| 释义 |
▪ I. max, n.2, a., and adv.|mæks|
[Abbrev. of maximum n.]
A. n. colloq.
1. U.S. At certain colleges, a maximum score or achievement, esp. in an examination; so, a student who has obtained or is likely to obtain such a mark. rare.
1851B. H. Hall Coll. College Words 197 At Union College, he who receives the highest possible number of marks..is said to take Max (or maximum); to be a Max scholar. Ibid., On the Merit Roll all the Maxs are clustered at the top. 1862G. C. Strong Cadet Life at West Point 64 [He was] working out an unmistakable ‘max’ in the mathematical section-room. 1937K. Banning West Point Today 296 Cadet Lingo... Max, n., a complete success in recitation; a maximum mark of 3.0.
2. gen. = maximum n. 2; esp. in phr. to the max, to the limit, totally. Chiefly U.S.
1911Chem. Abstr. iv. 402 This [fact] and the occurrence of the max. are indications of the existence of genuine complexes in solu. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §24/4 Max and min, maximum and minimum. 1950J. D. MacDonald Brass Cupcake iv. 32 The car continued to increase speed... I held it at max..then dropped it back to eighty. 1980L. Birnbach et al. Official Preppy Handbk. 223/1 To the max.,..all the way. 1985R. Schleeh in Yeager & Janos Yeager (1986) 186 In the sky and on the ground, we lived to the max. 1986Daily News (N.Y.) 23 May (Suppl.) 3/3 An outstanding cast..consistently get the max from the material. No ragged edges here. 1988New Yorker 18 Jan. 65/1 By about 1973, when we were at our max, the one plant in Ozone Park had four hundred and fifty people.
3. A maximum security prison.
1968Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III. ii. 34 Max, n., maximum amount in prison for a narcotics offense; a maximum security prison. 1984A. F. Loewenstein This Place 1 Max aint no different than here. They both prison aint they? Just more quiet up there. 1990J. Welch Indian Lawyer 272 He had learned to live in an eight-by-ten cell in the new max.
B. adj.
1. (Usu. with point.) In attrib. use (esp. as a written abbrev.): maximum.
1886Dict. Abbrevs. 63 Max., maximum (Latin), highest. 1911Chem. Abstr. IV. 402 The temp. coeff. of viscosity..increases progressively up to the max. point. 1968A. Diment Bang Bang Birds x. 192 It was hot in the cabin even with the heater to max cold. 1985Dirt Bike Mar. 7/1 (Advt.), The ultimate four-stroke exhaust system featuring our exclusive straight-through aluminum silencer for max power throughout the rpm range. 1990Family Album Catal. Spring & Summer 814 (caption) Hot and cold fill. 1.95kW max. loading.
2. max q Aeronaut., the maximum dynamic pressure exerted on an aircraft or spacecraft in the course of its flight; also, the part of a flight during which this is encountered.
1962J. Glenn in Into Orbit 190 At T+1 minute 16 seconds, Al confirmed that I had passed through ‘*Max. Q’. 1979T. Wolfe Right Stuff xii. 318 He was entering the area of ‘max q’, maximum aerodynamic pressure.
C. Hence parenthetically as adv. At the maximum, at the most.
1976New Yorker 15 Mar. 86/2 Another two hundred metres out from that L.P., max. 1985T. O'Brien Nuclear Age (1986) viii. 147 In a week or two I'd get the hang of it. A month, max. 1991U.S. News & World Rep. 11 Mar. 35/3 Our information can be in the commander's hand in half an hour, max.
▪ II. † max Obs.
[Of obscure origin.]
Gin.
1811Lex. Balatron., Max, gin. 1819Byron Juan ii. xvi, The dying man cried, ‘Hold! I've got my gruel! Oh! for a glass of max!’ 1840Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Bagman's Dog, Who, doffing their coronets, collars, and ermine, treat Boxers to Max, at the One Tun in Jermyn Street. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1864) I. 168 The stimulant of a ‘flash of lightning’, a ‘go of rum’, or a ‘glass of max’,—for so a dram of neat spirit was then called.
▪ III. max, v. U.S. colloq.|mæks|
[f. *max a. and n.2]
a. intr. To achieve or attain a maximum in something, esp. a test of ability or skill (orig. an examination); to reach a limit of performance, endurance, capacity, etc. Usu. const. out. Also trans. with the area of achievement as obj., or occas. with it.
b. intr. with out. To serve the full length of a prison sentence.
1871O. E. Wood West Point Scrap Bk. 339 To max it, to make a perfect recitation. 1930E. Colby in Our Army Feb. 43/2 Max, to secure the highest possible grade, or to do a thing perfectly... If the instructor can find no fault with your answers to an examination or with your solution of a tactical problem, you are said to ‘max’ the examination or to ‘max’ the problem, or perhaps to ‘max it cold’. 1937K. Banning West Point Today 296 Max, v., to make a 3.0 in recitation; to do a thing perfectly. 1971Black Scholar June 53/2 Most of the other brothers here will be maxing out and home before this year is out, or being shipped to other prisons. 1974Guidelines to Volunteer Services (N.Y. State Dept. Correctional Services) 41 Max out, complete maximum sentence. 1977New Yorker 24 Oct. 56/3 Only 2.8 per cent ‘max out’—serve until the maximum expiration dates of their sentences. Ibid. 68/3 Men are paroled from Green Haven, or get out on C.R., or max out. 1980Washington Post 27 Feb. b11/2 In '76 I gave $2,000—I maxed out—and didn't worry about it. 1981N.Y. Times 31 May (Westchester Weekly section) 2/4 ‘I squat 195 to 200,’ Miss Mayers proudly proclaimed of the number of pounds she could lift. ‘But I never really maxed on it.’ 1982Washington Post 3 Oct. f9/6 Scott has just finished maxing the push-up test at 68, where he was ordered to stop. 1990Annapolitan July 95/1 The message here is that George and Maureen are maxing their sailing season. 1992Smithsonian Jan. 132/2, I maxed out about three months ago, but I still can't get this damned knob off my hip. |