| 单词 | back to square one |
| 释义 | > as lemmasback to (also in, on) square one P4. square one: the beginning, the starting-point. Frequently as back to (also in, on) square one. [Often said to derive from the notional division of an association football pitch into eight numbered sections for the purposes of early radio commentaries (see Radio Times 1927 , 28 Jan.), but this is unlikely, as the system was abandoned several decades before the first record of the phrase. A more plausible origin may be a game involving counters and numbered squares, such as hopscotch or Snakes and Ladders (compare quot. 1952).] ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > beginning > [noun] > starting-point terminus a quo1549 starting place1570 terma1628 salient motion1664 salient pointa1682 punctum saliens1695 starting point1782 Adam and Eve1793 starting ground1802 point of departure1804 baseline1836 point de départ1848 zero1849 start point1860 jumping-board1878 jumping-off board1914 jumping-off point1927 starting block1932 square one1952 the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > beginning > at the beginning [phrase] > back to the beginning back to (also in, on) square one1952 1952 Econ. Jrnl. 62 411 He has the problem of maintaining the interest of the reader who is always being sent back to square one in a sort of intellectual game of snakes and ladders. 1960 Times 21 May 9/2 As far as building up a basis for profitable negotiations is concerned the two sides are back in square one. 1965 Listener 24 June 930/2 Let us drop the logical knot that twin studies have tied us in and go back for a moment to square one. 1965 Guardian 13 Oct. 2/7 The city's medical officer..said they were still in ‘square one’, and would stay there till they got some real facts. 1966 J. I. M. Stewart Aylwins x. 126 That he had seized a chance to break off our interview at that point seemed to argue a refusal to abide by this judgement of the matter. We were back, so to speak, in Square One. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 279 A couple of wrong answers and Sneed knew he'd be right back on square one. 1973 G. Talbot Ten Seconds from Now (1974) viii. 111 After each of those successful essays it was ‘back to Square One’. 1977 ‘M. Innes’ Honeybath's Haven x. 98 Honeybath broke off in these bold proposals, suddenly aware that Edwin was weeping. It was like being back on square one. 1980 D. Bogarde Gentle Occup. xii. 332 ‘Black is black, Moluccans.’..‘Are coloured people. They are dark,’ said Emmie with force. ‘Well, don't let's have any blasted children’... ‘But I do. I want.’..‘Oh for God's sake. We're back to square one again.’ < as lemmas |
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