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单词 smart alec
释义

smart alecsmart aleckn.adj.

Brit. /ˈsmɑːt ˌalɪk/, U.S. /ˈsmɑrd ˌælək/
Forms:

α. 1800s smart eleck, 1800s– smart alec, 1800s– smart aleck (chiefly U.S.), 1800s– smart alick, 1900s– smart allick, 1900s– smart elick.

β. 1800s– smart alex (chiefly U.S.).

Also with capital initial(s).
Origin: From a proper name, combined with an English element. Etymons: smart adj., proper name Alec.
Etymology: < smart adj. + Alec, pet form of the male forename Alexander.It has been suggested that the name may originally have alluded to Aleck Hoag, a pickpocket and thief operating in New York in the 1840s, although no contemporary evidence of the name being applied to him has been found, and it first appears rather later in a different part of the United States. See further G. L. Cohen Stud. in Slang (1985) I. 85–105.
colloquial (originally U.S.).
A. n.
A person who is (or wishes to seem) clever and knowing, but is regarded as annoyingly smug or obnoxious; a ‘know-it-all’; (also occasionally) one who is ostentatiously smart in dress or manner.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > would-be clever person > [noun]
clever-boots1847
smarty1847
smart alec1864
clever-clogs1866
clever-sides1886
clever Dick1895
wise guy1896
wisenheimer1904
smarty-pants1935
quiz kid1940
smart apple1940
smarty-boots1950
smart-ass1958
slick1959
clever-sticks1964
smart-arse1965
wise-ass1971
1864 N.Y. Clipper 2 Jan. 300/4 He took it into his head to establish something new, whereby he could laugh in his sleeve at the ‘smart Alecs’ of Albany town, and started a saloon with no other performance than a piano and violin.
1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West vii. 140 I had the pleasure of seeing at least a score of ‘smart Alecks’ relieved of their surplus cash.
1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 312 You may talk about..your Smart Alicks, and your Joe-dandies and daisies.
1904 W. N. Harben Georgians ix. 92 Thar was a smart Alec of a feller from Little Dogtrot over in the mountains.
1934 C. Stead Seven Poor Men of Sydney vi. 184 Rawson, from the Trades Hall, ready, assured, blatant, a political opportunist, whom Joseph called a ‘real smart-alec’.
1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xii. 221 He's a smart-aleck. I can see already he thinks he knows more than I do.
1979 L. Meynell Hooky & Villainous Chauffeur vii. 99 Smart alec, aren't you? Smart and smug like all you intellectual lot.
2000 Reader's Digest Oct. 132/2 Pint-sized smart alecs on sitcoms and rude guests on talk shows seem ubiquitous nowadays.
B. adj.
Smugly clever; ‘know-it-all’. Cf. smart-alecky adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > would-be clever person > [adjective]
smarty1850
smart alec1877
clever-clever1896
wise guy1920
slick1921
smarty-pants1932
wisenheimer1937
smart-ass1951
smart-assed1957
smart-arsed1962
smarty-boots1962
smart-arse1965
wise-assed1967
wise-ass1971
1877 Logansport (Indiana) Jrnl. 10 Nov. 4 The shock of the discovery that the editor..would like to accomplish a spiteful, Smart Alec trick, was the only result.
1902 G. H. Lorimer in Sat. Evening Post 22 Feb. 11/1 You're just about due now to run into a smart Aleck buyer.
1929 A. C. Edington & C. Edington Studio Murder Myst. iii. 30 That smart alec lawyer.
1956 C. V. Wedgwood Lit. & Historian 9 The imitators of Lytton Strachey managed by their smart-aleck antics to obscure for a long decade what was really valuable in the new approach to biography.
1964 L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence ii. ii. 33 I'm bored with their smart-aleck talk!
1976 T. Stoppard Dirty Linen 40 Smart alec-paragraphs about innocent tripe-and-onions with tittian voluptuaries?
2004 Parents Jan. 131 Does your child have a smart-aleck answer for everything? Teach him how to lose the attitude.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1864
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