| 释义 |
‖ bête noire|bɛːt nwɑːr, beɪt nwɑː(r)|
[Fr., lit. ‘black beast’; fig. insufferable person.]
A person or thing that is the bane of a person or his life; an insufferable person or thing; an object of aversion.
1844Thackeray Barry Lyndon xvii. in Fraser's Mag. XXX. 235/1 Calling me her bête noire, her dark spirit, her murderous adorer, and a thousand other names indicative of her extreme disquietude and terror. 1850Househ. Words 6 July 359/1 You or any one else's bête noire is apt to get polished off with a few extra touches of blacking. 1860W. H. Russell Diary India I. 209 Jung Bahadoor, who is evidently the present bête noir of our General's life. 1866Mrs. H. Wood Elster's Folly xiv, It was the bête noire of Clerk Gum's life. 1905Spectator (Lit. Suppl.) 28 Jan. 118/2 [His] bête-noire is the submission of military affairs to the control of ‘political exigencies’. 1961L. Mumford City in History x. 290 As for the disposal of ordure, this has always been the bête noire of close urban settlements. |