looks so tacky in her shabby dress. 1937Hart & Kaufman You can't take it with You iii. 180 An extremely tacky-looking evening wrap. 1957M. Kennedy Heroes of Clone iii. i. 158 He went again to the window to watch for the arrival of the tacky little car. 1967N. Mailer Cannibals & Christians i. 16 All the tacky doings of each small town. 1971‘O. Bleeck’ Thief who painted Sunlight (1972) iii. 30 A tacky-looking bulletin board. 1983Listener 10 Feb. 29/3 They were really very good, putting together a fast and lively show, full of cheerfully dreadful jokes and inventively tacky songs.
▪ II. tacky, a.2|ˈtækɪ|
[f. tack n.1 4 b + -y.]
Slightly sticky or adhesive: said of gum, glue, or varnish nearly dry.
1788G. Smith in Lond. Mag. 624 The moistened gum..must not be waterish but something tacky or clammy. 1822J. Imison Sc. & Art II. 244 If left in the damp, it remains tacky..a long time. 1897Complete Cyclist (Isthmian Libr.) 188 Sufficient time must be given to allow the solution to become dry, or, as it is technically known, ‘tacky’. |