| 释义 |
on and off, advb. phr. (n.)
a. = off and on, q.v.; also in more general sense (see on adv. and off adv.).
1855Browning Bp. Blougram's Apol. 789 It shoots..Halfway into the next still, on and off! 1881E. D. Brickwood in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) XII. 197/2 Hedges on banks..are usually of such a size as to make flying them impossible, or at least undesirable. Horses jump them on and off. 1889Repent. P. Wentworth II. 227 [He] has been working with us at Crum Street a good deal, on and off. 1889Dict. Nat. Biog. XVIII. 125/2 A siege which lasted on and off for twenty years. 1892Times (weekly ed.) 21 Oct. 7/3 [He] had lived with her on and off since that time.
b. attrib. Now usu. with hyphens.
c. as n. A putting on and taking off; intermittent action; in quot. 1852, a leap on and off a fence, a fence to be so jumped.
1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 17 They then made for a large field at the back of the house, with leaping-bars, hurdles, ‘on and offs’, ‘ins and outs’, all sorts of fancy leaps scattered about. 1854R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunt. Songs (1883) No. 33 xii, Which method best insures us from a fall. The Chester on-and-off step, or the Leicester clearing all? 1895M. M. Dowie Gallia 119, I love to feel the on and off of the break and to watch the way the pole seems to feel its way through the traffic. 1904Westm. Gaz. 13 Jan. 2/3 The buyer resented this on-and-off policy. 1936Discovery July 222/1 His left hand works an ‘on-and-off’ key, sounding the note when it is pressed and killing it when released. 1965T. Capote In Cold Blood (1966) i. 4 She had been an on-and-off psychiatric patient the last half-dozen years. 1974Country Life 21 Feb. 394/3 Grazed..on a rotational or ‘on and off’ system. 1977Time 19 Sept. 30/1 The signing of a Panama Canal treaty that was initialed last month after 13 years of on-and-off efforts through the Administrations of four U.S. Presidents.
Hence on-and-off v., (a) intr. to sail on alternate tacks on and off the shore (see off and on 2); (b) trans. to leap on and then off; on-and-offish a., inclined to be on and off, somewhat fluctuating (in mood, temper, or health: cf. off and on B.).
1823Byron Juan xii. lxiii, Who..keeps you on and off-ing On a lee-shore. 1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 345 ‘I'll have a word with you’, said Sponge, on-and-offing the hedge. 1888E. J. Goodman Too Curious xiii, As well as she ever is. Rather on-and-offish. |