| 释义 |
wowser orig. Austral. (now chiefly Austral. and N.Z.).|ˈwaʊzə(r)|
Also wowzer.
[Of obscure origin.]
a. A Puritanical enthusiast or fanatic; esp. a fanatical or determined opponent of intoxicating drink.
1899Truth 8 Oct. 5 Willoughby ‘Wowsers’ Worried. The ‘Talent’ get a ‘Turn’... Ten young men were fined..for having behaved in a riotous manner on the Military Rd. 1909Daily News 1 Apr. 4 ‘Wowser’ is a term applied by certain portions of the Australian Press to parsons of all denominations, more particularly to those who are fanatical on temperance and social evils. 1912Nation 11 May 214/2 A wowser is one who wants to compel everybody else..to do whatever he thinks right, and abstain from everything he thinks wrong. 1918Chrons. N.Z.E.F. 79/2 The Wowzers look with disdain upon the ‘Come and have a spot, old boy’ kind of welcome. 1937R. A. Knox Double Cross Purposes ii. 40, I hope to God the old wowzer didn't see we'd been at it. He's as sharp as a weasel. 1939R. Campbell Flowering Rifle i. 18 Where wowsers may discharge their wondrous lore Who'll ‘fight for peace’, and yet disarm for war. 1939X. Herbert Capricornia xviii. 233 Only ones't got a victory outer that flamin' war was the blasted wowsers! 1941C. Barrett Coast of Adventure iii. 56 Men without vision or liberal views. We might call them ‘wowsers’ today. 1949D. M. Davin Roads from Home i. v. 72 The good old days were gone. And it wasn't only the wowsers that had spoilt everything. 1961N.Y. Times 12 Feb. 36/1 A relentless wowser (prohibitionist)..banned saloons. 1963Economist 3 Aug. 422/2 Some alien wowser such as Senator Goldwater. 1970N.Z. Listener 12 Oct. 13/2 A bit late to find that out, you snobbish ratbag wowser. 1975D. Stuart Walk, Trot, Canter & Die xxiii. 137 But now in me old age I'm a wowser an' I don't have to worry about anything. I'd have a bottle of whisky in the packs{ddd}but most trips it wouldn't even get opened, so you can't say I was a drunkard. 1977Times 18 Mar. 18/7 This country's pattern of..licensing hours..is the work of wowzers of every description. 1981M. Gee Meg xiv. 142 You won't drink with me, will you? Didn't think so. I'm stuck in a family of wowsers. 1982Times 7 Dec. 12/6 These authoritarian wowsers would like to see a law forbidding anybody to watch any programme they disapprove of.
b. attrib. and Comb.
1934Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Sept. 11/4 That morbid sex curiosity which is the curse of wowser-ridden communities. 1936R. Campbell Mithraic Emblems 125 Let Spender over wowser-problems fret. 1966G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. i. 22 The wowser tradition is stronger in New Zealand, where there is less of the bush tradition; it usually takes the form of a cautious anxiety about life rather than open Puritanism. 1969Age (Melbourne) 24 May 2/5 Sir Henry, while making his attack on NSW and its poker machines, maintained that Victoria was not a ‘wowser’ State. 1978P. H. Johnson Good Husband xxii. 190 There were ‘no smoking’ notices, at which Maisie demurred... ‘I find this wowser activity uncomfortable.’
Hence ˈwowserish a., of the nature of a wowser; puritanical; ˈwowserism, the practice or beliefs of a wowser or wowsers; wowserite a supporter of wowserism.
1909Daily News 1 Apr. 4 Their followers are called ‘Wowserites’, and their propaganda ‘Wowserism’. 1933F. Clune Try Anything Once 122 They had lost their dash and grown wowserish. 1936M. Franklin All that Swagger l. 377 Novels which..provoked attention by their unreticent details of bodily functionings and provided capital sport when flung in the face of fin de siècle wowserism. 1966New Statesman 4 Mar. 289/2 After a time, I warmed even to Stennis and Morse; though the first was narrow and wowserish. 1966G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. i. 21 Wowserism is prohibition elevated into a philosophy. 1971Observer 14 Mar. 15/2 Australia's peculiar ‘wowserism’, the often unpredictable censorship of films, books and shows by the authorities, is largely a function of older Australia. 1983Age (Melbourne) 3 Dec. 11/2 Coming hard on the heels of the casino inquiry, which also recommended in the negative, the Government's decision on poker machines may give it a puritanical or wowserish image. 1984Daily Tel. 24 Aug. 10/4 When Pierre Trudeau visited Australia in 1970 he told the natives: ‘You have wowserism; we have Toronto.’ |