one fell swoop
名词 n.
英文释义
名词 n.
-
One stroke; one action or event that achieves or accomplishes many results.
— Changing the oil lubricates the engine and removes debris in one fell swoop.
词源
After Shakespeare, in Macbeth, act iv, scene 3, where Macduff learns his wife and entire family are murdered:
: Ro. Wife, Children, Servants, all that could be found. […]
: Macd. […] All my pretty ones?
Did you say All? Oh Hell-Kite! All?
What, All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme
At one fell swoope?
The imagery is of a bird of prey ("hell-kite") ransacking a whole nest at one blow, fell meaning "terrible, cruel, savage." In later uses of the expression, the force of the metaphor is reduced or lost.
: Ro. Wife, Children, Servants, all that could be found. […]
: Macd. […] All my pretty ones?
Did you say All? Oh Hell-Kite! All?
What, All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme
At one fell swoope?
The imagery is of a bird of prey ("hell-kite") ransacking a whole nest at one blow, fell meaning "terrible, cruel, savage." In later uses of the expression, the force of the metaphor is reduced or lost.
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数据来源: Wiktionary