词组 | twiddle one's thumbs, to |
释义 | twiddle one's thumbsFig. to pass the time by twirling one's thumbs. What am I supposed to do while waiting for you? Sit here and twiddle my thumbs? Don't sit around twiddling your thumbs. Get busy! twiddle one's thumbsBe bored or idle, as in There I sat for three hours, twiddling my thumbs, while he made call after call. This expression alludes to the habit of idly turning one's thumbs about one another during a period of inactivity. [Mid-1800s] twiddle (one's) thumbs To do little or nothing; be idle. twiddle one's thumbs, toTo be bored; to be idle. The habit of idly turning one’s thumbs about each other during a period of enforced inactivity gave rise to this cliché, which began life in the mid-nineteenth century. “You’d have all the world do nothing . . . but twiddle its thumbs,” wrote Douglas Jerrold (Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures, 1846). |
随便看 |
|
英语词组固定搭配大全包含354030条英汉双解词组,基本涵盖了全部常用英文词组、短语的翻译及用法,是英语学习的有利工具。