| 释义 |
▪ I. nasty, a.|ˈnɑːstɪ, -æ-|
Also 5 naxty, -te, 6, 8 (9 Sc.) nesty, 7 gnastie, naustie.
[Of obscure origin: cf. Du. nestig (? MDu. nistich) foul, dirty, the history of which is also obscure. The early form naxty and Cotgrave's nasky may indicate a stem nasc-, which also appears in Sw. dial. naskug, nasket (Rietz) dirty, nasty, but the ultimate relationship of the forms is not clear.]
The original force of the word, denoting what is disgustingly dirty or foul, has been greatly toned down or altered in English use (see senses 3–5), but is retained in the United States, where nasty is not commonly used by polite speakers: cf. De Vere Americanisms (1871) 509 and R. G. White England Without & Within (1881) xvi. 386.
1. a. Foul, filthy, dirty, unclean, esp. to a disgusting degree; offensive through filth or dirt; characterized by the presence of, or contact with, filth or uncleanness.
In quot. 1477 prob. transf. and = filthy a. 4.
a1400Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 252 Nasty, sory, vnmiȝty. c1420Anturs of Arth. xv, Thus in dawngere and dole I downe and I duelle, Nasty [v. rr. naxty, naxte] and nedfulle, and nakede one nyghte. 1477in Leadam Sel. Cases Star Chamb. (Selden Soc.) 2 The seid mysdoers..accompaigneth theym with many evyll disposed and nasty persones. 1548Patten Exped. Scotl. D vij, A very sloouen saynt & belyke a nesty. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 356 Let vs spring out of our nastie nestes of sluggishnesse. 1587― Contn. Holinshed III. 1547/2 marg., The mischiefe of nastie apparell. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 162 The nastie filthinesse of the nation in generall. 1663Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. v. 152 Not to meddle with such nasty things as the grosser sort of humane Excrements. 1696Bp. Patrick Comm. Exod. i. 14 In carrying Dung..into the Field, and such like nasty Services. 1710Swift Medit. Broomstick Wks. 1755 II. i. 181 Destined to make other things clean and be nasty itself. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 31 The ship..was in a very nasty condition. 1800Med. Jrnl. IV. 110 Garments..often grow rotten and infectious as they grow nasty. 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 168 Streets which are narrow, steep, and exceedingly nasty.
b. Morally filthy; indecent, obscene, esp. as nasty mind.
a1601? Marston Pasquil & Kath. ii. 311 You forget your selfe to vse such jests, Such nastie ribauldrie, vpon my daughter. c1648–50R. Brathwait Barnabees Jrnl. ii I 4 A curmudgeon rich but nasty [perobscænum]. 1666Bp. S. Parker Free & Impart. Censure (1667) 52 An intemperate sensuality is nasty. a1731Atterbury (J.), The greatest heap of nasty language that perhaps ever was put together. 1809Malkin Gil Blas ii. vii. ⁋16 What an exhibition before my comrades! It was surrendering myself to all their nasty witticisms. 1873E. E. Hale Ups & Downs x. 96 He hated it as a gentleman hates to hear a nasty story. 1914G. B. Shaw Misalliance 16 Thats what theyre like: theyve nasty minds. With really nice good women a thing is either decent or indecent. 1930W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale xvii. 162 ‘Don't bother about it,’ she said. ‘He's got a nasty mind.’ 1933[see hot a. 6 c]. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang § 295/1 Nasty look, a reproving look. 1969M. Allingham Case-Book 29 One doesn't have to have a nasty mind to wonder.
2. Offensive to smell or taste; nauseous.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI 135 The Lady Margaret..was of suche nasty complexion and euill sauored breathe, that he abhorred her company. 1601Weever Mirr. Mart. C j b, The aire's a gnastie old mans breath ill smelling. 1835Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxii, For one good smell by the river's side, there be ten nasty ones. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiv. (1856) 306 Began using the remnant of our fetid bear's meat: nasty physic, but we will try it. 1885Law Times LXXIX. 74/2 There was a nasty smell about the premises.
3. Of weather: Foul, dirty, wet, disagreeable.
1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 216 We..had little other or better weather then high stormes, nastie raines and lowd thunders. 1744Fielding Tumble-down Dick Wks. 1784 III. 405 It is a cursed nasty morning. I wish we have not wet weather. 1776S. J. Pratt Pupil of Pleas. (1777) I. 33 It's a nasty evening and not fit for walking. 1814Jane Austen Lett. (1884) II. 222 It is a nasty day for everybody,..here is nothing but thickness and sleet. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xiv, ‘A nasty night, Mr. Noggs’, said the man. 1892Daily Weather Rep. 20 Dec., Variable breezes,..dull, nasty, probably some rain.
4. a. Offensive in some respect; disagreeable, unpleasant, objectionable, annoying.
In common use as a general epithet expressing dislike or annoyance.
1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4106/4 Rob. Thomkins,..pale Faced, has nasty rough Hair. 1732Fielding Lottery Wks. 1784 II. 131 Does not the nasty red colour go down out of my face? 1782F. Burney Lett. & Diary (1842) II. 191 How disagreeable these sacques are! I am so incommoded with these nasty ruffles! 1837Landor Pentameron iii. Wks. 1853 II. 329/1 An Italian, a poet, write in French! What human ear can tolerate its nasty nasalities? 1844Willis Lady Jane i. 259 My creditors They send their nasty bills in, once a year. 1888Poor Nellie 280 They..had nasty little tricks of whispering unpalatable truths. 1961[see equalizer d].
absol.1884Rae Contemp. Socialism 105 The taste of the bourgeoisie for the cheap and nasty.
b. Applied to persons (passing into 5).
1711Swift Lett. (1767) III. 153 The little nasty lawyer that came up to me so sternly at the Castle the day I left Ireland. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. ix, ‘He's a nasty stuck⁓up monkey’,..said Mrs. Squeers. 1862Trollope Orley F. I. 306 ‘Nasty, sly girl’, said Lady Staveley to herself. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. iv, That nasty Lightwood feels it his duty [etc.].
c. Difficult to deal with; dangerous, bad.
1828Sporting Mag. XXIII. 33 Mr. Russel hunts here, and I learnt that he is a nasty one to get away from. 1875W. S. Hayward Love agst. World 11 This is a nasty ditch we are coming to. 1884Sat. Rev. 14 June 783/2 There was outside of Harwich harbour a nasty sea.
d. Having unpleasant results; rather serious.
1880‘Ouida’ Moths xxiii. It would be very funny if she gets a few ‘nasty ones’, as the boys say, herself. 1883Standard 16 May 2/7 Mr. Grace..received a nasty blow on the finger. 1894Daily Tel. 4 Jan. 5/4 Laid up.., owing to a nasty fall, sustained while hunting.
5. Ill-natured, ill-tempered, disagreeable (to another).
1825Brockett N.C. Gloss., Nasty, ill-natured, impatient, saucy. 1848A. B. Evans Leicestersh. Words, Nasty, ill-tempered, cross, vexed. ‘She got quite nasty’. 1858S. Wilberforce Sp. Missions (1874) 78 The absence of toleration confines itself to a few nasty articles in news⁓papers. 1871M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. ii. 83 He will take delight in being..nasty to a neighbour. 1874L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. iii. 71 Lest the headstrong William might turn nasty.
6. nasty man, the one in a gang of garrotters who actually does the work.
1863Trevelyan Compet. Wallah 20 Scheming to avoid, as best they can, The fell embraces of ‘the nasty man’.
7. Phrases: a nasty piece (or bit) of work (or goods): an unpleasant or contemptible person; something nasty in the woodshed, a traumatic experience or a concealed unpleasantness in a person's background.
1923‘Bartimeus’ Seaways vii. 110 Nasty Bit of Work. I'd go and bash his head for two pins. 1928‘M. Hoffe’ Many Waters ii. iv. 62 Edith shows in Mr. Rosel. He is really a rather nasty piece of work. 1932S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm x. 141 When you were very small..you had seen something nasty in the woodshed. 1945G. B. Grundy 55 Yrs. at Oxf. v. 87 Among the many pupils I had..there was only one I disliked. He was what is called a ‘nasty piece of work’. 1949‘M. Innes’ Journeying Boy ix. 109 Nasty bit of work, isn't he?..Specialises in blackmailing adolescents. 1952A. Christie Mrs McGinty's Dead xxvii. 184 She was a nasty bit of goods all right—children know. 1953‘H. Cecil’ Nat. Causes xix. 223 He was a nasty piece of work all right. A real blackmailer. 1959Sunday Times 5 July 6/6 He enjoyed a temperate childhood: nothing nasty in his woodshed. 1959Listener 3 Sept. 350/1 Although the idea is no longer entirely respectable (rather akin to ‘something nasty in the woodshed’), we [etc.]. 1960D. Fearon Murder-on-Thames xiv. 116 He was a nasty bit of work. I don't know that he actually had a criminal record, but the blighter stank of black market. 1968B. Bainbridge Another Part of Wood ii. 70 They had all, Joseph, brother Trevor, the younger sister,..come across something nasty in the woodshed, mother or father or both, having it off with someone else. 1975A. Christie Curtain v. 46 You do not like him?.. What you call the nasty bit of goods.
8. Comb., as nasty-minded adj.; nasty-mindedness.
1921D. Canfield Brimming Cup xiv. 236 A nasty-minded remark from somebody who didn't know what he was talking about. 1935Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Oct. 613/3 A nasty-minded boy. 1972‘J. & E. Bonett’ No Time to Kill vii. 96, I don't want everybody to know about Greg and me. It's not that I'm ashamed... But nasty-minded people make it sound dirty.
1940M. Marples Public School Slang p. x, For some reason food inspires a particular kind of satirical nasty-mindedness. 1960Encounter Mar. 75/1 The nasty-mindedness of the Freudians.
▪ II. ˈnasty, v. Obs. exc. dial.
[f. prec.]
1. trans. (and refl.) To make nasty or dirty.
1728T. Boston Wks. (1855) VI. 563 As willing to be washed as ever child ashamed of his nastying himself is. 1770Phil. Trans. LX. 186 Salt is by no means to be used..as it always will drop and nasty the plumage.
2. intr. To commit a nuisance.
1749in Cramond Church of Keith 55 (E.D.D.), If any person shall be convicted..of nastying within the walls of the churchyard.
▪ III. nasty, n.1|ˈnɑːstɪ, -æ-|
[f. the adj.]
1. (Freq. with capital initial.) Used as a jocular alteration of ‘Nazi’.
1935‘R. Crompton’ William—the Detective vi. 121 I'm jolly well not going to be called Her Hitler... I'll be called Him Hitler... Now I'm Him Hitler an' we four are the nasties. 1939Airman's Gaz. Dec., All aircraft off duty being allowed to..view the stupendous, side-splitting entertainment provided by the Nasty Air Force and our Navy. Ibid., All races won by the Nasties with a three mile start each time. 1940H. G. Wells Babes in Darkling Wood iv. iii. 349 If it helps beat them Nastys,..I'll sit in the 'ole pond all day. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 30 May 19 Ole Nasty can hit a hay-stack all right, but it's all he can hit. 1943J. B. Priestley Daylight on Saturday xxi. 163 Cripes, ol' Nasty give us Phoney War all right, didn't 'e?
2. A nasty person; something nasty.
1935‘L. Luard’ Conquering Seas 39 Fair is foul and foul is fair when Jack nasties step aboard. 1959Listener 2 Apr. 609/2 For a Silver Wedding party there was such a grouping of nasties that one seemed to be involved in a misanthropist's nightmare. 1968Saturday Night (Toronto) Feb. 27 Nasties—they're the newest social force, waiting in the wings to displace the last 1960s social force, the Flower People. They've always been around, the Nasties—disguised as merely unpleasant people. 1970Guardian 8 Aug. 21 Nice nasties are de rigueur these days. 1971Ibid. 22 Feb. 9/1 You come up against all manner of nasties in the woodshed: inadequacy, fear, alcoholism, ignorance, poverty, and hopelessness. 1973H. Miller Open City xiv. 153 Here was a big nasty in a Crombie coat, standing right in the middle of her own living room. She was becoming very frightened. 1974H. MacInnes Climb to Lost World ix. 145, I was convinced that there must be nasties in this territory, but..I found only one spider. 1975Country Life 30 Jan. 257/3 It is the business of museums to present us with nasties as well as with fine things.
Add:3. colloq. ellipt. for video nasty s.v. video-. Chiefly in pl.
1982Sunday Times 6 June 3/4 Three videos, part of the current crop of ‘nasties’ available in thousands of High Street rental shops, have been sent to the DPP. 1983Observer 17 Apr. 3/1 The ‘nasties’—the horror and terror films which have been one of the biggest high street money-spinners. 1985Christian Science Monitor 3 May 30/1 With its tougher law on videocassettes, West Germany hopes to keep its youth away from the nasties. 1985Financial Times 31 Aug. (Weekend Suppl.) p. viii/2 They pride themselves on being the Mr Cleans of the video market—so if it's soft porn or nasties you are after, you should look elsewhere.
▪ IV. nasty, n.2 Bot.|ˈnæstɪ|
[a. G. nastie (E. Strasburger Lehrbuch der Botanik (ed. 6, 1904) I. ii. 221), f. Gk. ναστ-ός pressed together.]
A nastic movement.
1936J. B. Hill et al. Bot. ix. 228 Nasties are responses of bilaterally symmetrical organs like leaves and flower petals. 1955Sci. Amer. Feb. 101/2 Nasties (or, more euphoniously, nastic movements) are among a plant's more beautiful motions: a typical example is the opening of a flower. They are the result of differing responses of different parts of the plant structure to the same external stimulus. 1965Bell & Coombe tr. Strasburger's Textbk. Bot. 361 If, however, the direction of the movement is quite independent of that of the stimulus, but is determined solely by the structure of the organ, the movements are designated nasties. |