| 释义 |
ˈstand-off, attrib. phr., a. and n.
[f. vbl. phr. stand off: see stand v. 96.]
A. attrib. phr. and adj.
1. That holds aloof from familiar intercourse; contemptuously distant in manner; reserved, unsocial.
1837Moore Mem. 12 Oct. (1856) VII. 203 Lady Lansdowne objected to the number of dirty houses that come up quite close to the Castle [of Windsor]. This Lord John said..he preferred..to the insulation of the great houses of the present day... [I] was all for the stand-off system of Lady Lansdowne; each rank in its own station. 1859Lever Dav. Dunn xxiv, I want to know what he is personally; is he stiff, haughty, grave, gay, stand-off, or affable? 1888Mrs. H. Ward Robert Elsmere i, People generally like the other two much better. Catherine is so stand-off. 1889F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 102 Your fellow⁓passengers are rarely discourteous: but there is almost always the ‘stand-off’ habit with them. 1889Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Thro' Long Night II. ii. xi. 161 She..was as stiff and stand-off as a grenadier. 1894Sala Things Seen I. i. 40 His occasional propensity to treat people in a distant stand-off manner.
2. Rugby Football. (See quot. 1910.)
1909E. G. Nicholls Mod. Rugby Game iii. 40 He must be capable of adequately filling the position of stand⁓off and of scrum half. Ibid. 43 The scrum half's pass should go to his stand-off colleague. 1910Encycl. Brit. X. 620/2 One [half-back] stands fairly close to the scrummage and is known as the ‘scrum-half’, the other takes a position between the latter and the three-quarters, and is termed the stand-off-half.
3. Of an object: that projects or is positioned a short distance away from a surface or another object; that serves to hold something in such a position.
1952Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 128/2 The well at the base of the shower-unit has a stand-off waste-pipe and the well can be used as a foot-bath. 1962Air-Cushion Vehicles I. 58/2 On top of the trusses are secured box-section full-length longerons, known as ‘stand-off booms’, which are braced together and complete the primary structure. 1964R. F. Ficchi Electr. Interference v. 52 Component manufacturers have developed the ceramic stand-off, or stud-type, capacitor in an effort to reduce the internal and lead-in inductance of the capacitor. 1977Gramophone Oct. 743/1 The GC300..is finished with a..matt charcoal plastic base with four stand-off feet.
4. Mil. Of a guided missile: designed to be launched against its target from an aircraft at long range, esp. as stand-off bomb. Also stand-off range.
1957Times Survey British Aviation Sept. 2/1 Improved marks of the V-class bombers will carry a powered guided bomb (the so-called stand-off bomb) and will form the foundation of our striking force for many years. 1960A. Ball Ballistic & Guided Missiles iv. 62 Already there are short-range missiles.., often called ‘stand-off bombs’. 1969Times 30 Apr. 27/3 The Swingfire anti-tank weapon is now being delivered to the British Army, and we hope that the Division will shortly obtain a contract to develop Swingfire further by exploiting its ability to ‘kill’ armour from the air and at long stand-off range. 1971E. Luttwak Dict. Mod. War 181/1 Stand-off missile, a missile, generally fitted with a nuclear warhead, which is launched by a bomber and substitutes for the latter in the final phase of the attack. 1978R. V. Jones Most Secret War xlvi. 463 A long-range glider bomb, the BV 246..was thus an early example of a ‘stand-off’ missile. 1982Navy News Mar. 18/2 With its considerable ‘stand-off’ range, it is designed to destroy or disable enemy warships up to the largest-known size.
B. n. Chiefly U.S.
1. Aversion to associate with others; aloofness.
1865Trollope Can You forgive Her? II. xxiv. 183 There's a stand-off about some women—what the men call a ‘nollimy tangere’. 1885D. D. Porter Incid. Civil War xiv. 143 (Funk) There was a kind of ‘stand-off’ between the army and the navy when acting together, which prevented them from working in harmony.
2. a. Something which counterbalances.
1888Microcosm. (N.Y.) Dec. 7 We are willing to allow this judicial estimate..to count as a stand-off against all the subsidized commendations. 1890Atlantic Monthly Nov. 672/1 When therefore the lawyer hears the curses..of his impatient clients, the preferences of other clients..make a complete stand-off; and he feels that the law's delay is both bad and good.
b. Mexican stand-off, no chance to benefit (or spec. to defend oneself); hence, a general stalemate (cf. sense 3). slang.
1891N.Y. Sporting Times 19 Sept. 4/3 ‘Monk’ Cline, who got a Mexican stand-off from Dave Rowe has signed with Louisville. 1929Hostetter & Beesley It's a Racket! 231 Mexican stand-off, to kill in cold blood. 1935J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra vii. 222 The men were the victims of the St. Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago, when seven men were given the Mexican stand⁓off against the inside wall of a gang garage. 1958‘W. Henry’ Seven Men at Mimbres Springs xvi. 189, I rightly and firmly believe we've taken some of the flap out of Mangas's shirttails and can turn this thing into a Mexican stand-off, given any luck at all. 1979D. MacKenzie Raven settles Score 26 As things stood it was a Mexican standoff. He couldn't go to the law but..nor could the Koreans.
c. In gen. use, any uneasy stalemate or deadlock; an impasse. Freq. in Pol. contexts.
1958Spectator 31 Oct. 588/2 On the Fuchs-Hillary standoff whether to continue to Scott Base or not..Sir Vivian tactfully writes: ‘Unfortunately this exchange became known publicly.’ 1971T. W. Robinson Cultural Revolution in China i. 15 The standoff with Cambodia was precipitated by the propaganda activities of the Chinese embassy and the New China News Agency. 1974Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald 19 Apr. a1/5 A 29-year-old Colombian..died in a hail of police bullets after a four-hour standoff. 1981‘E. V. Cunningham’ Case of Sliding Pool (1982) xii. 145 We can't do anything, neither can he. It's a standoff.
3. ‘A draw or tie, as in a game; a set-off; as, the contestants agreed to call it a stand-off’ (Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895.)
1843J. H. Greene Exposure Arts Gambling 187 Thus, if a man bets on the ace and deuce, and the ace comes to his side, and the deuce to the dealer's side, it is a stand-off, and neither wins. 1893‘Mark Twain’ in St. Nicholas Nov. 21/2 It was about a stand-off; so both of them had to whoop up their dangerous adventures, and try to get ahead that way. 1938Sun (Baltimore) 17 May 14/5 Supreme Court decisions were about a standoff. There was a ruling against the General Electric in a patent suit... The High Court agreed to consider the validity of the TVA on an appeal by eighteen Southeastern utilities. 1964F. Bowers Bibliogr. & Textual Crit. iv. iii. 115 But in Old Fortunatus the evidence is a stand⁓off... In the 11 extant copies, 5 contain the uncorrected state of A and 6 the uncorrected state of B. 1974Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 26 Oct. 7-d/7 Cleveland Benedictine and Cambridge battled to a 0–0 standoff in a non-league football game here Friday night.
4. slang. ‘Extension of time imposed on a creditor; postponement of payment; as, he gave me a stand-off’ (Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895). Also fig. U.S. Now rare.
1883B. Harte Carquinez Woods 65, I reckon you'd better make it [sc. a bet] a stand-off for twenty-four hours, and I'll find out and let you know. 1891M. E. Ryan Told in Hills iv. viii. 350, I got a stand-off on the hostilities—till your return. 1906‘O. Henry’ in Everybody's Mag. Aug. 166/2 I've negotiated a stand-off at a delicatessen hut down-town.
5. A rest; a temporary cessation from work. Cf. stand v. 96 g. rare.
1918Jrnl. R. Naval Med. Service IV. 181 He should have four months ‘stand off’. 1930C. R. Sansom Fights & Flights 100 He told me..to give my cars a stand-off for the rest of the day.
6. Rugby Football. ellipt. for stand-off half. Cf. fly-half s.v. fly n.2 8.
1922Daily Mail 15 Nov. 11 Cassels at stand-off seeming to be able to take any sort of pass. 1939Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 11/3 Their backs, with the exception of P. Hodgson, at stand-off, were disappointing. 1969Listener 15 May 700/3 Castleford..are captained by their stand-off Alan Hardisty. 1980Sunday Times 21 Sept. 29 Even now, 100 days later, it's still something of a whirl for the Lions stand-off.
7. Something serving to hold an object clear of a surface or another object.
1967Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. i. 22/1 (Advt.), Two mast strap standoffs... Four 3½{pp} wood screw stand⁓offs. 1974Physics Bull. Dec. 592/2 Two quartz blocks are positioned adjacent to the device, and a preformed gold tape is bonded across the quartz standoffs and the back contact of the diode. 1977Engin. Materials & Design Aug. 56/2 The brochure details a selection of fasteners, from a plain self-clinching nut or stud, to standoffs, self-locking, floating and miniature types, having thread sizes from M2 to M12.
Hence stand-ˈoffish a. = sense A. 1; stand-ˈoffishness, stand-off behaviour.
1860All Year Round No. 66. 374 We are..not aristocratic, perhaps, but decidedly rich, and on that account rather high and stand-off-ish. 1881M. E. Braddon Asphodel II. 172 She has been very stand-offish to me ever since. 1886P. Robinson Teetotum Trees 144 He even becomes a trifle haughty, and affects a stand-offishness which sits grotesquely upon him. 1888D. C. Murray Weaker Vessel xxxii, I told him I did not like this pride and stand-offishness between man and man.
Add: stand-ˈoffishly adv.
1961in Webster. 1987N.Y. Times May a25/3 In modern media politics, a network television appearance that shows him coming out of the White House to be standoffishly supportive of Mr. Reagan is equivalent to lengthy whistle-stopping. |