| 释义 |
▪ I. prang, n. slang (orig. R.A.F.).|præŋ|
[etym. uncertain.]
1. a. An accident in which an aircraft suffers damage; a crash-landing. b. A bombing-raid. Also transf. and fig.
1942Sun (Baltimore) 7 Apr. 20/8 American flyers in the RAF Eagle Squadrons have introduced a new decoration. ‘The Order of Prang’—but it never appears in official citations. ‘Prang’ is Eagle slang for crash. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 53 ‘P/O Prune’ is the title bestowed upon a pilot who has several ‘prangs’ on his record. 1945Partridge Dict. R.A.F. Slang 45 Prang, a crash landing. (2) A bombing raid. 1946G. Gibson Enemy Coast Ahead 105, I like high-level attacks..or else it must be the very low-level prang. 1948G. Greene Heart of Matter iii. i. 294 ‘There's no time like the present for a prang,’ Bagster said, moving her firmly towards the bed. 1958Spectator 16 May 614/1 The Prime Minister was questioned about the RAF's wizard prang on the Government's defence policy. 1979N. Slater Falcon ii. 36 Tell him about your wizard prangs in the war.
2. An accident or collision involving a road vehicle; a car-crash.
1959Sunday Times 1 Nov. 23/2 The grisly enormities of American stock-car racing, with an hysterical ghoul of a commentator who revelled in every prang. 1971A. Diment Think Inc. ii. 26 Might have had a bad prang before they re-sprayed her.
▪ II. prang, v. slang. (orig. R.A.F.).
[etym. uncertain.]
1. trans.
a. To crash or crash-land (an aircraft); to damage (part of an aircraft) during a crash-landing. Also const. down.
1941Tee Emm (Air Ministry) July 6/1 Do they give a grateful sigh and shut up shop when the last serviceable aircraft has been pranged against a hangar because its pilot would land towards obstacles? 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 18 Apr. 1 Gremlins..run down the nose of the machine and tip you up and you prang a prop. 1942Tee Emm (Air Ministry) II. 143 By now he didn't give a darn—He pranged her down beside the barn. 1944‘N. Shute’ Pastoral v. 107 After so many operations it was an acute personal grief to him that he had pranged his Wimpey. 1977Belfast Tel. 28 Feb. 9/1 (caption) The half of the propellor he is holding came off a Bristol fighter he ‘pranged’ in a schoolyard in 1925.
b. To bomb (a target) successfully from the air.
1942[see finger n. 3 a]. 1943B. J. Hurren Eastern Med. 27 One can picture the..rage of the German and Italian air commanders..each verging on apoplexy that their chosen pilots should not be able to ‘prang’ a ship which presented a clear, long, visible deck target area of some 600 feet by 90 feet wide. 1952M. Tripp Faith is Windsock v. 87 The Lancs broke off sharply at the last moment to prang Neuss. 1958E. Hyams Taking it Easy i. i. 16 The RAF said they didn't know how to, they just know about pranging the Luftwaffe and the railway yard at Ham.
c. To involve (a road vehicle or other object) in an accident; to crash or ‘smash up’; to collide with.
1952E. F. Davies Illyrian Venture iii. 50 ‘What height would you like to be dropped at?’ ‘Would 800 feet suit you?’.. ‘I think I can manage that without pranging the mountain.’ 1966T. Wisdom High-Performance Driving ix. 97 The driver may well have left his ‘flasher’ on many corners ago and is happily oblivious of the fact until you move off on his signal and ‘prang’ him. 1971Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 26 Feb. 2/1 Recently my rather ancient Chevvy II got pranged from behind—nothing serious, just a smashed tail light. 1973A. Mann Tiara ix. 79 Most of them don't drive... If they prang a car, there's always plenty of witnesses to say it's the priest's fault. 1976Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 22 Aug. 11/1 We had pranged a rock getting out of Oak Bay.
2. intr. To crash or crash-land an aircraft. Also transf.
1943P. Brennan et al. Spitfires over Malta ii. 55 The upwind end of the landing-path was a maze of bomb-holes... I was too brassed off to worry whether I pranged or not. 1961‘J. Ross’ Last August iii. 31 A wasp was pranging against the window. 1968Daily Express 26 Feb. 4/1, I knew we were going to prang, but all I wanted to do was to make sure that we weren't killed or seriously injured.
3. trans. In extended uses: to break, to smash; to hit, to strike heavily (against). Also fig.
1942J. Moore in Observer 4 Oct. 7/2 Now you talk..of pranging a date, meaning that you have left your popsy waiting outside the Unicorn while you continue to drink with the squadron in the Bull and Bush. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 53 Jones pranged his arm at rugger to-day. 1946Slipstream 38 Mind you don't prang yourselves against the table. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 147 He pranged the iron bedstead... He pranged his leg against the bedstead. 1977F. Parrish Fire in Barley x. 99 He was holding a pitchfork. ‘I thought I'd prang a rabbit.’
Hence pranged ppl. a.; ˈpranging vbl. n.
1942Air News Oct. 4/1 ‘Pranging’, by the way, is a new R.A.F. expression which means smashing things up—including one's own aeroplane. 1946Brickhill & Norton Escape to Danger iii. 39 A couple of 109's hacked two Hurricane down near Montreuil on the 10th of June 1940, and Eric jumped from his pranged kite and ran for it. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Aug. p. iii/3 Classic understating metaphors like ‘having a party’, ‘falling in the drink’, ‘pranging’, and so on, had their value in time of war. 1971R. Dentry Encounter at Kharmel vii. 117 Looking for the wreckage of a pranged aircraft. |