| 释义 |
▪ I. snowball, n.|ˈsnəʊbɔːl|
Also 5 snoweballe, 6 snowbal(le, 7– snow-ball; 5 north. snayballe, 8–9 Sc. snawbaw, 9 -ba'.
[f. snow n.1 + ball n.1 Cf. WFris. sniebal, MDu. snee(u)-, sneubal, Du. sneeuwbal, G. schneeball, Da. snebold, Sw. snöboll, Norw. snjoball.]
1. a. A ball of snow, esp. one made of a size convenient for throwing by hand.
c1400Brut cxcviii, Meny of þe citee..caste oppon him meny snoweballes, and meny oþer reproues dede him. 1483Cath. Angl. 346/2 Snayballe, floccus, nivenodium. a1530Heywood Play of Wether 1011 (Brandl), All my pleasure is in..makynge of snow ballys and throwyng the same. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. v. 24 My bellies as cold as if I had swallow'd snowbals. 1657Trapp Comm. Job xxxviii. 22 We see..what paines they take to rake and scrape together snow to make a Snow-ball. 1677A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. iv. 149 As wise an act, as to hope to be warm by..surrounding thy self with snow-balls. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 281 If I take a snow-ball into my hand, I shall be satisfied of its coldness by my sensation. 1789E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. (1791) 25 note, If a piece of Camphor be immersed in a snow-ball. 1816Byron Swiss Jrnl. Wks. 180/2, I made a snowball and pelted Hobhouse with it. 1853Kane Grinnell Exped. xxx. (1856) 258 By-and-by the sludge which we passed through..became pancakes and snow-balls. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 158 When a schoolboy makes a snowball, he squeezes a handful or two of light snow into a hard compact lump.
b. In allusive use (common in the 17th c.). Phr. a snowball's chance in hell: see hell n. 10 b. Also ellipt. as a snowball's chance.
(a)1612Webster White Devil iv. iii. 114 Your good heart gathers like a snow-ball, Now your affection's cold. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 519 They passed through Fraunce, Germanie, Hungarie, their company (like a snow⁓ball) encreasing as they went. 1674Govt. Tongue vi. 75 For reports we know like snow balls gather still the farther they roule. 1740Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 163 For they are like a snow-ball, and intend to gather company as they go. 1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 610 His army, increasing like a snowball. 1845Ford Handbk. Spain i. 43 The Caravan like a snow-ball, increases in bulk as it rolls on.
(b)1622Bacon Hen. VII (1876) 35 The rebels took their way toward York,..but their snow-ball did not gather as it went. 1645E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (1647) 3 Before this snowball grew greater by rolling, Count Mansfield raiseth forces. 1649Milton Eikon. xix. Wks. 1851 III. 473 Such a Snowball hee might easily gather by rowling through those cold and dark provinces of ignorance and leudness.
(c)1934Esquire Sept. 27 He wouldn't have a snowball's chance with you. 1977Amer. Machinist 1 June 27 There is not a snowball's chance in Haiti of making the deadline on an across-the-board basis. 1979‘A. Hailey’ Overload i. i. 4 ‘Told 'em there wasn't a snowball's chance,’ a woman assistant dispatcher called over.
†c. Sc. In the fig. phr. to cast snowballs, to be reserved or distant. Obs.
1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. iv. i, I trow sae,..lasses will come to at last, Tho' for a while they maun their snaw-baws cast. 1821W. Liddle Poems 236 The lasses a' their snaw-baws cast, For fear we should betray.
d. The pastime of snow-balling.
1708Brit. Apollo No. 55. 3/2 A Game at Snow-ball.
e. transf. A scheme or project that relies for its growth on a snowball effect (see quots.).
1892Whitehall Rev. 17 Sept. 7/1 The system of ‘Snow⁓balls’ is multiplication at a very rapid rate, each giver being obliged to bind himself to find a certain number of others who will not only give, but bind themselves each to find an equal number of contributors on the same terms. 1923H. C. Bailey Mr Fortune's Practice v. 141 It's just like a snowball... When you want subscriptions and have a snowball where every one has to get some one else to subscribe. 1927E. F. Benson Lucia in London iii. 70 Will she just pick up acquaintances, and pick up more from them, like one of those charity snowballs?
f. In bingo, etc.: a cash prize which accumulates through successive games until it is won.
1949S. P. Llewellyn Troopships 5 Last house... May I remind you, gentlemen, that the snowball is now worth over fourteen pounds? 1960Guardian 2 Dec. 23/5 The British Legion..club..was more or less built on Bingo... The crowds, drawn by a ‘snowball’ on a lucky number which had reached {pstlg}16, had been growing..too large. 1971A. Ross Huddersfield Job 129 The snowball—a sort of continuing competition in which the cash prizes, if not won, are carried forward to swell next week's total. 1976Evening Post (Nottingham) 15 Dec. 13/2 Tote Baseball Nos. 20 & 13 & 6 Three winners. Snowball not won.
2. a. Cookery. One or other of various dishes or confections intended to resemble a ball of snow in appearance.
1769Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 263 To make Snow Balls. Pare five large..apples, make a little good hot paste, and roll your apples in it,..make iceing for them..and ice them all over with it about a quarter of an inch thick. 1854Marion Harland Alone xxx, A dozen loaves of cake, and ever so many snow-balls. 1877Cassell's Dict. Cookery 887 Fry the snowballs till they are lightly set.
b. One of various cocktails (see quots.).
1930Savoy Cocktail Bk. 150 Snowball Cocktail. 1/6 Crème de Violette. 1/6 White Crème de Menthe. 1/6 Anisette. 1/6 Sweet Cream. 1/3 Dry Gin. 1963D. A. Embury Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (ed. 2) 289 Snow Ball. A Silver Fizz with whisky in place of the gin and ginger ale in place of the charged water. 1966J. Doxat Booth's Handbk. Cocktails & Mixed Drinks xiv. 145 Snowball. Ice cube in tall glass. Generous measure of Advocaat; top with Fizzy Lemonade; decorate with slice of Lemon. 1972A. Draper Death Penalty ii. 16 Ben ordered the drinks—a snowball for Jeannie and whisky mac for himself. 1979R. Barnard Posthumous Papers xvii. 158 She ordered a snowball... ‘I'm not used to coming into a pub on my own.’
c. U.S. and W. Indies. An ice-cream; a confection made of shaved or chipped ice covered in syrup, etc.
1941J. Smiley Hash House Lingo 51 Snowball, dip of vanilla ice cream. 1946K. Dunham Journey to Accompong 93 My Maroon neighbors..were lolling around..drinking the penny ‘snowball’ made from chipped ice with a sweet purple syrup poured over it. 1953H. P. Morrison in Caribbean Anthol. Short Stories 137 Customers of every age milled round to buy ‘snow-ball’—cool crushed ice in cheap glass tumblers with red, yellow or even green syrup oozing slowly through the crystalline mass. 1962[see mauby].
3. slang or jocular. (See quots.)
1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Snowball, a jeering appellation for a negroe. 1819Moore Tom Crib's Memor. (ed. 3) 45 note, Lily-whites (or Snow-balls), Negroes. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xlvi, The sweep was passing by, and I called him ‘snow-ball’.
4. a. The Guelder rose, Viburnum opulus, or one of its clusters of white flowers. Also used for other species of Viburnum.
1799Southey Eng. Ecl. Poet Wks. III. 4 In spring the lilac and the snow-ball flower. 1828Carr Craven Gloss., Snow-ball, the Guelder Rose. 1850Beck's Florist July 171 Here's snowballs, and waxberries, and mock-orange flowers, and lilacs. 1880Bessey Botany 518 Many species [of Caprifoliaceæ] are ornamental—e.g...Viburnum, the Snowball. 1948W. Arnold-Forster Shrubs for Milder Counties iv. 184 V. Opulus sterile, the familiar ‘Snowball’, is..quite good as a hedge.
b. U.S. (See quots.)
1834Audubon Ornith. II. 121 The Swamp Snowball, Hydrangea quercifolia,..found on the broken sandy banks bordering small watercourses. 1902Webster's Suppl., Wild snowball.., the New Jersey tea (Ceanothus Americanus), so called from its clusters of small white flowers. 1909Cent. Dict. Suppl., Little snowball, the button-bush, Cephalanthus occidentalis.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. Miscellaneous, as snowball chrysanthemum, snowball cocktail, snowball fight, snowball fritters, snowball-like adv., snowball vendor, snowball war.
1662Hibbert Body Divinity i. 188 Fame, snow-ball like, crescit eundo. 1877Cassell's Dict. Cookery 887 Snowball Fritters. 1890Champlin & Bostwick Young Folks' Cycl. Games & Sports 660/1 Snowball fights, contests between two parties armed with snowballs. 1899Westm. Gaz. 6 Jan. 4/1 Giant snowball chrysanthemums. 1901‘Ian Maclaren’ Yng. Barbarians iv, As the snowball war was a serious affair. 1930Snowball cocktail [see sense 2 b above]. 1948Sun (Baltimore) 27 Aug. 24/3 Snowball vendors did a rush business.
b. snowball bush, tree, the Guelder rose (cf. 4 a).
So WFris. sniebalbeam, Du. sneeuwbalboom, Sw. snöbollsbuske, -träd.
1931W. N. Clute Common Names Plants 48 Guelder rose, a common name of the snow-ball bush.., is said to be properly elder rose. 1979Seymour (Indiana) Daily Tribune 19 May 1/3 The ‘snowball bush’ in his side yard is in full bloom.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 327 Snowball-tree, Viburnum. 1783Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) X. 8713/2 This tree when in bloom exhibits a singularly fine appearance; the flowers..are collected numerously into large globular umbels round like a ball; hence, it is sometimes called snowball-trees. 1856A. Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 168 The well-known Snow-ball Tree..is a cultivated state, with the whole cyme turned into large sterile flowers. 1902E. T. Cook Trees & Shrubs for Eng. Gardens 443 Snowball tree..is too well known to need description. 1973A. Bonar Shrubs & Decorative Trees iii. 86 The snowball tree..is more attractive florally.
c. Used to denote increase by a kind of geometrical progression, as snowball contribution, snowball effect, snowball letter, snowball prize, snowball system, etc.
1897Westm. Gaz. 8 Apr. 7/2 An anonymous ‘snowball’ contribution has been started. 1899Ibid. 28 Jan. 6/1 The scheme of old-age pensions on the snowball system... They offer magnificent terms to any assurer who gets them ten other assurers,..and so on, like the rolling snowball. 1941I. L. Idriess Great Boomerang xxxii. 251 It will not be the amount to be spent that will be considered, but the snowball effect of the resulting benefits. 1963Daily Tel. 23 Jan. 20/8 A ‘snowball’ prize played for evening after evening at a bingo club is legal, provided the management gives the prize money. 1979P. Niesewand Member of Club xviii. 142 Hundreds of families emigrate [from South Africa] every month... Each one has a snowball effect. Other families start thinking: should we leave also?
▪ II. snowball, v.|ˈsnəʊbɔːl|
[f. prec. In sense 2 perh. a back-formation from snow-balling: but cf. Fris. sniebalje, G. schneeballen.]
1. a. intr. To form balls or masses of snow.
1684O. Heywood Diaries (1883) III. 343 It fell a considerable snow... I..found it very dangerous way, for it snow-balled on my horses feet.
b. fig. To increase or grow like a snowball rolled across snow; to accumulate or gather momentum at an ever-increasing rate.
1929E. N. Nicholson Study of Birds 39 Some flocks are freshly formed each day, and recruits can be watched joining the original members at intervals until it snowballs up to its full size. 1934Sun (Baltimore) 9 Nov. 26/7 The [housing] program in Maryland is ‘snowballing’. 1967R. Lehmann Swan in Evening iii. 104 The success of those classes delighted and amused her. How polyglot they became and how they snowballed. 1969New Yorker 19 Apr. 94/2 When a man knows what to look for, his value snowballs. 1973Lebende Sprachen XVIII. 69/2 Management must appreciate the extra profit that snow⁓balls from making use of advanced techniques. 1976Ilkeston Advertiser 10 Dec. 15/4 Anyone is welcome to join in at any time during the day. A coach will ferry people around the circuit and singers usually ‘snowball’ throughout the day.
2. trans. To throw a snowball at (a person); to pelt with snowballs. Also fig.
1850L. Sawyer Way Sk. (1926) iii. 46 Our men amused themselves with snowballing each other. 1855in Hyde Clarke Dict. 1889Pall Mall G. 26 Feb. 2/3 The..Opposition..could do nothing but snowball the other side with Pigott all the evening. 1899Westm. Gaz. 24 Apr. 10/1 To hear the old gentleman tell how he had actually snowballed Keats.
3. intr. To throw snowballs.
1852F. A. Buck Let. 18 Dec. in Yankee Trader (1930) 112 At first we snow-balled, the whole town engaging in the sport like school boys. 1860in Worcester. 1866C. M. Yonge Dove in Eagle's Nest ix, Christina..had been watching them snowballing in the castle court.
So ˈsnowˌballing vbl. n., the action or pastime of making and throwing snowballs; also fig. and ppl. a.
1861F. A. Buck Let. 20 Jan. in Yankee Trader (1930) 186 Christmas we had a nice lot of egg nog and cake and snow balling. 1870Aldrich Story of a Bad Boy xii. 124 Snow-balling at school, skating on the mill-pond,..were sports no less exhilarating. 1887H. Smart Cleverly Won iv. 28 They skated,..and at times even relaxed so far as to fall to snowballing. 1887Times (weekly ed.) 30 Dec. 10/1 The mobbing and snowballing of Mr. Gladstone's party. 1941Sun (Baltimore) 3 Nov. 14/1 The constantly snow-balling defense effort may cut into the everyday things we use in normal civilian existence. 1966Word Study Dec. 4/1 Dubious meaning..starts a snow⁓balling that soon places the intended meaning beyond retrieval. 1971Daily Tel. 29 Dec. 10 The snowballing success of Alan Ayckbourn's plays abroad..is a constant surprise to him. 1973Times 14 Aug. 3/3 The ‘snowballing’ technique by which researchers were introduced to one drug taker; who introduced a second and so on. 1977N.Y. Times 16 Jan. iv. 19/3 Mr. Kissinger's pet theory of ‘linkage’, a kind of snowballing of détente, had to be given up. |