| 词汇 | preciously |
| 释义 | (redirected from preciously)precious fewadjective Not much; scant. (Used solely with plural countable nouns; "precious little" is used with uncountable nouns.) He's had precious few job offers since he got out of college. We've had precious few details about the deal, so rumors are flying around the office at the moment. precious little1. adjective Not much; scant. (Used solely with uncountable nouns; "precious few" is used with plural countable nouns.) There's precious little evidence connecting him to the crime, but the prosecution is adamant that he's their man. We've had precious little information about the deal, so rumors are flying around the office at the moment. 2. noun A very small amount (of something). We still know precious little about who might be involved with the attack. There's been precious little in the way of details about the trade deal being struck between the two countries. time is moneyTime is a valuable commodity, so we should be as quick or expeditious as possible. My dad was of the firm believe that time is money, so he never really liked to sit back, relax, and do nothing—he always needed some project to be working on. Come on, come on, time is money—tell me what you want already! precious fewand precious littlevery few; very little. (Few for people or things that can be counted, and little for amounts.) We get precious few tourists here in the winter. There's precious little food in the house and there is no money. Time is money.(My) time is valuable, so don't waste it. I can't afford to spend a lot of time standing here talking. Time is money, you know! People who keep saying time is money may be working too hard. precious fewAlso, precious little. Very few, very little, as in There are precious few leaves left on the trees, or We have precious little fuel left. In these idioms precious serves as an intensive, a colloquial usage dating from the first half of the 1800s. time is moneyOne's time is a valuable commodity, as in I can't stay home and wait any longer; time is money, you know. This proverbial term goes back to one first recorded in 1572, time is precious, in a discourse on usury. precious littleorprecious fewIf you say that there is precious little of something, you mean that there is very little of it, and that it would be better if there were more. The banks have had precious little to celebrate recently. Note: Precious few is used before plural nouns with the same meaning. Precious few homebuyers will notice any reduction in their monthly repayments. precious little (or few)extremely little (or few).time is moneytime is a valuable resource, therefore it's better to do things as quickly as possible. proverbThe present form of the expression seems to originate in a speech made by Benjamin Franklin in 1748 , but the sentiment is much older. The saying ‘the most costly outlay is time’ is attributed to the 5th-century BC Athenian orator and politician Antiphon. precious ˈfew/ˈlittle(informal) very few/little: There are precious few places round here where you can get good Indian food.time is ˈmoney(saying) time is valuable, and should not be wastedThis saying was first used by the American politician Benjamin Franklin in 1748.precious fewHardly any. The use of precious for “very” or “extremely” dates from the first half of the nineteenth century, and so does its pairing with “few.” For some reason it is never paired with any other adjective; one never hears of “precious many.” A. Gray used it in a letter of 1839, “While on the Continent I have received precious few letters,” and Neville Chamberlain used it in a speech to the House of Commons (August 26, 1886): “Precious few of them have declared in favour of the bill.” time is moneyOne’s time is a precious commodity. The sentiment for this phrase dates from ancient times, but the exact wording is most often attributed to Benjamin Franklin in his Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748): “Remember that time is money.” Charles Dickens elaborated on it in Nicholas Nickleby (1839): “Time is money . . . And very good money too to those who reckon interest by it.” |
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