释义 |
▪ I. yo-yo, n.|ˈjəʊjəʊ| [Origin uncertain, but prob. from one of the Philippines languages.] 1. Also Yo-Yo. A proprietary name for a toy in the form of two conjoined cones or discs with a deep groove between them in which a string is attached and wound, its free end being held so that the toy can be made to fall under its own weight and rise again by its momentum.
1915Philippine Craftsman Dec. 363 Sumpit (blowgun), pana (arrow), and yo-yo, however, are names very generally used throughout the islands. Ibid. 364 There is evidently some commercial possibility in Filipino toys, for a patent was recently secured upon the yo-yo by a firm in the United States. 1932Trade Marks Jrnl. 2 Mar. 279/2 Yo Yo... All good included in Class 49 [i.e. toys and games equipment]. Henry Clement Conlin,..Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; merchant. 1932Evening Standard 1 June 17/4 He asked me to hold his hand until he became proficient, and I experienced a queer thrill as I brought his hand slowly up and down to make the Yo-Yo respond to the twitch of the string. 1932Auden in Rev. Eng. Stud. (1978) Aug. 281 In the year of my youth when yoyos came in The carriage was sunny and the Clyde was bright. 1933D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise vi. 99 Ginger brought a Yo-Yo to the office with him and broke the window in the boys' room practising ‘Round the World’ in his lunch-hour. 1958Observer 12 Oct. 15/7 The yo-yo craze of the thirties. 1972Daily Tel. 20 Dec. 14 Overall trading was at a low ebb and bored dealers spent a very quiet afternoon in yo-yo competitions and other pre-Christmas pastimes. 1984New Yorker 23 July 76/2 They've got the right string but the wrong yo-yo. b. The pastime of playing with a yo-yo.
1932Daily Express 2 July 3/3 Some boys playing yo-yo attracted the Queen's attention. 1932Morning Post 15 July 10/5 Games similar to Yo-Yo have been played in almost every age. 2. fig. or in fig. context. a. Something or someone going continually up and down, or to and fro; also, such a motion or fluctuation. Freq. used in comparative phrases referring to emotions or spirits rising and falling like a yo-yo.
1958Listener 16 Oct. 623/2 What is it like to be a human yo-yo, driving all day on a ten-minute bus route. 1963L. Deighton Horse under Water xi. 47 Singleton was jumping in and out of the water like a yo-yo. 1973C. Bonington Next Horizon xii. 168 With a bit of luck the constant yo-yo between Scheidegg and the snow cave would be over. 1975Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Dec. 1496/4 Confronted by these dramatic developments, transport policy ceased to be the political yo-yo it had previously been. 1976J. Grenfell Joyce Grenfell requests Pleasure xvi. 230 Our spirits went up and down like yo-yos. 1980Times 13 Sept. 10/5 Alarming yo-yos in the quality of food and service. 1981Daily Tel. 19 Oct. 25/4 (heading) Interest rates all a big yo-yo. 1984S. Townsend Growing Pains A. Mole 23 Your emotions are up and down like a yo-yo. b. A stupid person, a fool. U.S. slang.
1970New Yorker 28 Nov. 40 He would leer, and categorize them in a loud, mocking voice. (‘Weirdo’ was one of his favourite appellations; also ‘Freak’, ‘Yo-Yo’, and creep.) 1975Ibid. 20 Jan. 29/1 Some yo-yo of a technician there pulls the control rods out of the core to polish them with Rally wax. 1978V. Bugliosi Till Death us do Part xi. 325 I've got enough problems without some punk yo-yo threatening me. 3. attrib. Marked by a continual up-and-down or to-and-fro motion; continually passing from and into a condition. Also fig.
1932Amer. Speech VII. 272 Yo-yo driller, a cable-tool driller. 1960Spectator 30 Sept. 501 It isn't the industry's fault that we have a yo-yo economy. 1963T. Pynchon V. i. 29 Though they only thought about one another at random, though her yo-yo hand was usually busy at other things, now and then would come the invisible, umbilical tug. 1977Lancet 15 Oct. 792/1 There was no improvement in patients with severe on-off disabilities with freezing and rapid oscillations (‘yo-yo’ effect). 1979Globe & Mail (Toronto) 22 Jan. 4/3, I want this job because all the jobs I've had have been yo-yo jobs, I've been laid off my job four times in the last six years. ▪ II. ˈyo-yo, v. [f. prec. n.] 1. intr. To play with a yo-yo.
1932Daily Express 30 June 12/6 (heading) Do you yo-yo? 1973N.Y. Times 14 Apr. 18/2 The idea is to go where the kids are and to teach them how to yo-yo. 2. fig. To move up and down, or between one point and another; to fluctuate.
1967Punch 12 Apr. 514 The hard facts underlying our economic health—as opposed to the headlines and Treasury press releases—just don't yo-yo about like this. 1973C. Bonington Next Horizon xi. 166 In those early stages of the climb we yo-yo'd back and forth between Kleine Scheidegg and the Rock Band. 1976Time 20 Dec. 23/2 He has yo-yoed between 210 and 296 lbs., now carries a bulky 263. 1978Sunday Times 21 May 53/1 City rates of interest have yo-yoed. Hence ˈyo-yoing vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also ˈyo-yoer, ˈyo-yoist, one who plays or performs with yo-yos.
1933Spectator 6 Jan. 23/2 Surely the unkind girl of figure fifty-eight is the precursor of the modern yoyoist. 1947Sat. Even. Post 10 May 12 His Casper Milquetoast model for timid yo-yoists was lighter, and, he added, prettier. 1963T. Pynchon V. i 30 As it turned out, the New Year's party was to end all yo-yoing. 1967F. Conroy Stop-Time viii. 114 The greatest pleasure in yo-yoing was an abstract pleasure—watching the dramatization of simple physical laws. 1973N.Y. Times 14 Apr. 18/2 When you're a professional yo-yoer, how can you take anything very seriously? 1976Alyn & Deeside Observer 10 Dec. 34/5 It is more volatile than the yo-yoing pound. 1980Illustr. London News Mar. 56/1 The uncomfortable and costly yo-yoing of temperature experienced in light-weight buildings with large areas of window.
Add:3. trans. To manipulate or manoeuvre as a yo-yo. Usu. with advb. phr. indicating direction.
1973H. Gruppe Truxton Cipher (1974) xviii. 185 Quickly he unsnapped the harness before he was yo-yoed back aloft. 1984W. Bayer Switch (1985) 224, I don't want the job if it means he gets to Yo-Yo me around. 1991N.Y. Times 9 Nov. i. 37/4 The ski retailer gets yo-yoed more than ski areas... If we get good snow, the shops could run out of ski equipment. |