| 释义 |
▪ I. gridlock, n. and a. orig. U.S.
Brit. |ˈgrɪdlɒk|, U.S. |ˈgrɪdˌlɑk|
[‹ grid n. + lock n.2
Apparently coined by two U.S. transport engineers, Roy Cottam and Sam Schwartz (‘Gridlock Sam’), working for the New York Traffic Department. The term was popularized during a strike by city transit workers in early 1980: ‘One day, Roy spoke of his fears if we closed the streets in the Theater District, the grid system would ‘lock-up’ and all traffic would grind to a halt. Soon we simply juxtaposed the word, and the term gridlock was born.’ (Sam Schwartz, 2001).]
A. n.
1.
a. A state of severe road congestion arising when continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill; a traffic jam of this kind.
1980Transit Strike Contingency Plan (Internal document, N.Y. City Traffic Dept.) 14 Traffic Enforcement Agents and Police Officers will participate in a grid lock prevention program. Grid lock can occur when the volume of vehicles entering a sector exceeds the available capacity. 1983Financial Times (Nexis) 17 Aug. 3 An inspired piece of freelance navigation round the back streets of Odawara saved at least another 90 minutes of gridlock. 1987J. Wilcox Miss Undine's Living Room ix. 126 A gridlock on the corner of North Gladiola held her up. 1995Guardian 28 Jan. 9/2 His caution was not mirrored by the thousands of drivers in West Yorkshire who failed to heed traffic police pleas to stagger journey times home. The defiance caused a repeat of Wednesday night's gridlock.
b. In extended use: the breakdown, stoppage, or seizure of a process, system, etc., esp. as a result of overloading or overwork. Also: an instance of this.
1983N.Y. Times 13 Nov. 40 Her stammer has turned into vocal gridlock because she is frightened. 1988Times 15 Nov. 33/2 A Cornell University graduate student..in the US two weeks ago caused the biggest computer gridlock on record. 1994N.Y. Mag. 22 Aug. 16/1 A Manhattan cop spends an average of fifteen hours writing up each arrest—keeping the officer off the street (and, often, earning time and a half) in a bureaucratic netherworld of duplicative paperwork and perp-processing gridlock. 2000What Mountain Bike Winter 37/1 Mountain biking is a killer for causing muscle and ligament gridlock because you rattle around with most of your body fairly static and often tensed to stabilize the bike.
2. fig. A situation (freq. a political one) in which it is impossible to make any progress; an impasse, stalemate, or deadlock.
1981P. Theroux Mosquito Coast i. i. 9, I tell you, Charlie, it's an imperfect world. America's in gridlock. 1983Financial Times (Nexis) 16 May 2 The political ‘gridlock’ in Congress might mean that no budget resolution could be passed for fiscal year of 1984. 1992Village Voice (N.Y.) 7 Apr. 23/1 The stranglehold of plutocrats, pundits, pollsters, and power brokers also effectively chokes every vital issue before the American public... This gridlock has nothing to do with democracy. 1998Town & Country Planning Jan.–Feb. 2/4 The TCPA argued that the Assembly should not..become embroiled in conflictual gridlock with the Mayor.
B. adj. (attrib.). = gridlocked adj.
1983Financial Times (Nexis) 16 May 2 Mr Stockman talked of ‘gridlock politics’, Mr Feldstein of ‘not trivial risks’, and Mr Regan of the possibility of ‘very strict monetary policy’. 1991Christian Sci. Monitor 23 Oct. 3/3 Even cities in industrialized nations wrestle with myriad problems that threaten to dehumanize urban living such as homelessness, drugs, crime, high unemployment, gridlock traffic, and crumbling infrastructure. 1995Nation 23 Jan. 86/1 We need to take back the democratic space from which American citizens have been driven by..negative political ads, winner-take-all electoral politics and gridlock governance. 2000Indianapolis Star (Nexis) 1 Sept. a23 We are a culture of gridlock mentality when what we really need is a bond of civility and common sense that calls us all to work together.
▪ II. gridlock, v.
Brit. |ˈgrɪdlɒk|, U.S. |ˈgrɪdˌlɑk|
[‹ gridlock n. Compare gridlocked adj.]
trans. (lit. and fig.). To make a gridlock of or cause a gridlock in; to block the progress of (a person or thing), to bring to a standstill. Usu. in pass. Also intr.: to be involved in a gridlock in or with.
1982Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 42 20 Big U.S. industries..have become uncompetitive in the markets and are gridlocked in their labor arrangements. 1985Christian Sci. Monitor 22 Apr. 18 In the West, the contradictory role of the US dollar as a source of stability and expansion had gridlocked the international monetary system. 1987New Left Rev. July–Aug. 68 Commercial life in the centre began to wither as precocious automobilization..gridlocked the Downtown traffic flow. 1990Observer 30 Dec. 40/2 Los Angeles—with its totalitarian skyline and gas-guzzling ethics—is everywhere, gridlocking our expectations and commodifying our dreams. 1994Voice 18 Oct. 6/1 What happens is that people who are left with the responsibility of children are gridlocked into the benefits system and generational poverty. 2000GQ Nov. 296/2 Our moped gridlocks with cross-currents of sinewy cyclo drivers and pert schoolgirls on Golden Peacock bicycles. |
