| 释义 |
snake oil
snake oiln.1. A worthless preparation fraudulently peddled as a cure for many ills.2. Speech or writing intended to deceive; humbug.snake oil n 1. any pseudo-medical remedy endorsed by a non-qualified person 2. talk that is intended to impress others but is insincere or deceiving snake′ oil`
n. a liquid concoction of questionable medical value sold as an all-purpose curative, esp. by traveling hucksters. Thesaurus| Noun | 1. | snake oil - (medicine) any of various liquids sold as medicine (as by a travelling medicine show) but medically worthlessmedical specialty, medicine - the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniquesliquid - a substance that is liquid at room temperature and pressure | | 2. | snake oil - communication (written or spoken) intended to deceivehumbugdeception, misrepresentation, deceit - a misleading falsehood |
snake oil
snake oilA valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution. Often used in the phrase "snake oil salesman," one who sells or promotes such a product. My mom keeps giving me all of these hippie-dippie pills to help my migraines, but I think they’re just snake oil, honestly.See also: oil, snakesnake oilsee under banana oil. See also: oil, snakesnake oil Snake oil is something which is sold or presented as a cure or a solution to a problem but which, in fact, has no use or value. Do vitamins really help the skin or are cosmetic companies simply promoting the latest in snake oil? Note: You can also describe someone as a snake-oil salesman, meaning that they try to sell you or persuade you to believe in snake oil. Smooth-talking snake-oil salesmen use the telephone to take money from the foolish and the greedy and then vanish. Note: In the United States, snake oil was a substance typically made from the plant snakeroot. Dishonest salesmen tried to persuade people to buy it, claiming that it was a medicine which would cure their illnesses. See also: oil, snakesnake oilQuack medicine, a useless remedy. This term comes from nineteenth-century traveling medicine shows that touted cure-all elixirs made from Chinese snakes. Eugene O’Neill used it in this sense in his play The Iceman Cometh (1946): “I’ll bet he’s standing on a street corner in hell right now, making suckers of the damned, telling them there’s nothing like snake oil for a bad burn.” Later the term was extended to mean a worthless remedy for any kind of problem, as in “Advertisers who try to lubricate the wheels of our economy with snake oil” (Washington Post, May 10, 1961). See also: oil, snakesnake oil
snake oilA product that has been proven to not live up to the vendor's marketing hype. The term comes from the 1800s in which elixirs and potions of all kinds, even ones that supposedly included the oils from snakes, were sold as a cure for everything that ailed a person.snake oil
A popular term for any substance claimed—without substantive evidence—to effectively treat one or more medical conditionssnake oil A general informal term for a fraudulent PANACEA.snake oil
Synonyms for snake oilnoun (medicine) any of various liquids sold as medicine (as by a travelling medicine show) but medically worthlessRelated Words- medical specialty
- medicine
- liquid
noun communication (written or spoken) intended to deceiveSynonymsRelated Words- deception
- misrepresentation
- deceit
|