| 释义 |
▪ I. spook, n.|spuːk|
[ad. Du. spook, G. spuk (also † spuch), app. of LG. origin, appearing first in MLG. spôk, spoek, spouk, spûk (whence MSw. spook, Da. spog), and older Du. spoocke (Kilian); other modern forms are LG. spôk, spok, WFris. spoek, NFris. spook, spuk, Sw. spöke. No certain cognates have been traced.]
1. A spectre, apparition, ghost. Often somewhat joc. or colloq.
First in American usage, which is illustrated separately in the first set of quotations.
(a)1801Mass. Spy 15 July (Thornton), By mine dunder I fly so swift as any spook. 1833Paulding Banks Ohio III. iii. 40 Who ever heard of a spook eating? a1853‘Dow, Jr.’ Patent Serm. iii. 158 (Thornton), There did I see a Spook, sure enough,—milk-white, and moving round. 1878W. H. Daniels That Boy i, The corners of New England which spooks and spirits were the last to leave.
(b)1859Aytoun & Martin tr. Goethe's Poems and Ball., Magician's Apprentice 102 Broom, avaunt thee! To thy nook there! Lie, thou spook, there! 1873Stephens Black Gin, etc. 11, I am haunted by a spook with oblique eyes and a pigtail. 1891Tablet 19 Sept. 446 To what particular order of spook or spectre may he be assigned?
attrib.1842Spirit of Times (Philad.) 7 Mar. (Thornton), A-clatterin' the ghosts of dishes..as tho' he was bringin' in a spook-dinner. 1878Aylward Transvaal To-day 213, I became acquainted with a ‘spooke story,’..which [etc.]. 1896Westm. Gaz. 10 Jan. 3/3 An alleged spook-photo.
2. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). An undercover agent; a spy.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §458/16 ‘Spotter.’ (One who spys upon employees.).. Silent eye, spook, spotter. Ibid. §765/7 Rat, rubber heel, spook, spotter, a person employed to detect irregularities. 1954People (Austral.) 3 Nov. 24/1 The spooks were senior constables who wore no uniform, worked in pairs and followed constables about the city and suburbs to see if they did their work properly. 1961John o' London's 20 Apr. 434/1 The idea of making a living as a spy—‘spook’ in current Washington slang—is repugnant to most of us. 1966R. Thomas Spy in Vodka (1967) vi. 50 I'd like him to get out of the spook business. 1979L. Pryor Viper i. 9 ‘My training was also in espionage at the CIA farm.’.. ‘A spook,’ I said in wonder.
3. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). A derogatory term for a Black person.
1945L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 17/2 Spook (n), frightened negro. 1953K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xxvii. 262 The boss of the ward..was doing time for going with ‘spooks’—negroes. 1966New Statesman 25 Nov. 778/1, I find a disturbing minority of my English contemporaries..pointedly tossing off inconsequential remarks about spades and spooks in my company. 1977E. Leonard Unknown Man, No. 89 xxiii. 235 We almost had another riot... The bar-owner..shoots a spook in his parking lot.
Hence (as more or less colloquial or nonce-formations) ˈspookic(al a., ˈspookish a., ˈspookism, spookoˈlogical a., spooˈkology.
1887Sat. Rev. 11 June 823/2 The new *spookic studies have come to stay.
1886Ibid. 11 Dec. 773/2 Those who have watched..the recent outburst of *spookical activity. 1886Athenæum 25 Dec. 858/2 The great thing in the book is the creation of the ‘spookical’ uncle.
1893Athenæum 18 Mar. 343/2 There is some *spookish mystery about a reappearance.
1886Ibid. 25 Dec. 858/2 By his own rash act he resolved himself into *spookism.
1897Westm. Gaz. 6 July 2/3 Everything happened in the most orthodox *spookological manner.
1893Ibid. 15 July 5 *Spookology in Vienna.
▪ II. spook, v.|spuːk|
[f. spook n. Cf. MLG. spôken, Du. spoken, G. spuken (dial. spuchen); also WFris. spoekje, NFris. spooke, Sw. spöka, Da. spøge.]
1. a. trans. To haunt (a person or place).
1883Olive Schreiner Afr. Farm i. ii, She heard a rustling,..and knew it was your father coming to ‘spook’ her. 1976Publishers Weekly 21 June 88/1 The ghost of the highwayman Black Charlie who spooks Flora with regular visitations.
b. To frighten or unnerve; spec. (of a hunter, etc.) to alarm (a wild animal). slang (chiefly N. Amer.).
1935E. Hemingway Green Hills Afr. i. i. 13 We spooked one [kudu]... No chance of a shot. 1944Nat. Geogr. Mag. June 669/1 To get photographs of the herds Williams took to the saddle, since a man on foot is liable to ‘spook’, or stampede them. 1959W. Faulkner Mansion ix. 222 Pupils and teacher both who were already spooked..by the sudden presence of the unexplained white woman. 1973A. Garner Red Shift 12 You're spooking me. You're too quiet. 1980M. Gordon Company of Women (1981) ii. iv. 187 You always act like you're waiting for something... It spooks me.
2. intr.
a. To play the spook; to ‘walk’ as a ghost. Also with it and fig.
1871N.Y. Tribune 24 Feb. 1/5 Once he saw Toussaint L'Ouverture spooking about with an air of mournful majesty. 1886[see astrally adv.]. 1890Lowell Fitz Adam's Story Poems IV. 206 Yet still the New World spooked it in his veins, A ghost he could not lay with all his pains. 1893Leland Mem. I. 10 The ghost went with them, and there it still ‘spooks’ about as of yore. 1973E.-J. Bahr Nice Neighbourhood xviii. 190 A free-wheeling teen-ager..[who] seems to be spooking around half-shot all the time.
b. To take fright; to become alarmed. N. Amer. slang.
1928R. Santee Cowboy xvii. 250 As luck would have it I got a throw, for the cattle spooked an' run. 1941E. Hemingway For whom Bell Tolls xxii. 272 He'll probably leave tracks like an old bull elk spooking out of the country. 1957W. Faulkner Town i. 14 The old dug-in city fathers..spooked to the desperate expedient of..exhuming..the story of the Cuban dice game. 1974R. M. Pirsig Zen & Art of Motorcycle Maintenance iii. xx. 245, I spook very easily these days... He never spooked at anything. |