illustrious

源自拉丁語 illūstris (“明亮的，闪亮的；显赫的，突出的”) + -ous (从名词构成形容词的后缀，表示拥有或显示出某种特质，程度任意)。illūstris派生自illūstrō (“照亮；使...出名，使...名声显赫”)，源自in- (表示里面的前缀) + lustrō (“通过献祭来净化；照亮”)（lustrō (“（净化为目的的）献祭”)，可能最终源自原始印歐語 *lewk- (“亮；照”)或*lewh₃- (“洗”)）。

more illustrious (comparative)
most illustrious (superlative)

名声显赫的，著名的，大名鼎鼎的 （自16世纪中叶）

The ant has made himself illustrious / Through constant industry industrious. / So what? / Would you be calm and placid / If you were full of formic acid?

1941，Ogden Nash，“The Ant”, in The Face is Familiar: The Selected Verse of Ogden Nash，第reprint版, Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Publishing Company, →OCLC，頁 224:

[Marcus] Rashford showed the fearless streak [Gareth] Southgate so admires with his constant willingness to run at Brazil's defence with pace, even demonstrating on occasion footwork that would not have been out of place from members of England's illustrious opposition.

2017年November14日，Phil McNulty，“England 0 – 0 Brazil”, in BBC Sport，存檔自the original on 2018-03-28:


immaculate

源自中古英語 immaculat，源自拉丁語 immaculātus。前缀im- (“不”) + maculātus，maculō (“玷污，弄脏”)的完成时被动分词，源自macula (“污渍，污点”)。参见mail。
取代了本土词unwemmed (“纯净的，未被污染的”)。

more immaculate (comparative)
most immaculate (superlative)

irreproachable

纯洁的，清白的，无罪孽的

Thou sheer, immaculate and silver fountain

1595 December 9 (first known performance)，William Shakespeare，“The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio)，London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:


ineptitude

The curse has been Spanish ineptitude feeding Gibraltarian intransigence. Border hold-ups are counterproductive to winning hearts and minds, as were blundering Argentinian landings on the outer Falklands.

2013, Simon Jenkins, Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history (in The Guardian, 14 August 2013)http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/14/gibraltar-falklands-deny-logic-history

He droned on with platitudes and ineptitudes while Malone whispered to Enid that if Alasha was a fair specimen of the population it was just as well that his native land was safely engulfed in the Atlantic Ocean.

1926，Sir Arthur Conan Doyle，The Land of Mist:


immolation

源自中古英語 immolacion，源自中古法語 immolation，源自古法語，源自拉丁語 immolatio。

Mary heard with sorrow, and fear also, of the projected journey; but the altered expression of Isabella's countenance was a great palliative—dreadful as it was that her husband should love another (and of that distressing fact it was impossible to doubt), his confidence was consoling; and her power to prove the firmness of her character, her right to his esteem, and the immolation of her happiness to further his desires, had, in itself, the sustainment which belongs to great sacrifice.

1842，[anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon]，章號 XXVIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […]，卷 II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC，頁 66:


inscrutable

从晚期拉丁語 īnscrūtābilis借入中古英語，源自in- (“不”) + scrūtō (“观察”)，对应于in- + scrutable。

more inscrutable (comparative)
most inscrutable (superlative)

His inscrutable theories would years later become the foundation of a whole new science.

他晦涩难懂的理论在多年后会变成一个新学科的基础。

She called my vanity license plate inscrutable! 'ICU81MI'? Hilarious!

2007年October11日，Robert Carlock，“Jack Gets in the Game”, in 30 Rock，季数 2, 集数 2, spoken by Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan):


insouciant

源自法語 insouciant，源自in- (“不”，前缀) + souciant (“担忧的”)，1828年。

more insouciant (comparative)
most insouciant (superlative)

an insouciant gesture

"I am quite serious in saying that your loss must and would be felt; but I verily believe," added she, after a moment's hesitation, "that you are so insouciant yourself, that you cannot believe that every body else is not equally indifferent."

1834，[Theresa Lewis]，章號 XII, in Dacre: A Novel. … In Three Volumes，卷 II, London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, […], →OCLC，頁 220:

It was there [Cadiz, Spain] that on Sunday I had seen the populace disport itself, and it was full of life then, gay and insouciant.

1905，William Somerset Maugham，章號 XXXVIII, in The Land of the Blessed Virgin: Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia，London: William Heinemann, →OCLC，頁 215:

When we left the Marr house, he [Peter] had boldly said to Felicity, "May I see you home?" And Felicity, much to our amazement, had taken his arm and marched off with him. […] As for me, I was consumed by a secret and burning desire to ask the Story Girl if I might see her home; but I could not screw my courage to the sticking point. How I envied Peter his easy, insouciant manner!

1913 August，L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery，“The Christmas Harp”, in The Golden Road，Boston, Mass.: The Page Company, 出版於 April 1926, →OCLC，頁s 31–32:

[…] [Jack] Nicholson turned to an assistant, bummed a cigarette, flashed one of his wolfish, insouciant grins and said, "We all have our little secrets, Seany."

2004年April26日，Richard Schickel，“Sean Penn: Necessary Actor”, in Time，存檔自the original on 2008-03-06:


intransigent

借自法語 intransigeant，源自西班牙語 intransigente，源自拉丁語 in- (“不”) + trānsigēns，trānsigō (“达成共识”)的过去分词，源自trāns (“穿越，跨越”) + agō (“做”)。

more intransigent (comparative)
most intransigent (superlative)

transigent

不妥协的，不让步的，顽固的

不妥协的，不让步的，顽固的

Don't waste your time trying to change his mind: he's completely intransigent.

别浪费时间去说动他了，他不会让步的。

Since I have been asked to do this in very brief compass, the harsh tone and terse style of my presentation will make my contentions appear more dogmatic and intransigent than I should wish them to be.

1966，H. Feigl，“Is Science Relevant to Theology?”, in Inquiries and Provocations: Selected Writings，出版於 2012, →ISBN:

Much of the new integration will come in the school districts that have been the most intransigent since the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation in its landmark 1954 decision.

1970年August31日，John Berbers，“Nixon Aides Voice Integration Hope”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

On the Spanish side, the war increased the anti-Cuban animosity and distrust felt by the most intransigent peninsulares.

1993，Leslie Bethell，Cuba: A Short History，Cambridge University Press, →ISBN，頁 27:


inane

源自中古法語 inane，源自拉丁語 inānis (“空的，没用的”)，其词源不详。

inaner (comparative)
more inane (comparative)
inanest (superlative)
most inane (superlative)

Francesca followed, reluctant enough in her secret; for though she would not have admitted it even to herself, she did shrink from the infliction of the inane solemnities with which her father garnished his discourse—to say nothing of the ungracious reflections which so often glanced at herself.

1834，L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon]，章號 XXIX, in Francesca Carrara. […]，卷 III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC，頁 237:

God, if she had to listen to another conversation about some kid she didnʼt know—how Tina J. stole the stage at the talent show or Bobby R. won the tee ball game or any other number of inane accomplishments.

2020，Brit Bennett，The Vanishing Half，Dialogue Books，頁 156:

This supremely gifted kid told me that in the early elementary grades, the songs sung in music class were so inane that he wanted to skip grades already! Eventually he did, so better late than never.


inane

[...] whom we watch as we watch the clouds careering in the windy, bottomless inane, or read about like characters in ancient and rather fabulous annals.

1881，Robert Louis Stevenson，Virginibus Puerisque:


inaugural

源自法語 inaugural，源自inaugurer，源自拉丁語 augurare (“起誓”)。

The University of Cape Town hosts an inaugural lecture by Professor Ian Scott […] on Wednesday at 8pm.

In 1928 [Martin] Heidegger succeeded [Edmund] Husserl to take a chair at Freiburg and in his inaugural lecture made a pronouncement that earned him a reputation as an archetypal metaphysician with his claim that our awareness of people as a whole depends on our experience of dread in the face of nothingness.

2014年April12日，Michael Inwood，“Martin Heidegger: the philosopher who fell for Hitler [print version: Hitler's philosopher]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)，London，頁 R11:


incarcerate

源自中世紀拉丁語 incarcerātus，incarcerō (“囚禁”)的过去分词，源自拉丁語 in- (“里，内”) + carcer (“牢房”)，即“放入牢房”。与cancel (“用线划掉”)和chancel (“格栅，栅栏后的地方”)有关。
还见carcerate和cancer。

incarcerates (third-person singular present)
incarcerating (present participle)
incarcerated (past participle)

/ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/

/ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/

其作为拉丁语由来词，相对于imprison有较为正式的色彩。但是在美国，该词即使在非正式场合也频繁使用。

（尤指因犯罪而）关押，监禁

Tolokonnikova has also been an effective public speaker even while incarcerated, but she has spoken out on politics and freedom in general rather than prisoners’ rights.

2013年September23日，Masha Gessen，“Life in a Russian Prison”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-24:


incarcerate

/ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/

/ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/

[…] Mr. Vanſe, Keeper of the Tolbooth, did give in a Bill, repreſenting, That there being ſo great a number of Priſoners, upon account of Conventicles, and for Criminal Cauſes, and the ſaid Captain being incarcerate, not for a Crime, but for not finding Caution, he was in bona fide not to look upon him as a Perſon that would eſcape: […]

1698，John Nisbet of Dirleton，Some Doubts & Questions, in the Law; Especially of Scotland. As Also, Some Decisions of the Lords of Council and Session: […]，Edinburgh: […] George Mosman, […]，頁 146:

Being Incarcerat he put forth a Blaſphemous Paper, not only condemning all the work of Reformation, but alſo the Engliſh Bible in the form as it is now extant; […]

1707，[James Renwick]，An Informatory Vindication of a Poor, Wasted, Misrepresented, Remnant of the Suffering, Anti-Popish, Anti-Prelatick, Anti-Erastian, Anti-Sectarian, True Presbyterian Church of Christ in Scotland: […]，頁 14:

THat where I being incarcerate within the ſaid Tolbooth, by Warrand of the Lord Juſtice Clerk, for the Crime of Murder alledged committed by me, […] humbly ſhewing, That where, he being incarcerate within the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, by Warrant of the Lord Juſtice Clerk, for the Crime of Muther committed by him, […]

1732，John Louthian，The Form of Process before the Court of Justiciary in Scotland; Containing the Constitution of the Sovereign Criminal Court, and the Way and Manner of Their Procedure: […]，Edinburgh: […] Robert Fleming and Company, for William Hamilton, […]，頁s 71 and 73:

While incarcerate below, / Prayer with every breath shall flow; / Praise, expiring on my tongue, / Live anew in holier song, / Where my soul, its trial past, / Perfect joy shall reap at last!

1833，Joseph P. Bartrum，The Psalms, Newly Paraphrased for the Service of the Sanctuary. […]，Boston, Mass.: Russell, Odiorne, and Company，頁 76:


jaded

源自jade (“老马”)，可能源自古諾爾斯語 jalda (“母驴”)。其中的jade是一个自1560年起用来骂女性的话。

more jaded (comparative)
most jaded (superlative)

exhausted

（因太老或经历过太多次而）无精打采的，精疲力竭的

fatigued

（因太老或经历过太多次而）无精打采的，精疲力竭的

wearied

（因太老或经历过太多次而）无精打采的，精疲力竭的

blasé

（因经历过太多次而）麻木的，冷漠的，无情的

But now I am jaded / You're out of luck / I'm rolling down the stairs / Too drunk to fuck

1981，“Too Drunk to Fuck”, 演出者 Dead Kennedys:


hyperbole

源自拉丁語 hyperbolē，源自古希臘語 ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ，“超过，夸张”)，源自ὑπέρ (hupér，“上”) + βάλλω (bállō，“丢，抛”)。hyperbola 的同源對似詞。

The great staircase, however, may be termed, without much hyperbole, a feature of grandeur and magnificence.

1837, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Legends of the Province House

Of course the hymn has come to us from somewhere else, but I do not know from where; and the average native of our village firmly believes that it is indigenous to our own soil—which it can not be, unless it deals in hyperbole, for the nearest approach to a river in our neighborhood is the village pond.

c. 1910, Theodore Roosevelt, Productive Scholarship

The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people's fantasies. ..People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It's an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.

1987, Donald Trump, Tony Schwartz, The Art of the Deal, p. 58.

In these circumstances, hyperbole is called for, the rhetorical figure that raises its objects up, excessively, way above their actual merit : it is not to deceive by exaggeration that one overshoots the mark, but to allow the true value, the truth of what is insufficiently valued, to appear.

1995，Richard Klein，“Introduction”, in Cigarettes are sublime，第Paperback版, Durham: Duke University Press, 出版於 1993, →ISBN, →OCLC，頁 17:

The perennial problem, especially for the BBC, has been to reconcile the hyperbole-driven agenda of newspapers with the requirement of balance, which is crucial to the public service remit.

2001, Tom Bentley, Daniel Stedman Jones, The Moral Universe


jetty

源自法語 jetée (“码头，堤道”)，源自jeter。对比jet、jutty。

jetties (third-person singular present)
jettying (present participle)
jettied (past participle)

ADENTELLARE […] It is properly to jetty out, or indent stones or timber of any unfinished building, that another may the easier be joyned unto, or that finished.

1598，John Florio，A Worlde of Wordes, or Dictionarie of the Italian and English tongues:


jetty

jettier (comparative)
jettiest (superlative)

those large black eyes were so blackly fringed, / The glossy rebels mocked the jetty stain [...].

But there was only Glorvina of the jetty ringlets with whom his intercourse was familiar, and this dashing young woman was not bent upon loving the Major, but rather on making the Major admire her […]

1847 January – 1848 July，William Makepeace Thackeray，Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero，London: Bradbury and Evans, […], 出版於 1848, →OCLC:

She raised her face veil […] showing two black eyes fringed with jetty lashes, whose glances were soft and languishing and whose perfect beauty was ever blandishing […]

1885，Sir Richard Burton，The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night，卷 1:


jibe

不详，可能源自古法語 giber (“嬉戏打闹”)。对比英語 jib (“（马）停下不愿继续走”)、古諾爾斯語 geipa (“胡说”)。
名词派生自动词。

He flung subtle jibes at her until she couldn’t bear to work with him any longer.

他动辄开她的玩笑，最后她再也不想和他干活了。

Come, come, we / All are Friends, nor have we Time for Jibe, / Or Anger now, but 'gainſt our common Foes, / The French and Scot; there let your Pray'rs, and Jeſts, / And Blows, be levell’d.

1746，[Charles Macklin]，King Henry the VII: Or the Popish Impostor. A Tragedy. […]，London: Printed for R. Francklin, […]; R[obert] Dodsley, […]; and J. Brotherton, […], →OCLC, act II, scene i，頁 24:

[George] Carlin's opening-night monologue included some blunt gibes at organized religion which would almost certainly have been cut out of any other network show.

1975年October27日，Jeff Greenfield，“Ragged but Funny”, in New York，卷 8, 期 43, New York, N.Y.: New York Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC，頁 65，列 3:


jibe

jibes (third-person singular present)
jibing (present participle)
jibed (past participle)

We could hardly speak before for fear of our Taskmasters; but we dare now Nose those Villains that used to gibe us.

1714，John Arbuthnot，A Farther Continuation of the History of the Crown-Inn: Part III. Containing the Present State of the Inn, and Other Particulars，第2nd版, London: Printed for J. Moor, […], →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2019-03-10，頁 15:

How I want thee, hum'rous Hogarth! / Thou, I hear, a pleaſant Rogue art; / […] / Draw the Beaſts as I deſcribe them, / From their Features, while I gibe them.

a. 1746，[Jonathan] Swift，“A Character, Panegyrick, and Description of the Legion Club”, in Miscellanies，第5th版, 卷 X, London: Printed for T. Woodward, C. Davis, C. Bathurst, and W[illiam] Bowyer, 出版於 1751, →OCLC，頁s 227–228:

Why thats the way to choake a gibing ſpirrit, / Whoſe influence is begot of that looſe grace, / Which ſhallow laughing hearers giue to fooles, […]

c. 1595–1596，W. Shakespere [i.e., 威廉·莎士比亞]，A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto)，London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, 出版於 1598, →OCLC; 再版為 Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5)，London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

Thus with talents well endu'd / To be ſcurrilous and rude; / When you pertly raiſe your ſnout, / Fleer and gibe, and laugh and flout; […]

1730，Jonathan Swift，“To Betty the Grizete”, in The Poetical Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. […]，Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], 出版於 1794, →OCLC; republished in The Works of the British Poets. […]，卷 IX, London: Printed for John & Arthur Arch; and for Bell & Bradfute, and J. Mundell & Co. Edinburgh, 1795, →OCLC，頁 128，列 2:

But now her mother was speaking again: 'And this – read this and tell me if you wrote it, or if that man's lying.' And Stephen must read her own misery jibing at her from those pages in Ralph Crossby's stiff and clerical handwriting.

1928，Radclyffe Hall，章號 27, in The Well of Loneliness，London: Jonathan Cape, →OCLC; 再版 Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 2005, →ISBN, book 2, section I，頁 182:

"What's the matter with you?" the woman jibed. She called after him as he walked away: "Nuts, that's what you are!"

1953，James Hilton，“Paris III”, in Time and Time Again (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book)，Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC，頁 216:


jibe

不详，可能与chime (“使...合唱”)有关。

本词和jive在美国均能指“一致”。虽然有一本现代词典收录了jive的这种用法，但是多数文献认为这种用法是错误的。

That explanation doesn’t jibe with the facts.

[T]here is something wrong with your figures. They do not jibe with experience. They do not jibe with prices. They do not jibe with what we know.

1926年May13日，Henry H. Glassie (witness)，“Statement of Henry H. Glassie, Member of United States Tariff Commission”, in Investigation of the Tariff Commission: Hearings before the Select Committee on Investigation of the Tariff Commission, United States Senate, Sixty-ninth Congress, First Session […] Part 1 […]，Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC，頁 529:

This did not jibe with the objectivist view that metaphor is of only peripheral interest in an account of meaning and truth and that it plays at best a marginal role in understanding.

1980，George Lakoff, Mark Johnson，章號 27, in Metaphors We Live By:


jiffy

不详，据说是窃贼黑话，原指“光”。亦曾作“giffy”，因此有人提出其与gliff有关。指信封时，其为Jiffy bag商标的通用化形式。

一会，一下子 （自1780年）

I’ll be back in a jiffy.

Most of the limbs of the law do every thing in a jiffy; but ask what they mean, and they would be as much puzzled, as if you required of them the explanantion of a common act of parliament.

1780, The Town and Country Magazine, vol. 12, p. 88, February 1780.

"Who says I filched a vipe?" demanded the indignant thief. "Say it agin', and I'll wisit your wittualling hoffice§ [footnote: § The Mouth.] in two jiffies, my queer von! I'se as 'onest a k'racter as hany, and doesn't know vot conweyancing‖ [footnote: ‖ Picking pockets, stealing.] is: d' ye 'ear that?"

1836，George W[illiam] M[acArthur] Reynolds，“Chapter XV”, in The Youthful Impostor. A Novel. … In Two Volumes，卷 I, Philadelphia, Pa.: E. L. Carey & A. Hart, →OCLC，頁 200:

Of course it's kill or be killed, so at it you go, like Carter and his wild beasts, only in right down earnest, two or three more Tigers joining in, clash slash, and the sparks flying as thick as in a smith's forge, or at a Terrific Combat at the Surrey or the Wells. Such a shindy is too hot to last, and, accordingly, if you're alive at the end of two jiffies, the chance is that you find yourself making quite a melodramatic Tableau—namely, your bloody sword in one hand, a Chinese pigtail in the other, and four or five weltering Tartars lying round your feet!

1842 December，“the Editor” [Thomas Hood]，“More News from China”, in The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist，卷 LXVI, 期 CCLXIV (Third Part), London: Henry Colburn, Great Marlborough St., →OCLC，頁 427:

Here Godfroy nodded pleasantly to Claude, who bowed, and was off— / —In a jiffy* to his men, who greeted him with loud hurrahs. In another jiffy, he was on a barrel, making them an oration. In another jiffy, he had hold of a horse, somehow—for the man had contrived already to make himself so popular in Viot, that he could have anything he liked for the asking. [Footnote: * Jiffy.—Let not the reader scorn the word; it is in Webster. "Jiffy, a moment."—Webster.]

1864，Ulric De Lazie [pseudonym?; copyright entered by Edmund D. Griffin]，Dreams within Dreams; a Plagiarism of the Seventeenth Century; Being, Like Most Visions of the Night, a Medley of Old Things and New，New York, N.Y.: P. O'Shea, 104 Bleecker Street, →OCLC，頁 233:

Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern. Then, for a jiffy, I hung on and fought for breath.

1913，Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln，章號 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients，New York, N.Y., London: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, →OL，頁 166:

"Plonker!" Harry shouted. Sgt Glum arrived at the double from the newly extended kitchen were the SAS were billeted. / "Sah?" / "Prepare the men, Sergeant, we're on the march in two jiffies." "Yessah! Where to, sah?"

2012，Nigel Peace，“The Wilderness”, in 5ign5 of 1if3: A Hilarious Novel of Life and Death，Gobowen, Shropshire: Local Legend Publishing, →ISBN:

基础计时器的时间单位 （一般指0.01秒，但部分操作系统使用其他值）

The FOR...NEXT loop for TIME increments by STEP 2 (every two jiffies) for two reasons: 1) the printing of 60 jiffies a second is too fast to read, and 2) the printing of each jiffy takes longer than its incrementations; this would delay the loop, so the printing of TIME$ is slower than it should be.

1980，Carroll S. Donahue，Janice K. Enger，PET-CBM Personal Computer Guide，Berkeley, Calif.: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, →OCLC，頁 283:

The number of processed packets per round is limited in dependence of the page size. The processed packets are forwarded to a single queue and are processed for the time of two jiffies.

2015，Johanna Ullrich，Edgar R. Weippl，“Protection through Isolation: Virtues and Pitfalls”, in The Cloud Security Ecosystem: Technical, Legal, Business and Management Issues (Syngress Advanced Topics in Information Security)，Waltham, Mass.: Syngress, →ISBN，頁 135:


jilt

低地蘇格蘭語 jillet (“轻佻女性”)的缩约形。

jilts (third-person singular present)
jilting (present participle)
jilted (past participle)

将...无情抛弃，甩 (爱人)；（在恋爱中）欺骗

The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

1897年 12月（標示為1898年），Winston Churchill，章號 8, in The Celebrity: An Episode，紐約: The Macmillan Company；倫敦：Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:


hypocritical

源自hypocritic + -al，源自古希臘語 ὑποκριτικός (hupokritikós)，源自ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs，“演员，伪善者”)，源自ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai，“舞台上出演角色”)，源自ὑπό (hupó，“在下方”) + κρίνω (krínō，“选择”)。

more hypocritical (comparative)
most hypocritical (superlative)

虚伪的，伪善的 （自16世纪中叶）

[Stephen] Miller’s uncle, a neuroscientist, has been welcomed onto the public stage for his denunciations of his nephew’s immigration policies, which the elder Miller has characterized as hypocritical: the Millers’ not-so-distant Jewish ancestors were, of course, immigrants themselves.

2019年July15日，Greg Afinogenov，“The Jewish Case for Open Borders”, in Jewish Currents，期 Summer 2019:


kempt

原为kemb的过去分词，源自中古英語 kemben，源自古英語 cemban (“梳理”)。现代用法逆构自表否定的unkempt。详见kemb、comb。

For a moment Boshy thought his senses were playing up with him, for there in the door entrance stood the identical girl - the same turkey-egg complexion, stubby nose, and her red hair only changed from unkempt to kempt.

1907，Barbara Baynton，Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton)，St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 出版於 1980，頁 189:

He could see her now: middle-aged, gray hair, well kempt, European-looking.

1982，Michael Blodgett，Captain Blood，頁 iii. 342:


kerchief

源自中古英語 coverchef及其他形式，源自古法語 couvrechief，源自couvrir (“盖住”) + chief (“头”)。

And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap, / Had just settled down for a long winter's nap […]

1823，Clement Clark Moore，The Night Before Christmas:


lavender

源自中古英語 lavendre，源自盎格魯-諾曼語 lavendre（法語 lavande），源自中世紀拉丁語 lavendula，可能源自拉丁語 lividus (“浅蓝的”)，但因薰衣草常用于洗衣，而受到了lavō (“洗”)的影响。

lavenders (third-person singular present)
lavendering (present participle)
lavendered (past participle)

用薰衣草装饰或给...予薰衣草香

Short shafts of dying sunlight mingled with the deepening grey, lavendering the horizon, and all nature seemed to hush as though waiting to welcome the night.

1986，Katherine Gibson Fougera，With Custer's Cavalry，頁 47:


loom

源自古諾爾斯語 ljóma (“发光”)。

looms (third-person singular present)
looming (present participle)
loomed (past participle)

逼近，将至；（想法等）笼罩（在心头）

With no extra-time to be played and penalties looming, the Portuguese winger pounced on some hesitant City defending to run on to a Wayne Rooney clearance, round Joe Hart and slot home.

2011年August7日，Chris Bevan，“Man City 2 - 3 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:

In the meantime, SWR staff have warned privately that an acute shortage of rolling stock is looming, because the new trains are not ready.

2021年November3日，Paul Clifton，“Network News: Rolling stock concerns as '701s' "not fit for purpose"”, in RAIL，期 943，頁 21:

On no occasion does he [Paul] loom so high, and shine so gloriously, as in the context.

1822，John M. Mason，The Evangelical Ministry Exemplified in the Apostle Paul:


laconic

源自拉丁語 Lacōnicus (“斯巴达的”)，源自古希臘語 Λακωνικός (Lakōnikós，“拉哥尼亚的”)。拉哥尼亚是斯巴达居住和统治的地方，而斯巴达人特点之一就是讲话简短凝练。

more laconic (comparative)
most laconic (superlative)

I grow laconick even beyond laconicism; for sometimes I return only yes, or no, to questionary or petitionary epistles of half a yard long.

August 17, 1736，亞歷山大·波普，letter to Jonathan Swift:

His sense was strong and his style laconic.

1738，Zachary Grey，An Attempt towards the Character of the Royal Martyr King Charles I:


kibosh

名词词源不详，有下列说法：
* kurbash (“鞭打，抽打”)的无R音变体，源自阿拉伯語 كُرْبَاج (kurbāj，“鞭打，抽打”)，或源自这个词的词源鄂圖曼土耳其語 قرباچ (kırbaç，“鞭打，抽打”)（派生出 土耳其語 kırbaç (“鞭打”)）。
* 源自愛爾蘭語 caidhp bháis (字面意思是“死帽”)，据称其可指英国法官宣判死刑时所戴的黑帽子、死囚被处以绞刑前穿的兜帽、以及一种叫做pitchcapping的酷刑。但是，似乎没有证据证明该词使用于这些义项。
* 源自某意第绪语单词（对比希伯來語 כָּבַשׁ (kavásh，“征服”)），但是没有找到具体何词。
* 源自中古英語 cabochen (“砍掉（头，尤指鹿头），砍头”)，源自中古法語 cabocher (“砍掉（头）”)，源自caboche (“头”，法国北部，非正式)（派生出中古英語 caboche (“卷心菜菜包”)），源自意大利語 capocchia (“脑袋”，贬义)，最终源自拉丁語 caput (“头”)。中古英语词据称同化自伦敦俚语。
* 鞋匠俚语kibosh (“一英尺长的铁条，加热后用来熨烫皮革”)。
动词派生自名词

主要用于put on the kibosh或put the kibosh on：限制物，抑制物

Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Gob, that puts the bloody kybosh on it if old sloppy eyes is mucking up the show.

1922 February，James Joyce，“[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses，Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey]，頁 321:

George put the kibosh on the Kirov case and now he's trying to get it right, flying solo in his old age.

1979 November，John le Carré [pseudonym: David John Moore Cornwell]，章號 15, in Smiley’s People (A Borzoi Book)，第1st trade版, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, 出版於 1980, →ISBN，頁 198:

I know because I worked with the Home Office and the service for many years to accomplish what became the envy of the world. It was being dismantled long before [Theresa] May took office – [David] Blunkett started the rot – but May has the ultimate kibosh.

2013年January31日，Saville Kushner，“Letters: The high price society and officers are paying for policing cuts”, in The Guardian，London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2022-05-17:


kibosh

kiboshes (third-person singular present)
kiboshing (present participle)
kiboshed (past participle)

Philly Kiboshes Blackout Tutoring [title] […] Plan of the Pennsylvania State Council of Defense to ring in a State-wide network of 45 stations for an "educational" blackout test, was nixed by the Office of Censorship after it was okayed by the Third Service Command of the army. Skedded for Thursday (8), purpose of the broadcast was to educate public with air raid warning signals and all Pennsylvanians were urged to listen to instructions as broadcast.

1943年July17日，“Philly Kiboshes Blackout Tutoring”, in The Billboard: The World’s Foremost Amusement Weekly，卷 55, 期 29, Cincinnati, Oh.: Roger S. Littleford Jr.; William D. Littleford, →OCLC，頁 6，列 1:

Deal for network star Henry Morgan to sign a Majestic contract for two albums has fallen thru, with Paul Baron, newly-named artist and repertoire topper at the diskery, kiboshing a deal that virtually had been consummated between his predecessors and Music Corporation of America (MCA).

1947年September6日，“Paul Baron Nixes 2 Morgan Albums”, in The Billboard: The World’s Foremost Amusement Weekly，卷 59, 期 35, Cincinnati, Oh.: Roger S. Littleford Jr.; William D. Littleford, →OCLC，頁 14，列 3:

His second book is full of spirited advice on how to do business deals. According to [Mark] McCormack, this often amounts to keeping lawyers from kiboshing the deal.

1987年December1日，Peter Megargee Brown，“We Have Met the Enemy: The Terrible Truth about Lawyers by Mark H. McCormack, William Morrow, New York, N.Y., 260 pages; $17.95 [book review]”, in ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine，Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →ISSN, →OCLC，頁 127:

But this discovery, as cheering as it was, also kiboshed the hypothesis about different-colored varieties of H. simus in different reasons, because the dozen animals at Kianjavato were charcoal gray, just as [Patricia] Wright had originally expected.

1996，David Quammen，“So Huge a Bignes”, in The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions，New York, N.Y.: Scribner, 出版於 2004, →ISBN，頁 239:

At which point, Mrs Arbuthnot enters to kibosh her son's prospects, only to be told, when the family facts emerge, that she should marry the high-born roué who has ruined her.

2003年September17日，Michael Billington，“Theatre: A Woman of No Importance, Haymarket Theatre, London [review]”, in The Guardian，London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2022-05-17:

It appears some chump at Revenue and Customs has, against all rules, put a disc or discs containing 25 million child benefit records – names, addresses, National Insurance numbers, bank account details, the lot – in the post and inevitably it has gone missing. […] As several people pointed out, with particular reference to ID cards, this kiboshes any notion that confidential information is safe in government hands.

2007 November 20 (date written)，Chris Mullin，章號 2007, in Decline and Fall: Diaries 2005–2010，London: Profile Books, 出版於 2010, →ISBN，頁s 213–214:

Fortunately the FA [Football Association], in a rare moment of decisiveness, stepped in to kibosh the plan.

2010年May15日，Andrew Anthony，“Yes, the Capello Index wasn’t a good move, but remember Glenn?”, in The Observer，London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2022-10-11:

Extensive highlights from Glastonbury, an Allied mission to kibosh the German A-bomb and a homage to Arthur Ashe。

2015年June26日，Ali Catterall, Julia Raeside, John Robinson, David Stubbs，“Friday’s best TV”, in The Guardian，London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2022-05-17, subtitle:

Superman bashed Bavarians and kiboshed Krauts with a mix of solemn consecration, righteous anger and cathartic glee.

2021，Roy Schwartz，“The Galactic Golem”, in Is Superman Circumcised?: The Complete Jewish History of the World’s Greatest Hero，Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, part III (Mensch of Steel: Fulfilling Jewish Fantasy and Faith)，頁 166:


kibosh

可能是bosh (“胡言”)的变体。

Still I wish you a 'Appy New Year, if you care for the kibosh, old Chappie, / Though 'taint 'Igh Art Cards full o' gush and green paint 'll make you and me 'appy. / Wot we want is lucre and larks, love and lotion as much as you'll carry!

1885年January3日，’Arry [pseudonym]，“’Arry on ’Appiness”, in Punch, or The London Charivari，卷 LXXXVIII, London: […] Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC，頁 4，列 1:

Gar'n! Gives me the 'ump, all this kibosh 'bout morals, and taste, and all that.

1887年April9日，’Arry [pseudonym]，“Studies from Mr. Punch’s Studio. No. XXIV.”, in Punch, or The London Charivari，卷 XCII, London: […] Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC，頁 172，列 2:


kibosh

She was, in very Sooth, among the highest of the Rollers, but Hiram stood for the Bills with nary a Whimper. He was proud to be the Husband of the Lady Ki-Bosh of the Local Knickerbockers.

1904 March，George Ade，“Rugged Hiram and Hiram’s Giddy Wife”, in Breaking into Society，New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC，頁 34:


kickshaw

Some Pigeons Davy, a couple of ſhort-legg'd Hennes: a / ioynt of Mutton, and any pretty little tine Kickſhawes, / tell William Cooke.

c. 1596–1599，William Shakespeare，“The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio)，London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]，頁 96，列 1:

Allow me now to recommend this dish— / A simple kickshaw by your Persian cook, / Such as is served at the great King’s second table.

1820，Percy Bysshe Shelley，Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts，頁 39:

The "Penny Magazine" for 1842 has a good and suggestive paper on "Feasts and Entertainments," with extracts from some of the early dramatists and a woodcut of "a new French cook, to devise fine kickshaws and toys."

1886，William Carew Hazlitt，“The Early Englishman and His Food”, in Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine，出版於 1902:

The lunch […] consisted […] of […] lobster mayonnaise, cold game sausages, an immense veal and ham pie farced with eggs, truffles, and numberless delicious flavours; besides kickshaws, creams and sweetmeats.

Art thou good at theſe kicke-chawſes Knight?

c. 1601–1602 （写稿日期），威廉·莎士比亚，“Twelfe Night, or What You Will [第十二夜]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio（第一对开本）)，伦敦: […] Isaac Iaggard和Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]，頁 257，列 1:


lousy

lousier (comparative)
lousiest (superlative)

riddled

充满...的，挤满...的 （带贬义）

-ridden

充满...的，挤满...的 （带贬义）

inundated

充满...的，挤满...的 （带贬义）

jam-packed

充满...的，挤满...的 （带贬义）

teeming

充满...的，挤满...的 （带贬义）

第二次世界大战前被认为是冒犯性的脏话。现在语气较轻，已经有些过时。

充满...的，挤满...的 （带贬义）

The place was lousy with students.

The benignant influence crept like gas through the Row. […] And triangulation might possibly have located it in the Palace Flophouse and Grill. Certainly the Palace was lousy with it. Mack and the boys were charged. Jones was seen to leap from his chair only to do a quick tap dance and sit down again.

[I talked to] Annabeth about the Greek gods who hung out in New York and made her life difficult. Apparently North America was lousy with ancient gods. We had a full-blown infestation.

2016，Rick Riordan，The Hammer of Thor，頁 6:


lovelorn

more lovelorn (comparative)
most lovelorn (superlative)

失恋的；恋情屡受挫折的；渴求爱的

Ye lovesick bards! repay her scorn for scorn; / Ye artists lovelorn! madmen that ye are, / Make your best bow to her and bid adieu / Then, if she likes it, she will follow you.

A soft-breasted bird from the sea / Fell in love with the light-house flame; / And it wheeled round the tower on its airiest wing, / And floated and cried like a lovelorn thing;

1890，John Boyle O'Reilly，“A Tragedy”, in In Bohemia:


lovelorn

And when there's a price involved, she can help others but - not herself. She gives advice to the lovelorn every day but she's never been in love herself. Or so I've heard.

1984，Alan Rudolph，Choose Me (motion picture), spoken by Nancy (Geneviève Bujold):


limp

源自中古英語 limpen (“缺憾”)，源自古英語 limpan，源自原始日耳曼語 *limpaną (“吊着”)，源自原始印歐語 *(s)lemb-、*(s)lembʰ- (“松垮地垂”)。与低地德語 lumpen (“跛脚”)、中古高地德語 limpfen (“蹒跚”)，德語方言词lampen (“松垮地垂”)、冰島語 limpa (“软，弱”)同源。

limps (third-person singular present)
limping (present participle)
limped (past participle)

Dirk Kuyt sandwiched a goal in between Carroll's double as City endured a night of total misery, with captain Carlos Tevez limping off early on with a hamstring strain that puts a serious question mark over his participation in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Wembley.

2011年April11日，Phil McNulty，“Liverpool 3 - 0 Man City”, in BBC Sport:


lambaste

1637年首次可考。可能是lam (“打”) + baste (“打”)构成的复合词。

lambastes (third-person singular present)
lambasting (present participle)
lambasted (past participle)

The sergeant lambasted the new recruits daily.

Her first novel was well and truly lambasted by the critics.

他的第一本小说被书评猛烈批评。

Indeed, part of the problem was that Armstrong was rowing back on so much previous behaviour and years of aggressive lambasting of reporters, officials and team-mates who had claimed he was doping. "I don't forgive Lance Armstrong, who lied to me in two interviews. And I suspect most of America won't, either," Kurtz wrote.

2013年January19日，Paul Harris，“Lance Armstrong faces multi-million dollar legal challenges after confession”, in The Guardian:

Labour frontbencher Louise Haigh (Shadow Transport Secretary for heaven's sake!) initially lambasted TOCs before the handful of specialist rail commentators fell on her tweets and she changed her tune, refocusing her fire on Government.

2023年August9日，Nigel Harris，“Comment: Disinterested and dishonest”, in RAIL，期 989，頁 3:


lumbago

名词借自晚期拉丁語 lumbāgō (“腰部疼痛”)，源自晚期拉丁語 lumbus (“腰部的”)、拉丁語 lumbus (“腰部”)（最终源自原始印歐語 *lendʰ- (“腰部”)） + -āgō (构成描述物体、动物和植物的名词的后缀)。
动词直接衍生自名词。

/lʌmˈbeɪɡəʊ/

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

/ˌlʌmˈbeɪˌɡoʊ/

Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.

1935，Francis Beeding [笔名，原名John Palmer]，章號 VII, in The Norwich Victims，London: Arcturus Publishing, 出版於 2013, →ISBN, →OL, section 2:

We may imagine an athletics coach with a scientific training researching into the physiology and the psychology of runners. [...] He finds out the effects of fatigue, of alcohol, of tobacco, of lumbago and of depression upon their performances.

1953，吉尔伯特·赖尔，“Dilemma VII: Perception”, in Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures, 1953，Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 出版於 1954 (1987 printing), →ISBN，頁 105:


luminescent

more luminescent (comparative)
most luminescent (superlative)

But this does not have the slightly yellow glow of things made with luminescent dye.

2020，N. K. Jemisin，The City We Became，Orbit，頁 218:


lummox

不详。首次記錄於1825年，是东安格利亚俚语。可能源自“dumb ox”，受到了lumbering的影响，或者，源自方言词lummock (“笨拙地走”)或与之同源，其亦词源不详。

You've broken the plates, you great lummox!

盘子被你弄碎了，大傻子！

I love you, Gal. You're lovable. Big lovable bloke. Loveable lump. Loveable lummox. Gal Dove, party boy. Big oaf.

2000，Louis Mellis, David Scinto，Sexy Beast (motion picture), spoken by Don Logan (Ben Kingsley):


klutz

源自意第緒語 קלאָץ (klots，字面意思是“木梁”)，与德語 Klotz (“块”)同源。

Well, that's all right, then, Brian. Sit down. Have a scone. Make yourself at home. You klutz!

1979，Monty Python's Life of Brian，spoken by Reg (John Cleese):

"Out of [one abortion doctor's] first six months of work, there are nine malpractice suits ... After it was apparent the guy was a klutz, they kept using him, and trying to cover for him, because they couldn't find another provider."

1990年June3日，Dr. Robert Crist, abortion doctor（被引）, St. Petersburg Times:

"Mel, back home we'd call you a klutz." / Melissa: "Use a lot of Yiddish back in Texas, do you?"

2003，Greg Rucka，Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra:


landlocked

被陆地包围的，内陆的，不临海的

Switzerland is landlocked and obviously will never be a great sea power and must always trade overland.

瑞士是内陆国家，因此不会有很强的海军实力，只能进行陆地贸易。

Located in Kowloon, with an area of 9.36 km², Wong Tai Sin is the only district in Hong Kong that is totally landlocked. It has a population of 420,183 (2011) and a high density of 44.891/km².

2020，Eunice Mei Feng Seng，Resistant City: Histories, Maps and the Architecture of Development, →DOI, →ISBN, →OCLC，頁 https://books.google.com/books?id=4mLcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT228，列s 1, 2:

An easement of necessity, said the court, may be provided when property is landlocked and the owner needs access to that property from a public highway.

2005，Washington Legislative Reference Bureau，State of Wisconsin Blue Book, 2005-2006，頁 610:

In some states, the law allows for easements by necessity, especially in circumstances where a property is landlocked.

2005，Thomas J. McEvoy，Owning and Managing Forests: A Guide to Legal, Financial, and Practical Matters，頁 49:

For example, if a property is landlocked (entirely surrounded by other privately owned land) and has no access to a public street...

2006，Real Estate Principles，Rockwell publishing，頁 114:


lupus

借自拉丁語 lupus (“狼”)。lobo和wolf 的同源對似詞。

You like the name quesalupa? That is a little like "case of lupus". I just keep thinking about that.

2015年January21日，片头起00:05:15, in Conan Visits Taco Bell (Conan)，Conan O'Brien (actor), Team Coco:

Iberdomide, a cereblon modulator promoting degradation of the transcription factors Ikaros and Aiolos, which affect leukocyte development and autoimmunity, is being evaluated for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

2022年March17日，Joan T. Merrill, Victoria P. Werth, Richard Furie et al.，“Phase 2 Trial of Iberdomide in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus”, in The New England Journal of Medicine，卷 386, 期 11, →DOI，頁 1034:


lurch

原为航海用语，借自法語 lâcher (“放开”)。

the lurch of a ship, or of a drunkard

The ship was driving rapidly towards the rocky coast, against which she must have been dashed to pieces had she kept afloat a few minutes longer, but she gave a lurch and went down, rose again for an instant, and with another lurch sank, and all was over,—and there were nearly two hundred and fifty human beings struggling with the waves.

1850，William O. S. Gilly，“The Tribune”, in Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy […] ，London: John W. Parker:


lurch

源自拉丁語 lurcāre。

lurches (third-person singular present)
lurching (present participle)
lurched (past participle)

Too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear.

1625，Francis [Bacon]，“Of Building”, in The Essayes […]，第3rd版, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:


lurch

源自中古英語 *lurche（由lurching推测出），源自古法語 lourche (“被骗的；尴尬的；一种游戏”)，源自原始西日耳曼語 *lort (“左；左撇子的；扭曲的；弯曲的；变形的；狡诈的；跛脚的”)。与英語 lirt同源。

And in the brunt of seventeen battles since / He lurched all swords of the garland.

c. 1608–1609，William Shakespeare，“The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio)，London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:


listless

源自中古英語 lystles，等价于list (“欲望”) + -less。对比德語 lustlos和荷蘭語 lusteloos (“无精打采的”)。lustless 的同源對似詞。

more listless (comparative)
most listless (superlative)

What an entirely different set of beings were those Stokesley children in lesson-time. . . . Poor, listless, stolid, deplorable logs, with bowed backs and crossed ankles, pipy voices and heavy eyes!

1861，Charlotte M. Yonge，章號 6, in The Stokesley Secret:

The scene with Mrs. Wallace had broken his spirit, and he was listless now, indifferent to what happened.

1901，William Somerset Maugham，章號 21, in The Hero:

“Listless, inattentive, distracted,” he recited. “A daydreamer. Tries his best, but is too slow.”

2005年November29日，Aryn Baker，“John Hardy: Bali Guy”, in Time:


literally

more literally (comparative)
most literally (superlative)

actually

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

really

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

unfiguratively

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

unmetaphorically

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

virtually

简直，几乎，可以说 （用于加强比喻义的程度，而非否定比喻义）

merely

仅仅，不过 （用作广义弱化修饰词）

overliterally

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

figuratively

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

idiomatically

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

metaphorically

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

virtually

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

Literally是figuratively的反义词，因此很多官方机构反对将literally用作比喻用法的语气加强词，比如“you literally become the ball”，不带任何比喻义的话，就是指“你变成了球”，而这是不可能的，但是实际上，这是说话人在使用literally作为语气加强词，来强调比喻义的程度。这种用法在非正式口语中很常见（“she was literally in floods of tears”）。

字面意义上的，没有比喻的

同類詞：etymonically

When I saw on the news that there would be no school tomorrow because of the snowstorm, I literally jumped for joy, and hit my head on the ceiling fan.

我看到新闻说明天学校因为暴风雪停课时，我高兴得真的跳了起来，然后头撞到了吊扇。

[…] Men In Black 3 finagles its way out of this predicament by literally resetting the clock with a time-travel premise that makes Will Smith both a contemporary intergalactic cop in the late 1960s and a stranger to Josh Brolin, who plays the younger version of Smith’s stone-faced future partner, Tommy Lee Jones.

2012年May24日，Nathan Rabin，“Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:

As lawmakers and staff rushed out, aides snatched the boxes containing the Electoral College certificates, making sure that the vandals could not literally steal the results of the election.

2021年January7日，Luke Broadwater, Emily Cochrane，“Inside the Capitol, the Sound of the Mob Came First”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

简直，几乎，可以说 （用于加强比喻义的程度，而非否定比喻义）

He was so surprised, he literally jumped twenty feet in the air.

My daughter's pet rabbit had babies, and now we've literally got rabbits coming out of our ears.

我女儿的宠物兔子生宝宝了，现在我们家可以说到处都是兔子。

On 9/11 people were literally glued to their TV sets.

9/11事件时大家时时刻刻都盯着电视。

The house was literally electrified; and it was only from witnessing the effects of her genius that he could guess to what a pitch theatrical excellence could be carried.

1827，Sir Walter Scott，“Appendix to Introduction”, in Chronicles of the Canongate，存檔自the original on 2021-06-15:

You literally become the ball in a tennis match, you become the report that you are working on […]

[O]ne can assume that the millions or billions of ringgit spent on the war against drugs have gone down the drain, literally.

2017年April22日，New Straits Times，Malaysia，頁 20:

真的 （增强非比喻义词的语气）

I had no idea, so I was literally guessing.

我不懂，我真的就只是在猜。

I was literally having breakfast when she arrived.

她来的时候我真的就在吃早餐。

She was literally like, "What?", and I was literally like, "Yeah".

她就说了句，“哈？”然后我也回了句，“对。”

Literally who is this?

Pearl: Steven, we are not like the No Home Boys. We are literally standing in your home right now.


lethargic

源自古希臘語 ληθαργικός (lēthargikós)，源自λήθαργος (lḗthargos，“健忘的，拖拖拉拉的”)，源自λήθη (lḗthē，“忘记，忘却”)（派生出Lethe (“遗忘河，希腊神话中冥界的一条河”)） + ἀργός (argós，“无法正常工作的”)。

more lethargic (comparative)
most lethargic (superlative)

/ləˈθɑɹd͡ʒɪk/

/ləˈθɑːd͡ʒək/

/ləˈθɑː.d͡ʒɪk/

没精打采的，缓慢的，拖拖拉拉的

[That cat] hasn't caught a mouse since he was a slip of a kitten. Except when eating, he does nothing but sleep. Lethargic is the word that springs to the lips. If you cast an eye on him, you will see that he's asleep now.

1960，P. G. Wodehouse，Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII:


lithe

源自中古英語 lithe，源自古英語 līþe (“轻柔的”)，源自原始西日耳曼語 *linþ(ī)，源自原始日耳曼語 *linþaz，源自原始印歐語 *lentos。与薩特弗里斯蘭語 lied (“瘦的，憔悴的”)，丹麦语和古德语lind (“温和的”)有关。在哥特语中不可考。一些文献指出拉丁語 lenis (“软的”)和/或拉丁語 lentus (“柔软灵活的”)亦为其同源词。

lither (comparative)
lithest (superlative)

lithe body

The coaches are grim, tan, lithe-looking women, clearly twirlers once, on the far side of their glory now and very serious-looking, each with a clipboard and whistle.

1997，David Foster Wallace，“Getting Away From Already Pretty Much Being Away From It All”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again，第Kindle版, Little, Brown Book Group:

Yet the 2016 Éxilé rosé from Lise et Bertrand Jousset in the Loire Valley, made mostly of gamay, was yeasty let light and lithe, while the 2016 Indigeno from Ancarani in Emilia-Romagna, made of trebbiano, was taut and earthy.

2018年March8日，Eric Asimov，“Bubbles, With Joy: Pétillant Naturel’s Triumphant Return”, in The New York Times:


lascivious

more lascivious (comparative)
most lascivious (superlative)

Sir, I will answer anything. But I beseech you, if't be your pleasure and most wise consent, as partly I find it is, that your fair daughter, at this odd-even and dull watch o'the night, transported with no worse nor better guard but with a knave of common hire, a gondolier, to the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor – if this be known to you, and your allowance, we then have done you bold and saucy wrongs; but if you know not this, my manners tell me we have your wrong rebuke.

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 1, scene 1]:

Increasing numbers of English-speaking tourists have made a point of stopping in to snap pictures of themselves by the signpost at the entrance to the village, sometimes striking lascivious poses for social media.

2020年November26日，Philip Oltermann in Berlin，“Fugging hell: tired of mockery, Austrian village changes name”, in The Guardian:


lass

源自中古英語 lasse，源自古諾爾斯語 laskura (“少女，未婚女性”)。与低地蘇格蘭語 lassie同源。

苏格兰英语、爱尔兰英语、英国东北部、兰开夏和约克郡中仍常用。

同類詞：lad

Come and dance, ye lads and lasses!

My audience to this not-too-easy operation was a small group of Scottish school lasses, who seemed (perhaps naturally) to find the proceedings somewhat mysterious, but at any rate amusing. I wished they would go away, but they didn't, so I had to get on with the job to the accompaniment of a background of giggles!

1952 February，H. C. Casserley，“Permanent Wayfarings”, in Railway Magazine，頁 77:


leviathan

源自中古英語 levyethan、levyathan等，源自晚期拉丁語 leviathan，希伯來語 לִוְיָתָן (liv'yatán)的圣经转写。

Canſt thou draw out Leuiathan with an hooke? or his tongue with a corde which thou letteſt downe?

1611，The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version)，London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 41:1，列 1:


lately

源自中古英語 lately、latly，等价于late + -ly。对比古英語 lætīċe (“慢慢地”)。

latelier (comparative)
more lately (comparative)
lateliest (superlative)
most lately (superlative)

formerly

（用于英国贵族）原 （“曾经是”，引出旧称呼）

（用于英国贵族）原 （“曾经是”，引出旧称呼）

David George Philip Cholmondeley, The Marquess of CHOLMONDELEY, K.C.V.O., lately Lord Great Chamberlain, Royal Household.

2023，“Honours list on the demise of HM Queen Elizabeth II”, in London Gazette，號 64008，頁 D2:

The ¼th of the manor of Dunterdon is held of the king by knight's service as of his honour of Okehampton, now in the king's hands by reason of the atteinture of Henry lately Marquis of Exeter for high treason, and is worth 55s 6d yearly.

1545，Inquisition post mortem of John Arundell of Lanherne knight's lands in Devon:


morose

源自法語 morose，源自拉丁語 mōrōsus (“不愉快的，烦恼的；细心的，仔细的；顽固的，固执的；难伺候的”)，源自mōs (“意志，意愿；方式”)。参见moral。

more morose (comparative)
moroser (comparative)
most morose (superlative)
morosest (superlative)

melancholy

阴郁的，闷闷不乐的，愁眉苦脸的

sulky

阴郁的，闷闷不乐的，愁眉苦脸的

crabby

阴郁的，闷闷不乐的，愁眉苦脸的

glum

阴郁的，闷闷不乐的，愁眉苦脸的

grouchy

阴郁的，闷闷不乐的，愁眉苦脸的

gruff

阴郁的，闷闷不乐的，愁眉苦脸的

moody

阴郁的，闷闷不乐的，愁眉苦脸的

阴郁的，闷闷不乐的，愁眉苦脸的

If there is any boy or man who loves to be melancholy and morose, and who cannot enter with kindly sympathy into the regions of fun, let me seriously advise him to shut my book and put it away. It is not meant for him.


maraud

源自法語 marauder，派生自maraud (“无赖，流浪者”)，源自中古法語 maraud (“无赖”)，源自古法語 *marault (“乞丐，流浪者”)，源自marir、marrir (“烦扰，迷失，迷路”)，源自古法蘭克語 *marrijan (“疏漏；妨碍”)，源自原始日耳曼語 *marzijaną (“疏漏；妨碍；破坏”)，源自原始印歐語 *mers- (“迷；不知道，忘”) + 古法語后缀-ault、-aud。同源词有古高地德語 marrjan、marren (“妨碍”)、古撒克遜語 merrian (“妨碍；浪费”)、哥特語 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌶𐌾𐌰𐌽 (marzjan，“冒犯”)。与mar有关。

marauds (third-person singular present)
marauding (present participle)
marauded (past participle)

a marauding band

Peace Plunder, Peace, you Rogue; no Moroding now i we'll burn, rob, demolish and murder another time together : This is a Bus'ness must be done with decency.

1684，Thomas Otway，The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway，卷 2, London: Richard, James, and Bethel Wellington, 出版於 1728, The Atheist; or the Second Part of the Soldier's Fortune，頁 88:

[…] in one of which they met with a party of French that had been marauding, and made them all prisoners at discretion.

1711，Joseph Addison，The Spectator, no. 90-505，卷 3, London: Thomas Tickell, 出版於 1721，頁 115:

A flea out of a blanket shaken, A bloody-minded sinner, Upon a taylor's neck was taken, Marauding for a dinner.

1770，“Fables for Grown Gentlemen”, in The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature，卷 29, London: A. Hamilton，頁 73:

As the tract of country they intended to maraud was far in the Moorish territories near the coast of the Mediterranean, they did not arrive until late in the following day.

1829，Washington Irving，A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada: In Two Volumes，卷 1, Paris: Baudry, at the Foreign Library，頁s 118-9:


missive

15世纪，源自中世紀拉丁語 missīvus，源自mittō (“发送”)。

The juvenile missives from his unmistakably phallic Twitter avatar came days after one of his rockets launched NASA’s first antiasteroid planetary-defense test[…]

December 13 2021，Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger and Alejandro de la Garza，“Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine:

The Madonna letters, which are interspersed with more personal missives in this curious epistolary memoir, accumulate into a rap about the downsides of celebrity - the problems of ageing, of invaded privacy, of becoming vain and impetuously adopting children from other continents.

25 October 2008，Claire Armistead，The Guardian:

Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the King, who all hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which title these Weird Sisters saluted me and referred me to the coming on of time with ‘Hail king that shalt be.’

c. 1606 (date written)，William Shakespeare，“The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)，London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):


morrow

源自中古英語 morwe、morwen，源自古英語 morgen，源自原始西日耳曼語 *morgan、*morgin，源自原始日耳曼語 *murganaz、*murginaz，对比荷蘭語 morgen和德語 Morgen。
morgen和morn 的同源對似詞。morn和morrow均派生自早期中古英语morwen（前者派生自早期的缩约形，后者则是规则的-en脱落）。

morrows (third-person singular present)
morrowing (present participle)
morrowed (past participle)

[…] he did her bidding but hardly touched food; after which he lay at full length on his bed all the night through in cogitation deep until morning morrowed.

1885，Sir Richard Burton，Aladdin and the Magic Lamp:


mortify

源自盎格魯-諾曼語 mortifier、中古法語 mortifier，源自晚期拉丁語 mortificō (“使...死亡”)，源自拉丁語 mors (“死亡”) + -ficō (“化”)。

mortifies (third-person singular present)
mortifying (present participle)
mortified (past participle)

使...节制，使...节欲 （身体、食欲等） （自15世纪）

Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.

一些人为了追求成为圣人而节欲。

With fasting mortify'd, worn out with tears.

1767，Walter Harte，Eulogius: Or, The Charitable Mason:

Mortify thy learned lust.

Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.

1611，The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version)，London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Colossians 3:5:

使...窘迫，使...难堪，使...屈辱，使...丢人，羞辱 （自17世纪）

I was so mortified I could have died right there; instead I fainted, but I swore I'd never let that happen to me again.

我在那都快要丢人死了，然后我昏倒了，但是我发誓我绝对不会让这种事有第二次。

Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.

1897年 12月（標示為1898年），Winston Churchill，章號 5, in The Celebrity: An Episode，紐約: The Macmillan Company；倫敦：Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

扼杀，废止 （14-18世纪）

Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine.

1631，Francis [Bacon]，“(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […]，第3rd版, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:


mariner

源自中古英語 mariner、marinere，借自盎格魯-諾曼語 mariner、marinier，源自古法語 marinier、maronnier，源自marin，可能对应后古典或通俗拉丁语marinarius (“水手”)，源自marīnus (“海洋的”)。取代了非本土的中古英語 marinel / marynell (“水手”)，其借自古法語 marinel。

From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

2013年June8日，“The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist，卷 407, 期 8839，頁 52:


noncommittal

more noncommittal (comparative)
most noncommittal (superlative)

不明确的，不果敢的；不置可否的，含糊的；不情愿的

The Major's face was noncommittal.

市长一副不置可否的表情。

The noncommittal Indians would give no counsel as to fording.

[He] is candid, open-hearted, and hardly non-commmittal enough for his own interest at times.

1818，S.R. Wells，The American Phrenonological Journal, and other miscellany，卷 10，頁 234:

A United Nations spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, has previously said the organization would not divulge its sources of information, but welcomed any additional information from the coalition. The United Nations has been noncommittal on the Saudi proposal to send its experts to Riyadh.

2016年June22日，Somini Sengupta，“Saudis Question U.N. Leader Over Report on Rights Violators”, in The New York Times:


noncommittal

As a result of cowardly noncommittals during the immediate postelection period, there was so much strain on several black-white Democratic relationships that they approached open ruptures.

1997，Dennis Sven Nordin，The New Deal's Black Congressman，頁 42:

还没作出决定的人 （如选举人等）

Where they occur, in the Liberal increases in Quebec and Ontario for instance, they are offset by declines in the number of undecideds or noncommittals.

1981，Howard Rae Penniman，Canada at the Polls, 1979 and 1980，頁 372:


nigger

可能直接源自法語 nègre或西班牙語和葡萄牙語 negro (“非洲黑人”)，最终源自拉丁語 niger (“黑色的”)。比较丹麥語 nigger、瑞典語 nigger、德語 Nigger、荷蘭語 nikker。negro和noir 的同源對似詞。

“nigger”被认为是英语中冒犯意最强的词语之一。在Kristy Beers Fägersten于2007年的一项研究中，佛罗里达大学的本科生给12个英语贬义词打分（1分为“不冒犯”，10分为“非常冒犯”）时，参与者给nigger的分最高，几乎比第二高的词cunt高两分。新西兰的广播标准机构在2010年和2013年分别进行了两次调研后得出nigger是新西兰第二名最具冒犯意的词（第一名为cunt），两次调查显示这个词会冒犯66%和65%的调查参与人，几个英国广播组织开展的一项调查也显示“nigger”会冒犯68%的英国人，排在第5位（前面的词分别为cunt、motherfucker、fuck和wanker）。

一些非洲裔曾尝试为这个词辩白（特别是形式nigga），但是惹起了争议，一些人认为由于其历史阴暗，加之现在仍有贬义使用，这个词不能够被辩白。无论如何，非黑人使用这个词仍旧带有极强的冒犯意。

“nigger”暗含极强的贬义色彩，不仅是蔑视性地称呼人皮肤黑，还暗指他们缺乏智力，长期无业，是社会蛀虫，毒品成瘾，倾向于犯罪等。而且它还和白人殖民非洲、奴役黑人和非洲裔美国人有关。

为了减轻其冒犯意，指代这个词时或者在直接引语中审查掉这个词时会用“n-word”。

“Othello with his occupation gone,” she teased. “Othello was a nigger,” I said.

1929，Ernest Hemingway，A Farewell to Arms，New York: Charles Scribner's Sons，頁 274:

You are not even a nigger, you are an African.

2004，Hotel Rwanda，spoken by Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte):

There's black people, and there's niggers. And niggers have got to go. Every time black people wanna have a good time, ign'ant-ass niggers fuck it up.

1996，Chris Rock: Bring the Pain，Chris Rock (actor):

See, niggers are followers, blacks normally lead. / Niggers call blacks "whitewash" soon as they on the scene.

2008，“The N Word”, in Greydon Square 作曲, The CPT Theorem:

Blacks stayed at home during the civil rights march. Niggers are the ones that marched.

2010年April13日，Kitty Kelley，引 an unnamed town resident, Oprah: A Biography，New York, N.Y.: Crown, →ISBN, →OL，頁 193:

黑鬼（属于任何皮肤通常为黑色的民族的人）

He never lost his appetite - / He bigger grew and bigger; / And proved, with every inch of height, / A nigger is a nigger.

1880年June19日，Henry Kendall，“My Piccaninny”, in The Australian Town and Country Journal，頁 28，列 4:

"The public have taken no interest in the matter up to now, but this letter of Challenger's in the Times will make them wake up, I'm thinking." "And this about Sumatra?" "Well, it's a long cry from a blurred line in a spectrum to a sick nigger in Sumatra. And yet the chiel has shown us once before that he knows what he's talking about."

1913，Sir Arthur Conan Doyle，The Poison Belt:

At Crescent Lake in Oneida County, Hubert Locke, who is black and serves as the Dean of the University of Washington's School of Public Affairs, was confronted with words to the effect of, "Now the Commission has a nigger working for them" and "I guess there are two kinds of niggers—red niggers and black niggers"[...] These blatant manifestations of racism directed toward Mr. Locke serve to illustrate the racist attitudes experienced daily by tribal members.

1988，James H. Schlender（被引）, “Written Testimony of James H. Schlender, Executive Administrator, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, May 18, 1988”, in Anti-Indian Violence: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, second session, May 4 and 18, 1988，Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 出版於 1989, →OCLC，頁 197:

I had overheard him greet a buddy who called him on the phone with "Yo, nigger, what's up?"

2002年January13日，Earl Ofari Hutchinson，“"Loaded Language", a review of Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy”, in Washington Post，頁 BW06:

“Snoop Dog!” one of them yelled. “That’s my nigga from Long Beach, man.”

1997，McKinley Lee，Chosen by Fate: My Life inside Death Row Records, →ISBN:

I wonna say whassup to all my Niggers, you know, peace and one love.

2001 Autumn-Winter，Awad Ibrahim，引 ‘Sam’, “Hey, whadap homeboy?”, in Taboo，頁 94:

深褐色的蛱蝶科蝴蝶（Orsotriaena medus，南亚，东南亚和澳大利亚）

Nigger (Male) Orsotriaena medus moira Waterhouse and Lyell. 1914.

1932，Gustavus Athol Waterhouse，What Butterfly is That?: A Guide to the Butterflies of Australia，頁 112:

The Nigger is a common butterfly in Singapore and can be found in the company of bush browns.

2010，Khew Sin Khoon，A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore，頁 69:

黑色皮肤的动物： 芜菁叶蜂的幼虫（农业害虫）

To this group belongs the nigger, or black caterpillar of the turnip, which is often in sufficient numbers to do much mischief.

电导体包裹层中会导致部分短路的杂质

Now to locate the portion of the machine which contains the "nigger."

（一些密西西比河船只上的）蒸汽起锚机

Well, it's a big heavy line, and you operate the nigger — capstan it's also called — by steam. You wrap your line around that and keep taking in the slack, and that draws up them things.


nigger

niggers (third-person singular present)
niggering (present participle)
niggered (past participle)

做出黑人刻板印象中的行径

His father said, “Niggering, I was niggering about. You knew that surely.”

1989，Reynolds Price，The surface of earth，Ballantine Books，頁 120:

Forrest’s rediscovery of his father coincides with his discovery that old Robinson’s “niggering around” produced at least one child of mixed race.

2007，George Hovis，Vale of Humility: Plain Folk in Contemporary North Carolina Fiction，Univ of South Carolina Press，頁 86:

I mean he was niggering. Niggering out, grabbing at my leg and microphone cord. I said, ‘Stop that you damn nigger!’ and that takes guts!

2008，Joe Ambrose，Gimme Danger: The Story Of Iggy Pop，Music Sales Group:

The gated community is a powerful tool in the systematic and sustained niggering of local 3rd-world communities - namely, in the book, the Hispanic (mostly wetbacK^([sic])) community

1997年January18日，Joe Frisch，“Anglo-US relations under a Blair Government”, in uk.org.mensa (Usenet):

> He is on TV saying that he was "abused" by the police and treated like a nigger.

1999年December3日，Jeff Welch，“Who is McGuyver and why was he "niggered?”, in seattle.general, December 3 (Usenet):

Why would many Paletinians want to return to a land where they would be "niggered" for the benefit of the Israelis as the present Palestinian population is

2003年July16日，“Mob Attacks Palestinian Pollsters Who Told The Truth”, in soc.retirement (Usenet):


nondescript

more nondescript (comparative)
most nondescript (superlative)

undescribed

（学术文献中）无记载的，无描述的

unidentified

（学术文献中）无记载的，无描述的

He drove a nondescript silver sedan.

他开一辆普通的银色轿车。

There was, besides, a Scots mason, known from his favourite dish as "Irish Stew," three or four nondescript Scots, a fine young Irishman, O'Reilly, and a pair of young men who deserve a special word of condemnation.

1895，Robert Louis Stevenson，“The Second Cabin”, in The Amateur Emigrant:

In 1919, demobilisation specials from Purfleet, Essex, to the North, usually made up of nondescript, almost paintless or grey stock which had seen long wartime service, chalked with slogans, were worked through by way of Bromley and the North London line […]。

1950 April，R. A. H. Weight，“They Passed by My Window”, in Railway Magazine，頁s 258-259:

We open in a grimy, fluorescent-lit military base somewhere in rural England, where the girl from the poster, Melanie (Sennia Nanua), is the star student in a class full of children who are wheeled into school—or at least, the nondescript concrete room that serves as a school—with their arms, legs, and foreheads bound to their wheelchairs by leather straps.

2017年February23日，Katie Rife，“The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club:

The plaque, of light-blue hue (a tone favoured by the Wiltshire market town's civic society), can be found on a nondescript structure just outside the station.

2021年December29日，Stephen Roberts，“Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chippenham (1841)”, in RAIL，期 947，頁 57:


nondescript

无书面记载的物种 （自17世纪）

Imagination has given figure and character to centaurs, satyrs, and down to all the fairy tribe; but titles baffle even the powers of fancy, and are a chimerical non-descript.

By a nice British compromise, the enforcement car — visible just then as a white spot on the television screen — has nothing externally to show its police affiliation, but unlike the CID's nondescripts, carries two large policemen in uniform.

1970，Peter Laurie，Scotland Yard: a study of the Metropolitan Police，頁 118:


nihil

I shall no longer believe all the visions of my youth:
They have dissolved into nihil.

1996, David Tibet, “The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal)” (lyrics):

All tales about the beginning are apt to eliminate the nothing and make being overall. […] Without Nihil the whirlpool of the beginning settles down and becomes a stagnant puddle of pure being. Nihil disappears.

2008，Arvydas Šliogeris，Names of Nihil，頁 13:

That is, in the sovereign act of creation, whereby YHWH orders chaos, YHWH provisionally defeated the power of the Nihil but did not destroy or eliminate the threat of chaos.

2009，Walter Brueggemann，An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible，頁 143:


nihility

源自文藝復興拉丁語 nihilitas，源自拉丁語 nihil (“没有东西”)。

无，虚无，空洞 （自17世纪）

Paeans and even poems have been written to the esoteric nature of the smallest building blocks of matter: how they manifest as everywhere and nowhere, seem to have come out of emptiness, and at the ultimate level seem to be distilled from pure nihility.

2000，Gregg Easterbrook，“Review: The Quest for Quarks”, in The Wilson Quarterly，卷 24, 期 1，頁 110:


nimble

源自中古英語 nymyl、nemel、nemyll、nymell (“敏捷的，迅捷的；准备就绪的；有能的”)，古英語 nǣmel (“善于学习的”)和古英語 numol (“能够拿稳的”)的合并形式，两者均源自niman (“拿，取”) + -el、-ol (联想后缀)，等价于nim + -le。对比德語 nehmen、哥特語 𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (niman)、古諾爾斯語 nema (“拿”)。详见nim。

nimbler (comparative)
nimblest (superlative)

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

She has a nimble mind and can improvise in any situation.

她非常机敏，在任何场合都能随机应变。

"It requires you to be flexible and nimble in your thinking and Huw has already demonstrated that," said Greenwood, [...]

2020年May20日，“Merriman praised over handling of TSC's 'virtual' transition”, in Rail，頁 12:


nimble

nimbles (third-person singular present)
nimbling (present participle)
nimbled (past participle)

Their teeth are regularly and assiduously cleaned by shrimp that nimble in and out of the moray's mouth like ballet dancers in the jaws of a mechanical stage dragon.

2012，Caspar Henderson，The Book of Barely Imagined Beings，頁 72:


muddled

more muddled (comparative)
most muddled (superlative)

The selection of James Milner ahead of Young was the product of muddled thinking and the absence of Peter Crouch - with 22 goals in 42 England appearances - from even the substitutes' bench was also a surprise.

2011年June4日，Phil McNulty，“England 2 - 2 Switzerland”, in BBC:


mermaid

源自中古英語 mermayde (“海的少女”)，源自mere (“海，湖”) + maid，等价于mer- + maid。对比古英語 meremenn、meremennen、meremenin (“人鱼，妖女”)。

A gentleman, or an honest citizen shall not sit in your penny-bench theaters, with his squirrel by his side cracking nuts; nor sneak into a tavern with his mermaid; but he shall be satir'd and epigramm'd upon […]

1602，Thomas Dekker，Satiromastix，act 4, scene 2:


midriff

源自中古英語 mydryf，源自古英語 midrif、midhrif (“腹部，横膈膜”)，等价于mid- + riff。

But by Season 3, she said her patience had fizzled like bad Champagne after Emily grossly mispronounced “bien sûr” (“of course!”), flashed her midriff at the office and mistook George Sand, the French romantic writer, as a man.

2023年January20日，Dan Bilefsky，“American Expatriates in Paris Wish Emily Cooper Would Go Home”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


migraine

1777年进行了词形调整（在法語的影响下），源自14世纪晚期的中古英語 megrim，源自13世纪的古法語 migraigne，源自通俗拉丁語中拉丁語 hemicrania (“半边头痛”)的发音，源自古希臘語 ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía)，源自ἡμι- (hēmi-，“半”) + κρανίον (kraníon，“颅”)（亦派生出cranium）其仿译自埃及語 gs-tp (“头痛”)，源自gs (“半”) + tp (“头”)，但是埃及纸莎草内的记录和希腊语内的ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía)也可能纯属碰巧相似。
同源词有megrim、hemicrania。

He had a headache so bad that he wished he was dead, but it was the sort of migraine that promised him he would continue to suffer but not die.

他头痛痛得想死，但是那是那种不会致死而一直折磨你的偏头痛。

After consuming too much coffee every day for six weeks, she got severe migraines that would last up until 47 minutes after her first cup of coffee.

天天过量喝咖啡六周后，她得了一种喝第一杯咖啡后会持续最多47分钟的偏头痛。

It was in 1976, during our first family holiday to Disneyland, California, that my family learned the difference between a headache and a migraine.

2006，Dian Caouette，Migraine Rewritten: A Journey from Debilitating Headache Pain to Regained Health，頁 6:

A team of international researchers has recently identified the first—ever genetic link to common migraine (common migraine refers to migraine without aura, and it is the most common type of migraine that occurs).

2013，Susan Hutchinson，The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine，頁 18:

Migraine headaches are fortunately suffered by a relatively small percentage of people, but for those who do suffer, migraines can literally take over their life.

2013, Health Press Publishing, Natural Therapies and Prevention for Headaches and Migraines, unnumbered page,

Syncope is estimated to occur in bouts of headache in approximately 5% of adult patients with migraine.

1995，Robert A. Davidoff，Migraine: Manifestations, Pathogenesis, and Management，頁 60:

Migraine is characterized by recurrent unilateral, often pulsating, headaches, worsened by physical activity and associated with nausea, photophobia and phonophobia.

2005，Michael H. Silber，“Chapter 28: Headaches and sleep disorders”, in Clinical Neurophysiology of Sleep Disorders，頁 337:

Migraine is a common and disabling neurological disorder with substantial variation in the frequency, severity, and duration of headaches (Goadsby, Lipton, & Ferrari, 2002).

2006, Joshua W. Devine, Daily Migraine Prevention and Its Influence on Resource Utilization in the Military Health System, PhD Thesis, page 1,


mausoleum

源自中古英語 mausoleum，源自拉丁語 mausōlēum，源自古希臘語 Μαυσωλεῖον (Mausōleîon)，源自Μαύσωλος (Maúsōlos)，以Mausolus（?–前395）命名，其为波斯帝国卡里亚的总督，其陵墓被称为古代世界七大奇迹之一。

As Amazon reaches maximum ubiquity in our lives (“Alexa, play Led Zeppelin”), as online shopping turns malls into mausoleums, it’s been illuminating to see exactly how a package makes the final leg of its journey.

2018年December25日，Austin Murphy，“I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon.”, in The Atlantic:


nostalgic

FA Cup Centenary 1872-1972. One for the football nostalgics.

2009年February28日，Steven Morris，“Brought to books: bibliophiles and traders enjoy giveaway bonanza”, in The Guardian:


nosy

nosier (comparative)
more nosy (comparative)
nosiest (superlative)
most nosy (superlative)

"Look at you, a handsome man of thirty, with thick brown hair and a nosy nose and enormous feet and hands that can drive a team of horses or a yoke of oxen or," she hesitated in a brief shyness, and then went on, "a loving wife."

She had the same sort of handsome, square-cut features as Timothy, with the difference that her nose was small and short — it was obvious that Timothy got his thick dark hair, his brown eyes and his nosy nose from his father, that vigorous impresario who had died suddenly of a a heart-attack, his first, two years before the War began.

1971，William Cooper，You want the right frame of reference，頁 22:

The problem is particularly acute in caricature when a variety of divergent features is forced into a precarious union, when a "nosy" nose is trying to get along with a hesitant mouth and vigilant eyebrows.

Nosy in his looks by the large hooked proboscis, which dominated his face, as well as by character, Ebenezer wanted, perhaps even needed, to know everyone's business.

2005，R. G. Crouch，The Coat: The Origin and Times of Doggett's Famous Wager，頁 99:


mayfly

源自May + fly。对比薩特弗里斯蘭語 Moaifljooge (“丽蝇”)。

部分英语方言中，复数形式还可作“mayfly”。

Adult mayflies have large compound eyes and most have two pairs of wings.[…]Mayfly nymphs are distinguished by their three tails (two cerci and a terminal filament) and the set of gills on each side of their abdomen.

2002，John Gooderham, Edward Tsyrlin，The Waterbug Book，頁 132:

Mayflies are fragile, gossamer-winged insects that arise from bodies of water and often swarm in great numbers.

2005，Terry Hellekson，Fish Flies: The Encyclopedia of the Fly Tier's Art，頁 213:

Stoneflies have negligible consumptive (thin solid line) and behavioral effects (thin dashed line) on mayfly abundance. Consumption by trout decreases the abundance of mayflies (solid line), but trout suppress mayfly emigration (drift) and thereby increase their abundance (thick dashed line).

2010，Barbara L. Peckarsky, J. David Allan, Angus R. McIntosh, Brad W. Taylor，“Chapter 9: Understanding the Role of Predation in Open Systems”, in The Ecology of Place，頁 195:


muon

早期词语mu-meson的缩约；該粒子現在已被重新歸類為輕子。由意大利的物理學家恩里科·費米在1951造出，見其著作《基本粒子》（Elementary Particles）。

The μ-meson of Powell (called here muon) is instead a disintegration product of the pion, only weakly linked to the nucleons and therefore of little importance in the explanation of nuclear forces.

The spectrum of electrons arising from the decay of the negative mu meson has been determined. The muons are arrested in the gas of a high pressure hydrogen filled diffusion cloud chamber.

1955 March，CP Sargent，“Diffusion Cloud-Chamber Study of Very Slow Mesons”, in Physical Review:


murder

源自中古英語 murder、murdre、mourdre，变化自早期形式murthre (“谋杀”)（参见murther），源自古英語 morþor (“暗杀，非法杀害”)和古英語 myrþra (“谋杀，他杀”)，两者均源自原始日耳曼語 *murþrą (“死，杀”)，源自原始印歐語 *mr̥tro- (“杀”)，源自原始印歐語 *mer-、*mor-、*mr̥- (“死”)。与哥特語 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr，“谋杀”)、古高地德語 mord (“谋杀”)、古諾爾斯語 morð (“谋杀”)、古英語 myrþrian (“谋杀”)和morþ有关。
中古英語词形内的-d-可能部分受到盎格魯-諾曼語 murdre的影响，后者源自古法語 murdre，源自中世紀拉丁語 murdrum（亦派生出同源对似词murdrum），源自古法蘭克語 *morþr、*murþr (“谋杀”)，源自同样的日耳曼語族词根，虽然也有可能是完全内部发展的结果（对比burden，其源自burthen）。

常修饰“murder”的形容词：atrocious, attempted, brutal, cold-blooded, double, heinous, horrible, premeditated, triple, terrible, unsolved.

The defendant was charged with murder.

Reggie Clemons has one last chance to save his life. After 19 years on death row in Missouri for the murder of two young women, he has been granted a final opportunity to persuade a judge that he should be spared execution by lethal injection.

2012年August21日，Ed Pilkington，“Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:

Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.[…]One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.

2013年July20日，“Old soldiers?”, in The Economist，卷 408, 期 8845:

There have been ten unsolved murders this year alone.

单单今年以来就有10起谋杀悬案。

The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.

1927，F. E. Penny，章號 4, in Pulling the Strings:

It may be guessed, indeed, that this was the original form of the story, the fairy being the addition of those who considered Jack's thefts from (and murder of) the giant to be scarcely justified without her.

1984, Humphrey Carpenter, Mari Prichard, The Oxford companion to children's literature, page 275:

Captain Sulu, who served under the legendary James T. Kirk for many years, disobeys Starfleet orders in order to try and help Kirk and another old shipmate, Dr. McCoy, who have been imprisoned for the murder of the Klingon chancellor.

2003，Paul Ruditis，Star Trek Voyager: Companion, →ISBN，頁 131:

Dr. Herrera also knew Hemingway had held Batista's army personally responsible for the brutal murders of his dogs, Blackie (Black Dog) and Machakos.

2011，Carlene Brennen，Hemingway's Cats, →ISBN，頁 161:

For his part, Melchior was growing unhappy with the murder of crows. They had been patiently following Arthur for hours, trailing him from town to country.

1995，Deepak Chopra，The Return of Merlin: A Novel, →ISBN，頁 108:

Without the murder of crows roosting in its branches, Nevermore Tree looked as bare as a skeleton.

2001，Daniel Handler，The Vile Village, →ISBN，頁 76:


murder

murders (third-person singular present)
murdering (present participle)
murdered (past participle)

Dr. Caius, the Frenchman in the play, and Evans the Welshman, "Gallia et Guallia," succeed pretty well in their efforts to murder the language.

1892，William Shepard Walsh，Handy-book of Literary Curiosities，頁 293:


murky

源自中古英語 mirky，等价于murk + -y。与古諾爾斯語 myrkr、俄語 мрак (mrak)、塞爾維亞-克羅地亞語 мра̑к有关。

murkier (comparative)
murkiest (superlative)

模糊的，浑浊的，朦胧的；多云的；隐晦的，暧昧不清的

murky waters

murky territory

They may face an impenetrable word, approach its murky history from every direction, and fail to find a convincing solution (or even any solution: “origin unknow,” “the rest is unclear,” and the like).

2021年April21日，Anatoly Liberman，“Going out on a Limb”, in Oxford Etymologist:

Mr. Farrier, 39, said he often questioned the moral implications of his trips. “It’s very ethically murky territory,” Mr. Farrier said.

2022年October28日，Maria Cramer，“Beaches? Cruises? ‘Dark’ Tourists Prefer the Gloomy and Macabre”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

China’s murky statistics are fueling widespread public distrust. Its narrow definition of Covid deaths “will very much underestimate the true death toll,” the W.H.O. says.

2022年December23日，Keith Bradsher, Amy Chang Chien, Joy Dong，“As Cases Explode, China’s Low Covid Death Toll Convinces No One”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


malevolent

源自中古英語 *malevolent（以中古英語 malevolence为证），源自古法語 malivolent和拉丁語 malevolentem，源自male (“坏地，不善地”) + volens (“希望的”)，源自velle (“希望”)。

more malevolent (comparative)
most malevolent (superlative)

Vela, Javier Hernández and Lozano switched positions with a thrillingly malevolent sense of purpose.

2018年June17日，Barney Ronay，“Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in The Guardian，London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2019-08-05:


nugatory

借自拉丁語 nūgātōrius。

more nugatory (comparative)
most nugatory (superlative)

I might refer to the general conviction and the common sense of society that such an investment cannot be treated as absolutely idle and nugatory.

1872，Benjamin Disraeli，Suez Canal Speech:

无效的，无用的，无意义的

I can not dismiss the subject of Indian affairs without again recommending to your consideration the expediency of more adequate provision for giving energy to the laws throughout our interior frontier and for restraining the commission of outrages upon the Indians, without which all pacific plans must prove nugatory.

1792，George Washington，Fourth State of the Union Address:

Even among the most experienced and discriminating of men, she rarely allowed the élite of the high-born or distinguished to escape her temporary allurements, so that she was the absolute horror, alike of the designing, whose baits she rendered nugatory, and the innocent attached ones, whose expectations she blighted, and whose young hearts were lacerated by the perfidy of those whom she misled.

1838 (date written)，L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon]，章號 XVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […]，卷 I, London: Henry Colburn, […], 出版於 1842, →OCLC，頁 204:

Bartolomé de las Casas’s critique of the cruelty of the Conquistadors led to his official appointment as ‘Protector of the Indians’ and to the passage of the New Laws which gave the Indians some nugatory protection.

2017年September7日，Ferdinand Mount，“Umbrageousness”, in London Review of Books:

The government’s response has been nugatory, its mean mitigations mostly in loans that only stoke future problems for households: high energy prices are not set to be a brief spike.

2022年April21日，Polly Toynbee，“People are struggling to pay their energy bills – here’s a simple idea that could help”, in The Guardian:

The word "necessary" is considered as controlling the whole sentence, and as limiting the right to pass laws for the execution of the granted powers to such as are indispensable, and without which the power would be nugatory.

1819, Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland (17 U.S. 316)

He protested against the Fugitive Slave Law as necessarily nugatory and utterly impossible of execution because unanimously condemned by the public sentiment of the North.

1905，William Gardner，章號 IV, in The Life of Stephen A. Douglas:


numbskull

Along with addressing the many insufferable numbskulls who populate the site, Musk will have to tackle myriad thorny issues, […]

2022年April26日，Kara Swisher，“Musk’s Twitter: Weed Memes. Editable Tweets. And the Return of Trump.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


nyctophobia

"You're afraid of the dark. That's nyctophobia. And you're afraid of deep places, or depth. That's bathophobia."

2004，Michael A. Gibbs，A Fairy of Anneliese Glade, →ISBN:


moratorium

新拉丁语，源自晚期拉丁語 morātōrium，morātōrius (“延期的，延迟的”)中性形式的名词用法，源自拉丁語 moror (“推迟”)，源自mora (“推迟”)，源自原始印歐語 *mere (“推迟，阻碍”)。另见moratory。

/ˌmɒ.ɹəˈtɔː.ɹɪəm/

/ˌmɔː.ɹəˈtɔː.ɹɪəm/

Canada may put a moratorium on cloning for research.

加拿大可能会叫停研究性质的克隆。

It so happened that at that time the moratorium on the death penalty caused by the Supreme Court decision in the Furman case was still in effect.

1990，Gerhard Falk，Murder, an Analysis of its Forms, Conditions, and Causes，McFarland:


meek

源自中古英語 meek、meke、meoc，其词源不详，可能与古英語 smēag (“微妙的，等等”)和smūgan有关并可能借自古諾爾斯語 mjúkr (“软的，柔和的”)，源自原始日耳曼語 *meukaz、*mūkaz (“软的，柔软的”)，源自原始印歐語 *mewg-、*mewk- (“滑”)。
同源词包括瑞典語和新挪威語 mjuk (“软的”)、書面挪威語 myk (“软的”)、丹麥語 myg (“柔软的”)、荷蘭語 muik (“软的，过熟的”)，方言德語 mauch (“干枯的，腐烂的”)、Mauche。亦对比威爾士語 mwyth (“软的，弱的”)、拉丁語 ēmungō (“擤鼻子”)、吐火羅語A muk- (“放弃”)、立陶宛語 mùkti (“从...滑走”)、古教會斯拉夫語 мъчати (mŭčati，“追逐”)、古希臘語 μύσσομαι (mússomai，“擤鼻子”)、梵語 मुञ्चति (muñcati，“释放”)。

meeker (comparative)
meekest (superlative)

Blessed are the meeke: for they shall inherit the earth.

1611，The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version)，London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:5:


methinks

源自古英語 mē þynceþ（源自þyncan (“似乎”)），等价于me (“我”，宾格) + think (“似乎”)。对比同义德语短语mir/mich dünkt、古诺尔斯语mér þykkir（→冰岛语mér þykir）。

我觉得；在我看来；私以为

Forthy me thincth betre,
 gif iow swæ thincth,
 thæt we eac sumæ bec

Me thinketh accordant to reason
To telle you al the condicion

methinks the truth should live from age to age,

1591, William Shakespeare, King Richard III: III, i

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

1599, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act III, scene II

And then methought my dream changed, and two Great Giants with heading-axes came striding over the bed, […]

1862 February，George Augustus [Henry] Sala，“The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous; a Narrative in Plain English, […] Chapter the Fourth. My Grandmother Dies, and I am Left Alone, without So Much as a Name.”, in Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers，卷 IV, London: Office of "Temple Bar," 122 Fleet Street; Ward and Lock, 158 Fleet Street; New York, N.Y.: Willmer and Rogers, →OCLC，頁 304:

Dr. Tobias Funke: Methinks a cupid I shall play.

2003, Arrested Development, "Bringing Up Buster":


mirth

繼承自中古英語 merth、myrthe、murhthe，來自古英語 myrġþ (“歡樂”)，來自原始西日耳曼語 *murgiþu (“短暫，精簡”)；等同於merry + -th。與中古荷蘭語 merchte (“愉快，高興”)同源。

She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.

1918，W. B. Maxwell，章號 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

Their eyes met and they began to laugh. They laughed as children do when they cannot contain themselves, and can not explain the cause of their mirth to grown people, but share it perfectly together.

Phantasmal mirth, folded away: muskperfumed.

1922 February，James Joyce，Ulysses，Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:


misbegotten

more misbegotten (comparative)
most misbegotten (superlative)

/ˌmɪsbɪˈɡɒtn̩/

/ˌmɪsbɪˈɡɑtn̩/

"Do they not sneakingly bestow on me their crass inability to do anything with their own misbegotten progeny, a subterfuge which I scornfully fub off on text-books?"

1930，Norman Lindsay，Redheap，Sydney: Ure Smith, 出版於 1965，頁 82:


miscreant

源自中古英語 myscreaunt、miscreaunt，源自古法語 mescreant (“不信者”)（1080年），mescreire (“不相信”)的现在分词（现代形式mécroire）。

坏蛋，恶棍，歹徒，道德沦丧者

Thou art a Traitor, and a Miſcreant;
Too good to be ſo, and too bad to liue,
Since the more faire and chriſtall is the skie,
The vglier ſeeme the cloudes that in it flye:

1595 December 9 (first known performance)，William Shakespeare，“The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio)，London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]，頁 23，列s 1–2:

The teacher sent the miscreants to see the school principal.

老师把那帮坏学生送去校长那了。

A meagre Catchpole hurries me to fail; No Miscreant, so remorseless, ever tore
Thy Journals, Fog, or knock'd at Franklin's door

a. 1719, Joseph Addison, A Riddle of Dean Swift's verfified

Arise thou cursed Miscreaunt,
That hast with knightlesse guile and trecherous train
Faire knighthood fowly shamed

1590，埃德蒙·斯宾塞，“Book I, Canto IV”, in 仙后（The Faerie Qveene . […]），London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 41:


misdeed

源自中古英語 misdede，源自古英語 misdǣd (“恶行”)，源自原始日耳曼語 *missadēdiz (“恶行”)，等价于mis- + deed。同源词有低地蘇格蘭語 misded (“恶行”)、西弗里斯蘭語 misdied (“恶行”)、荷蘭語 misdaad (“恶行”)、德語 Missetat (“恶行”)、瑞典語 missdåd (“恶行”)、哥特語 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (missadēþs，“恶行”)。

The petty misdeeds of his youth came back to haunt him when he ran for political office and his character was smeared.

他年轻时所犯下的错在他参加政治职位竞选时成为了他的绊脚石，给他的名声留下了污点。

These [putting feet on seats and leaving rubbish behind] are officially among the worst habits revealed by staff working on Northern's trains and at stations. Other bugbears include playing music through loudspeakers, not giving way to passengers getting off the train and actually illegal activities such as fare evasion and vaping in enclosed spaces. The list of misdeeds was released by the operator on March 3 to coincide with Employee Appreciation Day.

2023年March22日，“Stop & Examine”, in RAIL，期 979，頁 71:


misgiving

源自misgive，源自mis- + give，源自中古英語 give (“暗示，给予”)。对比given和what gives。

He could think of her being there, without a lurking misgiving that it would have been better if she had not come.

1846-1848，Charles Dickens，Dombey and Son:

In the night, or the gloomy chambers of the day, fears and misgivings wax strong, but out in the sunlight there is, for a time, cessation even of the terror of death.

Having got its Act, the M.B.M. & M.J.R. apparently had misgivings about the route, in view of the very heavy engineering works that would be necessary, and on November 9, 1846, the company gave notice of a further bill for a deviated line, which was passed into law on July 22, 1847.

1960 March，J. P. Wilson & E. N. C. Haywood，“The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated，頁 149:


melancholic

源自古希臘語 μελαγχολικός (melankholikós，“忧郁的，冲动的，悲观的”)，源自μελαγχολία (melankholía，“忧郁”)。

Kafka, Hart Crane, Jackson Pollock, Tennessee Williams, Mark Rothko, melancholics all, so why shouldn’t we accept our own bleakness and take long walks in the winter woods and look at the gnarled limbs of trees and struggle with the inscrutable and accept the beauty of permanent turmoil?

2008年March16日，Garrison Keillor，“Woe Be Gone”, in New York Times:


mellifluous

源自拉丁語 mellifluus (“像蜂蜜一样流动的”)，源自mel (“蜂蜜”) + fluō (“流”)。对比superfluous和fluid，两者源自同一词根，亦对比dulcet (“甜言蜜语”)，另一个词义相近的拉丁语由来词。

more mellifluous (comparative)
most mellifluous (superlative)

birdsweet

甜美悦耳的，动听的 （形容人的声音、腔调及写作风格等）

dulcet

甜美悦耳的，动听的 （形容人的声音、腔调及写作风格等）

euphonious

甜美悦耳的，动听的 （形容人的声音、腔调及写作风格等）

mellifluent

甜美悦耳的，动听的 （形容人的声音、腔调及写作风格等）

勿与melliferous (“吸引蜜蜂的；产蜜的”)相混淆。

Though in heaven the trees / Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines / Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn / We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground / Cover'd with pearly grain[…]

1671，John Milton，“(please specify the page)”, 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:

甜美悦耳的，动听的 （形容人的声音、腔调及写作风格等）

[…]Socrates[…]Wisest of men; from whose mouth issued forth / Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools / Of Academicks old and new[…]

No verses can be more mellifluous than Petrarch's: something of this will perhaps be attributed to the softness of the Italian language; but the English tongue is also capable of it, however obstinately Johnson may have pronounced otherwise.

1853，Sir Egerton Brydges，Life of Milton:

Certainly, he returns explicitly to the sound of Urban Hymns on his fourth solo album: neat, sad strings, unhurried percussion and his mellifluous foghorn of a voice.

2016年May19日，Rachel Aroesti，“Richard Ashcroft: These People review”, in The Guardian:

His iconic look, mellifluous croon and timeless songwriting means that he retains a strong fanbase.

2017年October20日，Ben Beaumont-Thomas，“In dreams: Roy Orbison hologram to embark on UK tour in 2018”, in The Guardian:

Radio proved a perfect fit for the mellifluous tones of Mr. Pence, who called himself “Rush Limbaugh on decaf.”

2022年July12日，Simon Montlake，“In Jan. 6 spotlight, Mike Pence navigates a tricky post-Trump path”, in The Christian Science Monitor:


melodramatic

more melodramatic (comparative)
most melodramatic (superlative)

过于情绪化的，多愁善感的

She wrote him a melodramatic letter, threatening to kill herself.

Dearest Eloise,— There is one little and perhaps insignificant French cake, which I feel certain would soon become a favourite in the cottage, more particularly amongst its juvenile inhabitants. It is the famed galette, the melodramatic food of the gamins, galopins, mechanics, and semi-artists of France.

1854，Alexis [Benoît] Soyer，A Shilling Cookery for the People: Embracing an Entirely New System of Plain Cookery and Domestic Economy，London, New York, N.Y.: George Routledge & Co., →OCLC，頁 125:


simmer

方言词simper的变换形式，源自中古英語 simperen (“炖”)，可能是拟声词。最早记录是不及物动词。名词源自动词。首次記錄於15世纪末叶

simmers (third-person singular present)
simmering (present participle)
simmered (past participle)

煨，炖 （自17世纪中叶）

The soup simmered on the stove.

The locomotive was the now inevitable American 2-8-0, No. 2623. There she stood, effectively blocking the level crossing, simmering gently, massively inert. It was almost dark, and one's final sight was of her high, firelit cab, the enginemen nonchalantly leaning out, waiting for the right-away, while impatient road convoys piled up on both sides of the crossing.

1945 January and February，“Notes and News: American Locomotives in France”, in Railway Magazine，頁 46:

That way, the heat can circulate under the meat and prevent it from simmering in its juices.

2004，Susan Westmoreland，The Good Housekeeping Cookbook，Hearst Books, →ISBN，頁 89:

同類詞：bake、sauté

Simmer the soup for five minutes, then serve.

There are other easy ways you can bake and simmer and sauté wild game without qualifying as a gourmet cook.

1981，Phyllis Hobson，Easy Game Cookery，Storey Publishing, →ISBN，頁 2:

快要发火，在发火的边缘，激动 （自18世纪60年代）

Maybe that really did happen, and Robin's anger at his wife had simmered for this long?

2006，Earl Ganz，The Taos Truth Game，UNM Press, →ISBN:

The idea for The Sims was one that had been simmering in Wright's mind for quite some time, and was initially conceived as an architecture simulation.

2003，Mark H. Walker，Games That Sell!，Wordware Publishing, Inc., →ISBN，頁 162:


etymology

源自中古英語 ethymologie，源自古法語 ethimologie，源自拉丁語 etymologia，源自古希臘語 ἐτυμολογία (etumología)，源自ἔτυμον (étumon，“真意”)和-λογία (-logía，“...的研究”)，源自λόγος (lógos，“词语，解释”)。

The etymology of the term Japlish is disputed and contentiously so.

2018，James Lambert，“A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide，頁 13:

Although written the same, the words lead (the metal) and lead (the verb) have totally different etymologies.

虽然两者拼写一致，但是lead（铅）和lead（引领）的词源迥然不同。


reproduction

/ˌɹiːpɹəˈdʌkʃən/

Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.

2013 May-June，Katrina G. Claw，“Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist，卷 101, 期 3:


paramount

原始印歐語詞
 *h₂éd
源自盎格魯-諾曼語 paramont、paramount (“至高无上的，卓越的；在上面的”)，源自古法語 par、per (“以...的手段”) + amont、amunt (“向上”)。Par派生自拉丁語 per (“以...的手段，通过”)，源自原始印歐語 *per- (“穿过；通过”);amont和amunt则源自拉丁語 ad montem (“朝向山；向上”)，源自ad (“向上往”)（最终源自原始印歐語 *h₂éd (“在；到”)） + montem（mōns (“山”)的宾格单数，最终源自原始印歐語 *men- (“耸立，矗立”)）。

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

utmost

至高无上的；领先的，领导的

paravail

至高无上的；领先的，领导的

至高无上的；领先的，领导的

Hitherto she had chiefly dwelt on her unkindness and neglect; but absence, like charity, covers a multitude of sins; and the thought now paramount was, that she should see her no more.

1834，Letitia Elizabeth Landon，Francesca Carrara，卷 2，頁 168:

The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. […] The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.

1963，Margery Allingham，“Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery，London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC，頁 249:


paramour

源自中古英語 paramour、paramoure、peramour、paramur，源自古法語 par amor (“为了爱”)。

/ˈpæ.ɹə.mʊə/

/ˈpæ.ɹə.mɔː/

to run away with a paramour

The seducer appeared with dauntless front, accompanied by his paramour.

1848，Thomas Maucalay，The History of England from the Accession of James the Second:

They should be chaste, not lustful, nor taking paramours:

1934，Yusuf Ali (translator)，The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary, surah 4, verse 25:

The action scenes are deafening and punchily staged by director Louis Letterier (The Transporter), though I wish he’d set more time aside to spend with Nobby, his paramour Dawn (Rebel Wilson), their shaven-headed brood, and friends

2016年February23日，Robbie Collin，“Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):


obsequious

源自中古英語 obsequyous，源自拉丁語 obsequiōsus (“顺从的，点头哈腰的”) ，源自obsequium (“顺从”)，源自obsequor (“服从，遵守”)，源自ob (“朝向”) + sequor (“跟随”)（对比sequel）。

more obsequious (comparative)
most obsequious (superlative)

Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language. It was intended as an obsequious flattery of the Condesa, and was untrue.

1927，Thornton Wilder，The Bridge of San Luis Rey，頁 20:

Our ladies were situated as well as it was possible; they had good servants, splendid rooms, obsequious attendants, and had become habituated to the country, so that the loss of the Count was not any thing of moment beyond the pleasure of his society;[…]

1842，[anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon]，章號 XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […]，卷 II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC，頁 140: