| 释义 |
half-cocked, ppl. a. and pa. pple.
[See half-cock v.]
a. Of a gun: at half-cock.
1809[see cocked ppl. a.2 2].
b. Partly intoxicated. dial. and slang.
c1830T. Wilson Pitman's Pay (1843) 54 Half-cock'd and canty, hyem we gat. 1886W. H. Long I.O.W. Dial. 120 All on 'em was about half cocked. 1888[see cocked ppl. a.2 2]. 1910Dialect Notes III. vi. 453 Half-cocked,..Half drunk.
c. to go off half-cocked: to speak or act prematurely. U.S. colloq.
1833Deb. Congress U.S. 31 Jan. 1521 The gentleman from Maryland has gone off half cocked. 1877J. Habberton Jericho Road xvi. 152 Just like you, always goin' off half-cocked. 1920S. Lewis Main St. 349 Well—I don't suppose I ought to have gone off half-cocked, and not jollied him along. 1940E. Pound Let. 14 Mar. (1971) 340 No use my going off half-cocked on large subjects whereon I have not yet arrived at conclusion.
d. Incompletely prepared or realized. Also quasi-advb.
1946M. Shulman Zebra Derby (1947) viii. 45 You know, we're not going into this thing half-cocked. 1953A. Upfield Murder must Wait xxi. 186 I've a half-cocked kind of idea. |