| 释义 |
uppity, a. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).|ˈʌpɪtɪ|
[f. up adv.1 + -it- + -y1: cf. biggity a.]
Above oneself, self-important, ‘jumped-up’; arrogant, haughty, pert, putting on airs. Cf. uppish a. 2 d. a. attrib.
1880J. C. Harris Uncle Remus 86 Hit wuz wunner deze yer uppity little Jack Sparrers, I speck. 1933Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Nov. 776/2 Grammy is living contentedly enough with an ‘uppity’ young creature named Penny. 1952F. L. Allen Big Change ii. viii. 130 The effect of the automobile revolution was especially noticeable in the South, where one began to hear whites complaining about ‘uppity niggers’ on the highways, where there was no Jim Crow. 1982B. Chatwin On Black Hill v. 28 He had a head for figures and a method for dealing with ‘uppity’ tenants.
b. pred.
1932Sun (Baltimore) 23 Aug. 6/2 [She] could have plenty o' friends. The trouble with her is she thinks folks too common to bother with unless they're too uppity to bother with her. 1947‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board 68 They've been here alone too long, and they've got uppity. 1955F. O'Connor Wise Blood v. 89, I reckon you ain't as uppity as you was last night. 1966D. Bagley Wyatt's Hurricane i. 27 The Navy is trying to build up Cap Sarrat as a substitute for Guantanamo in case Castro gets uppity and takes it from them. 1973P. White Eye of Storm viii. 381, I came prepared to rough it... It's Dorothy who grows uppity if all the cons aren't mod.
Hence ˈuppitiness, the quality of being ‘uppity’; an instance of this.
1935H. L. Davis Honey in Horn x. 145 Clay's bravery and uppitiness had done nothing. 1966Listener 27 Oct. 622/1 She had decided that Joyce was ‘pretentious’ and ‘under-bred’... But who was Virginia Woolf to talk (in this purely literary sense) of ‘uppitiness’? 1975Ibid. 9 Oct. 479/1 Few delegates seemed versed in Private Eye nomenclature and would, anyway, disapprove of such uppityness. 1982R. Barnard Death & Princess ii. 17 Joe may appreciate my couthness..but he can sniff out uppitiness. |