| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈtail-gate, n. (and a.)
[f. tail n.1 + gate n.1]
1. The lower gate or pair of gates of a canal-lock; the aft-gate.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Lock, The head-gate and tail-gate, which, with the side-walls, inclose the lock-chamber. 1983G. Swift Waterland v. 29 The lighters are approaching. Dick is opening the tail-gates.
2. A tail-board or back on a wagon, lorry, etc., hinged or removable to facilitate the loading of goods; a hatchback door on a car. orig. U.S.
1868Oregon State Jrnl. 28 Nov. 2/3 The whole charge..[passed] through the tailgate of the wagon. 1886E. Eggleston Graysons xxiii. 345 The two were picking near together and throwing corn over the tail-gate of the wagon. 1909Webster, Tail gate,..a heavy wooden panel pivoted to the end of a railroad car to form an incline from the car bottom to the rails. 1940W. Faulkner Hamlet iv. i. 246 The wagon moved gradually backward until the head of the first horse was snubbed up to the tail-gate. 1956New Yorker 1 Dec. 196/2 This year's crop of friction-motor automobiles includes..a ten-inch Country Squire station wagon, with a tail gate that can be opened and closed. 1963Guardian 13 Mar. 5/4 The one-piece tailgate, which is counter-balanced, rises to 5 ft. 10 in. from the ground, providing protection for both load and loader against the rain. 1967Financial Times 21 Apr. 9/8 Hi-pope vertical tailgate equipment for fitting to lorries. 1974Daily Tel. 22 Oct. 10/7 The styling is angular, but pleasant, and features a large rear tailgate for access to the luggage compartment behind the rear seats. 1978J. Irving World according to Garp xv. 309 She felt her way along the truck toward the tailgate. 1980Times 28 May 3/1 BL's long-awaited new small car, the Mini Metro,..is a front-wheel-drive model with two side doors and a tailgate.
B. attrib. or as adj.
1. Used to designate a style of jazz trombone playing characterized by improvisation in the manner of the early New Orleans musicians. [From the traditional position of the trombonist at the rear of the wagon in parades, etc.]
1946R. Blesh Shining Trumpets ii. 32 Long glissandi..heard in the ‘tailgate’ or circus-style trombone of jazz. 1959‘R. Gant’ World in Jug 26 Vic was our trombonist... He had a real tailgate style—that comes from the days when the trombonist sat at the back of the wagon so that he did not push out the eyes of the other bandsmen. 1973Times 25 Jan. 18/6 It needed the utmost in timing and execution, as many would-be tailgate trombonists have since proved by default.
2. Applied to refreshment stops, etc., made during the course of a journey or outing and arranged at the open tail-gate of a parked car.
1970[see potlatch b]. 1980L. Birnbach et al. Official Preppy Handbk. 102/2 Tailgate picnics, whiskey sours in the stadium, and the general complexity of the sport guarantee that nobody knows what is going on.
▪ II. ˈtail-gate, v. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
Also unhyphened.
[f. the n.]
1. intr. To drive too close behind another vehicle.
1951,1955[implied in tailgating vbl. n. below]. 1962‘F. & R. Lockridge’ Murder has its Points xiv. 160 The police car they followed knew its way, and Weigand tail-gated. 1964Punch 23 Sept. 442/3 ‘Don't tailgate!’.. meaning don't drive on the other man's tail. 1976Good Motoring May 32/1 In the dangerous sphere of motorway driving, for example, they would not tailgate at speeds where if the man in front stopped suddenly they could not..help but stop in exactly the same place on the road.
2. trans. To follow (a motor vehicle) excessively closely in another vehicle.
1967Lebende Sprachen XII. 73/2 The use of the verb (which is a recent accession) no longer requires that the car ahead does in fact have a tailgate. One can tailgate a VW. 1968National Observer (U.S.) 8 Apr. 5/4 Negro cabbie John W. Smith, whose arrest for ‘tailgating’ a police car..helped spark five days of rioting.., was found guilty of assaulting a policeman. 1970Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 9 Oct. 25 The cruise cars are programmed on an intricate shuttle, one tailgating the other, so that no more than 20 seconds can..pass between a radio alarm and the arrival of a car. 1982H. Kissinger Years of Upheaval vii. 228 We took off in a motorcade traveling at a speed of close to 100 miles per hour with cars tailgating each other.
3. fig.
1977Times Lit. Suppl. 20 May 618/3 Pictures tailgate each other, wall to wall, and floor to ceiling, in the authentic eighteenth-century manner. 1978Saturday Night (Toronto) Apr. 5/2 One takeover scenario has tailgated another: in 1969 it was Time Inc. muscling in.
Hence ˈtailgater; ˈtailgating vbl. n.
1951Amer. Speech XXVI. 309/1 Tail-gating, part. phr., a bad practice of following too close to the tail gate of the truck ahead. 1955Ibid. XXX. 93 Twenty-two..[lorry] drivers agreed that tailgating means riding too closely behind the vehicle ahead. 1957How to Drive (Amer. Auto. Assoc.) viii. 71 Expressway ‘tailgating’ is suicidal. 1968H. McCloy Mr. Splitfoot (1969) xvii. 195 Another car passed him and slipped in between his car and Folly's. One of those eager tailgaters who cannot bear to see a few inches between two cars ahead of them. 1970V. Johnston Phantom Cottage xxi. 160 ‘So if you will just let me keep following your car—.’.. ‘All right. But no tailgating.’ 1976National Observer (U.S.) 13 Mar. 8/6 In informal testing by The Observer, a Cyberlite appeared to reduce ‘tail-gating’ behind the test vehicle. 1978Telegraph (Brisbane) 18 Jan. 2/1 A spider on the boot is a lot less dangerous than a tailgater on the bumper bar. 1980West Lancs. Evening Gaz. 21 May 1/1 In a statement today the AA said poor driving, including the ‘often fatal practice of ‘tailgating’’, was responsible for a big increase in serious accidents. |