| 释义 |
▪ I. handbag, n.
Brit. |ˈhan(d)bag|, U.S. |ˈhæn(d)ˌbæg|
[‹ hand + bag n.]
1. A bag designed to be carried in the hand or by handles.
a. A light travelling bag.
b. Chiefly Brit. A small bag carried esp. by women for holding small personal items such as a purse and keys. (Now the usual sense.)
1859F. C. Cozzens Acadia 164 The traveller's Minié-rifle, life-preserver, strapped-up blankets, and hand-bag were stuffed in the sides. 1871E. E. Hale How to do It 264 Then I hang my hand⁓bag now on the peg under my hat, put into it the ‘Young Folks’ and the breast-pin box, and ask father to put into it the English letters when they are done. 1893G. Gissing Odd Women III. vii. 229 Her bottle was all but empty; she would finish it to-night, and in the morning..take it back to the grocer's in her little hand-bag. 1896G. B. Shaw Let. 9 Nov. (1965) 700, I want to buy a handbag for the journey. 1899O. Wilde Importance of being Earnest i. 37 ‘Where did the charitable gentleman who had a first-class ticket for this seaside resort find you?..’ ‘In a handbag.’..‘A handbag?’ 1913Vanity Fair Dec. 79/2 The latest novelty in hand bags. 1927R. Jeffers Women at Point Sur xiii. 81 April was able to gather her change of clothing From the hand-bag in the darkness. 1937Discovery Dec. 374/2 Ladies' shoes and hand-bags. 1954E. H. Sothern Julia Marlowe's Story iv. 53, I picked up the small handbag which contained my wardrobe and make-up. 1961John o' London's 23 Feb. 212/4 Writing about a woman's ‘accessories’ (gloves, handbag, umbrella, shoes). 1989J. M. Freeman Hearts of Sorrow xix. 205 My family followed in our Volkswagen microbus. Each person carried a compact handbag.
2. colloq. (chiefly Brit., esp. in Association Football). In pl. A confrontation, esp. one which is ineffectual or histrionic; originally and chiefly (replacing pistols) in phrases alluding to a duel, as handbags at dawn (also handbags at ten paces, etc.). Also (in sing.) attrib., as handbag situation, etc.
1987Times 1 Jan. 24/7 Who said what in the world of sport in 1986... It was a case of handbags at three paces and he was unlucky. 1990Independent (Nexis) 26 Mar. 14 Another such relationship was with Terence Rattigan whose In Praise of Love (1973) was extracted page by page; always with [John] Dexter's threat that it would be ‘handbags at dawn’ if the work did not satisfy him. 1994Daily Tel. (Nexis) 25 May 13 One case in which he and the Crystal Palace player Andy Gray were shown the red card was ‘more of a handbag situation, where you push and shove’. 1997News of World 14 Dec. 74/3 It was handbags in the dressing room but we were able to sort things out. 1998P. Lovesy Death Duties (1999) xv. 101 Come mob-handed, have you Ruth? What's it to be, handbags at twenty paces? 2001Evening Chron. (Newcastle) (Electronic ed.) 30 Mar. All I saw was some pushing and shoving. Really, it was no more than handbags at 10 paces.
3. More fully handbag house. A form of electronic dance music derived from house, characterized by its highly commercial appeal, catchy melodies, and upbeat mood.
So named (originally disparagingly) from the stereotypical image of women in nightclubs dancing with their handbags at their feet, supposedly suggestive of the music's unsophisticated, crowd-pleasing quality.
1991New Musical Express 16 Mar. 22/2 New Yawk drawling rap over Kraftwerk's ‘The Model’ just does not work, no way, no how. Handbag DJs will love it. 1994i-D Oct. 113/2 The second room will continue this trend with a combination of old-skool hip hop, P-funk and trip hop. And, hopefully, it will provide Swansea clubbers with a welcome respite from handbag. 1996M8 Dec. 52/2 Synonymous with handbag house and Saturday night glamming, but still a top venue. 2001Daily Record (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 14 Apr. I had no idea you got so many varieties of music. There was underground, trance, happy trance, abstract, hard, handbag, US vocal..the list goes on.
Derivatives. handbaggy adj. (a) characteristic of a handbag; (b) having the qualities of handbag music.
1991Financial Times (Nexis) 29 June (Weekend section) 9 Time was when suitable *handbaggy colours were deemed to be black, brown, beige and grey. 1995Face Aug. 7/4 For some time now Zuly at Tiddlywinks has attempted to tart up the handbaggy wilderness by setting up a techno night to blow all others into the Tyne. 2000Big Issue 28 Feb. 27/4 It's a tight, dancey, handbaggy tune which would probably..[go] down well on ‘Top Of The Pops’.
▪ II. handbag, v. joc.|ˈhændbæg|
[f. hand-bag s.v. hand n. 65.]
trans. To batter with a handbag. Only fig., to subject to a forthright verbal assault or to strident criticism; to coerce in this way. Cf. sandbag v. 2.
Orig. and predominantly with reference to Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister 1979–1990: see quot. 1982.
1982Economist 7 Aug. 20/3 One of her less reverent backbenchers said of Mrs Thatcher recently that ‘she can't look at a British institution without hitting it with her handbag’. Treasury figures published last week show how good she has proved at handbagging the civil service. 1988Guardian 29 Dec. 27/2 Don't we all..simply adore the idea of foreign politicians (male) and recalcitrant members of her own party (mostly male) being handbagged? 1989Los Angeles Times 27 Oct. a11/3 Kinnock said Lawson had been ‘handbagged’ aside by a prime minister ‘who simply will not let the people she appoints to the senior departments of state get on with their jobs’. 1989Maclean's Mag. 6 Nov. 39/3 Having handbagged the Commonwealth, she comes back and handbags the chancellor of the exchequer. 1991Gay Times Oct. 70/1 Contrary to belief, men can buy tickets but be careful, said a friend, you may be handbagged to death by mad hens in the interval!
Hence ˈhandbagging vbl. n., criticism or treatment of this kind; an instance of this.
1987Independent 11 May 17/6 No one crosses Margaret Thatcher and gets away with it. And no one is too grand to escape the process of ‘handbagging’, which has been refined to an art under her premiership. 1989Guardian 21 Feb. 2/8 Wasn't he himself risking a handbagging from Glenys? |