| 释义 |
shaky, a.|ˈʃeɪkɪ|
Also shakey.
[f. shake v. or n.1 + -y.]
1. Of timber: Fissured = shaken 4.
1703T. N. City & C. Purch. 241 Such Stuff as is crack'd, either with the Heat of the Sun, or the Drought of the Wind, is call'd shaky, or shaken Stuff. 1851Palace of Industry 18 If found to be shaky, they [sc. sash-bars] are rejected as unfit to be used. 1868Harper's Mag. XXXVI. 418 Some of the pines were short and scraggy, some were shaky.
2. a. Of a structure: Given to shaking by the looseness of its parts; liable to break down or give way; unsound. Of ground: Not firm or solid.
1850Ogilvie, Shaky, 2. loosely put together; ready to come to pieces. Familiar. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxv. 182 The bridge was so frail and shaky at the place of junction. 1871Punch 2 Dec. 228/2 The chair..so shaky in the legs. 1894Bookseller's Catal., Binding shaky.
b. the Shaky Isles (colloq.), New Zealand (from the frequency of earthquakes).
1933Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Aug. 20/2 The widespread notion that they're peculiar to the Shaky Isles. 1941S. J. Baker N.Z. Slang vi. 49 New Zealand was no longer merely a colony; it became the Dominion, the Shakey Isles,..and so on. 1971Sunday Tel. (Sydney) 16 May 37/2 He came over from the Shaky Isles in his early 30s.
3. a. Of a person or his limbs: Trembling with age, infirmity, apprehension or fear.
1850Thackeray Pendennis lxx, The old fellow's hand was very cold and shaky. 1871O. W. Holmes Smiling Listener 46 Well, Time with..his shaky old fingers will soon snuff us out.
b. Of writing: Tremulous.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxviii, All he did was to sign the circulars..and direct them in a shaky, clerk-like hand. 1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 92 At this point the writing began to grow very shaky and weak.
4. Characterized by or causing shaking or jolting.
1860Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 290 It is rather a shaky business..riding over those roads in a cart. 1883C. Howard Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3) 138 The surface is rather shaky for quick riding.
5. In immaterial sense.
a. Of a person's position, credit, securities, etc.: Insecure, liable to fail or be upset, unreliable.
1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. x, Our director was—what is not to be found in Johnson's Dictionary—rather shaky. Three of his companies had broken, four more were in a notoriously insolvent state. 1853Wilberforce 3 Nov., Life (1881) II. 225 Lord Aberdeen now growing to look upon Gladstone as his successor... Cabinet shaky. 1865M. E. Braddon Sir Jasper I. xiv. 302 With a view to raising money on very shaky security. 1884Law Times 1 Nov. LXXVIII. 10/2 The manufacturer, whose credit is so shaky. 1908Blackw. Mag. July 130/2 His seat in Parliament was shaky.
b. Unsettled in allegiance or belief.
1853Lytton My Novel xi. xvii, Well,..I must be off presently to see those three shaky voters in Fish Lane. 1857Lady Canning in A. J. C. Hare Two Noble Lives (1893) II. 202 The shaky regiment, the 37th, had tried to tamper with the Seiks. 1884Contemp. Rev. Jan. 141 A work..calculated to render persons who are shaky in their belief in religion..more shaky still.
c. Not completely sound in health.
1844Dickens Let. 26 Feb. Lett. (1880) I. 100, I am rather shaky just now, but shall pull up. 1856H. H. Dixon Post & Paddock 26 If his legs are shaky, he [the racehorse] is trained ‘through the muzzle’, as a forlorn hope.
d. Of knowledge, or persons with reference to this: Uncertain, doubtfully adequate, not to be depended on.
1860Hotten's Slang Dict., Shaky, said..at the University, of one not likely to pass his examination. 1881Century Mag. XXIII. 934/2 In shaky but intelligible Spanish he asked..to see her father. 1889W. S. Gilbert Gondoliers ii, He is shaky in his spelling, so we help him if we can.
e. shaky do [do n.1 2 b], a difficult or risky situation, a close shave. slang (orig. R.A.F.).
1942T. Rattigan Flare Path iii. 150 They had rather a shaky do last night. 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 54 A shaky-do, any occurrence that has serious consequences or just escapes them. This may vary from a pilot temporarily losing control of his Whitley as a result of being hit by flak, to an erk who is out of station bounds without a pass and only just avoids a Service policeman. 1944T. H. Wisdom Triumph over Tunisia ix. 79 No. 18 Squadron, which had been involved in many similar ‘Shaky do's’, was asked to lay on the raid. 1949F. Maclean Eastern Approaches ii. vi. 244 The earth all round was kicked up by a burst from the plane's tail-gunner... ‘This,’ said the Australian, ‘is going to be a shaky do.’ |