| 释义 |
back seat
[back- A. 4.]
A seat at the back of a vehicle. Also, esp. a seat at the back of a hall, etc., an inferior seat; hence colloq., a position of inferiority or comparative obscurity (orig. U.S. in phr. to take a back seat (fig.), to occupy a subordinate place; see seat n. 27 c).
a1832R. C. Sands Writings (1834) II. 148 He had..ample room wherein to adjust himself and his properties, on the back-seat [of the coach]. 1858Thackeray Virgin. xx. 157 The Lady Maria had the back seat to herself. 1883Ld. R. Gower My Reminiscences II. 234 Le gros papa took up all the front seat of the carriage... In the middle seats were the young Germans..and in the back seat..on which two people could have been uncomfortably seated, sat the middle-aged Englishman, Walter, and I. 1928‘Ian Hay’ Poor Gentleman iv. 71 I'll put you in the back seat together going home.
1859Harper's Mag. June 54/2 This menagerie of..red skins, whom a score of indefatigable Coopers and Longfellows could never raise to merit a back seat in the heaven of romance. 1881J. W. Jones in Southern Hist. Soc. Papers IX. 133, I tell you, those able-bodied men who are sleeping in feather beds tonight,..must be content to take back seats when we get home. 1899H. James Awkward Age 180 ‘Don't you think that's rather a back seat, as they say, for one's best?’ ‘A back seat?’—she wondered with a purity! ‘If you don't understand,’ said her companion, ‘it serves me right, as your aunt didn't leave me with you to teach you the slang of the day.’ 1902Beerbohm in Around Theatres (1924) I. 395 To enliven the milieu, on he brought a circus procession... And Oxford had to take a back seat. 1959Times 22 Nov. 5/6 Those who think that the trade union movement should take a back seat in the Labour movement should think again.
b. back-seat driver, a passenger in the rear seat of a car who gives unsolicited directions to the driver. Hence, fig., one who criticizes or attempts to direct without responsibility (cf. armchair critic); one who controls affairs from a subordinate position. Also back-seat driving vbl. n.
1926Nation (U.S.) 8 Dec. 587/1 What? No taxis..back-seat driving, back-seat kisses? 1927Collier's 3 Dec. 10/1 You're just another one of them back-seat drivers. 1930Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves! ix. 245 Quite suddenly..the car..stopped in its tracks... The back-seat drivers gave tongue. ‘What's the matter? What has happened?’ 1948Economist 8 May 748 What was often no more than vociferous, if irritating, back-seat driving has been..interpreted as attempts..to seize control of the wheel. 1955Times 19 Aug. 6/4 [He] replied that it was contrary to democracy for elected members to consult ‘pressure groups’ and ‘back-seat drivers’. |