| 释义 |
give and take, n.
[See give v.]
1. Sporting. Used attrib.
a. In give and take plate, a prize for a race in which the horses which exceed a standard height carry more, and those which fall short of it less, than the standard weight.
b. In various connexions, implying the alternation of favourable and unfavourable conditions.
1769St. James's Chron. 12–15 Aug. 2/3 Will be run for on Huish Downs..A Free Plate of 50l. Give and Take, by any Horse, Mare, or Gelding. 1776Mrs. J. Harris in Lett. 1st Earl Malmesbury (1870) I. 348 Two races again, one as usual for the Give-and-take plate. 1814Sporting Mag. XLIV. 260 Give-and-take plates were then all the vogue. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf, Give and take—plates, turf-weight according to inches; the standard being 9 stone for 14 hands, but carrying 14 oz. extra for every eighth of an inch above, and allowing the same for every eighth less: thus 12 hands would carry 5 stone, 15 hands 11 stone. 1856G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. xv, I indulged them [the ponies] with a good strong ‘give and take’ pull. 1887J. J. Hissey Holiday on Road 320 Hard continuous climbing is..more fatiguing to horses than double the distance of equally hilly but give-and-take ground. 1891Field 7 Mar. 346/3 [Coursing] A give-and-take course of fair length followed.
2. The practice of mutual yielding, making allowances, or concessions; compromise, exchange of equivalents.
1778F. Burney Evelina I. xxv. 207 Give and Take is fair in all nations. 1816Remarks Eng. Mann. 62 In short we do not act in foreign countries on the system, (to use a familiar phrase), of ‘give and take’. 1855S. Herbert in Ld. Malmesbury Mem. Ex-Minister (1884) II. 40 Mutual forbearance and much give-and-take. 1890Spectator 25 Jan., Surely there is room here for a little give-and-take.
attrib.a1817Jane Austen Persuasion (1818) III. xi. 232 So unlike the usual style of give-and-take invitations, and dinners of formality and display. 1844Fraser's Mag. XXX. 125/1 There must be..more of the give-and-take system in legislation. 1860All Year Round No. 65. 346 A speckled thrush pulling a worm out of the lawn..with a give and take, pull-baker pull-devil principle. 1897Argus (Melbourne) 1 Mar. 5/4 Representatives..ought to go into council in a give-and-take spirit.
3. Exchange of talk, esp. of repartee, jest, or raillery.
1870A. W. Ward tr. Curtius' Hist. Greece (1873) I. ii. i. 205 Men learnt the give-and-take of Spartan speech. 1885L. Stephen in Dict. Nat. Biog. I. 125/2 Addison's sensitive modesty disqualified him for the rough give-and-take of mixed society. 1894Review of Rev. Aug. 166 An amount of give and take, sharp exchange of personalities..that [etc.].
attrib.1837T. Hook Jack Brag xv, In the every-day give-and-take conversation of the best society. 1848Dickens Dombey ii, In their matrimonial bickerings they were..a well-matched..give-and-take couple. 1879G. Meredith Egoist xix. (1889) 175 The sweetest give and take rattle he had ever enjoyed. |