| 释义 |
red-tape, red tape
a. Tape of a red colour such as is commonly used in securing legal and official documents. Hence
b. Excessive formality or attention to routine; rigid or mechanical adherence to rules and regulations.
1696–1715Maryland Laws iv. (1723) 11 The Map..upon the Backside thereof sealed with his Excellency's Seal at Arms on a Red Cross with Red Tape. 1736Ld. Hervey Poet. Epistle to Queen in Mem. (1848) II. 156 Let Wilmington, with grave, contracted brow, Red tape and wisdom at the Council show. 1814Scott Wav. lxxi, Drawing from his pocket a budget of papers, and untying the red tape. 1837C. G. F. Gore Stokeshill Place I. vii. 142 My dear, you mistake John Barnsley... Dearly as he loves a bit of red tape, you never saw him try to inspire any other man with the love of business. 1839–40W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 274 His brain was little better than red tape and parchment. 1869Longfellow in Life (1891) III. 141 All the morning at the custom-house, plagued with red tape. 1873Spencer Stud. Sociol. vii. 170 After ceaseless ridicule of red-tape, the petition is for more red-tape. 1938Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 18 Aug. 4/1 The trial time has been about cut in half by the preliminary clearing away of red tape. 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes i. i. 4 He resigned from the Labour Party and the House of Commons to fight your battle without the restraints of red tape. 1977Time 14 Feb. 24/3 Straw-bossing the operation was Energy Chief James Schlesinger, who helped draft the natural gas bill and cut red tape to get gas supplies moving.
attrib. and Comb.1838Lytton Alice iii. i, The men of more dazzling genius began to sneer at the red-tape minister as a mere official manager of details. 1840Carlyle Heroes (1858) 353 Keep your red-tape clerks, your influentialities, your important businesses. 1863P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 144 Those who framed the red-tape code were not men of business. 1897Dublin Rev. Oct. 304 The regions of red-tape-tied officialism.
Hence red-taped a., tied with red tape; affected with the spirit of red-tape; also, restricted by red-tape. red-ˈtapedom, the sphere or spirit of red-tape. red-ˈtaper = red-tapist. red-ˈtapery = red-tapism. red-ˈtap(e)y a. [-y1] = red-tapish a. red-ˈtapified a., characterized by red-tape.
1835Marryat Olla Podr. vii, Documents, numbered, scheduled, and *red-taped. 1890Nature 29 May 106/2 The unimpressionable mind of the red-taped official. 1928E. E. Cummings Enormous Room iv. 61 The whole rotten red-taped Croix Rouge. 1954Sun (Baltimore) 19 July 26/6 Red-taped—Jimmy Kennedy..wants to work but can't.
1850Times 31 Aug. 4/4 Mr. Carlyle has, we know, denounced *red-tapedom in all its forms.
1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 33 Calling at clubs, closeted with *red-tapers. 1893Ch. Times 20 Oct. 1065/1 The clergyman who refuses..is a miserable red-taper.
1831Fraser's Mag. III. 654 These were the great heroes of the *red-tapery. 1884Nonconf. & Indep. 14 Feb. 153/1 [To] lessen the rates and provide an antidote to red⁓tapery in education.
1889Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 21 Jan., Whether the newspaper reports are extravagant, or the official reports are too *red-tapy or timid,..it is hard to say. 1905D. Sladen Playing the Game iv. 37 He'll be more red-tapey than ever, so as not to let the Japanese suspect anything. 1975Daily Tel. 21 July 5/8 There is..‘a strictly Christian name approach’ so that they are as different as possible to the ‘red-tapey concept’ of the social services.
1895Longm. Mag. Aug. 386, I had not..exaggerated the..*redtapefied way in which things were done. |