| 释义 |
ˈpat-a-cake
The first words of a nursery rime, said or chanted to accompany the action of patting or gently clapping together the child's hands; hence, the game which the nurse plays with the child in doing this.
A usual form of the rime is: ‘Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man! Bake me a cake as fast as you can, Shape it and prick it, and mark it with [B], And put it in the oven for [Baby] and me!’
1897Ld. Tennyson Life Tennyson I. xviii. 371 [He] would play pat-a-cake with them.
Hence pat-a-cake v., nonce-wd., to superintend or direct any one's action as the nurse does the baby's hands in this game.
1874Mrs. Whitney We Girls ii. 42, I can be contrary. I don't like to be pat-a-caked. |