concurrence

The time came when they ceased to cry and began to think; by the way, if Georgiana had not, from a concurrence of circumstances, been enabled to eat her breakfast, this operation of the mind could not have been engaged in without further injury, for she was, indeed, weak and exhausted;...

1842，[anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon]，章號 XXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […]，卷 II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC，頁 11:

This book owes its existence to a concurrence of accidents.

1862，John Hill Burton，The Book-hunter, etc.，Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood & Sons, Advertisement:


condescending

more condescending (comparative)
most condescending (superlative)

Quit talking to me in that condescending tone! You always treat me like a child!

别一副居高临下的语气和我说话！你老是把我当小孩子！

As for the IRP, Secretary of State Grant Shapps continues to peddle snake oil, smoke and mirrors. His reaction to near-universal IRP condemnation from politicians, local and national media, and all but a few rail specialists was to dismiss the lot of us (in the condescending and patronising tone we have now come to expect) as "critics and naysayers".

2022年January12日，Nigel Harris，“Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL，期 948，頁 3:


cranky

源自crank + -y。对比中古低地德語 krankich (“不太舒服的”)。

crankier (comparative)
crankiest (superlative)

We had seven canoes, all of them dugouts. One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky. The other three were good.

1914，Theodore Roosevelt，Through the Brazilian Wilderness: The River of Doubt:


crass

源自中古英語 cras、craas，源自古法語 cras，源自拉丁語 crassus (“厚的，肥的，重的”)。grease 的同源對似詞。

crasser (comparative)
crassest (superlative)

粗鲁的；愚钝的，麻木不仁的，对别人漠不关心的，不明辨是非的

You guys would rather be with someone else who’s equal to your status in life. Tiger Woods, or somebody. I comes across as crass, a Neanderthal, a babbling idiot sometimes. I like to show you that person. I like that person.

粗糙的，笨拙的，不精致的

The Albanians have a world ranking of 58, but even a side of fairly modest talents would surely have taken advantage of the kind of crass mistakes that Scotland made on Friday.

2018年September7日，Tom English，“Scotland 0-4 Belgium”, in BBC Sport:

One may very easily fall into mistakes and errors when one is searching into the hidden causes of things, in the absence of real experiments, and this is easily apparent from the crass error of Cardan; who deems himself to have discovered the distances of the centres of the cosmos and of the earth through a variation of the magnetick iron of 9 degrees.

1900，William Gilbert，章號 11, in On the Magnet:


deadpan

more deadpan (comparative)
most deadpan (superlative)

A city-hired consultant from a firm called Urban Futures was booed repeatedly by the agitated homeowners as he talked deadpan, in bureaucratese, about his firm's "evidentiary record" pointing to blight in the neighborhood.

2004，Steven Greenhut，Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain，頁 46:


deadpan

MAREK: But really the deadpan is key. You can essentially trick people into laughing at nothing.

2007，Meredith Gran，Octopus Pie #71: Deadpan:


deadpan

deadpans (third-person singular present)
deadpanning (present participle)
deadpanned (past participle)

Kidd deadpanned it, stared glassily back at Maitland.


deathbed

源自中古英語 dethbed，源自古英語 dēaþbedd (“死时卧的床；坟墓”)，等价于death + bed。与瑞典語 dödsbädd (“死时卧的床”)同源。亦对比荷蘭語 sterfbed (“死时卧的床”)、德語 Sterbebett和Totenbett（均指“死时卧的床”）、丹麥語 dødsleje (“死时卧的床”)。

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-deathbed.wav

He was once on his way to an old woman, who was on her death-bed and who had led a wicked life.

1886，Peter Christen Asbjørnsen，譯者 H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales，頁 254:


debilitate

拉丁語 debilitatus，debilitare (“使...变弱”)的过去分词，源自形容词debilis (“弱的”)，源自de- + habilis (“能够...的”)。

debilitates (third-person singular present)
debilitating (present participle)
debilitated (past participle)

enervate

使...变弱，使...衰弱，弱化

enfeeble

使...变弱，使...衰弱，弱化

weaken

使...变弱，使...衰弱，弱化

使...变弱，使...衰弱，弱化

The American Dream suffered a debilitating effect after the subprime crisis.

美国梦在次贷危机后经历了一次衰落。

Twice, they found themselves behind, seemingly on their way out, and on both occasions they absolutely refused to let their lack of numbers debilitate them.

2015年March12日，Daniel Taylor，“Chelsea out of Champions League after Thiago Silva sends 10-man PSG through on away goals”, in The Guardian (London):


debonair

古法語 debonaire，源自短语de bon aire (“属于好的家族的，贵族的”)。

more debonair (comparative)
most debonair (superlative)

客气的，殷勤的，有礼貌的

Let be that Ladie debonaire, / Thou recreant knight, and soone thy selfe prepaire / To battell […]。

1590，埃德蒙·斯宾塞，“Book II, Canto VI”, in 仙后（The Faerie Qveene . […]），London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

She was a New York City person. Sacco is nervy and sassy and sort of debonair.

2015年February12日，Jon Ronson，“How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


dastard

源自中古英語 dastard (“愚人”)，可能由*dast得来，其为从古諾爾斯語 dæstr (“喘不过气的”) + -ard衍生而来的一个词干。 对比冰島語 dasaður (“筋疲力尽的”)，方言瑞典語 däst (“劳累的”)、中古荷蘭語 dasaert、daasaardt (“傻子”)、英語 dazed (“发呆的”)。

more dastard (comparative)
most dastard (superlative)

Like dastard Curres, that having at a bay

1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book III, Canto One, Stanza 22, in The Faerie Queene, Books Three and Four, edited by Dorothy Stephens, Hackett, 2006, p. 13,

Now dragg'd once more beyond the western main,
To groan beneath some dastard planter’s chain;
Where my poor countrymen in bondage wait
The long enfranchisement of ling’ring fate:

1789，Olaudah Equiano，章號 5, in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano:

Observe, too, that this is all a modern affair; belongs not to the old heroic times, but to these dastard new times. ‘Happiness our being’s end and aim’ is at bottom, if we will count well, not yet two centuries old in the world.

1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 3, ch. IV, Happy


daunt

源自中古英語 daunten，源自古法語 danter，源自拉丁語 domitō (“驯服”，动词)，拉丁語 domō (“驯服，征服”，动词)的反复态，源自原始意大利語 *domaō，源自原始印歐語 *demh₂- (“驯”)。dompt 的同源對似詞。

daunts (third-person singular present)
daunting (present participle)
daunted (past participle)

吓倒，使...气馁，威吓

Death I'll meet, my soul no terrors daunting, / Take the life for which thy heart is panting, / Spare not thou, though he spare, his life granting, / Or let death end us both at a blow.

[1865?]，Eugène Scribe，譯者 Charles Lamb Kenney, L’Africaine. An Opera in Five Acts, […] The Music by Giacomo Meyerbeer. Translated into English […]，London: Published and sold by Chappell & Co., […], Boosey & Co., […], →OCLC, Act III，頁 34:

No, I shall not disgrace the Cause, I shall not grieve my comrades by weak surrender! I will fight and struggle, and not be daunted by threat or torture.

1912，Alexander Berkman，章號 17, in Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist:

Ah, I have changed, I do not know / Why lonely hours affect me so. / In days of yore, this were not wont, / No loneliness my soul could daunt.

1913，Paul Laurence Dunbar，“A Lost Dream”, in The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar:


daunting

more daunting (comparative)
most daunting (superlative)

disconcerting

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

dismaying

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

formidable

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

frightening

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

unnerving

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

unsettling

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

undaunting

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

Deathes daunting dart where so his buffet lights, / Shall shape no change within my friendly corse: / But dead or liue, in heauen, in earth, in hell, / I wilbe thine where so my carkase dwell.

a. 1530，George Gascoigne，“The Frute of Reconciliation, Written vppon a Reconciliation betwene Two Freendes”, in The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper; […] In Twenty-one Volumes，卷 II, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson [et al.], 出版於 1810, →OCLC，頁 528，列 2:

As for his menacing and daunting threats / I nill regard him nor his Daniſh power: / For if he come to fetch her forth my Realme, / I will prouide him ſuch a banquet here.

c. 1590，probably Anthony Munday or Robert Wilson，A Pleasant Comedie of Faire Em, the Millers Daughter of Manchester: With the Loue of William the Conqueror. […] (Second Quarto)，London: Printed for Iohn Wright, […], 出版於 1631, →OCLC:

Temp[est]. [...] Emily is for ever giggling. / Sir D[avid] D[aw]. She is not singular in that: go where I will, they giggle; that is rather daunting, you must think.

1795 February 28 (first performance)，Richard Cumberland，“The Wheel of Fortune; a Comedy, in Five Acts; […]”, in The British Theatre; or, A Collection of Plays, which are Acted at the Theatres Royal, Drury-Lane, Covent-Garden, and Haymarket. […] In Twenty-five Volumes，卷 XVIII, London: Printed [by Savage and Easingwood] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], 出版於 1808, →OCLC, act II, scene i，頁 24:

Instead of a single tap, [...] it became a hurried knocking, moving round the room behind the wainscot as if in search of something. I could have sworn that Someone or Something was feeling its way along. The daunting sounds arrived at the middle of the wall opposite the foot of the great bed, and became stationary.

1906 January，Allen Upward，“The Ghost Hunters”, in The Royal Magazine，卷 XV, 期 87, London: C[yril] Arthur Pearson Ltd, […], →OCLC, chapter II (The Tapping on the Wainscot)，頁 266，列 2:

Curiously, though we are exceedingly frank talkers in the United States on what may be called the static aspects of sex life—physiology hygiene and economics, all its experiential love is hedged about with conventional inhibitions, the most daunting of which is the convention that bars reforming intimacies between young men and older women.

1923 December，John F. W. Meagher，“Sexology. Sex in American Literature.”, in The Urologic and Cutaneous Review，卷 27, 期 12, St. Louis, Mo.: Urologic and Cutaneous Press, →OCLC，頁 777，列 1:

[W]iſdome, much more all the excellencies of this Spirit) makes a mans face to ſhine; as the light of a Lanterne puts a luſtre upon the Lanterne, ſo the brightneſſe of theſe ſpirits puts a luſtre upon the men in whom they are. Men of ſuch ſpirts^([sic，意為ſpirits]) as theſe are, have a daunting preſence in the eyes of thoſe who behold them.

1638，Ier[emiah] Burroughes [i.e., Jeremiah Burroughs]，“Wherein the Excellency of This Gracious Spirit Appeares”, in The Excellency of a Gracious Spirit. Delivered in a Treatise upon the 14. of Numbers, Verse 24，London: Printed by M[iles] F[lesher] for R[obert] Davvlman, and L[uke] Fawne, […], →OCLC，頁s 103–104:

She reached it soon after half-past two. She found its gloomy nineteenth-century façade, black with the smuts of ninety years, a little daunting, and mounted its broad steps in some trepidation. But she rang the bell hard and knocked firmly.

1915，Edgar Jepson，“The Reluctant Duke”, in Happy Pollyooly: The Rich Little Poor Girl，Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC，頁 135:

It was a daunting task, but it was accomplished with some forward planning.

这是一项很有挑战性的工作，但是事先做好准备了以后还是完成了。

A trip of sixteen miles, through dark forests, in which they would not pass a single house, was an exploit sufficiently daunting for two such young and inexperienced boys. Love triumphs over fear and death; and these boys so dearly loved their father, that nothing was formidable to them, which they could do for him.

1829，[Timothy Flint]，章號 III, in George Mason, the Young Backwoodsman; or ‘Don’t Give Up the Ship.’ A Story of the Mississippi，Boston, Mass.: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, →OCLC，頁 41:

But there are tens of thousands more in England, young and old, who read even their own tongue only haltingly: to them Latin is as daunting as Magyar is to the rest of us.

1944 April，Donald Attwater，“In the Beginning was the Word: A Plea for English Words”, in The Dublin Review，卷 214, 期 429, London: Burns Oates and Washbourne, →OCLC，頁 129:

In some ways it's more daunting to write a nonfiction work than fiction because if you write a fictional work, you can keep the reader in suspense as to whether the central figure is a hero or a villain. But if you're writing nonfiction, everyone knows how it turned out, so you have a problem of creating drama and suspense.

1993 January–February，Daniel J[oseph] Boorstin (interviewee), Lynne V[incent] Cheney (interviewer)，“A Conversation with Daniel J. Boorstin”, in Humanities，卷 14, 期 1, Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Humanities, →ISSN, →OCLC，頁 6:

[B]umping up the percentage of the population committed to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle from the low single digits into the high double digits is going to be a daunting task. [...] When more than 95 percent of the population eats meat, that's a daunting difference.

2015，Michael Shermer，“A Moral Science of Animal Rights”, in The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom，New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part II (The Moral Arc Applied)，頁 282:


demeanor

源自中古英語 demenure，源自中古英語 demenen, demeinen (“处理”，动词)，源自古法語 demener (“引导”)，源自de- + mener (“引领，引导”)，源自拉丁語 *mināre (“驱动，驱使”)和minor (“丢出，伸出”)。

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-demeanor.wav

举动，动作，行为 （显现某人特点的身体语言，表情等）

The man's demeanor made others suspicious of his intentions.

那个人的行为让人怀疑起他的目的。

A confident demeanor is crucial for persuading others.

要说服他人就应该有自信的神态。

At this present (saith he) certeine princes of Britaine, procuring by ambassadors and dutifull demeanors the amitie of the emperour Augustus, haue offered in the capitoll vnto the gods presents or gifts, and haue ordeined the whole Ile in a manner to be appertinent, proper, and familiar to the Romans.

a. 1587，Raphael Holinshed，引 Strabo, Historie of England, Book III:

Demeanors that are apologetic and overly polite are inherently contradictory to demeanors that exhibit fear and anger.

1993，“Interrogation: The Kinesics Technique”, in Encyclopedia of Security Management, →ISBN，頁 418:


demented

dement的过去分词，源自拉丁語 dēmentāre。

more demented (comparative)
most demented (superlative)

精神失常的，心理有问题的

So while Ralph generally seems to inhabit a different, more glorious and joyful universe than everyone else here his yearning and heartbreak are eminently relateable. Ralph sometimes appears to be a magically demented sprite who has assumed the form of a boy, but he’s never been more poignantly, nakedly, movingly human than he is here.

2012年August5日，Nathan Rabin，“TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in (請指定書籍名或刊物名):


demise

借自中古法語 démise，démettre的阴性单数过去分词，源自拉丁語 dēmissa，dēmittō的完成时被动分词的阴性单数形式。

Earth looked her loveliest to receive my sweet sister's gentle dust; but all was harsh and sullen as her own nature when Lady Avonleigh's haughty ashes returned to their original element. Immediately after her demise, her son went abroad, and I accompanied him.

1834，Letitia Elizabeth Landon，Francesca Carrara，卷 2，頁 124:


demote

demotes (third-person singular present)
demoting (present participle)
demoted (past participle)

James was demoted from branch manager to assistant manager due to his poor discipline.

James由于不守纪律，被从副经理降职成了分店经理。

In 1036, shortly after arriving at Yi-ling, Ou-yang Hsiu sent a lengthy letter to his friend, Yin Shu, who had been demoted at the same time as Ou-yang Hsiu and sent to Ying-chou (modern Chung-hsiang, Hupeh).

1984，Ronald C. Egan，The Literary Works of Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-72)，Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL，頁 93:


decoction

源自古法語 decoccion、decoction，源自拉丁語 decoctiō，源自decoquō (“将...煮稠”)，源自de- + coquō (“烹煮”)。

（煎熬而成的）浓汁，精华；煎汁

[I]nſtead of Honey, Rob of Elder, Conſerve of Roſes, or Syrup of Violets; Glyſters, Pedilavia of emollient Decoctions with Nitre; or Elder, Vinegar, or Focus's of the ſame, applied with Sponges behind the Ears, to the Armpits, Groins, Hams, &c. or with Barley-water and a little Roſe-vinegar.

1749，[Thomas Short]，“[Of the Symptoms of Fevers, and Their Cure.] 10th, Of Feverish Heat”, in A General Chronological History of the Air, Weather, Seasons, Meteors, &c. in Sundry Places and Different Times; More Particularly for the Space of 250 Years. Together with Some of Their Most Remarkable Effects on Animal (Especially Human) Bodies, and Vegetables. In Two Volumes，卷 II, Printed for T[homas] Longman, in Paternoster-Row, and A[ndrew] Millar, in the Strand, →OCLC，頁s 512–513:

The transition is a keen one, I assure you, from a schoolmaster to a sailor, and requires a strong decoction of Seneca and the Stoics to enable you to grin and bear it.

1851，Herman Melville，Moby Dick, Chapter 1:

Poley offered a hot decoction of blackberries, saying: Peace?

1993，Anthony Burgess，A Dead Man In Deptford:

Witches and devils no longer threaten you and me. We don’t mind living next door to the harmless lady with her herb garden and decoction still, her black cat and red hair.


denizen

源自中古英語 denisein，源自古法語 denzein，源自deinz (“内部”) + -ein，源自晚期拉丁語 deintus (“自内部”)，其衍生出法語 dans。

作为英国法律用语，其使用于13世纪到19世纪（20世纪有提到但未使用），后被归化取代。参见英语维基百科denization。

The denizens of that pub are of the roughest sort.

那间酒吧的常客都是粗野之人。

He was well known to the sallow denizens of the lane; for such of them as were on the look-out to buy or sell, nodded, familiarly, as he passed along.

1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, Chapter 26,

As a fan of West Ham United I’m always looking to legitimise my dislike of Chelsea FC. And on first viewing, this week’s jarring retro-Métro-racism seems like a good reason to condemn the denizens of Stamford Bridge.

2015年February20日，Russell Brand，“Let’s kick cold profiteering out of football, along with racism”, in The Guardian (London):


decrepit

源自中古法語 décrépit，源自拉丁語 decrepitus (“非常老的”)，源自crepare (“嘎吱作响”)。

more decrepit (comparative)
most decrepit (superlative)

老态龙钟的； 破旧不堪的

Sorrow is subdued by strong necessity; there is no cause why life should be lengthened for our love; and we feel that the worn and the decrepit do but go down into that grave which had received youth, health, beauty,—all that made existence precious—long before.

1834，Letitia Elizabeth Landon，Francesca Carrara，卷 2，頁s 79-80:

Two entrants shared this award for their work on two quite different stations, but with the same purpose of bringing a redundant station building back into use for the benefit of the community, with the added result of conserving an historic building. Saltash Town Council bought Saltash station building after it had become very decrepit and 'an eyesore' - such that it was nearly pulled down to make way for housing.

2021年December15日，Robin Leleux，“Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Network Rail Community Award: Saltash and Stow”, in RAIL，期 946，頁 58:


dereliction

源自拉丁語 dērelictiō (“忽视，遗弃”)，源自dērelinquō (“忽视，遗弃”)，源自dē- + re- + linquō (“离开”)。

The new soldier did not clean his cabin and was scolded for dereliction and disobedience.

新兵没有清理自己的隔间，被骂渎职，违抗命令。

What he did was a terrible dereliction of duty.

他犯了很严重的玩忽职守。

And his final act—leaving the Watch to accompany Tormund and the Wildlings back into the woods North of the wall—no longer seems like a dereliction of duty. It’s the recovery of duty, found by a man who feels he betrayed his queen, who thinks there’s no longer a place for him in these lands.

2019年May19日，Alex McLevy，“The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club:

After years of unsympathetic commercial use and dereliction, nothing of note remained inside, which accordingly has been reconfigured with modern amenities such as underfloor heating.


desideratum

古典借詞，源自拉丁語 dēsīderātum (“想要的东西”)，dēsīderātus的中性主格单数形式，dēsīderāre (“想要，渴望”)的被动过去分词，源自dēsīderō (“想要，希望，渴望”)，源自de- (程度增强后缀) + （可能）sīdus (“星星；星座”)，但其间的关联性不详。英语词与法語 desideratum、西班牙語 desiderátum同源。
复数形式源自拉丁語 dēsīderāta。

/dɪˌsɪdəˈɹɑːtəm/

/dəˌsɪdəˈɹɑtəm/

渴望的东西，想要的东西，需求 （自17世纪中叶）

It having hitherto been a deſideratum to draw ſilver wire fine enough for aſtronomical uſes, our author's improvement "conſiſts in nothing but in flattening the fineſt wires which are now drawn."

1774 November，“Art. XI. An Improvement Proposed in the Cross Wires of Telescopes. By Dr. Wilson, of Glasgow.”, in The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle，卷 XLIV, London: Printed […] for D[avid] Henry, […], →OCLC，頁 529，列 2:

I shall now, agreeably to your request, endeavour to point out some of the principal Desiderata of the science of Natural History, and the most effectual means to be pursued for the Advancement of Science.

1807年June10日，Benjamin Smith Barton，A Discourse on Some of the Principal Desiderata in Natural History, and on the Best Means of Promoting the Study of This Science, in the United-States. […]，Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed by Denham & Town, […], →OCLC，頁 15:

The kettle was singing on the side, and a thin white column of smoke announced, that desideratum of tea-makers, that the water boiled at a gallop.

1838 (date written)，L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon]，章號 V, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […]，卷 I, London: Henry Colburn, […], 出版於 1842, →OCLC，頁 46:

Less teaching and good healing is to-day the acme of "well done;" a healing that is not guesswork, – chronic recovery ebbing and flowing, – but instantaneous cure. This absolute demonstration of Science must be revived. To consummate this desideratum, mortal mind must pass through three stages of growth.

1896，Mary Baker Eddy，Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896，Boston, Mass.: Christian Science Publishing Society, →OCLC; 再版 Boston, Mass.: Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy, 1924, →OCLC，頁 355:

While much is being done in the detailed improvement of our systems in respect of both matter and manner, the most pressing desideratum has not yet even been recognised as a desideratum.

1898，Herbert Spencer，“Moral Education”, in Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical，New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC，頁 161:

A heavy clay soil is bad for all neuralgics, and the house should be dry, and on a sandy or gravel soil. The desideratum for all neuralgic affections is perpetual summer, but this can only be obtained, and it is not always possible, by an annual migration.

1907 November，Angus Caithness，“Notes on Neuralgia”, in The Medical Brief: A Monthly Journal of Scientific Medicine and Surgery，卷 XXXV, 期 11, St. Louis, Mo.: [s.n.] […], →OCLC，頁 840，列 2:

Money is probably a desideratum under almost any circumstance, though it is certainly possible to imagine limitations.

1968，Sociology and Social Research，卷 53, Los Angeles, Calif.: Southern California Sociological Society, University of Southern California, →ISSN, →OCLC，頁 65:

[W]e want to present certain desiderata for a theory of argument structure and the diagramming system which represents it. These desiderata will further highlight the appropriateness of presenting our dialectal theory of argument at the beginning of our study.

1991，James B. Freeman，“Basic Theoretical Considerations”, in Dialectics and the Macrostructure of Arguments: A Theory of Argument Structure (Studies of Argumentation in Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis)，Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Foris Publications, →ISBN, section 2.2 (Desiderata for Theory and Practice)，頁 33:

In terms of the seven desiderata for any adequate response to the puzzle of marked variation, I have argued that the constructivist view's only real strength lies in the first desideratum.

2018，Robert A. Wilson，“A Socio-cognitive Framework for Marked Variation”, in The Eugenic Mind Project，Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, →ISBN, section 6.8 (Return of the Seven)，頁 137:


despond

源自拉丁語 dēspondeō (“放弃”)，源自dē (“从，离”) + spondeō (“发誓”)。

desponds (third-person singular present)
desponding (present participle)
desponded (past participle)

Yet still despond not, but proceed
Along the path where fate may lead.

I should despair, or at least despond.

October 16, 1820, Thomas Scott, letter to the Rev. G. Knight, Harwell

We wish that […] desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that foundations of our national power still stand strong.

June 17, 1825, Daniel Webster, Speech on the laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument


despondent

源自拉丁語 dēspondēns，源自动词dēspondeō (“放弃”)。

more despondent (comparative)
most despondent (superlative)

沮丧的，绝望的，气馁的，灰心的

“Last year, I was despondent that it was so hard to dislodge the iron grip of Google,” said Sridhar Ramaswamy, who previously oversaw advertising for Google, including Search ads, and now runs Neeva. “But technological moments like this create an opportunity for more competition.”

2022年December21日，Nico Grant，Cade Metz，引 Sridhar Ramaswamy, “A New Chat Bot Is a ‘Code Red’ for Google’s Search Business”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


dishevel

dishevels (third-person singular present)
disheveling (present participle)
dishevelling (present participle)
disheveled (past participle)
dishevelled (past participle)

使...凌乱，弄乱 （衣服，头发等）

With garments rent, and haire discheueled, / Wringing her hands, and making piteous mone;

1590，埃德蒙·斯宾塞，“Book II, Canto I”, in 仙后（The Faerie Qveene . […]），London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 12:

Like the fair flower dishevell'd in the wind.

[...] the natural finish seems much less likely to show up the stains of travel which might soon dishevel the golden ochre or dark blue—especially the latter—[...].

1964 April，G. Freeman Allen，“The BRB shows traders the Liner train prototypes”, in Modern Railways，頁 262:


dishevelled

源自早期形式dishevely，源自古法語 deschevelé（现代法語 déchevelé和échevelé），源自des-, + chevel (“头发”)（现代法語 cheveu）。

more dishevelled (comparative)
most dishevelled (superlative)

The men resided in a huge bunk house, which consisted of one room only, with a shack outside where the cooking was done. In the large room were a dozen bunks ; half of them in a very dishevelled state, […]

1913，Robert Barr，章號 6, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:

This is a crazy, dishevelled, often hilarious film, in which lightning flashes of wit and insight crackle periodically across a plane of tedium. I sometimes felt I was watching the 100-hour version.

2018年August31日，Peter Bradshaw，“The Other Side of the Wind review – lost Orson Welles epic is hurricane of anger and wit”, in The Guardian:


deuteragonist

古希臘語 δευτεραγωνιστής (deuteragōnistḗs，字面意思是“第二个演员”)，原用于希腊戏剧，源自ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs，“战士；参与者；演员”)。
就词形分析为deuter- (“第二”) + agonist (“战士；参与者”)。

同類詞：protagonist (“主角，主人公”)、tritagonist

The issue is no longer about the artistic representation of woman going on within the story: rather, the art object, now unrelated to the actual woman (at a literal level, at any rate), becomes her deuteragonist and antagonist, and the opposition thus settled becomes further complicated by reversal, exchanges, shifts in their respective positions.

2001，Donatella Izzo，Portraying the Lady: Technologies of Gender in the Short Stories of Henry James，University of Nebraska Press，頁 58:

The first disposition accords with the attested reality of Nero acting in masks resembling his own features or those of women with whom he was in love (Suet. Nero 21.3), especially Poppaea (Dio 63.9.5), and generates a set of roles for the deuteragonist all of which focus on failed counsel; it also underlines the parallelism between the Seneca-Nero and Nero-Prefect scenes, and reinforces the view that the First and Second Prefect are not identical.

2008，Octavia: Attributed to Seneca，Oxford University Press，頁 93:

In the distribution of the other roles between the deuteragonist and the tritagonist, the same criteria must have applied. When two characters had an important part in a tragedy and could not be played by a single protagonist, the second was played by the deuteragonist.[…]The tritagonist, even more than the deuteragonist, had to play several secondary roles.

2018，Jacques Jouanna，譯者 Steven Rendall, Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context，Princeton University Press，頁 201:


devil-may-care

源自下列俗语的缩短形式的定语用法：The devil may care, but I do not (“恶魔可能会管，但是我不管。”)。

more devil-may-care (comparative)
most devil-may-care (superlative)

This is the sort of witchery, not easily defined—but, by its votaries, pretty sensibly felt, in hunting the fox. The light-hearted, high-spirited stripling, when cigaring it careless to cover, with a kind of a knowing demi-devil-may-care twist of his beaver, receives in his transit a benison from every real friend of the chase he may chance to pass; and the airy, eager zeal of the youthful aspirant to rolls, tumbles, and the brush, will flush his memory with the frolic gayety of other days, and animate his mind with reflections most welcome to his heart.

1837, "Venator", The Warwickshire Hunt from 1795 to 1836, Prefatory Remarks:

Not that this would have worried him much, anyway—he was a mighty free and easy, roving, devil-may-care sort of person.

1837，Charles Dickens，章號 49, in The Pickwick Papers:

Now, upon his whole person，源自the crown of his unkempt head down to his broken, dusty boots, there yet clung that air of jaunty, devil-may-care rakishness.

1910，Jeffery Farnol，章號 3, in The Broad Highway:

Collins' death can be put down to his devil-may-care attitude—his decision to journey through hostile territory in a large convoy, the inadequate choice of the members of the convoy, and the tactics he adopted in the ambush. For all the debate about ballistics and entry and exit wounds, and the use of powerful historical imaginations, it matters more that Collins was killed than how he was killed. Concentration on the events at Béal na mBláth has, moreover, often meant a failure to place them in the overall context of the war.

1988, Michael Hopkinson, Green Against Green: The Irish Civil War:

Tiny Albania emerged from communist dictatorship in 1990 only to tumble into a rough world of gangsters, fraudulent financial machinations and incompetent governance, exacerbated by lawless capitalism and devil-may-care politics.

2011 May 21, Altin Raxhimi, "The Trouble with Democracy: Albania's Worrisome Vote," Time:

It is no real surprise that half the UK's stations and 5,000 miles of route were recommended to close. Nevertheless, some great mistakes were made in Marples' devil-may-care purge that left commuters stranded and seaside resorts without a lifeline.

2023年March8日，Howard Johnston，“Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL，期 978，頁 50:


disquieting

more disquieting (comparative)
most disquieting (superlative)

Sir, it is very disquieting to read from time to time that some of our citizens, who should be promoting the welfare of this country in their hearts and in practice, are taking the currency out of this country illegally. It is equally disquieting to hear that some of our citizens may export some of the goods from this country, undervalue those goods and when they import some goods from abroad, they are over-valued with the object of keeping part of that money outside this country.

1985年May29日，W. Kisiero (Assistant Minister for Commerce and Industry)，“The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill (The Attorney-General on 23rd May, 1985) (Resumption of Debate Interrupted on 28th May, 1985)”, in The Republic of Kenya: The National Assembly Official Report … Third Session: Tuesday, 19th March, 1985 to Thursday, 6th June, 1985，卷 LXV, [Nairobi?]: National Assembly of Kenya, →OCLC, column 1561:


disquieting

令人不安的事物，令人不适的事物

Thus we see the intuition of divine truth in minds of defiled affections, worketh not that sweet effect which is natural unto it to produce; but doubtings, terrors, and disquietings of conscience […]

1640，Edward Reynolds，A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man:


diatribe

首次可考于1581年，借自法語 diatribe，源自拉丁語 diatriba (“学术讨论，学术演讲”)，源自古希臘語 διατριβή (diatribḗ，“消磨时间的方式，演讲”)，源自διά (diá，“通过，经由”) + τρίβω (tríbō，“浪费，耗费”)。

“… No rogue e’er felt the halter draw, with a good opinion of the law, and perhaps my own detestation of the law arises from my having frequently broken it. If this long diatribe bores you, just say so, and I’ll cut it short.”

1913，Robert Barr，章號 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:

You know, it’s all this racial diatribe, and very strong language, screaming at the top of his lungs into the telephone.

1991，Bill Crow，Jazz Anecdotes，Oxford University Press, →ISBN，頁 316:

Aunt Petunia wasn’t eating anything at all. Her arms were folded, her lips were pursed, and she seemed to be chewing her tongue, as though biting back the furious diatribe she longed to throw at Harry.

2000，J. K. Rowling，Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire，Scholastic Press, →ISBN，頁 41:

Lest this [be] read as a diatribe against DfT, I have some sympathy with it. That's because whenever there's a problem with the railway, the industry's solution is to ask DfT for billions of pounds.

2021年May5日，Philip Haigh，“I think we need better than this from the rail industry”, in RAIL，期 930，頁 51:


dither

didder的变体，源自中古英語 dideren (“发抖”)。对比中古英語 bididren、bididdren (“诱导，误导”)，源自古英語 bedidrian、bedyderian (“诱导，误导”)。
另，可能与*titeren的表达性质的浊化有关，源自原始日耳曼語 *titrōną。若如此，它则是teeter 的同源對似詞，同源词有古高地德語 zittarōn（德語 zittern）和古諾爾斯語 titra（法羅語 titra、冰島語 titra）。或者可能是一个无关的叠词拟声词。

Everyone was in a dither; either in it or about to get in it or just climbing out of it. Naturally, the Madam was not in a dither. Dither was a foreign concept to her.

2002，Thomas P. Glynn，A Child's Christmas In Chicago，頁 59:


divulge

拉丁語 divulgare，源自di- (“widely”) + vulgare (“公布，发行”)。

divulges (third-person singular present)
divulging (present participle)
divulged (past participle)

disclose

将...公之于众，将...泄露给

God... marks The just man, and divulges him through heaven.

1671，John Milton，“The Third Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes，倫敦: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:


dogged

源自中古英語 dogged、doggid、doggyd (“像狗一样的性格”)，等价于dog + -ed。

more dogged (comparative)
most dogged (superlative)

Rushing out to the point above the reef, we watched the conflict between canoe and sea. When the man reached the gas boat, the screams of the boy stopped. With great risk they loaded the canoe till she began to take water. The boy bailed furiously. The long dogged pull of the man's oars challenged death inch by inch, wave by wave.

It had taken nine years from the evening that Truman first showed up with a pie plate at her mother's door, but his dogged perseverance eventually won him the hand of his boyhood Sunday school crush.

2004，克里斯·华莱士，Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage:

Using the latest technology, and with the dogged determination of our testing and tracing scheme, we've successfully identified the person in question.

2021年March5日，马特·汉考克（被引）, “Mystery person with Brazil variant found thanks to dogged determination, says Matt Hancock”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:


dogged

"I'm afraid I've given him a heap of trouble. You see," he explained, looking at Paul critically, "I never thought of eating before I left town, and one gets so dogged hungry, you know walking. I say it is a long tramp, isn't it?"


dolt

在早期现代英语中首次作名词使用，源自英语方言词dold (“愚蠢的，困惑的”)，源自中古英語 dold，dulled、dult (“麻木的”)的变体，dullen、dollen (“使...愚蠢”)的过去分词，源自dull、dul、dwal (“愚蠢的”)。详见dull。

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-dolt.wav

O Gull, oh dolt, / As ignorant as durt:[…]

约1603–1604年，威廉·莎士比亚，“The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice [奥赛罗]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (第一对开本)，伦敦: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]，頁 337:


dilapidated

more dilapidated (comparative)
most dilapidated (superlative)

破败不堪的，荒废的，快要倒塌的

It was a strange scene, the contrasts which met in that large but dilapidated chamber. It had been the banqueting-hall in the ancient palace of the La Franchi, but the revelry and the splendour had long since passed away.

1834，L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon]，章號 I, in Francesca Carrara. […]，卷 I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC，頁 6:


dinghy

源自孟加拉語 ডিঙি (ḍiṅi)，可能源自梵語 द्रोण (droṇa，“木船”)。

The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.

1944，Miles Burton，章號 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:


dotage

dote + -age，源自中古英語 doten (“溺爱；老糊涂”)。

"More care!" said the old man. […] There were in his face marks of deep and anxious thought which convinced me that he could not be, as I had been at first inclined to suppose, in a state of dotage or imbecility.

1841，Charles Dickens，章號 1, in The Old Curiosity Shop:


dingus

可能有多个词源。部分借自荷蘭語 dinges (“玩意，东西”)、ding (“东西”)。考虑到其在南非的使用，可能也部分借自南非荷兰语。拼写dingus是调整了原词形，使其形似带有后缀-us的拉丁語单词。

"If anybody should come in, and catch you with your breeches, as it were, down on the floor, all you have to do is to drink the water, wrap the rubber dingus around you, and tell them to “lay on Macduff.”

1879, George Wilbur Peck, Peck's Fun, Being Extracts from the "La Crosse Sun," and "Peck's Sun," Milwaukee:

WLK. First radio station. On December 31, 1921, local engineer Francis F. Hamilton's radio station, 9ZJ, signed on with an address from Mayor Samuel (Lew) Shank。Broadcasting from Hamilton's garage at 2011 North Alabama Street, Shank made the city's first radio blooper: "Hamilton, do you mean to tell me that people can actually hear me over that damn' dingus?"

1921年December31日，“WLK”, in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis，Bloominton, Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 出版於 1994, →ISBN，頁 1399，列 2:

"He took the this-is-unheard-of-but-not-really-serious-of-course attitude of a street fakir whose mechanical dingus flops during a demonstration."

I wet the rod and measured the stuff into the top and by that time the water was steaming. I filled the lower half of the dingus and set it on the flame.

1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin 2010, p. 29:

‘Say, what’s that dingus you Britishers wear when you’re playing cricket?

1979, Kyril Bonfiglioli, After You with the Pistol, Penguin 2001, p. 241:

"Drill #40 the .094 [2.4 mm] holes in the dingus. Dimple the #40 holes.”

c. 2010, Van's Aircraft, RV-12 Plans, p. 5-30:

"He got mad at me because his dingus wouldn’t come up for him — too drunk, I guess. […]

1970，Don Tracy，The Last Boat Out of Cincinnati，Trident Press, 出版於 1970, →ISBN，頁 74:

And Chester Charles Smithers sucked on that warm black dingus for as long as he could.

2015，Quentin Tarantino，The Hateful Eight，spoken by Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson):

How come you can say dink when you're talking about your jobs but I can't say dink when I'm talking about my dingus?

2018，Tom Gammill and Max Pross，3 Scenes Plus a Tag From a Marriage，spoken by Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright):


dunk

源自賓夕法尼亞德語 dunke，源自中古高地德語 dunken，源自古高地德語 dunkōn (“蘸，浸”)，源自原始西日耳曼語 *þunkōn (“弄湿”)，可能源自原始日耳曼語 *þunkōną，源自原始印歐語 *teng- (“湿”)。
同源词包括德語 tunken (“浸”)、拉丁語 tingō (“弄湿”)、古希臘語 τέγγω (téngō，“弄湿”)。与taint、tincture、tint有关。

The point guard threaded a pass with pinpoint precision to the power forward for an easy dunk.

控球后卫准确地将球传给前锋，让其轻而易举地来了一记灌篮。

To rattle the rats to the point where their stress response remained demonstrably hyperactive, the researchers exposed the animals to four weeks of varying stressors: moderate electric shocks, being encaged with dominant rats, prolonged dunks in water.

2009年August18日，Natalie Angier，“Brain Is a Co-Conspirator in a Vicious Stress Loop”, in New York Times:


downtime

停机时间，故障时间 （因电脑故障等而浪费的时间）

同類詞：idle time、uptime

A short internet outage might sound like a trifling matter[…]but for many, the pervasiveness of the so-called “internet of things” meant downtime at Amazon affected their physical life as well as their digital one.

2017年March1日，Alex Hern，“How did an Amazon glitch leave people literally in the dark?”, in The Guardian:

As the world turns inward, trapped inside in various stages of pandemic quarantine, numerous songwriting luminaries (often blessed with their own in-home studios) have tried to use the downtime creatively—from Millennial stars like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande to longtime veterans like Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello.

2020年November9日，Gwen Ihnat，“With McCartney III, Paul McCartney offers lessons from a legendary life”, in The A.V. Club:

I've been working all weekend. I need some downtime.

我整个周末都在工作，我需要休息一下。

But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.

2010年August24日，Matt Richtel，“Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

“‘We need to use the downtime, when things are calm, to prepare for when things get serious in the decades to come,’ he has said. ‘The time we have now is valuable, and we need to make use of it.’”

2021年March19日，James Fallows，引 Demis Hassabis, “Can Humans Be Replaced by Machines?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


dreadnought

名取自无畏号战列舰（HMS Dreadnought），第一艘该类型的战列舰，源自dread + nought，即“无畏”。

Perturbed at being overtaken, the USS Texas is leading the 6th Battle Squadron at 22-and-a-half knots as the engineers pour everything they have into the effort. Behind the colossal clouds of smoke and cinders they put out come a seemingly-endless stream of dreadnoughts, battle flags flying from every mast and line they can find. It is the Grand Fleet.

2018年October17日，Drachinifel，片头起18:32, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918，存檔自the original on 2022-08-04:

Sovereign is the flagship of the rogue Spectre Saren. An enormous dreadnought larger than any other ship in any known fleet, Sovereign is crewed with both geth and krogan. At two kilometers long, its spinal-mounted main gun is likely capable of penetrating another dreadnought's kinetic barriers with a single shot.

2008，BioWare，Mass Effect，Redwood City: Electronic Arts, 經由 PC, →ISBN, →OCLC，幕：Sovereign Codex entry:

"Much obliged to you, ma'am!" says Mr. Guppy, divesting himself of his wet dreadnought in the hall.

1853，Charles Dickens，章號 7, in Bleak House:


drear

She thankt him deare / Both for that newes he did to her impart, / And for the courteous care which he did beare / Both to her love and to her selfe in that sad dreare.

1596，埃德蒙·斯宾塞，“Book VI, Canto II”, in 仙后（The Faerie Qveene . […]），London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:


dreary

源自中古英語 drery，源自古英語 drēoriġ (“悲伤的”)，源自原始日耳曼語 *dreuzagaz (“血腥的”)，源自原始印歐語 *dʰrews- (“破坏，粉碎”)，等价于drear + -y。同源词包括荷蘭語 treurig (“悲伤的，阴郁的”)、低地德語 trurig (“悲伤的”)、德語 traurig (“悲伤的”)、古諾爾斯語 dreyrigr (“血腥的”)。与古英語 drēor (“血，滴下的血”)、古英語 drysmian (“变阴沉”)有关。

drearier (comparative)
more dreary (comparative)
dreariest (superlative)
most dreary (superlative)

阴沉的，荒凉的，凄凉的，悲怆的

It had rained for three days straight, and the dreary weather dragged the townspeople's spirits down.

雨连续下了三天，阴沉的天气使人们的心情也郁郁寡欢。

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...

在好久以前一个凄凉的午夜，疲惫不堪的我想道...

It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.

1818，Mary Shelley，章號 V, in Frankenstein，卷 1:


disarming

more disarming (comparative)
most disarming (superlative)

a disarming smile

Foremost in her arsenal is that smile – so enormous and so absurdly disarming that someone should have worked out a way to harness its power into international conflict resolution.

2014年January21日，Hermione Hoby，“Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to hell for this ...': Julia Roberts reveals why her violent, Oscar-nominated performance in August: Osage County made her feel 'like a terrible person' [print version: 'I might actually go to hell for this ...' (18 January 2014, p. R4)]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):


drudge

源自中古英語 druggen，可能与古英語 drēogan (“做；受苦”)有关。

drudges (third-person singular present)
drudging (present participle)
drudged (past participle)

Rise to our Toils and drudge away the day.


discombobulate

discombobulates (third-person singular present)
discombobulating (present participle)
discombobulated (past participle)

befuddle

迷惑，使...困惑，使...慌张，让...糊涂，让...摸不着头脑

perplex

迷惑，使...困惑，使...慌张，让...糊涂，让...摸不着头脑

confuse

迷惑，使...困惑，使...慌张，让...糊涂，让...摸不着头脑

迷惑，使...困惑，使...慌张，让...糊涂，让...摸不着头脑

Can't you and I pretend to quarrel? A personal assault by you on me will wake these people up and discombobulate Goldsmith. Say the word—only don't hit too hard.

1895，John Kendrick Bangs，“Story-tellers' Night”, in A House-Boat on the Styx，New York: Harper & Brothers, 出版於 1901，頁 132:

The notes zigzag in his pieces and discombobulate the ear, just as in 12-tone works.

1999年December13日，Anthony Tommasini，“MUSIC REVIEW; Plenty Of Zigzags, But Hold The Angst”, in The New York Times，頁 E3:

First, distract target. Then block his blind jab. Counter with cross to left cheek. Discombobulate. Dazed, he'll attempt wild haymaker. Employ elbow block.

2009年December25日，Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg，片头起17:18, in Sherlock Holmes，spoken by Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.):


dryad

源自古法語 driade (“树精”)，源自拉丁語 Dryas, Dryadis，源自古希臘語 Δρυάς (Druás，“森林女仙”)，源自δρῦς (drûs，“橡木”)，源自原始印歐語 *derew(o)- (“树，木”)，对比原始印歐語 *dóru (“树”)。

同類詞：Meliai

There it had stood for years, close beside a mighty oak, under which sat often the kindly old priest, who told stories to the listening children. The young chestnut tree listened with them: the Dryad inside it, who was still a child, could remember the time when the tree was so small that it only reached a little higher than the ferns and long blades of grass.

1914，Hans Christian Andersen，“The Dryad”, in William Alexander Craigie（譯者）, Fairy tales and other stories:


discourteous

more discourteous (comparative)
most discourteous (superlative)

Kirk, who succeeded Drumright, had an unusually short tour of duty in Taipei—only about a year. Despite the shortness of his duty, he left the impression of being an old sea captain who would have felt more at home barking his orders from the bridge than heading an important diplomatic mission. There was nothing civil or gentle about him, and even in talking to President Chiang, he sounded gruff and blunt. I could see that the President really didn't enjoy the envoy's company, but he remained unperturbed and discussed in a calm and friendly manner whatever had prompted the Ambassador to seek the audience. Once I heard him remark half to himself: "How could anyone be so discourteous?"

1983，James C. H. Shen，“Rejoining the Government”, in The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally，Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC，頁 32:


earshot

I'll row out on the lake but stay within earshot.

我准备划进湖里，但是我会待在能听得到的地方。

Ananda hit the target, an iron drum，源自a distance of two earshots. Devadatta，源自a distance of four earshots, Sundarananda from a distance of six earshots, and Dandapani [found his target] from one league.

2013，Buton Richen Drup，Buton's History of Buddhism in India and Its Spread to Tibet:


encroach

源自中古英語 encrochen，源自古法語 encrochier (“占领”)，源自古法語 en- + croc (“钩子”)，源自日耳曼語族。详见crook。

encroaches (third-person singular present)
encroaching (present participle)
encroached (past participle)

占有，侵占，侵犯；蚕食，侵蚀

Now stands the Brere like a lord alone, / Puffed up with pryde and vaine pleasaunce. / But all this glee had no continuaunce: / For eftsones winter gan to approche; / The blustering Boreas did encroche, / And beate upon the solitarie Brere; / For nowe no succoure was seene him nere.

1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: Conteyning Tvvelue Æglogues Proportionable to the Twelue Monethes. Entitled to the Noble and Vertuous Gentleman most Worthy of all Titles both of Learning and Cheualrie M. Philip Sidney, London: Printed by Hugh Singleton, dwelling in Creede Lane neere vnto Ludgate at the signe of the gylden Tunne, and are there to be solde, OCLC 606515406; republished in Francis J[ames] Child, editor, The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser: The Text Carefully Revised, and Illustrated with Notes, Original and Selected by Francis J. Child: Five Volumes in Three, volume III, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; The Riverside Press, Cambridge, published 1855, OCLC 793557671, page 406, lines 222–228:

Because change itself would absolutely stay-stable, and again, conversely, stability itself would change, if each of them encroached on the other.

2005，Plato，譯者 Lesley Brown, Sophist，頁 252d:

I won't encroach on your time any longer.

He never allows work to encroach upon his family life.

他从不让工作占领他和家人的时间。

Gradually the negative feelings encroached into her work.

负面情绪渐渐地侵蚀她的工作。


extortionate

源自extortion + -ate (“以...为特征的”之意的形容词化后缀)。

more extortionate (comparative)
most extortionate (superlative)

/ɛkˈstɔːʃənət/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-extortionate.wav

/ɛkˈstɔɹʃənət/

extortionable

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

extortious

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

modest

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

unextortionate

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

Now it is certain the Roman prieſts are not only ſeemingly very religious and really very extortionate, but are extortionate by means of religion, and make their prayers and maſſes the grand pretence for their exactions.

1745，Thomas Newton，“Pharisaism and Popery Parallel’d, in a Sermon Preach’d in the Parish Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, and Grosvenor Chapel, on Occasion of the Present Rebellion in Scotland. October 1745.”, in Two Sermons; […]，London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson and S. Draper, →OCLC，頁 42:

It is said the daily increase in opium is owing to the negligence of officers in enforcing the interdicts? The laws and enactments are the means which extortionate underlings and worthless vagrants employ to benefit themselves; and the more complete the laws are, the greater and more numerous are the bribes paid to the extortionate underlings, and the more subtle are the schemes of such worthless vagrants.

1854 April，F[rancis] O[rmand] J[onathan] Smith，“Art. II.—Experimental Legislation on the Opium Trade in China, and on the Liquor Trade of the United States.”, in Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review，卷 XXX, 期 IV, New York, N.Y.: [Freeman Hunt], →OCLC，頁s 425–426:

English travellers who have visited Jerash may remember a handsome but extortionate and insolent Arab sheikh at Sûf, who demanded, and always with success, an extortionate sum as blackmail, for which he gave them an escort and protection during their visit to the ruins.

1880，Laurence Oliphant，章號 VI, in The Land of Gilead with Excursions in the Lebanon，Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC，頁 177:

As regards food for police, it is much more satisfactory, in a new district, to have them fed by Government and not given money or trade goods in lieu of rations, as is often done. If they are allowed to buy their own food from the natives they will impose on the raw savage, and frequently abuse their authority by making extortionate demands under threat of punishment.

1914，C[hauncey] H[ugh] Stigand，“The Commencement of Administration”, in Administration in Tropical Africa，London: Constable & Company, →OCLC，頁 36:

The moneylenders – sometimes so extortionate that people pledged their slaves and sacred relics – were Uighurs from the west.

2006，Colin Thubron，“The Capital”, in Shadow of the Silk Road，London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN，頁 20:

Interrogational torture of the sort envisaged in the last paragraph—where P's close relatives are subject to brutal mistreatment to impel P to disclose some desired information—is itself a specimen of extortionate torture.

2014，Matthew H[enry] Kramer，“Introduction II: What is Torture?”, in Torture and Moral Integrity: A Philosophical Inquiry，Oxford, Oxforshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, section 2.2.4 (Extortionate Torture)，頁 68:

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

[Y]ou get from farms ſo occupied, houſe lamb, veal, graſs lamb, a little mutton, and leſs beef, whilſt for either article ſeparately, or jointly, you are worked up to pay prices, not leſt than extortionate; […]

1797，J. Mathews，“Respecting the Acres”, in Remarks on the Cause and Progress of the Scarcity and Dearness of Cattle, Swine Cheese, &. &. […]，London: […] M. Ritchie; [s]old by N. Scarlett, […], →OCLC，頁 197:

On the other hand, to say that this defendant, under this charter, has the power to charge whatever it pleases for passenger fares, without regard to their being reasonable or unreasonable, fair compensation or extortionate, is a power that I equally deny.

1872年December7日，Justice Wood，“Kankakee Circuit Court, Ill. December Term, 1872. Stephen R. Moore v. The Illinois Central R. R. Co.”, in The Chicago Legal News: A Journal of Legal Intelligence，卷 V, 期 11 (number 219 overall), Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Legal News Company, 出版於 1873, →OCLC，頁 124，列 1:

Down the coast among the sandhills is Blankenberg, a growing rival to Ostend, with which a steam tram connects it. The sands are firm and clean, and the hotels not unpleasantly extortionate.

1902年August15日，“The Enquiry Bureau”, in The Photographic News. The Journal for Amateur Photographers，卷 XLVI, 期 346 (New Series), London: Published by the proprietors, […], →OCLC，頁 528，列 2:

A number of members of the committee visited the principal restaurants and cafés, and at each in turn pointed out the extortionate nature of the prices shown on the menu, requesting the proprietors to reduce immediately the prices to a reasonable figure.

1919年September12日，“Roumanian Notes”, in The Near East: A Weekly Review of Oriental Politics, Literature, Finance, and Commerce，卷 XVI, 期 436, London: The Near East Editorial and Publishing Offices, →OCLC，頁 272，列 2:

At an extortionate price, he had obtained a hire car to take him to Homs, and from there he intended to cross the border and proceed to Beirut.

2013，Jack Higgins [pseudonym; Henry Patterson]，章號 1, in The Death Trade，New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, 出版於 2014, →ISBN，頁 3:


engender

源自中古法語 engendrer，源自拉丁語 ingenerāre，源自in- + generāre (“产生”)。

engenders (third-person singular present)
engendering (present participle)
engendered (past participle)

Thick Clouds are ſpread, and Storms engender there,
 And Thunders Voice, which wretched Mortals fear,
 And Winds that on their Wings, cold Winter bear.

a. 1700，John Dryden, transl.，“Ovid’s Metamorphoses”, in Poems on Various Occasions; and Translations from Several Authors，London: Jacob Tonson, 出版於 1701, book I，頁 147:

交媾 （15-19世纪）

But that the bodies of the Reprobate, who make the Kingdome of Satan, ſhall alſo be glorious, or ſpirituall bodies, or that they ſhall bee as the Angels of God, neither eating, nor, drinking, nor engendering[…], there is no place of Scripture to prove it[…]

1651，Thomas Hobbes，“Of the Kingdome of Darknesse”, in Leviathan, Or The Matter Forme, & Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill，London: Andrew Crooke，頁 343:

I fled, but he purſu’d (though more, it ſeems,
 Inflam’d with luſt then rage) and ſwifter far,
 Me overtook his mother all diſmaid,
 And in embraces forcible and foule
 Ingendring with me, of that rape begot
 Theſe yelling Monſters that with ceaſleſs cry
 Surround me, as thou ſawſt[…]

1667，John Milton，“Book II”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books，London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; 再版為 Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […]，London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC，行s 790–800:


engender

给...赋予性别；强调...的性别 （自20世纪）

As such they are an important way of understanding both how texts are engendered (how they articulate particular sex or gender role) and how they engender their consumers.

1992，Anne Cranny-Francis，Engendered Fictions，頁 2:

I focus on […] the efforts of feminist critics of science to examine the engendered origins and implications of scientific rationality and modern epistemology.

1996，Steven C Ward，Reconfiguring Truth，頁 xviii:


enigma

源自拉丁語 aenigma (“谜语”)，派生自古希臘語动名词αἴνιγμα (aínigma，“隐晦的交流，阴暗的话语”)。

Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma.

1899 Feb，Joseph Conrad，“The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine，頁 202:


enjoin

源自中古英語 enjoinen，源自古法語 enjoindre (“加入”)，源自拉丁語 iniungo (“依附”)，由in- (“进入，在...之上”)和iungo构成的复合词。

enjoins (third-person singular present)
enjoining (present participle)
enjoined (past participle)

to confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them […]

1611，The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version)，London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 9:31:

At some landmark in the jungle the beater halted, pointed to the ground as a sign that this spot would do, and put his finger on his lips to enjoin silence.

1934，George Orwell，章號 14, in Burmese Days:

They [the Noahide laws] also enjoin the establishment of a just system of laws and courts.

2001，David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow，Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary，頁 15:

In 1983, BLM was enjoined by court order from using any herbicides in its Medford, Oregon District. Subsequent court action in 1984 enjoined BLM from the use of herbicides throughout Oregon and the U.S. Forest Service was similarly enjoined throughout Region 6 (Pacific Northwest).

1989，U.S. Department of the Interior，章號 1, in Western Oregon Program-Management of Competing Vegetation: Proposed Record of Decision，Bureau of Land Management，頁 9:

the judicial power of the United States had no power to enjoin the executive branch of the government from the execution of a constitutional duty or of a constitutional law

1826，James Kent，Commentaries on American Law:


enmity

源自中古英語 enemyte，源自古法語 enemisté、ennemistié，源自晚期拉丁語、通俗拉丁語 *inimīcitās, *inimīcitātem，源自拉丁語 inimīcus (“敌人”)。同源词有法語 inimitié、葡萄牙語 inimizade、西班牙語 enemistad。等价于enemy + -ity。

Some later Muses from Ionia and Sicily reckoned it safest to weave together both versions and say that that which is both many and one, held together by both enmity and amity.

2005，Plato，譯者 Lesley Brown, Sophist，頁 242e:

I merely repeat, remember always your duty of enmity towards Man and all his ways.

1945年August17日，George Orwell [筆名；本名 Eric Arthur Blair]，章號 1, in Animal Farm […]，London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:


enshrine

enshrines (third-person singular present)
enshrining (present participle)
enshrined (past participle)

A Phœnix, gaz'd by all, as that ſole Bird / When, to enſhrine his reliques in the Sun’s / Bright temple, to Ægyptian Theb's he flies.

1667，John Milton，“Book V”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books，London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; 再版為 Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […]，London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC，行s 272–274:

At the centre of Muhammad's achievement was the extraordinary poetry which enshrined his revelations.

2009，Diarmaid MacCulloch，A History of Christianity，Penguin, 出版於 2010，頁 256:

Other measures, such as compensation for victims, will be enshrined in the proposed new law.

其他手段，比如补偿受害者，将出现于新法中。

The links were mostly to newspaper articles and public records, and Google refused to comply, but with the “right to be forgotten” enshrined as a key objective of the European Union’s 2011 data protection strategy, more and bigger cases are likely to follow.

2011年April19日，Sumit Paul-Choudhury，“Digital legacy: The fate of your online soul”, in NewScientist:

In total, it would have enshrined over 100 rights into Chile’s national charter, more than any other constitution in the world, including the right to housing, education, clean air, water, food, sanitation, internet access, retirement benefits, free legal advice and care “from birth to death.”

2022年September4日，Jack Nicas，“Chile Says ‘No’ to Left-Leaning Constitution After 3 Years of Debate”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


eerie

源自中古英語 eri (“害怕的”)，源自古英語 earg (“胆小的，害怕的”)，源自原始日耳曼語 *argaz。与低地蘇格蘭語 ergh, argh同源，源自同一古英语词。argh 的同源對似詞。

eerier (comparative)
eeriest (superlative)

creepy

怪异的，诡异的，怪诞的，离奇的，令人毛骨悚然的

spooky

怪异的，诡异的，怪诞的，离奇的，令人毛骨悚然的

怪异的，诡异的，怪诞的，离奇的，令人毛骨悚然的

The eerie sounds seemed to come from the graveyard after midnight.

午夜过后那片坟地好像有诡异的声音传来。

Dan was beginning to feel very depressed when suddenly the eerie howl of a dingo rang out[.]

1943，H. Lorna Bingham，The Lost Tribe，Sydney: Winn and Co.，頁 13，列 2:

She began to feel eerie.

'It is my business to read the hearts o' men,' said the other.
'And who may ye be?' said Heriotside, growing eerie.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide


eerie

I'm not sure, indeed, that we didn't scare the eagles from their eeries; at all events we thought we did.

1884，Gordon Stables，O'er Many Lands, on Many Seas，頁 114:

They hang suspended over precipices, these rocky eeries of grim birds of prey that bequeath their appetite for murder and loot to their brood.

1910，Hans Adolf Erwein Max graf von Königsmarck, P. H. Oakley Williams，A German Staff Officer in India:

Of the heavenly azure, and of the eeries suspended on the highest rocks they had indeed heard something, but they had never seen them, and in spite of their wishes it was no longer the old keen home-sickness of the old eagles.

1912 December，Joseph Stutzin，“The Children of the Eagle”, in Israel Goldberg（譯者）, The Maccabæan: A Magazine of Jewish Life and Letters，卷 22, 號 6，頁 184:

What was it that had driven them forth from their wooded mountain eeries to wait and watch for that one short moment, when the figure of an old man clad in a plain black military tunic would become visible at the saloon-window of a crawling train, to watch a wrinkled hand wave a fleeting greeting?

But his army reached Buñola at the head of the pass, and at once, like a whirlwind, the Moors swept down from their eeries and gave battle.

1932，Nina Larrey Duryea，Mallorca the Magnificent，頁 26:

Other of these terrible Eeries began now to congregate beneath the canoe, taking courage by the example of their cowardly companion, all alike curious about this charming visitant in the upper world.

1880，Charles Martin Newell，Kalani of Oahu: An Historical Romance of Hawaii，頁 255:

I tell you it's weirdsville down there, a spaced-out botanical Twilight Zone of creepies, crawlies, eeries, and ghastlies.

2013，Robert Silverberg，“A Science-Fiction Garden”, in Reflections and Refractions:

Just a couple of eeries looking to get squamous, to swipe a little snatch of wholesome fun from the funktacular funerary fundament belonging to the Big Boss, a hit big enough to drop our brains out the bottoms of our various appendages and forget the essential, unalterable, sanity-shearing truth of our watery and unfleeling cosmos: R'lyeh sucks.

2017 September/October，Catherynne M. Valente，“Down and Out in R'lyeh”, in Uncanny Magazine，號 18，頁 41:

If circumstances were even slightly different, I would allow my eeries to descend upon you and do as they pleased. After what your two friends caused here the last time, you're lucky I'm managing to hold them back at all.

2021，Steve Conoboy，Refrain Of The Fallen:


ensnare

ensnares (third-person singular present)
ensnaring (present participle)
ensnared (past participle)

But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.

2006，Edwin Black，章號 1, in Internal Combustion:


effervescent

源自法語 effervescent，源自拉丁語 effervēscō (“将...煮沸”)。

more effervescent (comparative)
most effervescent (superlative)

"It is rarely in human life," rejoined Douglas, "we realize the inimitable paintings our imaginations form, and less so during the effervescent period of youth. The bright impression glows upon the fancy, ravishes the mental view, but ere long vanishes, and leaves the prospect desolate and forlorn."

1838，L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon]，Duty and Inclination，卷 III, London: Henry Colburn，頁 223:

The effervescent Suarez then went close again as he worked space for a shot after a mazy run but could not keep his close-range shot below the crossbar.

2012年April22日，Sam Sheringham，“Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:


egregious

源自拉丁語 ēgregius，源自e- (“自，从”) + grex (“群，群体”) + 英语形容词后缀-ous，源自晚期拉丁语后缀-osus (“充满...的”)，反映了带有正面色彩的“出类拔萃”。

more egregious (comparative)
most egregious (superlative)

/ɪˈɡɹiː.d͡ʒəs/

/əˈɡɹiː.d͡ʒi.əs/

负面词义在16世纪末叶出现，可能是为了讽刺。在那之前指正面的“出类拔萃”，“杰出”。Webster亦给出了古旧词义“杰出的”，并注解说现代词义常带负面色彩（比如“an eregious error”），常前接于表述性名词，如ass、blunderer、rascal和rogue。意大利语和西班牙语同源词egregio以及葡萄牙語 egrégio仍保留且仅限于褒义。

严重的，剧烈的 （尤带有负面色彩）

The student has made egregious errors on the examination.

学生在考试时犯了很严重的错误。

I cannot cross my arms, or sigh "Ah me," / "Ah me forlorn!" egregious foppery! / I cannot buss thy fill, play with thy hair, / Swearing by Jove, "Thou art most debonnaire!"

Good Heaven! when we observe what egregious nonsense other people talk, what woful follies other people commit, sure we must be tempted to turn upon ourselves and ask—"What do I do that is equally silly?"

1834，L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon]，章號 XXXI, in Francesca Carrara. […]，卷 III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC，頁 257:

When the goal is simply to be as faithful as possible to the material—as if a movie were a marriage, and a rights contract the vow—the best result is a skillful abridgment, one that hits all the important marks without losing anything egregious.

22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Gameshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/

She's sitting opposite a window that's gently breezing into her face, wafting her hair into cover-girl perfection ... It's a little moment that seems to encapsulate her appeal: ... her gorgeousness being so egregious that even breezes oblige with their tousle-fanning effects ...

2014年January21日，Hermione Hoby，“Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to hell for this ...': Julia Roberts reveals why her violent, Oscar-nominated performance in August: Osage County made her feel 'like a terrible person' [print version: 'I might actually go to hell for this ...' (18 January 2014, p. R4)]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):


egress

The window provides an egress in the event of an emergency.

紧急情况下窗口可以当做出口。

Gates of burning adamant, / Barred over us, prohibit all egress.

1667，John Milton，“Book 2”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books，London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; 再版為 Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […]，London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

1910，Emerson Hough，章號 I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise，Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned.

2021年December29日，Dominique Louis，“Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL，期 947，頁 33:

Buildings or portions thereof shall be provided with a means of egress system as required this chapter. The provisions of this chapter shall control the design, construction and arrangement of means egress components required to provide an approved means of egress from structures and portions thereof.

2003，International Building Code (IBC)，Chapter 10 section 1001.1:


enthrall

enthralls (third-person singular present)
enthralling (present participle)
enthralled (past participle)

bewitch

迷住，吸引住，使...着迷

captivate

迷住，吸引住，使...着迷

charm

迷住，吸引住，使...着迷

enchant

迷住，吸引住，使...着迷

transfix

迷住，吸引住，使...着迷

enslave

使...屈服，使...成为奴隶

subjugate

使...屈服，使...成为奴隶

disenthrall

使...屈服，使...成为奴隶

迷住，吸引住，使...着迷

In the center of the circle of glittering black bodies he leaped and roared and shook his heavy spear in the same mad abandon that enthralled his fellow savages. The last remnant of his civilization was forgotten—he was a primitive man to the fullest now; reveling in the freedom of the fierce, wild life he loved, gloating in his kingship among these wild blacks.

1913，Edgar Rice Burroughs，章號 17, in The Return of Tarzan:

使...屈服，使...成为奴隶

[…] Who oft as undeservedly enthrall / His outward freedom: Tyranny must be;

1667，John Milton，“Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books，London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; 再版為 Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […]，London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:


eh

自然的exclamation。首个书面记录见于16世纪中叶。可能是aye的无重音变体。
菲律宾相关义项可能受到了他加祿語 eh和/或西班牙語 eh的影响。

meh

唉，啊 （表达冷漠，无所谓）

在北美，该词因刻板印象与加拿大联想起来，有时用来（挖苦性地）在加拿大外模仿加拿大口音。然而，其亦广泛使用于其他英语地区，包括美国北部、澳大利亚、新西兰、英国、马来西亚、菲律宾、苏格兰、新加坡、南非和尼日利亚。

唉，啊 （表达冷漠，无所谓）

—Do you feel like going out tonight?
—Eh, I don't know.

-你今晚想去玩吗？
-呃，不清楚。

"Look, Mom; I made the real rocket, based on the macaroni prototype!" "...Eh."


entrench

entrenches (third-person singular present)
entrenching (present participle)
entrenched (past participle)

/ɛnˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

Senator Cornpone was able to entrench by spending millions on each campaign.

Cornpone参议员在竞选活动上花了上百万以后才得以巩固自己的地位。

Given these entrenched ideological assumptions about the colonial order, it is no wonder that the state and those groups with an interest in the status quo viewed with suspicion and hostility any challenges to the fixed and "natural" boundaries between different sorts of people.

2009，Andrew B. Fisher, Matthew O'Hara，“Forward”, in Imperial Subjects: Race and Identity in Colonial Latin America，頁 4:

For London to have its own exclusive immigration policy would exacerbate the sense that immigration benefits only certain groups and disadvantages the rest. It would entrench the gap between London and the rest of the nation. And it would widen the breach between the public and the elite that has helped fuel anti-immigrant hostility.

2013年September28日，Kenan Malik，“London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-28:

His face
 Deep scars of thunder had entrenched.

1667，John Milton，“Book I”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books，London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; 再版為 Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […]，London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:


eke out

源自弃用词eke (“添加，使...增加”) + out。

ekes out (third-person singular present)
eking out (present participle)
eked out (past participle)

The old man eked out his pension by selling vegetables from his garden.

老人靠卖花园里的蔬菜来让自己的养老金多一些。

Now the reaſons why they teach the calves to drink ſo ſoon are various. [...] Secondly, the goodwife ſaves milk by this way of drinking, for ſhe quickly ekes out the milk with pottage, &c.

1694年September28日，John Houghton, compiler，“A Letter from a Lancashire Friend about Breeding Cattle. […]”, in Husbandry and Trade Improv’d: Being a Collection of Many Valuable Materials Relating to Corn, Cattle, Coals, Hops, Wool, &c. […] In Three Volumes，期 CXIII, London: Prin[t]ed for Woo[d]man and Lyon […], 出版於 1727, →OCLC，頁 303:

[T]he author [William Belsham] ekes out his volume with a great many extraneous details, which relate to a ſubſequent period; [...] The whole work is ſingularly confuſed and deſultory: and, indeed, the plan which the author adopts, is altogether incompatible with that unity and coherence which is eſſential to hiſtory.

1805 July，“Art. XIV. History of Great Britain. By William Belsham. Vol. XI. and XII. London, 1805. 8vo. [book review]”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal，卷 VI, 期 XII, Edinburgh: Printed by D. Willison, […], for Archibald Constable & Co. […], and Longman Hurst Rees and Orme, […], →OCLC，頁 428:

He eked out a living selling vegetables from the garden.

他靠卖花园里的蔬菜勉强度日。

[…]stylistically raw work known as outsider art that was frequently made by Southern blacks and whites who eked out livings as farmers or repairmen.

2001年October23日，Roberta Smith，“Howard Finster, Folk Artist and Preacher, Dies at 84”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

But before too long, the rations that Parivash was ekeing out to feed them fell short and the tension that sprang from so many families piled in together overflowed.

2011，Kamin Mohammadi，“Displaced”, in The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter to Iran，London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN; 第paperback版, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, →ISBN，頁 197:

British tycoon Richard Branson stole the show here Wednesday, announcing that he and his family would be on Virgin Galactic's first trip into space, as Airbus and Boeing eked out more plane orders.

2012年July12日，Ben Perry，“Branson’s spaceship steals the spotlight at airshow”, in Yahoo! News，存檔自the original on 2020-04-26:

Her stomach growled at the prospect of eating roast rabbit for breakfast; the last time she had eaten meat had been three days ago. Since then, they had been ekeing out the last dusty contents of a sack of oats, watered down and cooked to make a sloppy gruel.

2013，Meriel Fuller，章號 1, in The Knight’s Fugitive Lady (Harlequin Historical; 370)，Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN，頁 7:


eldritch

源自早期形式elritch，其词源不详。一般认为后半部分-ritch是古英語 rīċe (“王国”)（参见riche）。一部分人认为前半部分el-派生自一个指“外来，陌生”的古英语词根（与古英語 ellende和现代英语else有关），有些人则认为其派生自elf。因霍华德·菲利普斯·洛夫克拉夫特的著作而重新引入大众文学。

more eldritch (comparative)
most eldritch (superlative)

/ˈɛl.dɹɪt͡ʃ/

超自然的，渗人的，恐怖的，怪异的，离奇的

So Maggie runs, the witches follow,
Wi' mony an eldritch skriech and hollo.

Pearl, in utter scorn of her mother's attempt to quiet her, gave an eldritch scream, and then became silent.

1850，Nathaniel Hawthorne，章號 VII, in The Scarlet Letter:

The large vessel's dark form was massive, eldritch, as it loomed off the Cushing's port bow in the flash-lit darkness. This was the Hiei. The recognition of the battleship spread down the van, from the Cushing to the Laffey to the Sterett to the O'Bannon.

2011，James D. Hornfischer，“28: Into the Light”, in Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal，New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, retrieved 2022-11-23，頁 276:


ephemeral

源自新拉丁語 ephemerus，源自古希臘語 ἐφήμερος (ephḗmeros)，ἐφημέριος (ephēmérios，“仅持续一天的；仅在白天的；仅存活一天的；短命的；暂时的”)的更常见形式，源自ἐπί (epí，“在...之上，在”) + ἡμέρα (hēméra，“一天”)。

more ephemeral (comparative)
most ephemeral (superlative)

Esteem, lasting esteem, the esteem of good men, like himself, will be his reward, when the gale of ephemeral popularity shall have gradually subsided.

1821-1822, Vicesimus Knox, Remarks on the tendency of certain Clauses in a Bill now pending in Parliament to degrade Grammar Schools

sentences not of ephemeral, but of eternal, efficacy

1853，James Stephen，Lecture on the right use of Books:

It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows.

1818，Mary Shelley，章號 9, in Frankenstein，存檔自the original on 2012-04-03:


elegiac

源自中古法語 élégiaque，源自拉丁語 elegīacus，源自古希臘語 ἐλεγειακός (elegeiakós)。

/ˌɛləˈd͡ʒaɪək/

/ˌɛləˈd͡ʒaɪæk/

His saphics are worse, if possible, than his elegiacs

1748，John Upton，Critical Observations on Shakespeare，第2nd版，頁 385:


elope

源自盎格魯-諾曼語 aloper (“绑架；逃走”)，借自原始西日耳曼語 *andihlaupan (“逃走”)。等价于and- + lope和and- + leap（这两个词亦为同源对似词）。还见lope。

elopes (third-person singular present)
eloping (present participle)
eloped (past participle)

（与别人的未婚妻未婚夫）私奔；私下结婚（尤指很快的）

My younger sister has left all her friends-- has eloped; has thrown herself into the power of-- of Mr. Wickham.

Although Cecilia was the youngest of the surviving Thrale daughters, she had been the first to marry, eloping to Gretna Green in 1795 with John Meredith Mostyn of neighboring Llewesog Lodge. Both were underage.

1996，“Introduction”, in The Piozzi Letters: Correspondence of Hester Lynch Piozzi, 1784-1821 (formerly Mrs. Thrale), Volume 4, 1805-1810，Associated University Presses, →ISBN，頁 30:

"[Molly:] —It was the same last time [You-Know-Who] was powerful, people eloping left right and centre– —Including you and Dad, said Ginny slyly."

2005，J. K. Rowling，“An Excess of Phlegm” (章號 5), in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter; 6)，Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, →ISBN，頁 92:

Although they had eloped in Vegas, she'd insisted he wear a tuxedo and she buy a wedding dress at one of the local stores.

2009，Jan Springer，Intimate Stranger，Ellora's Cave, 出版於 2009, →ISBN，頁 132:

They knew each other for maybe a month before they eloped in Vegas.

2012，Shirley Jump，One Day to Find a Husband，Harlequin, 出版於 2012, →ISBN，頁 136:

He had been intended by his father for trade, but his spirit, soaring above the occupation for which he was designed, from repining led him to resist, and from resisting, to rebel. He eloped from his friends, and contrived to enter the army.

If we'd been a bit quicker, we could have caught Gowan before he eloped

1931，Dorothy L. Sayers，The Five Red Herrings:


elude

源自拉丁語 ēlūdō (“逃过”)，源自ē (“外”，ex的短形式) + lūdō (“玩耍；欺骗”)。

eludes (third-person singular present)
eluding (present participle)
eluded (past participle)

（尤指用手段，技巧） 逃避，逃过

Thus the observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy, and meets us at every turn, in spite of our endeavours to elude or avoid it.

1748，David Hume，Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral.，London: Oxford University Press, 出版於 1973, § 26:

It leaves City still searching for the Champions League, the trophy that has always eluded them

2021年May29日，Phil McNulty，“Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:

Podolski gave Walcott a chance to further embellish Arsenal's first-half performance when he eluded James Perch and slipped the ball through to the striker.

2012年December29日，Paul Doyle，“Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle”, in The Guardian:


elusive

源自拉丁語 elusus，eludo (“闪避（一击），欺骗”)的过去分词。

more elusive (comparative)
most elusive (superlative)

Charley chased the elusive idea through all the nooks and crannies of his drowning consciousness.

While you're sniffing the trunks of the ponderosas to see if they're butterscotch, vanilla, strawberry, or the elusive chocolate variety, watch for Brown Creepers, an elusive variety of bird.

2002，Scott Roederer，Birding: Rocky Mountain National Park，頁 93:


emblazon

emblazons (third-person singular present)
emblazoning (present participle)
emblazoned (past participle)

The route passes over low-lying land, the only item of note being the Cerebos salt works at Greatham, where one may catch a glimpse of the smart black diesel locomotive emblazoned with the firm's name writ large.

1959 August，K. Hoole，“The Middlesbrough — Newcastle route of the N.E.R.”, in Trains Illustrated，頁 359:

在...上雕刻，在...上刻印

The benefactor's image is emblazoned on our memory.

恩人的样子刻在了我们的心中。

Welcome to QAnon, sometimes referred to as “the Storm.” It’s a conspiracy theory that’s swept social media and is starting to break into the mainstream, with Trump rally attendees in Florida on July 31 holding signs and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “We are Q” and the conspiracy theory’s main catchphrase, “Where we go one, we go all.”

2018年August2日，Jane Coaston，“#QAnon, the scarily popular pro-Trump conspiracy theory, explained”, in Vox:


emcee

MC (“主持人”)的發音拼寫。

emcees (third-person singular present)
emceeing (present participle)
emceed (past participle)

担任...的主持人，主持

Alan Lomax was emceeing the blues workshop and was turned off by the Paul Butterfield Jug Band and implied as much on stage.

1965 August，Mississippi Phil Ochs，“The Newport Fuzz Festival”, in The Realist，期 61, retrieved 2022-11-13，頁 11:


ergosterol

Terbinafine has a unique mechanism of action among the antifugal agents (Petranyi et al, 1984; Balfour and Faulds, 1992), inhibiting the synthesis of ergosterol, a key sterol component in the plasma membrane of the fungal cell.

2003，Peter G. Pappas，“Terbinafine”, in Clinical Mycology，Oxford University Press, →ISBN，頁 104:


erstwhile

使用erstwhile指代“尊敬的”起源自在“erstwhile colleague”之类的短语内被人误读为esteemed等词的近义词，大多数权威机构不建议如此使用。

“Scarcely had Alice reached her twentieth birthday, than she gave her erstwhile fiancée [sic] his formal congé. […]”

1905，Baroness Emmuska Orczy，章號 2, in The Disappearance of Count Collini:

Other erstwhile stalwarts are also wavering. Southampton had two of the best full-backs in the league last season but Ryan Bertrand has been below par this season and Cédric Soares made an uncharacteristic lapse that led to Stoke’s winning goal in Southampton’s last outing.

2017年October14日，Paul Doyle，“Mauricio Pellegrino yet to find attacking solution for stuttering Southampton”, in the Guardian:

If you're for one of my erstwhile opponents, that's O.K. Just don't work too hard.

1999年November1日，Frank Bruni，引 George W. Bush, “For Bush, an Adjustable Speech Of Tested Themes and Phrases”, in New York Times:


erudite

源自拉丁語 ērudītus，ērudiō (“教育，训练”)的分词，源自e- (“外，出，离”) + rudis (“粗鲁的；技艺生疏的”)。erudit 的同源對似詞。

more erudite (comparative)
most erudite (superlative)

At all events, if it involved any secret information in regard to old Roger Chillingworth, it was in a tongue unknown to the erudite clergyman, and did but increase the bewilderment of his mind.

1850，Nathaniel Hawthorne，章號 XII, in The Scarlet Letter:

Elmer Moffatt had been magnificent, rolling out his alternating effects of humour and pathos, stirring his audience by moving references to the Blue and the Gray, convulsing them by a new version of Washington and the Cherry Tree […], dazzling them by his erudite allusions and apt quotations.

1913，Edith Wharton，“Chapter 43”, in The Custom of the Country:

THE CONCISE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF WORLD RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES. Edited by P. Ransome-Wallis. Hutchinson. 50s. [...] The most erudite locomotive engineer could not fail to excavate new knowledge from this remarkably comprehensive volume, [...]

1960 January，“New reading on railways”, in Trains Illustrated，頁 26:

Perhaps his erudite mind does not quite yet grasp how to transform his beloved scholarly explorations into effective papal politics.

2006年September17日，Jeff Israely，“Preaching Controversy”, in Time，存檔自the original on 2010-09-19:

Cruz was obviously analogizing Bernie Sanders to the Bolsheviks and Hillary Clinton to the Mensheviks. The oleaginous Texan is an erudite slyboots, but his history is off-kilter.

2015年November1日，Hendrik Hertzberg，“That G.O.P. Debate: Two Footnotes”, in The New Yorker:


zinger

one-liner

妙语 （尤指反驳或羞辱人的）

高速移动的物体 （尤指丢出来的）

On the first pitch from Kline, Lofton hits a zinger of a single into right field that J.D. Drew picks up on one bounce, and if he makes a good throw he has a chance to throw David Bell out at home plate.

The pitcher threw a real zinger and struck him out.

投手丢了个很快的[球]，让他三振出局了。

妙语 （尤指反驳或羞辱人的）

I wasn't looking to make friends; there had been too much animosity between us in the past, and maybe the guy had a zinger waiting on me.

2007，Larry Groves，Seasons in Time, →ISBN，頁 112:

You might think it's almost worthwhile calling them and restarting the argument just to get that final zinger in. Why do you think of something good to say when it's too late?

2012，Adam Fraser，The Third Space, →ISBN，頁 124:

Boris Johnson is the most compelling personality in “Chums.” The shambolic style, the self-deprecating humor, the gift for zingers—it was all there in university, as was the elitist’s ambivalent approach to achievement.

2022年May14日，David Segal，“An Outsider Takes an Inside Look at the Oxford ‘Chums’ Who Run the U.K.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

很棒的，很活跃的，很惊人的人或物

They'd have to come up with a zinger for their Christmas windows to compete with that competitor's laughing Santa Claus and Stefan had that zinger in his proposal submitted to the President of the company.

2006，Olivia Hillis Wimbrow，My Beloved Bohemian, →ISBN，頁 130:

Think about all the scientists—and all the microscopes and lab equipment and testing—that may come up with zero instead of a zinger.

2006，Cathy Pickens，Done Gone Wrong, →ISBN:

Here, have a strawberry zinger and don't tell Mom and Dad that we had candy in the bedroom.

2013，Paula Harrison，Rescue Princesses #5: The Snow Jewel, →ISBN:

“Want some—” he saluted her with one of Julia's delicate white cups and a wry arch of eyebrow, sipped and made a face “—lemon zinger tea?” At times like this she wished she was as outgoing as Nikki or gorgeous like Bailey or even a little wild and easy with men like Valery. But she was none of those things. She was plain Carrie, the librarian, wishing she could say something snappy and clever. “If you don't like lemon zinger, pick a different kind."

2016，Linda Goodnight，The Rain Sparrow, →ISBN:


wacky

源自whack (“猛击”)，意指人因为经常撞脑袋，所以举止怪异。

wackier (comparative)
wackiest (superlative)

Though the idea of placing wacky made-up characters in a real-life context was carried over from Da Ali G Show—wherein Buzz Aldrin was once asked if he was upset that Michael Jackson got all the credit for inventing the moonwalk—Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat felt like something new, an attempt to square an improvised, guerrilla style of underground comedy with reality-TV stunt shows like Jackass or Fear Factor.

2012年May15日，Scott Tobias，“Film: Reviews: The Dictator”, in The Onion AV Club:


whimper

源自方言词whimp (“惨叫”) + -er (反复态后缀)。对比德語 wimmern (“抽泣”)。

whimpers (third-person singular present)
whimpering (present participle)
whimpered (past participle)

“Master, please don’t punish me!” he whimpered.

“主人，不要惩罚我！”他呜咽道。

Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It’s all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely resolve and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear.

2019年May12日，Alex McLevy，“Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club:


whimsical

more whimsical (comparative)
most whimsical (superlative)

There is nothing innocuous, innocent or whimsical in a Totalitarian society, at least in the public sphere.

2020年September25日，Charles Hugh Smith，The Road to Nowhere: Whatever Can't Be Politicized Ceases to Exist:


willy-nilly

源自will I, nill I（有时亦用ye或he代替I），意为“如果我希望，如果我不希望”，即“无论我希不希望”。参见will (“想要，希望”)、nill (“（弃用）不想，不愿，不希望”)。

more willy-nilly (comparative)
most willy-nilly (superlative)

nilly-willy

无论（别人）想不想要；不管三七二十一；随意，随心所欲，轻易，只管

nolens volens

无论（别人）想不想要；不管三七二十一；随意，随心所欲，轻易，只管

无论（别人）想不想要；不管三七二十一；随意，随心所欲，轻易，只管

Some writers chasing money churn out novels willy-nilly.

一些只想着钱的作家就一股脑地写一堆[劣质]小说。

Whenever I see a long handsome neck, willy nilly, the thought will come uppermost—What a capital neck for carving! Those cursed executions! One can't rid one's mind of them.

1868，[Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe，譯者 Arthur Duke Coleridge, Egmont. A Tragedy. […]，London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, Act II，頁 40:

I'll own I'm very glad he's come— / To hide my feelings would be silly— / You see I'm not so shy as some, / My thoughts will come out "willy-nilly."

1869年April1日，A. A. D.，“Twelve Scenes in a Young Lady’s Life. No. IV. A Spring Ramble.”, in The Young Englishwoman. A Volume of Pure Literature, New Fashions, and Pretty Needlework Patterns，卷 III, London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler, […], →OCLC, stanza 1，頁 220，列 1:

He says he shall come for me willy-nilly, and father and mother say I must have him! But I don't want to—because—because—I love you best!

1895 January，Thomas Hardy，“Hearts Insurgent”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine，卷 XC, 期 DXXXVI, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, chapter VIII，頁 194，列 2:

The outer world is what we wake up to every morning of our lives, is the place where, willy-nilly, we must try to make our living.

1954，Aldous Huxley，The Doors of Perception，London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC，頁 36:


wince

源自中古英語 wincen、winchen，源自盎格魯-諾曼語 *wenchir、古諾曼語 *wenchier（对比古法語 guenchir），源自古法蘭克語 *wenkjan，源自原始日耳曼語 *wankjan。参见德語 winken。

winces (third-person singular present)
wincing (present participle)
winced (past participle)

（因疼痛，痛苦而）缩身子，畏缩

The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.

1935，Francis Beeding，“7/2”, in The Norwich Victims:


watchtower

岗楼，（看守用的）瞭望塔

Redcap - A malevolent goblin easily distinguishable by their namesake red cap, fiery red eyes, claws and iron boots. They often appear as little old men, but can run very fast despite the boots. They reside in castles and watchtowers along the English-Scottish border, but will move their residence to avoid detection.

2002，Cecilia Dart-Thornton，The Ill-Made Mute: The Bitterbynde:


windscreen

（列车上靠门处的）挡风罩

As well as demonstrating operating facilities, full-size car body models are used for experimenting with new types of interior finish, systems of lighting, positioning of route diagrams and advertisements, and the best form of windscreens at doorways, and the height and location of handgrips and handrails.

1951 October，“Models Assist Rolling Stock Design”, in Railway Magazine，頁 647:


wishy-washy

wishy-washier (comparative)
more wishy-washy (comparative)
wishy-washiest (superlative)
most wishy-washy (superlative)

优柔寡断的，不干脆的，犹豫不决的

Not wanting to be pressed for details, public relations gave a wishy-washy answer.

公关部不想被问细节，给了一个模棱两可的答复。

I’m not about to vote Conservative myself (I’m a wishy-washy centrist who liked Tony Blair’s early work and has since mostly voted Labour, with an occasional swing to the Liberal Democrats and Greens)[…]

2023年July17日，Rhymer Rigby，“Sick of this Conservative government? That shouldn’t stop you having Tory friends”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

The wishy-washy orange juice served by the cafeteria not only failed to be sweet; it was barely orange.

饭堂的橙汁太淡了，不仅不甜，连橙色都很淡。

Usually the quality of the liquor is judged by the "bite" of it. The hotter the better. A drink of first class, aged whisky would be ridiculed in most parts of Maine as a wishy-washy beverage fit only for mollycoddles. The Down East "soak" wants something that stings and burns all the way, and usually he gets it[…]

1915，“Maine booze turns an iron tub blue”, in The Mixer and Server:

And you will appreciate drinking the hot cup, or rather billy, of tea—which is more than one can call the wishy-washy concoction served up in some 'tea-houses'.

2006，Gipsy Petulengro，Romany Hints for Outdoor Living and Tips for Ramblers，頁 7:


wobble

源自早期形式wabble，可能源自低地德語 wabbeln (“晃动”)。对比荷蘭語 wiebelen和wobbelen (“晃动”)、古諾爾斯語 vafla (“盘旋；踉跄”)。

The fat man walked down the street with a wobble.

那个胖子摇摇晃晃地走在街上。

That should have been that, but Hart caught a dose of the Hennessey wobbles and spilled Adlene Guedioura's long-range shot.

2011年October29日，Neil Johnston，“Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport:


wobble

wobbles (third-person singular present)
wobbling (present participle)
wobbled (past participle)

Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.

2013年July6日，“The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist，卷 408, 期 8843，頁 68:

the Earth wobbles slowly on its axis; the jelly wobbled on the plate

地球在其轴上缓缓地来回晃动。 果冻在盘子上晃来晃去


woolgather

woolgathers (third-person singular present)
woolgathering (present participle)
woolgathered (past participle)

I had bad times after that—crying at night and woolgathering by day. For two terms I slackened and had bad reports.


wench

名词派生自中古英語 wench、wenche (“女婴；女孩（尤指未婚的）；少妇；女奴隶；女仆；亲爱的；妾；妓女”) [以及其他形式]，略自中古英語 wenchel (“女孩；女仆；小孩”)，源自古英語 wenċel、winċel (“小孩；侍者；奴隶”)，源自原始日耳曼語 *wankilą，源自原始日耳曼語 *wankijaną (“摇，曳”)。英语词与古高地德語 wenken (“摇曳；投降”)、wankōn (“踉跄”)同源。
动词和形容词派生自名词。

少女，女孩 地位低微的女孩

Jane played the role of a wench in an Elizabethan comedy.

Jane在一出伊丽莎白时代的喜剧里扮演少女。

I, like a tẽder harted wench, skriked out for feare of the divell.

c. 1580，Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney]，“[The Second Booke] Chapter 14”, in The Covntesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia]，London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, 出版於 1590, →OCLC; republished in The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I)，Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC，頁 238:

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz ſtayed by En-rogel: (for they might not be ſeene to come into the citie) and a wench went and told them: and they went, and tolde king Dauid.

那時，約拿單和亞希瑪斯在隱羅結那裡等候，不敢進城，恐怕被人看見。有一個使女出來，將這話告訴他們，他們就去報信給大衛王。

1611，The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version)，London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 17:17，列 1:

We got wenches on the benches, and bitties with titties / Housing all girlies from city to city

1986年November15日，Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin （作曲作詞）, “Rhymin & Stealin”, in Licensed to Ill，演出者 the Beastie Boys:

The woman is a brazen, hard-looking wench, a female pedlar, who hawks needles, thread, cheap looking-glasses, pious pictures, almanacs, hair-pins, ballads, of the most humble pattern, through the country.

1871，W[illiam] Barry，“The Barony of Threeneheila within Drum”, in Moorland and Stream. With Notes and Prose Idyls on Shooting and Trout Fishing，London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC，頁 25:

[...] working for Colonel Boone a the time--and two more men whose names I disremember now, and a nigger wench we had for a cook. [...] So I got onto one of the ponies and led the others down to the spring near camp to water them while the wench was a getting breakfast, and some o' the rest o' the outfit was a fixin the saddles and greasing the wagon.

1881，Henry Inman，“A Legend of Pawnee Rock; or How the life of an old trapper was saved by a bird”, in Stories of the Old Santa Fe Trail，Kansas City, Missouri: Ramsey, Millett & Hudson，頁 89,91:

Whilſt Men have theſe Ambitious Fancies, / And wanton Wenches read Romances, / Our Sex will—What? out with it: Lye: / And Theirs in equal Strains reply.

1702，Mat[thew] Prior，“To a Young Gentleman in Love. A Tale.”, in Poems on Several Occasions，第2nd版, London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], 出版於 1709, →OCLC，頁 103:

Nancy Basset, 28, likely wench, mulatto / Proved to be free. / Certified free as per General Birch Certificate. // Patience Jackson, 23, very likely wench, mulatto / Says she was born free Rhode Island. / Certified free as per General Birch Certificate.

1776–1787，Carmelita Robertson，Elizabeth E. D. Eve，Black Loyalists of Nova Scotia: Tracing the History of Tracadie Loyalists, 1776–87 (Curatorial Report; no. 91)，Halifax, N.S.: History Section, Nova Scotia Museum, Department of Tourism & Culture, 出版於 2000, →ISBN:

A colored girl [...] was fined ten dollars in the Freedman's Court yesterday, for being drunk and disorderly. Not having the money in her possession, she requested that a guard be sent with her to her residence to procure it. The Provost allowed a guard to wait on the wench, who, as soon as she found herself inside of her own door, locked it, and left the poor guard outside without the money. He returned to court without either the wench or fine.

1866年March2日，“Sharp Wench”, in The Appeal，St. Paul, Minneapolis, Minn.: Parker, Burgett & Hardy, →OCLC，頁 3; quoted in Hannah Rosen，“Notes”, in Terror in the Heart of Freedom: Citizenship, Sexual Violence, and the Meaning of Race in the Postemancipation South (Gender and American Culture)，Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2009, →ISBN, footnote 186，頁 282:

So complete was this illusion, claims [Eric] Lott, that many audience members, including Mark Twain's mother, believed they were seeing authentic, biologically black performers on New York stages. Of course, wench characters seem to especially test the bounds of authentic performance. Played by men, wenches were nonetheless read by audiences as beautiful women: [...] [E]xtant photographs and engravings of wench performers do not always represent them as blacked up, [...] In antebellum minstrel shows, wench songs were most often sung about mulatto women rather than by them.

2014，Kirsten Pullen，“Light Egyptian: Lena Horne and the Representation of Black Femininity”, in Like a Natural Woman: Spectacular Female Performance in Classical Hollywood，New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, →ISBN，頁s 106–107:


wench

wenches (third-person singular present)
wenching (present participle)
wenched (past participle)

This is ſure ſome hide-bound ſtudent, that proportions his expence by his penſion; and wencheth at Tottenham court for ſtewed prunes and cheeſcakes.

1638，Thomas Nabbes，The Bride, a Comedie. […]，London: Printed by R[ichard] H[odgkinson] for Laurence Blaikelocke […], 出版於 1640, →OCLC; republished in Playes, Maskes, Epigrams, Elegies, and Epithalamiums. […]，London: Printed by I. Dawson, […], 1639, →OCLC, Act II, scene iv:

He [a man under the influence of the planet Mars] hath a marke or ſcar in his face, is broad-ſhouldered, a ſturdy ſtrong body, being bold and proud, given to mocke, ſcorne, quarrell, drinke, game and wench: which you may eaſily know by the Signe he is in; if in the houſe of ♀ he wencheth, if in ☿s he ſteals, [...]

1647，William Lilly，“Another Briefe Description of the Shapes and Formes of the Planets”, in Christian Astrology Modestly Treated of in Three Books. […]，London: Printed by Tho[mas] Brudenell for John Partridge and Humph[rey] Blunden, […], →OCLC，頁 85:

In ſhort, Ned has drank, wenched, fought, and beggared himſelf, through an exalted ſolicitude for the general emolument, and is now cloſe pent up in one of our priſons, out of a pure and diſintereſted regard for the welfare of ſociety.

1767，[Hugh Kelly]，“Saturday, May 1”, in The Babler. Containing a Careful Selection from those Entertaining and Interesting Essays, which have Given the Public so much Satisfaction under that Title during a Course of Four Years, in Owen’s Weekly Chronicle，卷 II, 期 LXVI, London: Printed for J[ohn] Newbery, […]; L. Hawes, W. Clarke, and R. Collins, […]; and J. Harrison, […], →OCLC:

I know a clergyman who, having enjoyed for several years the world's good opinion, was turned off, through a ridiculous pique, by a young nobleman to whom he was preceptor. [...] He drank, wenched, and was so complete a gambler, that, had he kept his old situation much longer, he would have ruined the principles of his pupil.

1807 March，[Charles] Dibdin，“Dibdin’s Tour. [Letter 1 … Introductory.]”, in The Polyanthos，卷 IV, Boston, Mass.: Published by J[oseph] T[inker] Buckingham, […], →OCLC, footnote，頁 247:

Bundy's reasons for leaving the Cape are obscure. He drinks, but that doesn't dim his powers. He wenches. But so do we all.

1972，Philip K[indred] Dick，章號 1, in We Can Build You (DAW SF Books; no. 14)，New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, →OCLC; 再版 London: HarperVoyager, HarperCollins, 2008, →ISBN，頁 11:

Already, you see, I had begun to acquire a taste for rakery and wenching among the London debutantes.

1979 October，Roald Dahl，章號 1, in My Uncle Oswald，London: Michael Joseph, →ISBN; 再版 New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2011, →ISBN: