释义 |
Pompey|ˈpɒmpɪ| [Origin unknown.] 1. A nickname for: a. The town and dockyard of Portsmouth, in Hampshire. b. Portsmouth Football Club. Also attrib.
1899Evening News 9 Dec. 3/6 Wilkie, amid tremendous cheering from the Pompey lads, won the toss, and played with the wind in their favour. 1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin iii. 40 The Belligerent was a ‘Pompey’ ship. 1930Daily Express 6 Oct. 16/7 Despite their undeniable superiority Portsmouth could not penetrate the Derby defence... A brilliant Pompey could do everything except score. 1943C. S. Forester Ship xviii. 109 The grim wife he had in Pompey. 1944Williams & Savage Second Penguin Problems Bk. 160 Shouting ‘Good old Pompey,’ Portsmouth supporters went home. 1959Observer 22 Mar. 17/5 An old roadman..: ‘There's been a lot of unemployment in Pompey and Southampton.’ 1966(title) Pompey chimes: the journal of the Portsmouth West Conservative Association. 1972E. Grierson Confessions of Country Magistrate xv. 149 That Plymouth should possess a second-tier court and Portsmouth only a third-tier one will infuriate, and with reason, the good citizens of Pompey. 1976Oxf. Compan. Ships & Sea 659/1 ‘Pompey’, the sailors' slang name for Portsmouth... It is not known how or when the name came into being, one theory being that it owes its origin to the fact that the local fire brigade, known as the Pompiers, used to exercise on Southsea Common, adjacent to the town of Portsmouth. 1977Navy News June 6/3 Is there any chance of recreating the Bluejacket Band at Pompey? 2. to dodge Pompey: see dodge v. 13. Hence ˈPompeyite, a sailor from Portsmouth.
1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin iv. 63 Down wi' the Pompeyites!
Senses 1, 2 in Dict. become 2, 3. Add: 1. Colloq. phr. paws off, Pompey! = hands off s.v. hand n. 54. Now rare. Orig. an anti-Napoleonic catch-phr. app. meaning ‘(keep your) hands off (i.e. away from) Pompey’, where Pompey was possibly a nickname for Nelson or Portsmouth; however, the later use of a comma suggests that Pompey came to be perceived as the person addressed, with off becoming an adverb. Later still Pompey was dropped: see off adv. 9 c.
1803Cartoon 16 Apr. in M. D. George Catal. Pol. & Personal Satires Dept. Prints & Drawings Brit. Mus. (1978) VIII. 138, I ax pardon Master Boney, but as we says Paws off Pompey, we keep this little Spot to Ourselves. 1834Marryat Jacob Faithful I. xii. 212 Although she liked to be noticed so far by the other chaps, yet Ben was the only one she ever wished to be handled by—it was ‘Paws off, Pompey’, with all the rest. 1839Thackeray Catherine in Fraser's Mag. Nov. 542/1 Paws off, Pompey; you young hang dog, you. 1932S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xx. 276 He was just reaching out in a dreamy, absent kind of way..when Mrs Beetle gave a sharp dab at his hand, exclaiming: ‘Paws off, Pompey!’ |