| 释义 |
red devil
1. A type of Italian hand grenade. Also attrib.
a1944K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) vi. 44 The little tin ‘red devil’ grenades, bombastic little crackers that will blow a man's hand off and make a noise like the crack of doom. 1967Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 10 Sept. 45/4 Red devils, Italian hand grenades painted red. They made a lot of noise but caused little damage.
2. the Red Devils: popular name for the Parachute Regiment of the British Army.
1943in G. G. Norton Red Devils (1971) ii. 24 General Alexander directs that I Para Brigade be info[rmed] that [they] have been given name by Germans of ‘Red Devils’. 1948M. Packe First Airborne vii. 78 They..inspired the German paratroops..to christen them the Red Devils. 1974Times 19 Apr. 15/4 The Red Devils free-fall team is giving another display. 1977Times 8 June 4/1 The Red Devils, the Army's daring freefall parachute team.
3. = red-bird 2.
1967Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. i. 12/2 Friday's ‘goof ball’ raid in a South End apartment (where 3,600 so-called ‘red-devils’ were confiscated) was the result of three months investigatory work. 1971‘D. Shannon’ Murder with Love (1972) iv. 67 Quite a collection of the pills..the Blue Angels and Red Devils and Yellow Submarines. 1974M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. xi. 205 Short-acting barbiturates such as..secobarbital (‘red devils’). |