| 释义 |
robbo Austral. local slang.|ˈrɒbəʊ|
[f. the name Rob(inson (see quot. 1897) + -o2.]
A horse and trap; a sulky; a poor horse; the driver of a horse and trap. Also, anything or anyone not up to standard, and in other extended uses.
1897Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Jan. 11/3 In answer to a correspondent's question as to the derivation of ‘robbo’ (Sydney slang for the vehicle ordinarily called a ‘sulky’) ‘J.P.’ writes as follows..:—‘Four Bob Robbo’—four shillings Robinson. Robinson, who lived in the classic suburb of Waterloo, Sydney.., came into a bit of money and bought a horse and trap. The money was spent, and Robinson tired of feeding the horse, which got poor; so he then sometimes let out the horse and trap (both somewhat worse for wear) for 4s. per half-day. There was a run on the cheap hire, and Rob. bought two other horses and traps, which he let out at the same price. A neighbouring livery-stable keeper and his employés resented Rob's cutting-down prices; and, when any of the rival's equipages passed, used to cry out, in derision, ‘Four Bob Robbo!’ The cry was taken up by the kids, and has now become a Waterloo classic. Ibid., ‘Robbo’ has in an extensive Sydney circle come to mean anything unsatisfactory. For instance, a girl enters a jeweller's shop with: ‘Watcher been givin’ us? Look at the clasp of this 'ere bracelet I bought of yer last week. It's gone bung already. It's a fair robbo.’ Ibid., Also ‘robbo’ has come to mean amateur. 1906A. J. Tompkins With Swag & Billy 51 Right out of the haunts of the motor, the bike and the Robbo. 1939K. Tennant Foveaux iv. v. 430 There was old Bert Robinson... 'E kept a livery stable down at the Foot. I s'pose you've 'eard of the Four-bob Robbos, then? The chaps used to go an' hire a cart for four bob and take it round loaded with vegetables. The kids used to call after 'em, ‘Four Bob Robbo, Four Bob Robbo.’ Old Bob Noblett, 'e's an old man now, but I can remember when Bob Noblett was a four-bob robbo. 1956Collins New Eng. Dict. (Austral. & N.Z. Suppl.) 1279/2 Robbo, Four-Bob-Robbo, a horse and sulky... Now used only for a decrepit horse. |