| 释义 |
taffy1|ˈtæfɪ|
The earlier form of toffee n., now Scotch, North Eng., and American.
1. A sweetmeat made from sugar or treacle, with butter, etc.: see toffee n.
1817R. Wilbraham Cheshire Gloss., Taffy,..treacle thickened by boiling and made into hard cakes. 1819R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. (c 1850) 51 Now heaps o' treagle chaps brong in, An taffey suin they meade us. 1825Jamieson, Taffie, treacle mixed with flour, and boiled till it acquire consistency; a sweetmeat eaten only on Hallowe'en. 1864Webster, Taffy, a kind of candy made of molasses boiled down and poured out in shallow pans. 1884W. H. Rideing in Harper's Mag. Mar. 522/1 Is Everton taffy a myth? 1890S. J. Duncan Social Departure vii. 57 The steward made almond-taffy, or toffee, as Orthodocia had been brought up to pronounce it.
b. Freq. used in comparisons as a type of something which yields to pressure or can be stretched out into lengths.
1960R. W. Marks Dymaxion World of B. Fuller 127/2 The wood die rises, actuated by the console controls, while the universal-jointed giant fists stretch the metal gutter piece like taffy around the wooden die's elliptical groove perimeter. 1974K. Millett Flying (1975) v. 474 Each wonderful swatch of hair like a chunk of taffy stretched. 1979Sci. Amer. Oct. 117/2 Below the interface the lava is a fluid that yields like taffy when a drill probe is pushed into it.
2. U.S. slang. Crude or vulgar compliment or flattery; ‘soft soap’; blarney.
1878E. L. Wheeler Buckhorn Bill 2/1 Don't try to stuff that kind of taffy down me. I know better. 1879Tribune (N.Y.) 16 Sept. (Cent. Dict.), There will be a reaction, and the whole party will unite in an offering of taffy. 1894Howells Traveller from Altruria 180 ‘If we learn anything at all from him, it will be because you have taught us how.’ She could not resist this bit of taffy. 1901N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 172 At this point..we should throw in a little trade-taffy about the Blessings of Civilization.
3. attrib. and Comb., as taffy stand, taffy stick; taffy-coloured adj.; taffy apple, a toffee-apple; taffy-join, a reunion of young people for the making of taffy to which each contributes; taffy pull, pulling, an occasion on which young people assemble to make taffy.
1967Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 12 Sept. (1970) 567 Stands dispensing hot dogs, Coca Cola, taffy apples, popcorn, and cotton candy. 1978A. Maling Lucky Devil xxiii. 122, I threw the taffy apple stick away.
1939L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside xxxii. 232 Young Mrs David Ransome, with her taffy-coloured hair. 1970J. Hansen Fadeout (1972) xi. 89 A taffy-colored cocker spaniel.
1854Taffy-join [remembered in use]. 1878Cumberland Gloss., Taffy joinin'..young people in the country sometimes assemble on a winter evening and subscribe a few pence each to buy treacle for making ‘taffy’.
1883I. M. Rittenhouse Jrnl. in Maud (1939) 159 We're going to have a taffy pull at our Y.P.T.A. Friday night. 1926One Big Union Bulletin (Winnipeg) 19 Aug. 5/6 We had planned a taffy pull but the ball game was so prolonged that we only succeeded in making fudge. 1982S. B. Flexner Listening to America 138 The taffy pulls..were a suitable face-to-face pastime for courting couples.
1863M. B. Chesnut Diary 18 Dec. in C. V. Woodward May Chestnut's Civil War (1981) xx. 507 General Hood..wanted me to go to a taffy pulling at the Prestons'. 1912Out West Mar. 166/2 He wrote with beautiful flourishes, little notes of regret..declining all socials, taffy pullings and croquet parties. 1959R. Campbell I Would do It Again ii. 7 There was taffy pulling and all the other fun that goes with a picnic.
1894Hall Caine Manxman v. x, Break up every taffy stand in the fair, if you can't find anything better.
1881T. E. Brown Fo'c's'le Yarns (1889) 151 My lad with the taffystick in his fist. |
