run-of-the-mill
1. adj. (often disapproving) ordinary, without no special or interesting features 平凡的、普通的、乏味的
a run-of-the-mill job 乏味的工作 From《 牛津高阶英汉双解词典》
2. adj. not special or interesting in any way; ordinary 普通的、一般的、不突出的
a run-of-the-mill performance 很一般的演出 From《朗文当代高级英语辞典》
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http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/run-of-the-mill.html
>> Meaning
The ordinary, basic article, with no decoration or augmentation.
>> Origin
There are many 'run of the...' phrases that have been used to denote ordinariness of some commodity or other. The meaning of all of these phrases is broadly the same, i.e. they refer to products that come direct from the mill in an ungraded state and may contain some imperfections. They differ of course from phrases like 'having the run of the mill', which would denote the freedom to roam around the mill.
Early examples of this are 'run of the kiln', 'run of the mine' etc. These refer to 'runs', i.e. periods of active use of the industrial process in question. For example, The 1909 Century Dictionary Supplement defined these as: "Run of the kiln, bricks of all kinds and qualities just as they happen to come from the kiln."
"Run of the mine, coal just as it comes from the mine, large and small sizes and all qualities together."
Run of the mill is a little earlier than those and is American in origin. The mill in question was a weaving mill and the articles first called 'run of the mill' were clothes. An early citation of that comes from an advert by Cook, Taylor & Co. of Lowell, Massachusetts in The Lowell Daily Sun, December 1895: "Seconds and the run of the mill, but for all wearing purposes just the same as firsts at twice the price. Fleeced Jersey Vests in white or Ecru, 2 for 25c."
In more recent years the 'run of the...' franchise has extended to just about anything. For example, in November 1988 The New York Times printed a review of the film Rent-a-Cop, starring Liza Minnelli, in which it described it as an failed attempt to "mate a romantic comedy with a run-of-the-studio shoot-'em-down".
Run of the mill
作为形容词短语使用时,run-of-the-mill的意思是平均、平凡或平庸(merely average; commonplace; mediocre),这样的用法在20世纪30年代就有所记载。run做名词时有许多解释,不过真正能够和run-of-the-mill有直接联系的可谓寥寥。
其中有一种意思是"一种或一类什么东西",如果把average, usual, broad, common, general, normal 或 ordinary放在run前面做修饰成分的话,那么这个 "run" 短语的意思就变成了"普通的或平常的一类什么人或东西。"比如:"the usual run of voters in the district'。
另外run还可以指"一段时间内机器或工厂的运行和运营或这段时间内运营的产出",run-of-the-mill可以理解成一工厂的平均产量,而且与质量好坏没有任何关系。这也就呼应了run of the mill的字面意思,未被分类或进行质量检测前从工厂生产线上拿下来的织物。
1909年出版的《世纪词典》的附录里面,类似得短语有短语run of (the) kiln被解释为"从砖窑里烧出的各式各样、质量良莠不齐的砖"。run of (the) mine 被解释成"从矿井里面挖出的煤块,块头大小不一,煤质不尽相同"。
1952年出版的《美国》也对一类似短语做了解释:run-of-the-loom是指从织布机上拿下后尚未进行质量检查、尚未把有瑕疵的部位除掉就起运发往货主的纺织品。有一个使用较少的短语run of the crop,意思是农业产量。还有一短语mill run,意思是锯木厂生产的所有可销售木材产品或根据普通规格锯出的木材。
自20世纪60年代起,run-of-the... 经常后缀新名词构成各式各样的短语,如: "Taylor's thoughtfully written, low-keyed text proves far superior to most run-of-the-battlefield 'popular' histories".
然而。在所有这些短语当中,run-of-the-mill 是今天用的最多的。
http://dict.cn/zhishi/phrase/8-16.htm |