| 释义 |
Old Bill
1. The name of a cartoon character created during the war of 1914–18 by the British cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather (1888–1959) and portrayed as a grumbling veteran soldier with a large moustache. Freq. in allusive and transf. use.
1915Bystander III. 4 Again, ‘Old Bill’ and ‘Our Bert’ and ‘Alf’, seriously comical and comically serious, fill the pages with their humour. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 213 Old Bill, a veteran. Any old Soldier; in particular one with a heavy, drooping moustache. (From Captain Bairnsfather's celebrated creation ‘Old Bill’). 1930Daily Express 6 Oct. 4/4 An enormous mouth fringed all around with stiff hairy bristles, just like an ‘Old Bill’ moustache. 1933B. Bairnsfather Laughing through Orient i. 15 Old Bill who, for many years, has been so closely entwined with my existence. 1939H. Hodge Cab, Sir? 54 Here comes Old Bill himself. 1942P. V. Bradshaw They make us Smile 9 The creation of Old Bill was never deliberate. Bill somehow created himself. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 163 During the last war, Bruce Bairnsfather created ‘Old Bill’, a lovable grumbler, typifying the foot-slogger of the British Army in Flanders. 1973Times 2 Nov. 13/7 The Old Bill moustache starts twitching.
2. slang. The police force; a policeman.
[1939: see Bill n.5] 1958F. Norman Bang to Rights 138 Two Old Bill's came up to me and told me they had a warrant for my arrest. 1967Guardian 14 Mar. 8/6 He observed a couple of men supping nearby who looked suspiciously like plainclothes men. Coulson asked the landlord. ‘Oh no,’ he said, ‘they're drinking pints. Old Bills only drink halves.’ 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard viii. 272 Giving Old Bill a bung was still an offence, and there would have been no consideration for the information. 1973K. Royce Spider Underground i. 19 It's me he's out to fix by bringing Old Bill about my ears. 1976New Statesman 12 Mar. 322/3 If they were caught at it when the Old Bill (police) staged one of their frequent raids then we would all be up on a charge of ‘maintaining a disorderly house’. |