| 释义 |
▪ I. outfit, n.|ˈaʊtfɪt|
[out- 7.]
1. The act of fitting out or furnishing with the requisites for a journey or expedition, or for any purpose; ellipt. = expense of fitting out.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Out-fit, is generally used to signify the expences of equipping a ship for a sea-voyage; or of arming her for war, or both together. 1792in New Eng. Hist. & Gen. Register (1892) XLVI. 174, I expect we shall be able to import wheat for our flour and bread for our next outfit to advantage. 1828Chantrey in Lockhart Scott May, If you'll secure the commissions, I'll make the outfit easy. 1868E. Edwards Ralegh I. ix. 143 One of the chief adventurers in the outfit of the expedition.
2. a. The articles and equipment required for an expedition, etc. Also, equipment of any kind; a set of articles for a particular purpose.
1787Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 225, I believe there is no instance of any nation sending a minister to reside anywhere without an outfit. 1809A. Henry Trav. 11 On the 15th of June, [I] again arrived in Montreal, bringing with me my outfits. 1848Arnould Mar. Insur. (1866) I. i. ii. 19 Outfit is sometimes..the necessary stores and provisions put on board the ship for the use of the crew on the voyage. Ibid., In whaling voyages the word outfit..means the fishing stores of the ships. 1867J. F. Meline Two Thousand Miles on Horseback 74 The saddler who sold me my saddle assured me it was the best outfit he had furnished for some time. Bought a hat, and was told, ‘Well, Sir, I call that a good outfit.’ 1869A. K. McClure 3,000 Miles through Rocky Mts. 211 Everything is an ‘outfit’, from a train..to a pocket-knife. 1873E. B. Tuttle Boy's Bk. Indians 45 Friday had a beautiful set of arrows, bow and quiver, which I desired to purchase... Friday would not sell his ‘outfit’, as it is called, for money. 1924T. E. Lawrence Home Lett. (1954) 359 A solo isn't as secure on a wet road as a side-car outfit. 1958Amer. Speech XXXIII. 271 Outfit, a man's equipment.
attrib.1898Westm. Gaz. 19 May 2/2 The ‘outfit’ allowance of {pstlg}20..now given to officers joining the Volunteers.
b. fig. The mental and moral endowments or acquirements with which any one is furnished.
1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. (1875) 46 [The] members have, for their proper outfit, a knowledge of Greek, Roman, and Eastern antiquity. 1872Liddon Elem. Relig. i. 5 The conviction that religion is..an indispensable part of man's moral and mental outfit.
c. A person's clothes; a set of garments.
1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. v. 31 Saying these words, she had tied and buttoned on the child's simple outfit. 1875Scribner's Monthly Dec. 286/1 The comfortable dress for the mother or flannel outfit for the baby, can be sent. 1946Chicago Daily News 10 Aug. 12/3 Elaborate ceremonial outfits are fashioned by the women of the tribe. 1968J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 104 Accessories..really can change the whole feeling of an outfit and turn a last year's garment into something swinging or chic. 1976C. Bermant Coming Home i. vii. 105 She did not wear the same outfit two days running.
d. The apparatus used by a drug addict for taking drugs.
[1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 84/2 Outfitted, to get a supply of dope.] 1951N.Y. Times 14 June 22/2 ‘John’ went into a drugstore on upper Park Avenue, asked for an ‘outfit’, and for 45 cents got an envelope containing a medicinal dropper and a hypodermic needle, such as used by ‘mainliners’ for heroin injections. 1953W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) ix. 86, I asked him to come back to my apartment to take a shot. We went back to my room, and I got out my outfit that hadn't been used in five months. Ibid. xii. 121 She keeps outfits in glasses of alcohol so the junkies can fix in the joint and walk out clean. 1960Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Sept. 589/4 Anyone who has snorted or used the outfit and then kicked would find it [sc. a book] of absorbing interest.
3. a. A collective term for a travelling party or a party in charge of herds of cattle, etc. U.S. colloq.
1867Harper's Mag. July 137/2 Their ‘outfit’ (in the language of the plains this word signifies the conveyance, its contents, and the team) consisted of a Concord coach [etc.]. 1869S. Bowles Our New West viii. 163 With a mounted escort of about twenty gallant young miners..we made up a grand ‘outfit’. 1879F. H. Atkins in Let. to Editor, The application of ‘out⁓fit’ to transportation has led secondarily to its application to the traveling party themselves. It is quite common in the West to hear, ‘Do you belong to this outfit?’ or ‘Where is this outfit going?’ 1890L. D'Oyle Notches 55 The best fellows in this ‘outfit’ were Choctaw Bill..and Frank Norris, the ‘boss’, an ex-Yale student. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 174 He belonged to a horse ‘outfit’ that was travelling north.
b. A group of people; an organization; a business firm or concern.
1883‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi ii. 31 In that day, all explorers travelled with an outfit of priests. De Soto had twenty-four with him... The expeditions were often out of meat, and scant of clothes, but they always had the furniture and other requisites for the mass. 1925Amer. Speech I. 149/2 The big cattle companies or ‘outfits’. 1926J. Black You can't Win iv. 37, I was left on the bench with the two drunks... The desk man pointed to us. ‘What will I do with this outfit, Hayes?’ 1927[see lay-out 2 c]. 1930D. L. Sayers Strong Poison iv. 48 You must get me passed in as part of your outfit. 1935Wodehouse Blandings Castle xii. 310 ‘Come and join my little outfit,’ he said heartily. ‘I've always room for a personal friend.’ 1939F. W. Crofts Fatal Venture xi. 154 He's carrying this entire outfit on his shoulders. Only for Stott your job and mine might go phut. 1943H. L. Mencken Heathen Days vii. 89, I was presently playing trios and quartettes with an outfit that devoted four hours of every week to the job. 1951C. W. Mills White Collar i. ii. 23 The great bulk of businesses are small outfits, which do not last long. 1958S. Ellin Eighth Circle (1959) ii. i. 33 There's a couple of other agencies—Inter-American, Fleischer—pretty good outfits that might do just the job you want. 1962Observer 25 Nov. 12/8 Aldermaston is ‘less stuffy than Harwell’ and usually beats the other nuclear outfits at rugger. 1975New Yorker 21 Apr. 69/2 Investigators working not only for Retail Credit but for other large consumer-investigation outfits confirm this. 1977J. Wainwright Do Nothin' v. 67 Some of the modern outfits don't have brass. Just a four-piece sax line-up.
c. spec. Services' colloq. A group of servicemen; a regiment, squadron, or the like.
1916[see anti-tank s.v. anti-1 4 (iii)]. 1922C. E. Montague Disenchantment ii. 18 A man is wanted for Post Corporal... ‘Cushiest job in the 'ole outfit!’ 1930F. A. Pottle Stretchers 28 The bowlegged officer flew into a disciplinary rage and addressed the boy as follows: ‘What outfit do you belong to? How long have you been in the army?’ 1951H. Hastings Seagulls over Sorrento i. i, in J. Trewin Plays of Year IV. 52 Incidentally, wot are you doing in an outfit like this? 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 30 Jan. 57/3 The sergeant, though a war hero and the only soldier in a slack outfit, is a psychopathic bully and a pathetically lonely man. 1966Inland (Inland Steel Co., Chicago) Autumn 13/1 Recruits from all over the United States are assigned to the same military outfit. 1978A. Price '44 Vintage xix. 220 France in '40, then the Middle East... And finally Yugoslavia as a weapons adviser to a big Partisan outfit.
4. Canad. The name given to the fiscal year of the Hudson's Bay Company; hence, a year.
1791in Beaver (1947) Dec. 11/2 The difficiency in the order for the carrot tobacco arises from the great over⁓plus we have for the ensuing outfit. 1833J. G. McTavish Let. 18 Dec. in G. de T. Glazebrook Hargrave Corr. (1938) 124, I had thought, of getting away in one or two outfits. 1841G. Simpson London Corr. (1973) 9 The lease..will expire..with the close of Outfit 1841/2. 1874in Alberta Hist. Rev. (1956) Spring 16 The Athabasca accounts for the Outfit were closed and the Packet given over to the care of Mr. Moberly. 1913I. Cowie Company of Adventurers 280 The end of each business year—called ‘Outfit’—was May 31, upon which date the inventory of everything belonging to the Company at the fort was taken. 1935in D. Jenness Eskimo Admin. (1964) II. 51 Altogether sixteen deaths occurred during the outfit and only four births that I know of. 1973W. R. Sampson J. McLoughlin's Business Corr. 1847–48 p. xix, He was to be made a wintering partner with a share in the profits of the concern for Outfit 1814.
5. A person (usu. pejorative). slang (chiefly U.S.).
1867J. F. Meline Two Thousand Miles on Horseback 74 To cross the plains, or go to the mountains, every one must get an outfit; and having outfitted, you become yourself an outfit. 1924C. E. Mulford Rustler's Valley xi. 130 You ain't believin' everythin' this outfit tells you, are you? 1925Ladies' Home Jrnl. May 26/2 ‘But that young outfit will drive me wild,’ protested Mrs. Denmeade. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §379/2 Person,..outfit.
▪ II. ˈoutfit, v.
[f. prec. n.]
a. trans. To provide with an outfit, to fit out. Also simply, to provide or supply (a person or thing) with.
1847S. Lee Afric. Wanderers ii. (1854) 19 The trouble of outfitting the two boys for a public school. 1872C. King Mountain. Sierra Nev. v. 94, I..outfitted myself with a pack-horse, two mounted men, and provisions. 1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 176 This mill has been planned and outfitted with special reference to economizing labor and securing the greatest possible efficiency. 1924W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xvi. 167, I outfitted some of the boys with guns. 1928T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring & Summer 219/4 Two or three suits like this would outfit him for the Summer. 1935A. Squire Sing Sing Doctor xiv. 205 The condemned man is outfitted with new clothing. 1953K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xxxix. 381 She was smartly outfitted: white shoes, white hat..and a black-and-white striped dress. 1971Sci. Amer. Aug. 24/1 When the slim merchantman was ready for launching, its owner must have visited a ship chandler to buy the gear needed to outfit the vessel. 1972P. H. Kocher Master of Middle-Earth (1973) ii. 23 They helped to outfit the dwarf expedition when it was penniless. 1973‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Starry Bird iv. 55 Enough polo necks to outfit the entire British Raj. 1975Nature 10 July 150/3 Such cameras are intrinsically sensitive to the near ultraviolet band, and to be used for ultraviolet viewing need only be outfitted with an ultraviolet-transmitting lens and filter. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 19 June 8/6 And began to practice out of the van that he and several seabee friends had outfitted.
b. intr. for refl. or pass.
1881N.Y. Times 18 Dec. 4/3 To ‘outfit’ is to fit out for any purpose whatever. ‘We outfitted at St. Paul.’ 1883Century Mag. XXIX. 194/1 Here I ‘outfitted’, and..we were in a few days on our way to the Bitter Root Mountains. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xxv. 168 It's a good place to outfit from because we can probably get freight rates direct by boat. 1919H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill iv. 129 He outfitted at the Chicago Store in Tucson, getting the best all-wool ready-made suit in Arizona. 1924C. E. Mulford Rustlers' Valley x. 115 Yestiddy was pay-day, an' if they don't outfit now, some of 'em won't have no money after to-night. 1976H. & G. Gordon Ordeal xv. 108 A party of four went down the trail... Three males and a female. Ring up the Big Rock Trading Post... Get the trader up and find out if they outfitted there.
So ˈoutfitted ppl. a.; ˈoutfitting vbl. n. and ppl. a. (also ellipt.) [out- 9, 10.].
1840Dickens Old C. Shop xiv, An outfitting warehouse of the first respectability. 1871Mrs. Whitney Real Folks xii. (1872) 132 The trimming-up and outfitting place. 1908Westm. Gaz. 24 Apr. 7/4 Until the cold weather and overcoats finally disappear there will be no improvement in outfitting. 1932D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xxxi. 409, I went to the men's outfitting and asked for collars. 1964A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping xii. 130 Outfitting was the euphemism employed for both men's and women's underclothes. 1975Offshore Progress: Technol. & Costs (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 5 Several semi-submersibles delivered early in 1975 have hulls 300 ft long, and a total outfitted weight of up to 16,500 tons. 1976Cody (Wyoming) Enterprise 23 June 1/1 Many of the complaints about the grizzly bear's critical habitat center around the effect such a definition would have on the outfitting business. A confrontation between outfitting camps and grizzlies within a critical habitat area would result in the relocation of the camp rather than the grizzly. 1977Times 30 Nov. 2/4 The decision by more than 1,600 angry outfitting trades at Swan Hunter's [shipbuilding] yard to continue their overtime ban. 1977Time 19 Dec. 31/1 Outfitted in quilted parkas, they can be seen roaming the snow-covered hills and hollows of Appalachia in search of game to keep down meat bills. |