dead as a doornail

英語

其他形式

• deader than a doornail

詞源

源自中古英語 ded as dore-nail。字面意思為「死得和門釘一樣的」。

最早在英語中的使用例之一是威廉·朗蘭的詩歌Piers Plowman A. i. 161 "Fey withouten fait is febelore þen nouȝt, And ded as a dore-nayl"，但是不太可能是朗蘭所造。此外還有William of Palerne l. 628 "For but ich haue bote of mi bale‥I am ded as dore-nail"，以及押頭韻的辯論詩The Parlement of the Thre Ages內"Dede als a dore-nayle doune was he fallen" 65。這些文字記錄的出現時間不詳，可能比朗蘭要早。

一種說得通解釋是，門是只用木板和手工鍛造的釘子製成的：釘子會長到足夠dead nail (「釘死」)垂直的木板和水平的橫檔，讓它們無法輕易分開。要達到這種效果，需要將釘子的突出部分敲入木頭裡。彎成這樣，難以拉出的釘子一般稱為「dead」，本詞由此而來。

發音

• （澳洲）音頻：

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形容詞

dead as a doornail

1. (明喻) 死透的

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

   我拿起電話筒，但裡面完全沒有聲音。

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

   我們在另一條路上終於找到了John的貓，但它已經被碾過了，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.

參見

• 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

 

參考資料

• Template:R:BBS