red tape

名词 n.
中文释义

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. The binding tape once used for holding important documents together. uncountable
    — The use of red tape for tying up papers is of considerable antiquity. An advertisement in the Public Intelligencer, December 6, 1658, offers the reward for a restoration of a 'A little bundle of papers tied with a red tape, were lost on Friday last was a sevennight, between Worcester House and Lincoln's Inn.
  2. Time-consuming regulations or bureaucratic procedures. idiomatic,metonymically,uncountable
    — All the red tape and paperwork that goes on there prevents any progress.

词源

Alluding to the former practice of binding government documents in red-colored tape. First use appears c. 1658 in the publication Public Intelligencer. See cite below.
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