| 释义 |
ˈlow-life, a. and n.
[low a. 20.]
A. adj. Coarse, disreputable, vulgar.
1794Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ode to For. Soldiers Wks. 1812 III. 248 Saint Crispin..The low-life Cobler's Tutelary Saint. 1861M. B. Chesnut Diary 8 Dec. (1949) 171 Mr. Shuford he goes for low life things, hurting people's feelings. 1885F. Anstey Tinted Venus 95 The peculiar stave by which a modern low-life Blondel endeavours to attract notice. 1910G. B. Shaw Brieux: a Preface 16 Servants, solicitors, and other low life personages. 1931W. Faulkner Sanctuary xxvi. 265 A durn low-life Jew. 1939Time 18 Dec. 21/1 There can be nothing very awful about even such ostentatiously ‘low-life’ dives as the Nut Club in Greek Street. 1959P. Bull I know Face xi. 198 Soho low-life stories. 1964English Studies XLV. 368 Could minor low-life characters speak at once so feelingly and with our own voice, to their mistress, at a tragic climax? 1972Listener 10 Aug. 184/3 Low-life action and local vernacular.
B. n. Pl. usu. low-lifes. A coarse, vulgar, or no-good person. (Esp. in Jewish use.)
1911M. Glass Potash & Perlmutter i. 8 ‘If you think Pincus Vesell done me up good, Noblestone,’ Potash said, ‘you are mistaken. I got better judgment as to let a low-life like him get into me.’ 1932L. Golding Magnolia St. ii. xiv. 467 Nu, and what do you expect from such a low life? 1933Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald 25 Oct., Police Commissioner Bolan in opening a school of correct English for policemen yesterday, remarked that such study would ‘refine the tastes’ of the men, but his noble prospect left most of the city's lowlifes cold. 1955J. Potts Death of Stray Cat (1966) xxii. 209 Why, that low⁓life! Stealing my stuff. 1959H. Pinter Birthday Party (1960) iii. 50 Keep an eye open for low-lives, for schnorrers and for layabouts. 1964Amer. Folk Music Occasional i. 7 It would be an error to conclude that such songs are found only among the low-life. 1971Black World Apr. 38/2 Our responsible leaders sniffed their disdain of the low-lifes and begged aristocrats for white-collar jobs. |