| 释义 |
ˈsquawk box U.S. slang.
Also with hyphen or as one word.
[f. squawk n. or v. + box n.2]
a. A loud-speaker or public-address system.
1945New Yorker 17 Mar. 28/3 The squawk box became alive for that second before any message comes over. 1950‘D. Divine’ King of Fassarai xxv. 219 There was a radio blaring..its music was punctuated with the hoarse stridencies of the squawk-box. 1973New Scientist 20 Sept. 684/2 The squawk box emits two marginally different frequencies, almost out of audible range, through separate speakers. 1978W. F. Buckley Stained Glass xi. 104 The whistle stopped blowing, the passengers were all in their seats, the coordinators stopped speaking into their squawk boxes.
b. A speaker or receiving device which forms part of an intercommunication system, esp. in an office.
1954Sun (Baltimore) 16 Apr. 27/2 Office buildings were deserted or skeleton staffed as interoffice ‘squawk-boxes’ carried in the doings on Thirty-third street by radio. 1962L. Deighton Ipcress File i. 15 Even over the squawk-box I could hear the lift in Alice's voice. 1964P. Gallico Hand of Mary Constable 48 To the right of the desk, on a small table, there was a squawk box with some dozen switches for inter-office communications. 1970N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon p. xiii, Squawk box, a small speaker, connected by telephone line to Mission Control, for home or office reception of live conversation between the spacecraft and earth. 1976P. Harcourt Dance for Diplomats ix. 96 The buzzer on my intercom made frantic noises... ‘Coming,’ I said into the squawk box. |