| 释义 |
ˈground-floor
The floor in a building which is more or less on a level with the ground outside.
1601Holland Pliny II. 597 In processe of time paue⁓ments were driuen out of ground-floores, and passed vp into chambers. 1669in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 557 Uppon the Groundfloore there shalbe five outward chambers. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 265 You may imagine this Design to be the Ground Floor, having no Cellar beneath it. 1760–72tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) I. 336 All the houses of note have a story; but the others only a ground floor. 1809Malkin Gil Blas iv. x. ⁋5 A window on the ground-floor. 1845Ford Handbk. Spain i. 25 The ground floor is a sort of common room for men and beasts. 1884G. Allen Philistia I. 3 A large room on the ground floor of the tenement.
attrib.1886W. J. Tucker Life E. Europe 102 A straggling ground-floor edifice. c1890W. H. Casmey Ventilation 17 Eight drying machines in one ground-floor room. 1897Daily News 10 June 7/1 The building will consist mainly of a ground floor storey.
b. fig. Also in phr. to get (or be let) in on the ground-floor orig. U.S.: ‘to be allowed to share in a speculation on the same terms as the original promoters’ (Farmer). Also in other similar expressions with wider meaning.
1864Bowen Logic vii. 225 The inductive truth-seeker is on the ground-floor of facts. 1872T. Talmage Abom. Mod. Society 118 A select number go in on the ‘ground floor’. 1878N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 181 The ground-floor of material industry. 1901Merwin & Webster Calumet ‘K’ xi. 211 Well then, we'll have to let you in on the ground floor. 1904‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings xii. 206 Says he's heard of the boom along this coast, and wants to get in on the ground floor. 1909E. S. Barnett Dragnet 12 To take advantage of this ground floor proposition Alexander and Company will have to give up its identity, and be a branch. 1916J. Buchan Greenmantle xii. 159 The promoters are keeping it to themselves. They aren't taking in more than they can help on the ground-floor. 1930W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale xiv. 167 It was out of the question then for Mrs. Barton Trafford to get in on the ground floor. She could only buy in the open market. 1939J. B. Priestley Johnson over Jordan 57 Still plenty of good things if you know where to find 'em and get in on the ground floor. 1945R. Hargreaves Enemy at Gate 82 Spain bestirred herself to get in on the nearest thing she could find in the way of a ground floor, by declaring war on England in the June of [1779]. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xix. 319 It'd be a big thing, Alec... You're in on this, in on the ground floor. 1958Spectator 7 Feb. 169/1 It was thus comparatively easy to get in on the ground floor of the occasional project. 1966A. Loos Girl like I (1967) iii. 68 My problem was that, without realizing it, I was in on the ground floor of a sex revolution: the twentieth century's breakdown of romantic love between the sexes. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 48/5 (Advt.), Surgical sales representative... Outstanding future—ground floor opportunity. 1970Observer 1 Mar. 31/6 I'd get in on the ground floor and see it now if I were you.
c. The lower deck of a bus. slang.
1936Daily Herald 5 Aug. 8/4 Here is a short list of busmen's slang phrases:..ground floor, inside.
Hence ˈground-floored a., consisting of a ground-floor; one-storied.
1824Heber Jrnl. (1828) I. 326 A tavern, a large ground-floored house with excellent rooms. |