| 释义 |
▪ I. catcall, n.|ˈkætkɔːl|
Also 8 catcal.
[From the nocturnal cry or ‘waul’ of the cat.]
1. A squeaking instrument, or kind of whistle, used esp. in play-houses to express impatience or disapprobation. (See Spectator No. 361.)
1659–60Pepys Diary (1879) I. 67, I..called on Adam Chard, and bought a cat-call there, it cost me two groats. 1712Addison Spect. No. 361 ⁋2, I was very much surprised with the great Consort of Cat-calls..to see so many Persons of Quality of both Sexes assembled together at a kind of Catterwawling. 1732Fielding Covent Gard. Trag. i. i, I heard a tailor sitting by my side, Play on his catcal, and cry out, ‘Sad stuff!’ 1753Gray's Inn Jrnl. No. 61 A shrill toned Catcall, very proper to be used at the next new Tragedy. 1865Lond. Rev. 30 Dec. 687/1 That vilest of all the inventions of Jubal, the catcall.
2. The sound made by this instrument or an imitation with the voice; a shrill screaming whistle.
1749Johnson Irene Prol., Should partial cat-calls all his hopes confound He bids no trumpet quell the fatal sound. a1764Lloyd Author's Apol. Wks. 1774 I. 1 Powerful cat⁓call from the pit. 1817M. Edgeworth Harrington (1833) 82. 1881 Daily Tel. 27 Dec., In the face of catcalls and other occasional demonstrations from the ‘gods’.
3. One who uses the instrument.
1714Budgell Spect. No. 602 A notorious Rake that headed a Party of Cat-cals.
▸ orig. U.S. A whistle, cry, or suggestive comment intended to express sexual attraction or admiration (but usually regarded as an annoyance), typically made by a man to a female passer-by. Cf. wolf-whistle n.
1956Charleroi (Pa.) Mail 4 Apr. 7/1 The catcalls and approving whistles brought her back to the present and she stood in the center aisle and gave them a gay smile. 1982Chicago Sun-Times 25 Nov. 7/1 Karen Downs, an attractive woman who was sick of the catcalls she received every time she set foot outside her house. 1993R. Shilts Conduct Unbecoming iv. xxxiii. 317 Women recruits found themselves the object of catcalls when they walked by the mens's barracks... ‘Hey babe, you want to get lucky?’ the male Marines called. 2001R. Peffer Virgin Islands 46/1 Women find themselves most vulnerable to harassment when they're working out. If you are jogging..along public thoroughfares, you must prepare yourself to get whistles, catcalls, clapping and the like from local men.
▪ II. catcall, v.|ˈkætkɔːl|
[f. prec.]
1. intr. To sound a catcall, esp. at a theatre or similar place of amusement.
1734Fielding Univ. Gallant Prol., 'Tis not the poet's wit affords the jest, But who can catcall, hiss, or whistle best? 1762Canning in Poet. Register (1807) 455 Let them cat⁓call and hiss as they will. 1820Blackw. Mag. VIII. 5 Some catcalled, and some roared ‘go on’.
2. trans. To receive or assail with catcalls.
a1700Dryden Prologue Pilgrim (R.) His cant, like merry Andrew's noble vein, Cat-calls the sects to draw them in again. 1843Macaulay Mad. D'Arblay, Ess. (1854) 711/2 Better to be hissed and catcalled by her Daddy than by a whole sea of heads in the pit of Drury Lane Theatre.
Hence ˈcatcalling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
c1781F. Burney in Macaulay Ess. (1887) 748 That hissing, groaning, catcalling epistle. 1864Daily Tel. 9 Dec., The gods indulged in their usual habit of whistling and cat⁓calling. 1881Ld. W. Pitt Lennox Plays, Players, &c. I. 77 A sound of hissing and cat-calling was now heard. |