英语词汇fly-by-night的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

fly-by-night. Fly-by-night was originally an ancient term of reproach to an old woman, signifying she is a witch, according to Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. From a witch flying about at night on a broom, the term was applied, at the begin- ning of the 19th century, to anyone who flies hurriedly from a recent activity, usually a business activity and usually at night— someone who is a swindler and whose activities are fraudulent. The first fly-by-night operator recorded in English makes his appearance in Thomas Love Peacock’s novel Maid Marian (1822), a parody of the Robin Hood legend in which a charac- ter refers to Maid Marian and the outlaw: “Would you have her married to an old fly-by-night that accident made an earl and nature a deer-stealer?” Fly-by-night has also been, in British slang, a prostitute and a prostitute’s vagina.

词汇	fly-by-night
词源	fly-by-night. Fly-by-night was originally an ancient term of reproach to an old woman, signifying she is a witch, according to Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. From a witch flying about at night on a broom, the term was applied, at the begin- ning of the 19th century, to anyone who flies hurriedly from a recent activity, usually a business activity and usually at night— someone who is a swindler and whose activities are fraudulent. The first fly-by-night operator recorded in English makes his appearance in Thomas Love Peacock’s novel Maid Marian (1822), a parody of the Robin Hood legend in which a charac- ter refers to Maid Marian and the outlaw: “Would you have her married to an old fly-by-night that accident made an earl and nature a deer-stealer?” Fly-by-night has also been, in British slang, a prostitute and a prostitute’s vagina.
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