释义 |
crème de la crème
crème de la crème C0738700 (krĕm′ də lä krĕm′)n.1. Something superlative.2. People of the highest social level. [French : crème, cream + de, of + la, the + crème, cream.]crème de la crème (krɛm də la krɛm) nthe very best[literally: cream of the cream]crème de la crèmeA French phrase meaning the cream of the cream, used to mean the very best.Thesauruscrème de la crèmenoun1. The superlative or most preferable part of something:best, choice, cream, elite, flower, pick, prize, top.Idioms: cream of the crop, flower of the flock, pick of the bunch.2. People of the highest social level:aristocracy, blue blood, elite, flower, gentility, gentry, nobility, patriciate, quality, society, upper class, who's who.Informal: upper crust.Translationscrème de la crème
crème de la crèmeOf a person or a thing, the very best of a similar group or type. Literally translated from French as "cream of the cream." This car is the crème de la crème of luxury vehicles. Janet is the crème de la crème of photographers.See also: crème, DE, lathe ˌcrème de la ˈcrème (from French, formal or humorous) the best people or things of their kind: This university takes only the crème de la crème of school leavers. ♢ Naturally, only the crème de la crème have been invited to the wedding.See also: crème, DE, lacream of the crop, theThe very best of all. Cream is, of course, the richest part of milk and rises to the top. It was transferred to mean the best of any collective entity by the seventeenth century. John Ray, for example, included “That’s the cream of the jest” in his collection of English proverbs (1678). The exact locution involving the best of the crop was no doubt adopted for its alliterative appeal. The French version, la crème de la crème, literally “the cream of the cream,” meaning the best of the best, was well known in English by 1800 or so and also is considered a cliché. It gained new impetus in Muriel Spark’s novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, first made into a play, then a motion picture (1969), in which the schoolteacher-heroine assures her students that they will, under her tutelage, become the crème de la crème.See also: cream, of |