| 释义 |
smart alec colloq. (orig. U.S.).|ˈsmɑːt ˌælɪk|
Also aleck, alick, hyphenated, and with capital initial(s).
[f. smart a. + Alec, dim. of personal name Alexander.]
A would-be clever person; a ‘know-all’; occas., a man who is ostentatiously smart in dress or manner. Also attrib. or as adj.
1865Carson (Nevada) Appeal 17 Oct. 2/3 Halloa, old smart Aleck—how is the complimentary vote for Ashley? 1873J. H. Beadle Undevel. West vii. 140, I had the pleasure of seeing at least a score of ‘smart Alecks’ relieved of their surplus cash. 1887F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 312 You may talk about..your Smart Alicks, and your Joe-dandies and daisies. 1902[see run v. 64 h]. 1904W. N. Harben Georgians ix. 92 Thar was a smart Alec of a feller from Little Dogtrot over in the mountains. 1934C. Stead Seven Poor Men of Sydney vi. 184 Rawson, from the Trades Hall, ready, assured, blatant, a political opportunist, whom Joseph called a ‘real smart⁓alec’. 1934H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiog. I. v. 276 Nowhere was there protection from those Smart Alecs, the primary poison of the whole process, who piled up the rents. 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xii. 221 He's a smart-aleck. I can see already he thinks he knows more than I do. 1942C. Barrett On Wallaby x. 202 One smart Alick came to..offer his services in return for a large tin of pineapple slices. 1956C. V. Wedgwood Lit. & Historian 9 The imitators of Lytton Strachey managed by their smart-aleck antics to obscure for a long decade what was really valuable in the new approach to biography. 1964L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence ii. ii. 33 I'm bored with their smart-aleck talk! 1976T. Stoppard Dirty Linen 40 Smart alec-paragraphs about innocent tripe-and-onions with tittian voluptuaries? 1979L. Meynell Hooky & Villainous Chauffeur vii. 99 Smart alec, aren't you? Smart and smug like all you intellectual lot.
Hence smart-alec(k)ism, smart-aleckry; an instance of this; smart-aleckry, behaviour characteristic of a smart alec, ostentatious or smug cleverness; smart-alecky a., characteristic of a smart alec, ostentatiously or smugly clever.
1905Dialect Notes III. ii. 157 Smart Elecky, impertinent, impudent. ‘He's too Smart Elecky for me.’ 1926G. J. Nathan House of Satan 6 Ripples of smart⁓aleckry. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions iii. v. 579, I wouldn't have minded so much if he hadn't been so Smart Alecky about it. 1934Sun (Baltimore) 28 Aug. 8/7 The futility of those modern writers who mistake smart aleckism for sophistication and vulgarity for art. 1938Scrutiny VI. iv. 400 His [sc. Fauré's] supreme disregard of public opinion is difficult to parallel in an age in which composers seek consolation for their lack of popular appreciation in the formation of cliques and the cultivation of a pert smart-alecism. 1958Spectator 5 Sept. 306/2 Brouhaha remains a hodgepodge of smartaleckry aimed..at the intellectual teddy-boy set. 1962Listener 21 June 1091/3 A sophisticated bit of smart-aleckism like the ‘nine-minute opera’ Introductions and Goodbyes. 1965New Statesman 30 Apr. 690/1 The last thing the Hansons go in for is the shrug of the shoulders or the smart⁓alecism—unless it's at the expense of psychoanalysing critics who..suggest that Tchaikovsky was..rather odd. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 10 July 8/3 She now writes regularly for New York magazine, though her cautious, measured manner of speaking doesn't seem to fit that magazine's usually brash, smart-alecky tone. 1981Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Mar. 247/5 The various lists in the book have an air of Christmas competition-setting smart-aleckry. |