| 释义 | wild goose chase
†1. A kind of horse-race or sport in which the second or any succeeding horse had to follow accurately the course of the leader (at a definite interval), like a flight of wild geese. Obs.
[1592: see 2.] 1602Breton Mother's Blessing Wks. (Grosart) I. 6/2 Esteeme a horse, according to his pace, But loose no wagers on a wilde goose chase. 1604H. Spurway in Trevelyan Papers (Camden) 60 The King hath beene latelye at Royston, at a wilgosse chase. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iv. 342 Horse-races, wilde-goose chases, which are the disports of greater men. 1685N. Cox Gentl. Recreat., Hunting-horse vii. (1697) 65.
2. fig. An erratic course taken or led by one person (or thing) and followed (or that may be followed) by another (or taken by a person in following his own inclinations or impulses); in later use (the origin being forgotten) apprehended as ‘a pursuit of something as unlikely to be caught as the wild goose’ (J.); a foolish, fruitless, or hopeless quest.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 75 Nay, if our wits run the Wild-Goose chase, I am done: For thou hast more of the Wild-Goose in one of thy wits, then I am sure I haue in my whole fiue. 1623–4Middleton & Rowley Sp. Gipsy i. v, I have had a fine fegary, The rarest wildgoose chase! 1646G. Daniel Poems, An Addresse 48 We pursue A Wild-goose-Chase, to what none ever knew. 1656R. Fletcher tr. Martial 202 No hints of truth on foot? no sparks of grace? No late sprung light? to dance the wild-goose chase? 1662in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1920) Apr. 257 If you cannot reason him to what may bee for his good..let him goe the wild goosechase. 1673Ess. Educ. Gentlewom. 37 If we should dance that wild-Goose-chase usually led, it would require longer time. 1754H. Walpole Let. to Bentley 20 Nov., Don't let me think, that if you return, you will set out upon every wild-goose chase, sticking to nothing. 1876F. E. Trollope Charming Fellow xii, His journey to London on such slender encouragement is a wild-goose chase! 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay vii, ‘I see you have found nothing,’ exclaimed Lady Gethin... ‘It was a wild goose chase,’ he replied with a weary look. |
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