| 释义 |
ˈpip-squeak slang.
[f. pip n.5 + squeak n.]
1. A contemptuous name for an insignificant person; a petty object. Also attrib.
In quot. 1923 a two-stroke motor cycle.
1910E. V. Lucas Slowcoach xxiii. 279 ‘It belongs to one of those measly pip-squeaks,’ said Robert. 1923Motor Cycling 21 Nov. 89/1 The owners of sporting four stroke machines look down on the owners of so-called ‘Pip-Squeaks’. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 224 Pip Squeak,..a small man, or one objectionable in some way. 1926Blackw. Mag. June 732/2 After all, the luxurious liner which connects this riotous spot with the outer world is only a pip-squeak of a vessel. 1930G. Macmunn Behind Scenes in Many Wars 88 It does not pay in the East to let pip-squeaks beard the mighty. 1946Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch 20 Jan. 1. 14/8 Specifically, [Senator] Wiley charged that the organization..has ‘created czars out of pipsqueak juveniles’. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 23/2 Mighty blasts on the tooter herald the arrival of just another pip-squeak [sc. monotonous book]. 1961A. Christie Pale Horse xxi. 224 What about that psychological pipsqueak you brought along to see me, Corrigan. What does he say? 1973‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder vi. 65 For a little pip-squeak you make a big noise. 1974E. Ambler Dr. Frigo iii. 174 They weren't taking any nonsense from a pipsqueak foreign doctor.
2. a. A small type of high velocity shell distinguished by the sound of its flight. Also attrib.
1916E. V. Lucas Vermilion Box 209 Whatever else there is to grumble at over here, wet, and rats, and Pip-Squeaks and Jack Johnsons..we do get two things up to sample. 1916Cornh. Mag. Mar. 395 They're ‘pip-squeak’ and splinter-proof, of course. 1917A. G. Empey Over Top 304 Pip squeak, Tommy's term for a small German shell which makes a ‘pip’ and then a ‘squeak’, when it comes over. 1927E. Thompson These Men, thy Friends 176 The Turkish guns suddenly sent over a couple of pipsqueaks. a1936Kipling Something of Myself (1937) vi. 159 One indubitable shell—ridiculously like a pip-squeak in that vastness but throwing up much dirt.
b. = pip-pip 1. Also = peep n.1 2 b. So ˈpip-squeak v.
1922Blackw. Mag. June 699/2 She heard just then her Tom pip-squeaking on his pipe. 1927‘Ixion’ Further Motor Cycle Reminisc. 100 Hooters..fitted with rather wafery clips, such as still linger on bicycle ‘pipsqueaks’. 1943[see sense 2 c below]. 1956E. Pound tr. Sophocles' Women of Trachis 16 Hasn't uttered a pip-squeak Since she came down from the windy country.
c. (See quots. 1943, 1970.) slang.
1943C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 48 Pip-squeak, the instrument in an aircraft by the aid of which one gets a ‘Fix’. This instrument emits a pip-squeak at short intervals which is synchronised over the radio with base, thus fixing the time, an essential prelude to fixing the position of the aircraft. 1946Brickhill & Norton Escape to Danger vi. 60 Forgetting to switch off his ‘pip-squeak’ (radio contactor), Mickey climbed thankfully out on to the wing. 1970Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 7) II. 1330/2 ‘The pip-squeak was an automatic transmitter only, whose once-a-minute signals enabled ground direction-finding stations to fix the aircraft's position accurately for the benefit of the Fighter Controller in the Operations Room...’ (Ramsey Spencer, March 1967.) |