| 释义 |
▪ I. curlicue, n.|ˈkɜːlɪkjuː|
Also carlicue, curly-cue, curleycue.
[f. curly + cue, either = F. queue tail, or the letter Q in its script form {scrQ}.]
a. A fantastic curl or twist.
1844‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. II. xxii. 54, I writ out my name..and handed it over, curlecues and all. Ibid. xxvii. 155 We made a curlecue round both the ships. 1858Home Jrnl. 24 July (Farmer), Architects have a wonderful predilection for all manner of curlycues and breaks in your roof. 1872Kingsley Madam How & Lady Why v. 117 Sand and gravel..arranged in..waves, and festoons, and curlicues. 1891Atkinson Moorland Parish 176 A frolicsome letter S, with a curlicue at each termination. 1898Literature 17 Sept. 263/2 In Canada..the English-speaking country people..often used the word..to signify a trifle or a thing of little value—e.g. ‘I don't care a carlicue.’ ‘It is not worth a carlicue.’
b. to cut up curlicues (or carlicues): to cut capers. (Common in U.S.).
18..McClintock's Tales (Bartlett), I..cut a curlycue with my right foot. 1840C. F. Hoffman Greyslaer II. x. 27, I soon saw, by the way in which the white man's track doubled and doubled again..that the fellow could not be cutting such carlicues for nothing. 1848Bartlett Dict. Amer. Add., Carlacue, a caper or boyish trick. ‘To cut up carlacues’, is a common expression, equivalent to ‘cutting up didoes’. Used in New York.
▪ II. ˈcurlicue, v.
[f. the n.]
trans. and intr. To bend elaborately or fantastically. Also transf. and fig. Chiefly in ˈcurlicued ppl. a.
1844‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. I. i. 11 A kind of picket fence made out of iron, all curlecued over on the sides. Ibid. II. xxii. 66 Then her arms went curlecueing over her head. 1947E. Kazan Notebk. for Streetcar Named Desire in Cole & Chinoy Directing the Play (1953) 297 Blanche is a social type, an emblem of a dying civilization, making its last curlicued and romantic exit. 1963Punch 25 Sept. 456/2 The pink curlicued cupolas. |