| 释义 |
tattle-tale, n. (and a.) colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).|ˈtæt(ə)lteɪl|
[f. tattle n. (or v.), after tell-tale.]
1. = tell-tale n. (a.) 1 a. Occas. attrib. or as adj. (cf. tell-tale n. (a.) 3 b).
1889‘C. E. Craddock’ Despot of Broomsedge Cove 429 I'd strangle that tattle-tale with a mighty good will. 1918J. G. Thompson Lest we Forget 230 An American boy was expelled from a German gymnasium in Berlin, because he refused to ‘tattle-tale’ on the pupils in his class. 1929W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 91 ‘I already told on her,’ Jason said... ‘And see what you got by it,’ Caddy said. ‘Tattletale.’ 1946C. McCullers Member of Wedding i. 45 ‘Frankie ain't no tattle-tale,’ said Berenice. 1962‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed xiii. 89 Helen's tattle-tale scars. 1964D. Macarthur Reminiscences i. 26 Come what may, I would be no tattletale. 1977D. Bagley Enemy v. 37 Nellie is a tattle-tale, isn't she? Too bloody gossipy.
2. A tachograph; also in oil-well drilling (see quot. 1942).
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §516/5 Tattletale, an instrument recording the pressure of the bit on the bottom and the work done during a shift. 1949Amer. Speech XXIV. 35 Another characteristic of oil-field language is the predominance of compound words... Compound nouns coined from a verb and its object are bore hole..swamp pole, and tattle tale. 1962Ibid. XXXVII. 272 Tattletale,.. a complex device used on trucks, buses, and locomotives which records exact time, distance, and speed on a cylinder, and is used to check on how much speed and how many stops a vehicle made. 1971M. Tak Truck Talk 165 Tattletale, a sealed tachograph in a tractor that simultaneously records a truck's speed and the time of day; thus producing a record of driving hours and stops. Installed by large companies to check on driver efficiency and running time, tattletales are, needless to say, unpopular with drivers.
3. Comb. tattle-tale grey, an off-white colour resulting from inadequate laundering. Also fig.
1943D. W. Brogan Eng. People 11 If the victory of the United Nations is a good thing for all..a member of this alliance may be well advised to put up with the fact that the other members' records are not snowy white, but at best tattle-tale grey. 1973Houston (Texas) Chron. Mag. People, Places, Pleasures 14 Oct. 11/4 In case all this still leaves the tattle tale grey, one must begin it all over again.
Hence (rarely) as v. intr., to tell tales or ‘sneak’ on (somebody).
1918J. G. Thompson Lest we Forget 230 An American boy was expelled from a German gymnasium in Berlin, because he refused to ‘tattle-tale’ on the pupils in his class. |