| 释义 |
pick·wick·i·an
\(ˈ)pik|wikēən\ adjective
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: Samuel Pickwick, benevolent and simple-minded character in the novel Pickwick Papers (1836-37) by Charles Dickens died 1870 English novelist + English -an
1. : marked by simplicity and generosity of character or by an appearance and manner suggesting these qualities
< struck one as an almost Pickwickian old gentleman — Louis Auchincloss >
< welcomed by a Pickwickian headmaster, a jolly, rotund man — Norris Houghton >
2. [so called from the peculiar sense given to common words by Mr. Blotton and Mr. Pickwick, characters in the novel Pickwick Papers] : intended or taken in a sense other than the obvious or literal one : specially or whimsically limited or distorted in intended meaning
< injustice … is merely a Pickwickian expression for what human beings do not like — Nation >
< evidently England is starving to death, if at all, only in a strictly Pickwickian sense — Economist > |