| 释义 |
▪ I. wobbly, a.|ˈwɒblɪ|
Also wabbly.
[f. wobble v. + -y1.]
Inclined to wobble.
1851–61Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 149/1 The knees, which at first is weak and wabbly, gets strong. 1871Daily News 11 Apr. 6 A brigade can fight as well if its line be slightly ‘wobbly’ as if it were dressed to death. 1873R. Broughton Nancy I. 279 ‘Nancy!’ cries Bobby,..speaking in a wobbly, quivering voice. 1878Athenæum 13 July 42/1 His English..is decidedly ‘wobbly’.
Hence ˈwobbliness, the state of being wobbly.
1880R. Broughton Sec. Th. i. ii, General Tarlton is observing with chill misgiving a certain threatening wobbliness in the gait of his [top]. 1881J. Morley Recoll. (1917) I. 174 A ‘wobbliness’ which nobody is more conscious of or more disgusted by, than I am.
▪ II. ˈwobbly, n.1 orig. U.S.
[Origin uncertain.]
A member of the Industrial Workers of the World (see industrial a. e).
[1913Miners Mag. 24 Apr. 5 Joe Elton, Sabotist, Syndicalist and fearless I.W.W. with a red, flowing tie, with fire in his eye and fight in his backbone, the I Wobbily-Wobbily organizer..is traveling the country delivering his message. 1914Rep. Calif. District Courts of Appeal (1915) 402 He telegraphed... Send all speakers and wobbles [sic] possible... It appeared at the trial that the term ‘wobbles’ meant members of the I.W.W. ]1914Voice of People (Portland, Oregon) 1 Oct. 2/4 The workers are..asking why the wobblies are not holding meetings. 1921Outing (U.S.) Nov. 94/3, I saw an angel and the devil standing side by side. The devil wore a ‘Wobbly’ (I.W.W.) button. 1923Nation 5 Sept. 242/2 In Vancouver, in 1911, we had a number of Chinese members and one restaurant keeper would trust any member for meals. He could not pronounce the letter w, but called it wobble, and would ask: ‘You I. Wobble Wobble?’ and when the card was shown, credit was unlimited. Thereafter the laughing term among us was I. Wobbly Wobbly. 1932E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost xxi. 218 The Wobbly leaders..called the men out of the tunnels. 1948V. Palmer Golconda xxx. 251 And sometimes he [sc. the Labour Party candidate] was bothered by young fellows, usually advocates of One Big Union, who tried to lure him into deep water... He came to recognize them in the end and to stop them with light thrusts before they had lured him too far. ‘What're you fellows? Wobblies, aren't you? I.W.W.—I Won't Work, but listen to me talk, eh?’ 1957[see I.W.W. s.v. I III]. 1967A. L. Lloyd Folk Song in Eng. v. 387 ‘The celebrated working man’, a song of American origin..was brought to Durham by a Wobbly collier from Kentucky. 1980Times 21 June 6/1 A poor white American, probably a Wobbly—a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, a group of radical labour unions largely made up of itinerant workers.
▪ III. ˈwobbly, n.2 colloq.
[f. the adj.]
to throw a wobbly: to lose one's self-control in a fit of nerves, panic, temperament, annoyance, or the like; also, to act in an unexpected way, causing surprise or consternation.
1977Telegraph (Brisbane) 13 Apr. 13/2 The world has used him, exploited his talent and brains and then discarded him{ddd}is it any wonder that he throws a wobbly? 1978D. Norden in Muir & Norden Take my Word for It 59 Not only did she throw a wobbly at the slightest murmur of tango rhythms, even the sight of a piano-accordion brought her out in hives. 1981Radio Times 22–28 Aug. 6/4 The debriefing..seemed to take an inordinately long time... ‘By lunch,’ he [sc. Simeon Harris] says, ‘I was getting a bit fed up, so I threw a wobbly.’ 1982Guardian 30 Oct. If the men heard my name called on the public address system all kinds of stories would go round. They'd say ‘Someone's thrown a wobbly again.’ 1987Daily Tel. 28 Jan. 13/4 When Susannah was 15 Leslie threw the biggest wobbly of all. She uprooted the family from Kent..and went to farthest Pembrokeshire. |