dead as a doornail

英语

其他形式

• deader than a doornail

词源

源自中古英語 ded as dore-nail。字面意思为“死得和门钉一样的”。

最早在英语中的使用例之一是威廉·朗兰的诗歌Piers Plowman A. i. 161 "Fey withouten fait is febelore þen nouȝt, And ded as a dore-nayl"，但是不太可能是朗兰所造。此外还有William of Palerne l. 628 "For but ich haue bote of mi bale‥I am ded as dore-nail"，以及押头韵的辩论诗The Parlement of the Thre Ages内"Dede als a dore-nayle doune was he fallen" 65。这些文字记录的出现时间不详，可能比朗兰要早。

一种说得通解释是，门是只用木板和手工锻造的钉子制成的：钉子会长到足够dead nail (“钉死”)垂直的木板和水平的横档，让它们无法轻易分开。要达到这种效果，需要将钉子的突出部分敲入木头里。弯成这样，难以拉出的钉子一般称为“dead”，本词由此而来。

发音

• （澳洲）音频：

  (檔案)

形容词

dead as a doornail

1. (明喻) 死透的

   I picked up the phone, but the line was dead as a doornail.

   我拿起电话筒，但里面完全没有声音。

   We finally found John's cat run over in the next road. It was as dead as a doornail.

   我们在另一条路上终于找到了John的猫，但它已经被碾过了，死透了。

   • Template:RQ:Dickens Christmas Carol

     Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

     • 音頻：

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     Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

参见

• dead as a dodo
• dead as a doorknob
• dead as a herring
• dead as a kipper
• dead as a mackerel
• dead as ditch-water
• dumb as a doornail

 

参考资料

• Template:R:BBS