释义 |
‖ nebbich, n. and a.|ˈnɛbɪç| Also nebbish, nebbishe, nebbisher, nebish. [Yiddish.] A nobody, a nonentity. As adj., innocuous, ineffectual, luckless, hapless, etc. Also as int., an expression of commiseration, dismay, etc.
1892I. Zangwill Childr. Ghetto I. 46 ‘Achi nebbich, poor little thing!’ cried Mrs. Kosminski, who was in a tender mood. 1907― Ghetto Comedies 205 ‘Nebbich, the poor little children!’ cried Natalya, horrified. 1959A. Wesker Chicken Soup with Barley iii. i, in New Eng. Dramatists I. 222 It's ach a nebish Harry now. It's not easy for him... Other men get ill but they fight. 1960Commentary June 530/1 The nebbish, the cynic, the sophisticate. Ibid. 539/1 The sad nebbishe Podolsky is the owner of the building. 1960F. Raphael Limits of Love i. i. 11 Your daughter ends up by..marrying a good for nothing, nebbisher nobody. 1962B. Abrahams tr. Life Glückel of Hameln i. 4 All the pleasures and riches he, nebbich, was denied here. 1968Times 6 Apr. 21 The central character is so nebbish he has not even a name. 1969Atlantic Monthly Sept. 57 Paranoid psychopaths who, after nebbish lives, suddenly feel themselves invulnerable in the certain wooing of sweet death. 1973Jewish Chron. 9 Feb. 5/1 The kings [in this Jewish chess-set] are dead, long live the nebbishes (the deprived, signifying the decline of royal power). 1975New Yorker 3 Feb. 77/2 Mr. Antonacci is both antic and affecting as the jumpy, craven nebbish Honey Boy, and John Bottoms is superb in several roles. |