| 词源 |
blackball. So infamous was the 19th-century Black Ball Steamer Line between Liverpool and New York (the pilfering of its sailors widely known on both sides of the Atlantic and second only to the cruelty of its officers) that the term black- ball came to mean stealing or pilfering at sea. In its most common use blackball means to vote against, to ostracize. When voting by ballot for a candidate proposed for member- ship in certain social clubs in 18th-century England, club members who accepted the candidate dropped a white ball into the ballot box and those who voted against the candidate dropped in a black ball. The term blackball is first recorded in a 1770 letter referring to a lady shunned by polite society. |