| 释义 |
smarten, v.|ˈsmɑːt(ə)n|
[f. smart a. In U.S. colloq. the form smart is also employed.]
1. trans. To make smart or spruce; to improve in appearance. Usually with up.
1815Jane Austen Emma x, The vicarage..had been very much smartened up by the present proprietor. 1833Sir F. B. Head Bubbles fr. Brunnen 127 The..fashion of smartening up us old people with the teeth and hair of the dead. 1876M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. (1876) II. 54 We must think of smartening the old rooms a little bit.
refl.1857Kingsley Two Y. Ago III. 201 Tom..smartened himself as best he could, went up to the great house, and found Miss Mary. 1887‘Mark Rutherford’ Revol. Tanner's Lane xvi, When the ‘things were washed up’, servant and mistress began to smarten themselves.
absol.1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxvi, He has smartened up, and wears as good a coat as I do. 1881T. G. Bowles Flotsam & J. (1883) 246 We are now running into Gibraltar bay, and smartening up to go ashore.
2. To brighten up, make livelier. Also intr.
1864Realm 15 June 8 The dialogue has been smartened up. 1899Crockett Kit Kennedy 372 The clerk smartened up noticeably at the entrance of the pretty girl.
3. With up. To accelerate.
1888Times 30 June 17/1 The 10.30 p.m. is smartened up 70 minutes.
Hence ˈsmartened ppl. a.; ˈsmartening vbl. n.
1864Gentl. Mag. ii. 222 The recent ‘smartening up’ of the front of the George Hotel. 1873M. E. Braddon Str. & Pilgr. iii. xiv, The people dancing in smartened morning-dress. |