| 释义 |
pocket-handkerchief|ˌpɒkɪtˈhæŋkətʃɪf|
1. A handkerchief carried in the pocket.
1645in Essex (Mass.) Inst. Hist. Coll. (1914) L. 326, 3 pocket handkerchiefs. 1680Rochester Poems 16 Where Critick-like, he sits and squints, Steals Pocket-Handkerchiefs, and hints. 1760Washington Diary 15 Feb. (1925) I. 126 Pockethandkerchiefs servd the purposes of Table Cloths and Napkins. 1781F. Burney Diary May, She would wave a white pocket-handkerchief out of the coach window. 1825T. H. Lister Granby x, I am sorry for the poor Duke; he loses his pocket handkerchief at Bath. 1861Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 90 Mr. C. saw fit to spread his pocket-handkerchief on the grass..and sit down on it.
2. transf. and fig.
a. A very small area (of land, etc.).
1866[see sense 3 below]. 1891‘Ganconagh’ John Sherman & Dhoya 70 This pocket-handkerchief of a garden. 1949T. Rattigan Browning Version 27 It's only a pocket handkerchief, I'm afraid, but it's very useful to Andrew. He often works out there. 1961L. Mumford City in History xv. 465 The more respectable quarters..with a soiled pocket-handkerchief of grass before their houses. 1973Daily Tel. 8 Dec. 12/3 There is a pocket handkerchief of a dance floor.
b. A light sail.
1936B. Adams Ships & Women xi. 239 Martin told me to ‘Go get the pocket handkerchiefs off her’. So I called out the watch and hauled down the jib topsail. 1941Penguin New Writing II. 17, I could ride out bad weather with two of the smallest pocket-handkerchiefs.
3. attrib. and Comb.
1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt II. xx. 87 A mere pocket-handkerchief..Pod's End. 1935N. L. McClung Clearing in West iv. 32 This kind of pocket handkerchief-farming makes people mean. 1953Wodehouse Performing Flea 53 Bungalows..each with a little lawn in front and a pocket-handkerchief garden at the back. 1961Daily Tel. 21 Oct. 6/2 The knowledge..helped the Russians to turn the screw..on economic and technical aid to this pocket-handkerchief State [sc. Albania]. 1973N. Graham Murder in Dark Room v. 33 A row of little old-fashioned houses with pocket handkerchief lawns. |