| 释义 |
▪ I. frazzle, v. slang or colloq. (orig. dial.).|ˈfræz(ə)l|
Also frazle.
[Cf. fasel v., and fray v.2]
trans. To fray, wear out, tear to rags or ribbons. lit. and fig. Also intr. Hence ˈfrazzled (-out) ppl. a.; ˈfrazzlings, ravellings.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Frazle, to unravel or rend cloth. Frazlings, threads of cloth, torn or unravelled. 1872Congress. Globe 30 May, App. 577/3 The ends of the switches were all frazzled. 1893Amer. Missionary (N.Y.) Dec. 418 One's garments get frazzled in the grass; one's mind and body and spiritual sense sometimes become frazzled, torn to pieces, good-for-nothing. 1895Nebraska State Jrnl. 23 June 3/1 Everyone believed that Thomas would..plant the frazzled banner of the distillers in its place. 1896J. C. Harris Sister Jane 344 He's the genuine article, guaranteed not to rip in the seams or frazzle at the sleeves. 1912J. H. Moore Ethics & Educ. 34 Many a frazzled-out member of society owes his failure in life to no greater misdemeanour than the mere failure to make connection with his calling. 1912J. London Son of Sun viii. 285 Loose ends of rope stood out stiffly horizontal, and, when a whipping gave, the loose end frazzled and blew away. 1912Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 194/1 For bed a mud kang with a frazzled mat on it. 1927J. Devanny Old Savage 43 His fight had left him ‘frazzled’, as he expressed it. 1960Guardian 6 Jan. 1/7 The insistence of frazzled parents that merry⁓making and goodwill to men have got to stop somewhere.
▪ II. frazzle, n.|ˈfræz(ə)l|
[f. the vb.]
The state of being frazzled or worn out; esp. in phr. (orig. U.S.) to a frazzle in fig. expressions denoting complete exhaustion or extinction.
1865Gordon in W. C. Church Ulysses Grant (1897) 318 Tell General Lee, I have fought my corps to a frazzle. 1880J. C. Harris Uncle Remus (1881) xi, Brer Fox dun know Brer Rabbit uv ole, en he know dat sorter game done wo' ter a frazzle. 1894Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 2 Jan., Two years ago his nerves were worn to a frazzle over an attempt made to levy a tax. 1905Washington Star 24 Nov. 22 The Becham machine whipped Blackburn to a frazzle, giving him the first real defeat he had ever experienced. 1908Westm. Gaz. 3 Nov. 7/3 Mr. Roosevelt, when asked for his opinion on the result, said, ‘We have got them beaten to a ‘frazzle’.’ 1916Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 29 July 4/4 As a briber and corrupter, Mr. Brewster..has everyone else ‘beat to a frazzle’. 1927Daily Express 20 June 3/4 They run motor races on their sea wall at Lowestoft. They..have Canute beaten to a frazzle. 1935T. E. Lawrence Let. 15 Feb. (1938) 856 Some of those lovely worm-driven water hose clips... They beat [name omitted] clips to a frazzle. 1937Daily Herald 3 Feb. 15/6 Listens with such inscrutability that he's got the Chinese licked to a frazzle. 1966C. Bermant Diary of Old Man 111 There he goes again, coughing himself to a frazzle. |