| 释义 |
once in a blue moon
Translationsblue (bluː) adjective1. of the colour of a cloudless sky. blue paint; Her eyes are blue. 天藍色的 天蓝色的2. sad or depressed. I'm feeling blue today. 沮喪的 沮丧的 noun1. the colour of a cloudless sky. That is a beautiful blue. 天藍色 天蓝色2. a blue paint, material etc. We'll have to get some more blue. 藍顏料 蓝颜料3. the sky or the sea. The balloon floated off into the blue. 藍天，碧海 蓝天，碧海 ˈblueness noun 藍色 蓝色ˈbluish adjective quite blue; close to blue. a bluish green. 帶藍色的 带蓝色的ˈbluebottle noun a kind of large house-fly with a blue abdomen. 青蠅 蓝丽蝇，绿头大苍蝇 ˈbluecollar adjective (of workers) wearing overalls and working in factories etc. Blue collar workers are demanding the same pay as office staff. 藍領(勞工)階級 蓝领（工人）阶级的，体力劳动的 ˈblueprint noun a detailed photographic plan of work to be carried out. the blueprints for a new aircraft. 藍圖 蓝图once in a blue moon very seldom. He visits his mother once in a blue moon. 千載難逢 千载难逢out of the blue without warning. He arrived out of the blue, without phoning first. 突然地 突然地the blues low spirits; depression. He's got the blues today but he's usually cheerful. 憂鬱，垂頭喪氣 忧郁，垂头丧气 once in a blue moon
once in a blue moonVery rarely. Peter only comes out for a drink once in blue moon now that he has kids. A: "Do you ever eat pork?" B: "Only once in a blue moon. I prefer beef."See also: blue, moon, onceonce in a blue moonCliché very seldom. Jill: Does your husband ever bring you flowers? Ellen: Once in a blue moon. Once in a blue moon, I buy a fashion magazine, just to see what people are wearing.See also: blue, moon, onceonce in a blue moonRarely, once in a very long time, as in We only see our daughter once in a blue moon. This term is something of a misnomer, because an actual blue moon-that is, the appearance of a second full moon in the same calendar month-occurs every 32 months or so. Further, the moon can appear blue in color at any time, depending on weather conditions. [Early 1800s] See also: blue, moon, onceonce in a blue moon If something happens once in a blue moon is happens only very rarely. I only get over to Cambridge once in a blue moon and I'm never in London. Only once in a blue moon do properties of this quality become available. Note: In some places, if there are two full moons in a calendar month, the second is called a `blue moon'. This is rare. See also: blue, moon, onceonce in a blue moon very rarely; practically never. informal The colour blue was an arbitrary choice in this phrase. To say that the moon is blue is recorded in the 16th century as a way of indicating that something could not be true.See also: blue, moon, onceˌonce in a blue ˈmoon (informal) very rarely: Sue’s daughter only visits her once in a blue moon.See also: blue, moon, onceonce in a blue moon mod. rarely. Once in a blue moon I have a little wine with dinner. See also: blue, moon, onceonce in a blue moonVery rarely; once in a long while. The earliest reference to a blue moon is skeptical, as well it might be: “Yf they saye the mone is blewe, we must believe that it is true” (Roy and Barlow, Rede Me and Be Not Wrothe, 1528). An early reference to the moon as a time period occurred in Thomas Dekker’s A Knight’s Conjuring (1607): “She would have trickes (once in a moone) to put the divell out of his wits.” The pairing of the two came only in the nineteenth century: “That indefinite period known as a ‘blue moon’” (Edmund Yates, Wrecked in Port, 1869). It occurred still earlier in Pierce Egan’s Early Life in London (1821): “How’s Harry and Ben? Haven’t seen you this blue moon.” Modern astronomers now say “blue moon” refers to the occurrence of a fourth full moon in a season, in addition to the usual three. See also: blue, moon, onceEncyclopediaSeeblueAcronymsSeeOIABM |