Herculean

more Herculean (comparative)
most Herculean (superlative)

/ˌhɜːɹkjəˈliːən/

力大无比的；巨大的 （比喻和赫尔克里斯一样的）

a Herculean labour

He replied in a dry manner, that I would find it a Herculean task to chastise everybody who should laugh at my expense;

1748，Tobias George Smollett，The Adventures of Roderick Random:

The guys at Volkswagen have a Herculean task.

2006, Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear (TV show), commenting on the Bugatti Veyron automobile

There are thousands of known isotopes, and to have a functional and easily maintainable exhibit for all of these would require a Herculean effort.


staggering

more staggering (comparative)
most staggering (superlative)

The army suffered a staggering defeat.

军队遭受了一次惨烈的失败。

It is this stretch which provides what is perhaps the most staggering scenic prospect of all; the impression made on the mind by the overwhelming height of the Eiger, towering over the train, is almost impossible to describe.

1960 December，Voyageur，“The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated，頁 754:


myeloid

/ˈmaɪəˌlɔɪd/


macabre

借自法語 macabre，其词源不详，但可能源自danse macabre —— 其作定语时为形容词 —— 一般认为是圣经名字Maccabees的变体，对比拉丁語 Chorea Machabaeorum。
另一理论认为其派生自西班牙語 macabro，源自阿拉伯語 مَقَابِر (maqābir，“墓地”)，مَقْبَرَة (maqbara)或مَقْبُرَة (maqbura)的复数形式。而直接借用阿拉伯语复数的例子并不鲜见。

more macabre (comparative)
most macabre (superlative)

There are four fundamental figures. One is a man measuring and comparing his world[…] In front of him is a macabre figure, a cadaver ready to be dissected. This symbolizes man serving mankind. The third figure is the scientist, the man who makes use of the information gathered in the first two fields of mensurable science.

1941，George C. Booth，Mexico's School-made Society，頁 106:

Indeed, in the 1854 draft of Tristan he planned to have Parzival visit the dying knight, and both operas display the same macabre obsession with bloody gore and festering wounds.

1993，Theodore Ziolkowski，“Wagner's Parsifal between Mystery and Mummery”, in The Return of Thematic Criticism，頁s 274-275:

The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.

1927，H. P. Lovecraft，“Introduction”, in Supernatural Horror in Literature，出版於 1938:


meteorological

/ˌmitiəɹəˈlɑd͡ʒɪkl̩/

/ˌmiːtɪəɹəˈlɒd͡ʒɪkl̩/


fast

標準英音，澳大利亞，新西蘭，南非

標準英音，澳大利亞，新西蘭，南非


bright

形容词派生自中古英語 bright (“光亮的，明亮的；强烈的；闪亮的；辉煌的；（指人）美丽的，面色红润的；极佳的；清晰的；（指视觉）明晰的；（比喻义）无罪过的；开明的”) [以及其他形式]，源自古英語 bryht、breht (诺森伯兰)，字母换位自byrht (盎格鲁)、beorht (西萨克逊)、berht (“明晰的”) [以及其他形式]，源自原始西日耳曼語 *berht，源自原始日耳曼語 *berhtaz (“明亮的”)，最终源自原始印歐語 *bʰerHǵ- (“照，使...变白”)。
名词派生自中古英語 bright (“光亮，闪亮；阳光；光”)，源自bright (形容词)：见上文。
英语词的同源词包括阿爾巴尼亞語 bardhë (“白的”)、荷蘭語 brecht (用于人名)、冰島語 bjartur (“明亮的”)、立陶宛語 brekšta (“破晓”)、中古愛爾蘭語 brafad (“眨眼”)、挪威語 bjart (“光亮的，明晰的”)、波斯語 برازیدن (barâzidan，“美化；适宜于”)、北盧里語 بڵێز (bełız，“火焰”) 俄語 бре́зжить (brézžitʹ，“破晓；发微光；（比喻义，指希望，思想等）出现，显现”)、梵語 भ्राजते (bhrājate)、低地蘇格蘭語 bricht (“明亮的”)、威爾士語 berth (“美丽的”) (弃用)。

brighter (comparative)
brightest (superlative)

明亮的，发光的，闪耀的，照耀的；炫目的

The sky was remarkably bright and blue on that beautiful summer day.

夏天里的那天，蓝色的天空格外的闪耀夺目。

Where the bright Seraphim in burning row / Their loud up-lifted Angel trumpets blow; / And the Cherubick hoſt in thouſand quires / Touch their immortal Harps of golden wires, […]

1646 (indicated as 1645)，John Milton，“At a Solemn Musick”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […]，London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC，頁 22:

Thee Father firſt they ſung Omnipotent, / […] that brighteſt Seraphim / Approach not, but with both their wings veil thir eyes.

1667，John Milton，“Book III”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books，London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; 再版為 Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […]，London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC，行s 372 and 381–382:

There were very few people about, and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth of the harbour—like a bullying man going through a crowd.

1897，Bram Stoker，“Cutting from ‘The Dailygraph,’ 8 August (Pasted in Mina Murray’s Journal.)”, in Dracula，New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC，頁 95:

Could you please dim the light? It’s far too bright.

能把灯调暗点吗？太亮了。

It was said that the Irish whom [Louis de Duras, 2nd Earl of] Feversham had let loose were marching on London and massacring every man, woman, and child on the road. At one in the morning the drums of the militia beat to arms. […] Before two the capital wore a face of stern preparedness which might well have daunted a real enemy, if such an enemy had been approaching. Candles were blazing at all the windows. The public places were as bright as at noonday.

1849，Thomas Babington Macaulay，章號 X, in The History of England from the Accession of James II，卷 II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC，頁 564:

[H]e felt the influence of the bright sky, and looked up smiling into its deep unfathomable blue.

1841 February–November，Charles Dickens，“Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock，卷 III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, chapter 77，頁 392:

Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.

1910，Emerson Hough，“A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise，Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC，頁 6:

They gathered soberly in the farthest recess of the ward and gossiped about him in malicious, offended undertones, rebelling against his presence as a ghastly imposition and resenting him malevolently for the nauseating truth of which he was bright reminder.

1961年November10日，Joseph Heller，“The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […]，New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC，頁 169:

Her step was quick; her eye piercing, and of the brightest blue; […]

1838 May，L. M.，“The West Fifty Years Since”, in The Southern Literary Messenger: Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts，卷 IV, 期 V, Richmond, Va.: T. W. White, […], →OCLC, chapter II，頁 308，列 1:

The orange and blue walls of the sitting room were much brighter than the dull grey walls of the kitchen.

客厅的橙色蓝色相间的墙壁比厨房的单调灰色的墙鲜艳多了。

Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.

1897年 12月（標示為1898年），Winston Churchill，章號 II, in The Celebrity: An Episode，紐約: The Macmillan Company；倫敦：Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC，頁 15:

透明的，澄明的；纯净的，无杂质的； 纯净的，无悬浮物的，优质的

From […] the brighteſt Wines / He'd turn abhorrent.

1728，[James] Thomson，Spring: A Poem，London: […] A[ndrew] Millar and G[eorge] Strahan, →OCLC，頁 10:

And 'twas the worſt, if not the only ſtain, / I'th' brighteſt Annals of a Female Reign.

1681，Charles Cotton，The Wonders of the Peake，London: […] Joanna Brome, […], →OCLC，頁 16:

I woke up today feeling so bright that I decided to have a little dance.

今天起床心情特别好，好到我跳了支舞。

Their spirits had risen a little at the discovery of the path, but now they sank into their boots; and yet they would not give it up and go away. The hobbit [Bilbo Baggins] was no longer much brighter than the dwarves. He would do nothing but sit with his back to the rock-face and stare[…]。

1937年September21日，J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien，“On the Doorstep”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again，第3rd版, London: Unwin Books, George Allen & Unwin, 出版於 1966 (1970 printing), →ISBN，頁 191:

Bright eyes / Burning like fire / Bright eyes / How can you close and fail? / How can the light that burned so brightly / Suddenly burn so pale? / Bright eyes

1978年October19日，Mike Batt （作曲作詞）, “Bright Eyes”, in Fate for Breakfast，演出者 Art Garfunkel, 出版於 19 January 1979:

Come on: / Gentle my Lord, ſleeke o're your rugged Lookes, / Be bright and Iouiall among your Gueſts to Night.

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, [Act III, scene ii]，頁 140，列 2:

She has a bright future ahead.

Things are going great, and they're only getting better / I'm doing all right, getting good grades / The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

1986，Pat MacDonald （作曲作詞）, “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”, in Greetings from Timbuk3，演出者 Timbuk3:

If he trains hard, his chances of winning the competition are bright.

他努力训练的话就很有希望能赢得那场竞赛。

She’s very bright. She was able to solve the problem without my help.

她很聪明，不需要我帮忙就解决了那个问题。

―Ah, God, Corley replied, sure I couldn't teach in a school, man. I was never one of your bright ones, he added with a half laugh, Got stuck twice in the junior at the Christian Brothers.

1922 February，James Joyce，“[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses，Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos]，頁 573:

Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.

2013年August3日，“Revenge of the nerds: An explosion of start-ups is changing finance for the better”, in The Economist，卷 408, 期 8847, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2013-08-03:

[T]he Queriſt muſt not proceed too ſwiftly towards the Determination of his Point propos'd, that he may with more Eaſe, with brighter Evidence, and with ſurer Succeſs draw the Learner on to aſſent to thoſe Principles ſtep by ſtep, from whence the final Concluſion will naturally ariſe.

1741，I[saac] Watts，“The Socratical Way of Disputation”, in The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […]，London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC, paragraph V，頁 172:


rapid

more rapid (comparative)
most rapid (superlative)


poor

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/LL-Q1860 (eng)-Nattes à chat-poor.wav


wood

標準英音，澳大利亞，通用美式

標準英音，澳大利亞，通用美式


quick

中古英語 quik, quic < 古英語 cwic < 原始西日耳曼語 *kwiku < 原始日耳曼語 *kwikwaz < 原始印歐語 *gʷih₃wós


ablaze

more ablaze (comparative)
most ablaze (superlative)

猛烈燃烧的，炽热的 （18世纪）

On entering the walls which surround the house, then all ablaze, a most dreadful conflict took place […]

1791, The Bee, Volume 4, Short Chronicle of Events, 27 July, 1791, p. v,

The canoe, a dim shadowy thing, moves across the black water, / Bearing a torch ablaze at the prow.

1881，Walt Whitman，“The Torch”, in Leaves of Grass，Boston: James R. Osgood，頁 305:

So Wang and Tiger’s men rushed into such houses as were not too ablaze and they began to drag out booty of silken pieces and yards of cloth and garments and anything they could carry.

1932, Pearl S. Buck, Sons, Wakefield, RI: Moyer Bell, 1992, Chapter 13, pp. 128-129,

Mario Balotelli, in the headlines for accidentally setting his house ablaze with fireworks, put City on their way with goals either side of the interval as United struggled to contain the array of attacking talent in front of them.

2011年October23日，Phil McNulty，“Man Utd 1 - 6 Man City”, in BBC Sport:

耀眼的，亮眼的 （18世纪）

The Heav’ns are all a-blaze, the face of night
Is cover’d with a sanguine dreadful light:

1716，John Gay，Trivia，第3rd版, London: Bernard Lintot, 出版於 1730, Book 3, p. 64:

All ablaze with crimson and gold.

1872，Henry Wadsworth Longfellow，Christus: A Mystery:

The day being June the thirtieth, which is the very high-tide time of summer flowers, the immediate neighbourhood of the castle was ablaze with roses, pinks, pansies, carnations, hollyhocks, columbines, larkspurs, London pride, Canterbury bells, and a multitude of other choice blooms.

1923，P. G. Wodehouse，章號 I, in Leave It to Psmith:

She loved this hour when the lights were coming up in the causeway: white and blue and orange lights and the hotels and coloured adverts ablaze but not yet effective in the pale twilight.

1961，Cyprian Ekwensi，章號 3, in Jagua Nana，Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, 出版於 1969，頁 13:

Autumn is a lovely time to visit as the tree cover near the line is ablaze with colour.

2021年July28日，Paul Bigland，“Calder line captures picturesque Pennines”, in RAIL，期 936，頁 69:

非常激动的，非常兴奋的 （17世纪）

And this Fire of your Eyes easily strikes those of your Auditors, who have theirs constantly fixt upon yours; and it must needs set them a-blaze too upon the same Resentment and Passion.

大約1680, uncredited translator, An Essay upon the Action of an Orator by Michel Le Faucheur, London: Nicholas Cox, pp. 184-185,

The young Cambridge democrats were all ablaze to assist Torrijos.

1851，Thomas Carlyle，The Life of John Sterling:

Raoul was ablaze with indignation.

1880，George Washington Cable，章號 40, in The Grandissimes，New York: Scribner，頁 318:

His indifference to Carmen, who has all the other males in sight quivering with a passion never seen on land or sea, sets her ablaze; in a series of scenes which it is difficult to call erotic without adding that they are also infantile, she goes after him and he falls.

1955，James Baldwin，“Carmen Jones: The Dark is Light Enough”, in Notes of a Native Son，New York: Dial, 出版於 1963，頁 48:

[…] Dawit, glorious and fearless, charging at the enemy, […] his eyes ablaze with a hatred so pure that for a moment, the ascaro draws back before he lifts his weapon and aims.

2019，Maaza Mengiste，The Shadow King，Edinburgh: Canongate:


absent

:< 中古法語 absent < 古法語 ausent < 拉丁語 absent-——absens 的词干——abesse （“远离”）的现在分词；构自 ab + esse （“是”）。

缺席的，不在的，不在场的


acceptable

more acceptable (comparative)
most acceptable (superlative)


zany

源自中古法語 zani、zanni，源自意大利語 zanni (“戴面具的丑角”)，源自Zanni，Giovanni的方言形式。

zanier (comparative)
zaniest (superlative)

And I will admit now but never then that, more than once, listening to the Viennese chattering their zany German on the pavements, or taking himself to one of the struggling small theatres that were cropping up in cellars and bombed houses...

Press articles emphasized his [Dizzy Gillespie's] ambassadorial role and drew attention to the paradox that he was a shrewd musician and leader despite his zany image.

1999，Alyn Shipton，“Gillespiana”, in Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie，Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN，頁 293:

When playing for Connie Mack, Rube [Waddell]'s pattern after one of his zany outbursts usually involved promises of good behavior and a spurt of excellent pitching.

2000，Alan H. Levy，Rube Waddell: The Zany, Brilliant Life of a Strikeout Artist，Jefferson, N.C.: London: McFarland & Company, →ISBN，頁 241:

This runs counter to the play, where Grandpa is always benignly indulgent of all his zany progeny and their equally zany spouses, and is even somewhat zany himself.

2013，William Paul，“No Escaping the Depression: Utopian Comedy and the Aesthetics of Escapism in Frank Capra's You Can't Take it with You (1938)”, in A Companion to Film Comedy，Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN，頁 280:

The montage goes on to show scenes of Carla singing, dancing, meditating, breaking the tension amongst her co-cheftestants with sing-a-longs and “hootie-hoo” lessons, and ultimately wooing the judges with a combination of her zany personality and solid cooking skills.

2015，Kimberly D. Nettles-Barcelón，“The Sassy Black Cook and the Return of the Magic Negress: Popular Representations of Black Women's Food Work”, in Dethroning the Deceitful Pork Chop: Rethinking African American Foodways from Slavery to Obama，Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, →ISBN，頁 117:


adjacent

借自拉丁語 adiacēns，adiacentis，衍生自adiaceo (“我躺在旁邊”)；来自ad (“於，至，對，向”) + iaceo (“我躺下”)。


daffodil

中古英語 affodill (“熊葱”)，源自中世紀拉丁語 affodillus，源自拉丁語 asphodelus，源自古希臘語 ἀσφόδελος (asphódelos)，源自前希臘時期的底層語言。起头的d-可能是源自荷兰语冠词de affodil。（对比adder、apron、newt、nickname、orange和umpire）

more daffodil (comparative)
most daffodil (superlative)


daft

源自中古英語 dafte、defte (“温柔的；礼貌的；谦逊的；尴尬的；无聊的；粗野的”)，源自古英語 dæfte (“乐于助人的；温柔的”)，源自原始西日耳曼語 *daftī (“合适的”)，最终源自原始印歐語 *dʰh₂ebʰ- (“适”)。与古英語 dafnian、dafenian (“合适的”)、俄語 до́брый (dóbryj，“好的”)有关。
对比silly，其原指“很好的；无辜的；可怜的；弱小的”，但现在指“愚蠢的”。
与daff (“笨蛋；愚蠢的”)（过去式daffed）无关，但可能受到了其影响。

dafter (comparative)
daftest (superlative)

a daft idea

Thou art the daftest fuill that ever I saw. / Trows thou, man, be the law to get remeid / Of men of kirk? Na, nocht till thou be deid.

You are the daftest fool that ever I saw. / Trust you, man, by the law to get a remedy / 源自men of the church? No, not till you are dead.

1602，David Lyndesay [i.e., David Lyndsay]，Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits, in Commendation of Vertew and Vitvperation of Vyce (語言：低地蘇格蘭語), Edinburgh: Printed be Robert Charteris, →OCLC; 再版為 Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits, in Commendation of Vertew and Vitvperation of Vyce (Early English Text Society, Original Series; no. 37)，[London]: [Published for the Early English Text Society, by N[icholas] Trübner & Co.], [1869], →OCLC，頁 451，行s 2008–2010:

In case you haven't heard of them [the Taipings], I must tell you that they were another of those incredible phenomena that made China the topsy-turvey mess it was, like some fantastic land from Gulliver, where everything was upside down and out of kilter. Talk about moonbeams from cucumbers; the Taipings were even dafter than that.

1985，George MacDonald Fraser，章號 1, in Flashman and the Dragon: 源自the Flashman Papers, 1860，London: Collins Harvill, →ISBN; 再版 New York, N.Y.: Plume, 1987, →ISBN:

You haven't exactly been playing the master tactician through all this, but that seems the daftest course you could possibly have taken.

1990，Iain Pears，The Raphael Affair，London: Gollancz, →ISBN; 再版 New York, N.Y.: Harper, 2014, →ISBN，頁 22:

The boy gathered himself up, shook his shaggy head, and, said, in a piteous tone: 'Davie's daft!' 'Davie's daft!' He then kicked the poor idiot till his cries attracted the attention of the guests, some of whom immediately came to the spot: […]

1843 April，“The Vale of Glencoe: A Tale of Scotland”, in The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine，卷 XXI, 期 4, New York, N.Y.: Published by John Allen, […], →OCLC，頁 339:

‘It’s a lee [lie],’ says the man; ‘she’s either drunk or daft.’ / ‘Me drunk, you ill-tongued vagabond!’ says my Auntie Kirsty, who couldna bear such a reproach on her good name, ‘I’m a’ but blackfasting this day from either meat or drink; you had better no meddle wi’ my character.’

1876，S[arah] R. Whitehead，“On the Wrong Coach”, in Daft Davie and Other Sketches of Scottish Life and Character，London: Hodder and Stoughton, […], →OCLC，頁 220:

There's mirth in the barn and the ha', the ha', / There's mirth in the barn and the ha': / There's quaffing and laughing, / And dancing and daffing; / And our young bride's daftest of a', of a', / And our young bride's daftest of a'.

1825，“Who’s at My Window”, in The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern; […] In Four Volumes，卷 III, London: Printed for John Taylor, […], →OCLC，頁 334:


standard

more standard (comparative)
most standard (superlative)


sod

源自古英语复数过去式，或逆構詞自过去分词sodden。

more sod (comparative)
most sod (superlative)

Beer, if it be over-new, or over-stale, over-strong, or not sod,[…]is most unwholesome, frets, and galls, etc.
（請為本引文添加中文翻譯）

1624，Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton]，The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]，第2nd版, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
, New York, 2001, p.223:

sod damper


Ainu

源自日語 アイヌ (“阿依努”)，源自阿伊努語 アィヌ (aynu，“人”)。

阿伊努的，阿伊努人的，阿伊努语的


Algerian

more Algerian (comparative)
most Algerian (superlative)

阿尔及利亚的，关于阿尔及利亚的；阿尔及利亚人的，关于阿尔及利亚人的


cacophonous

源自古希臘語 κακός (kakós，“坏的”) + φωνή (phōnḗ，“嗓音”)。

more cacophonous (comparative)
most cacophonous (superlative)

[…] Huple had rescued them just in time by seizing the controls back from Dobbs and leveling the ship out almost as suddenly right back in the middle of the buffeting layer of cacophonous flak from which they had escaped successfully only a moment before.

1961年November10日，Joseph Heller，“The Texan”, in Catch-22 […]，New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC，頁 46:

The good thing about this job is that it gives me time and space to contemplate the future at my leisure, whilst the city sleeps, free from the cacophonous curiosity of the hoi polloi.

1993，Mike Leigh，Naked，spoken by Brian (Peter Wight):

The first time I saw the NYC quartet [Sonic Youth] was in 1983 for their Confusion Is Sex album, when they filled The Venue in Victoria, London with a cacophonous maelstrom of mangled sounds that still reverberates, more than two decades on.

2006，Everett True，Nirvana: The Biography，Da Capo Press, 出版於 2007, →ISBN，頁 58:

[…] and the cacophonous clatter of pots and pans accompanied the vociferous complaints of the ship's cook.

2011，Fern Michaels，To Taste the Wine，Kensington Books, 出版於 2011, →ISBN，頁 153:

A colony of pelicans can be cacophonous.

2012, Michael D. Breed & Janice Moore, Animal Behavior, Academic Press (2012), ISBN 9780123725813, page 199 (image caption):


charitable

more charitable (comparative)
most charitable (superlative)

St. Martin [of Tours] looks round, first, deliberately;—becomes aware of a tatterdemalion and thirsty-looking soul of a beggar at his chair side, who has managed to get his cup filled somehow, also—by a charitable lacquey. St. Martin turns his back on the Empress, and hobnobs with him!

1884，John Ruskin，“By the Rivers of Waters”, in “Our Fathers Have Told Us.”: Sketches of the History of Christendom for Boys and Girls who have been Held at Its Fonts，part I (The Bible of Amiens), Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC，頁s 30–31:

Pakistan can sometimes be a cruel environment, its residents caught between the dual pressures of poverty and violence. Yet it is also a place of great kindness, with a strong culture of charitable giving.

2017年April6日，Samira Shackle，“On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in the Guardian:


childbearing

源自中古英語 childberyng、childbering、chyldberynge、child berynge。By surface analysis, child + bearing。

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

Women in the latter stages of childbearing should not be permitted to attend the toll of the manufactories.

1836，Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton，England and the English:

In these cases, fish intake rates specific to females of childbearing age are most appropriate when assessing exposures to developmental toxicants.

2000，Methodology for deriving ambient water quality criteria for the protection of human health:

Hips that in the old country would be considered good childbearing hips, but in this country are too wide.

2004，Jack Canfield，Mark Victor Hansen，Stephanie Marston，Chicken Soup to Inspire a Woman's Soul: Stories Celebrating the Wisdom, Fun and Freedom of Midlife，頁 256:


chivalrous

more chivalrous (comparative)
most chivalrous (superlative)


capricious

more capricious (comparative)
most capricious (superlative)

arbitrary

任性的；多变的，变化无常的

whimsical

任性的；多变的，变化无常的

fickle

任性的；多变的，变化无常的

conscientious

任性的；多变的，变化无常的

rigorous

任性的；多变的，变化无常的

capricious可描述人或者人做的决定。

任性的；多变的，变化无常的

I almost died in a capricious winter storm.

Stringent rulers are unlikely to act capriciously.


chummy

chummier (comparative)
more chummy (comparative)
chummiest (superlative)
most chummy (superlative)

源自what Brandon tells me, Andrea is getting pretty chummy with her dorm advisor!

1993，“Moving Targets”, in Beverly Hills, 90210，季数 4, 集数 7 (television production), spoken by Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty):

Yeah, I was just being nice! I was being nice and chummy!

2001，Larry David，“Thor”, in Curb Your Enthusiasm，季数 2, 集数 2 (television production), Larry David (actor):


circumspect

more circumspect (comparative)
most circumspect (superlative)

Being aware of the danger of upsetting her audience, she was somewhat circumspect in her comments.

她注意到可能会让观众们不快，在发表评论时较为谨慎。

Comment must be circumspect until fuller particulars are available, [...].

1959 March，“Talking of Trains: Scottish reorganisation”, in Trains Illustrated，頁 119:


centred

centered的英國、愛爾蘭、加拿大、澳大利亞、新西蘭和南非拼寫法


clandestine

源自拉丁語 clandestīnus (“秘密的，隐瞒的”)，对比法語 clandestin。

more clandestine (comparative)
most clandestine (superlative)

covert

秘密的，隐蔽的，隐瞒的，暗中的，地下的

furtive

秘密的，隐蔽的，隐瞒的，暗中的，地下的

hush-hush

秘密的，隐蔽的，隐瞒的，暗中的，地下的

secret

秘密的，隐蔽的，隐瞒的，暗中的，地下的

secretive

秘密的，隐蔽的，隐瞒的，暗中的，地下的

undercover

秘密的，隐蔽的，隐瞒的，暗中的，地下的

秘密的，隐蔽的，隐瞒的，暗中的，地下的

clandestine military operations

Monimia, who while she yielded to his earnest entreaties had always felt, from the natural rectitude of her understanding, the impropriety of their clandestine correspondence, would, he feared, be more than ever sensible of her indiscretion, when she found that a servant was entrusted with it...

1793，Charlotte Smith，章號 1, in The Old Manor House，卷 3:

Whether the torments of absence were softened by a clandestine correspondence, let us not inquire. Mr. and Mrs. Morland never did.

1818，Jane Austen，章號 31, in Northanger Abbey:

Wildeve's clandestine plan with her was to take a little gravel in his hand and hold it to the crevice at the top of the window shutter, which was on the outside, so that it should fall with a gentle rustle, resembling that of a mouse, between shutter and glass.

1878，Thomas Hardy，章號 11, in The Return of the Native:

Lady Bullingdon could not, of course, countenance such an arrangement for a moment, and the two unhappy persons escaped for a clandestine marriage.

1912，G. K. Chesterton，章號 9, in Manalive:

Bodies were always a nuisance -- even the small guinea-pig bodies from the slight clandestine experiments in West’s room at the boarding-house.

1922，H. P. Lovecraft，Herbert West: Reanimator:

Probably, the Master-at-arms' clandestine persecution of Billy was started to try the temper of the man...

1924，Herman Melville，章號 13, in Billy Budd:

As I stand at the edge of existence; nameless shores of infinity. Perpetual unbirth unraveling distance, clandestine truths unveiled.

2003，“Fugue”, in Trivium 作曲, Ember To Inferno:

In my imagination, all work place encounters between men and women result in clandestine sex.

And I don't want anyone to think I dislike Catholicism because I don't. It's actually my favourite form of clandestine global evil.


claret

源自中古英語 claret，源自中古法語 claret，源自中世紀拉丁語 claratum vīnum，源自clārus。
对比tent (“西班牙红酒”)，其亦派生自颜色名。

more claret (comparative)
most claret (superlative)


clement

源自古法語，源自拉丁語 clēmēns (“慈悲的”)。 等价于clīnō + *-mh₁nos。

more clement (comparative)
most clement (superlative)

The weather is clement, though there was a downpour yesterday and I was obliged to take precautions.

1984，Edna O'Brien，“The Bachelor”, in A Fanatic Heart，New York: Plume，頁 66:

The earth was still dry and the air was perfectly clement.

1992，A. B. Yehoshua，譯者 Hillel Halkin, Mr. Mani，New York: Doubleday，頁s 314–5:


cretaceous

源自拉丁語 cretaceus (“白垩的”)，源自拉丁語 creta。


cringe

动词派生自中古英語 crengen (“高傲地俯身，屈尊”) [以及其他形式]，源自古英語 *crenċan、*crenċġan、*crengan (“使...倒下，使翻转”)，crinċġan (“屈服；畏缩；倒下；死亡”)的使役动词，源自原始日耳曼語 *krangijaną (“使倒下”)，源自原始日耳曼語 *kringaną、*krinkaną (“倒下；翻转；屈服”)（源自原始印歐語 *grenǵʰ- (“翻转”)）+ *-janą (从强变化动词构成“导致某人某物做某事”一意的使役动词)。英语词与丹麥語 krænge (“翻出内侧，使...外翻”)、荷蘭語 krengen (“猛然转向”)、低地蘇格蘭語 crenge、creenge、creinge、crienge (“畏缩，耸肩”)、瑞典語 kränga (“猛然转向；猛然前倾；掷”)和西弗里斯蘭語 kringe (“捏；戳；推；坚持，催促”)同源，且是crinkle 的同源對似詞。
名词和形容词派生自动词。

more cringe (comparative)
most cringe (superlative)

cringemaking

令人尴尬的 (指让人尴尬到不适的)

cringeworthy

令人尴尬的 (指让人尴尬到不适的)

cringybased

令人尴尬的 (指让人尴尬到不适的)

cringy

令人尴尬的 (指让人尴尬到不适的)

based

令人尴尬的 (指让人尴尬到不适的)

令人尴尬的 (指让人尴尬到不适的)


cockeyed

more cockeyed (comparative)
most cockeyed (superlative)

This morning I paid seventy cents for two little old dried-up slivers of bacon and one cockeyed egg.

1950, Langston Hughes, Simple Speaks His Mind, Chapter 12, in The Early Simple Stories, The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Volume 7, edited by Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper, University of Missouri Press, 2002, p. 60–61,

The Velcro closure of one sneaker had come loose and stuck up like a cockeyed tongue.

荒唐的，愚蠢的 （一般形容想法而非人）

I'm not going to go along with your cockeyed plot.

我可不想掺和进你那荒唐的阴谋里。

As time went on, and the desultory rifle-fire rattled among the hills, I began to wonder with increasing scepticism whether anything would ever happen to bring a bit of life, or rather a bit of death, into this cock-eyed war.

1938 四月，George Orwell [筆名；本名 Eric Arthur Blair]，章號 III, in Homage to Catalonia，London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

While he [Bob Dylan] spent six decades singing about heartache, apocalypse and betrayal, a cockeyed humor has always informed his bleak worldview.

2021年May24日，Jason Zinoman，“Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan, Our Most Underappreciated Comic”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the private office he said, "Mr. Barrow, I was going to quit."
 "Don't do that, son! You're the only executive I've got that isn't cockeyed all the time! […]"

1934，Sinclair Lewis，章號 12, in Work of Art，New York: P.F. Collier & Son，頁 166:


culminate

自1647年起可考，源自中世紀拉丁語 culminatus，culminare (“给...加冕”)的过去分词，源自拉丁語 culmen (“顶点”)，早期形式columen (“顶峰”)，源自原始意大利語 *kolamen，源自原始印歐語词根*kol-, *kelH- (“展现；顶”)，其亦派生出英語 hill和holm。


cuprous

亚铜的，一价铜的，铜(I)


corny

源自中古英語 corny，等价于corn + -y。至于义项“陈腐的”，源自“corn catalogue jokes”，即印在邮寄作物种子目录内的笑话，常被认为质量较低。

cornier (comparative)
corniest (superlative)

kitsch

老套的，陈腐的；无病呻吟的

kitschy

老套的，陈腐的；无病呻吟的

cheesy

老套的，陈腐的；无病呻吟的

tacky

老套的，陈腐的；无病呻吟的

campy

老套的，陈腐的；无病呻吟的

schlocky

老套的，陈腐的；无病呻吟的

schmaltzy

老套的，陈腐的；无病呻吟的

The duct tape and wire was a pretty corny solution.

用防尘胶带和电线也太没有新意了。

老套的，陈腐的；无病呻吟的

The movie was okay, but the love scene was really corny.

那部电影还行，但是恋爱那部分太套路了。

He sent a bouquet of twelve red roses and a card: "Roses are red, Violets are blue, Sugar is sweet, And so are you." How corny is that!

他送了一束十二朵玫瑰的花束，还有一张卡片：“玫瑰是红的，紫罗兰是蓝的，糖是甜的，你也是甜的。”真是土爆了！

拙劣的，愚蠢的，垃圾的，差劲的

Dreya shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "I'm going to bed. Y'all corny."

2010, Nikki Carter, Not A Good Look, page 221:

“You and your silly bitch better give me fifty feet before both y'all corny asses get slam dunked in that pool.”

2014, Niobia Bryant, Never Keeping Secrets, page 69:

Y'all haters corny with that Illuminati mess

有關使用本詞的更多用例，請參閱Citations:corny。

Country Cornbread Muffins (page 290) / Marlene Says: The cool crunchy salad and slightly sweet corny muffins are perfect partners to the creamy, spicy black bean soup.

2012，Marlene Koch，Eat More of What You Love，Running Press, →ISBN:

There are cornbread recipes, and there are cornbread recipes. This one absolutely sings. Based on her daddy’s, and then her sister’s, beloved skillet-made bread, Maggie’s own recipe developed over time. It’s more about method, she says, but using stone-ground cornmeal and whole buttermilk are just as important. And a hot, seasoned cast-iron skillet is a must. What emerges is a rich “corny” bread, an almost melting soft interior encased in a ridiculously toothsome crust.

2014，Nancy Vienneau，The Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook: Recipes and Stories to Celebrate the Bounty of the Moment，Nelson Books, Thomas Nelson，頁 180:

“CORNY” BREAD MUFFINS + HONEY BUTTER (GRAIN-, DAIRY-, SOY-, NIGHTSHADE-FREE) Well, making cornbread without corn is kinda tricky, but since corn is indeed a grain, “real” cornbread will not be found here.

2015，Jennifer Robins，Down South Paleo: Delectable Southern Recipes Adapted for Gluten-Free, Paleo Eaters，Page Street Publishing Co., →ISBN，頁 139:

Fiesta Corny Muffins / Cornbread goes with everything: salad, soup, and chili.

2016，Stephanie Clarke，Willow Jarosh，Healthy, Happy Pregnancy Cookbook，Atria Paperback, →ISBN，頁 83:

Have beans, bacon, and cornbread for dinner.[…]Have peas, bacon, and corny bread for dinner.

2019，George O. Wilson, Jr.，Osborne Wilson’s Civil War Diaries，Christian Faith Publishing, Inc., →ISBN:

产玉米或谷粒的；含玉米的

The corny ear.

Yen day when aw was corney.

1850，Joseph Philip Robson，France's Songs of the Bards of the Tyne:


corny

拉丁語 cornu (“角”)。

more corny (comparative)
most corny (superlative)

Up stood the cornie Reed.

1667，John Milton，“Book 7”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books，London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; 再版為 Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […]，London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:


corollary

源自中古英語，源自晚期拉丁語 corōllārium (“为花冠支付钱；礼物，酬金；推导”)，源自corōlla (“小花冠”)，corōna (“冠，王冠”)的指小词。

/ˈkɔɹəˌlɛɹi/

/kɔˈɹoʊˌlɛɹi/

However, given current sensibilities about individual privacy and data protection, the recording of oral data is becoming increasingly onerous for researchers who are obliged to navigate an often time-consuming and complex series of administrative requirements and corollary review processes in order to be granted ethics clearance.

2019，Li Huang，James Lambert，“Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI，頁 11:


commensurate

源自拉丁語 com- (表示一起的前缀) + mēnsūrō。

more commensurate (comparative)
most commensurate (superlative)

/kəˈmɛnʃəɹət/

/kəˈmɛnʃəɹət/

commensurate punishments

If it is essential in our interests to maintain a quasi-permanent position of power on the Asian mainland as against the Chinese then we must be prepared to continue to pay the present cost in Vietnam indefinitely and to meet any escalation on the other side with at least a commensurate escalation of commitment of our own.

1962, Senator Mike Mansfield, "Report to the President on Southeast Asia-Vietnam"

Kettering will become an important interchange for passengers making these journeys, and EMR is considering improvements to the station's facilities commensurate with this status.

2019 October，Tony Miles and Philip Sherratt，“EMR kicks off new era”, in Modern Railways，頁 54:


couth

源自中古英語 cǒuth (“熟悉的，知道的；显然的，真实的；著名的；文雅的，文质彬彬的”)，源自古英語 cūþ (“熟悉的，知道的；显而易见的；著名的；很好的；友好的；有关的”)，cunnan (“熟悉，知道；知道，了解，会，能够”)的过去分词，源自原始日耳曼語 *kunnaną (“熟悉，知道，分辨；会，能够”)（对比*kunþaz (“知道的，已知的”)），最终源自原始印歐語 *ǵneh₃- (“知道”)。同源词包括荷蘭語 kond (“已知的”)、薩特弗里斯蘭語 cut (“已知的”)、哥特語 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (kunþs，“已知的”)、冰島語 kuður、kunnur (“已知的”)、拉丁語 gnosco (“知道”)、古高地德語 kund、chund、chunt、中古高地德語 kunt （现代德語 kund (“知道的”)）、古撒克遜語 kūth、cûth、cuð (“为人所知的；著名的”)、低地蘇格蘭語 couth (“熟悉的，知道的”)。且是could 的同源對似詞。

more couth (comparative)
most couth (superlative)

couthie的变体 宜人的，恰当的，适合的

Squad leaders were responsible for doing periodic checks to make sure soldiers were living a couth lifestyle, as Joes would compete regularly to see whose room was nicer.

2012，La’Vez Robinson Sr.，“Deutschland”, in On My Own: Putting the Past behind Me，[Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN，頁 203:


couth

uncouth

有教养的，文雅的，礼貌的

有教养的，文雅的，礼貌的

So Dennis May thrilled me in a recent issue when he described Raymond Mays' 1939 E.R.A. racer as a "couth" little Merc-like model.

1943，Henry Sturmey, H. Walter Staner，The Autocar: A Journal Published in the Interests of the Mechanically Propelled Road Carriage，卷 88, London: Iliffe, Sons & Sturney, →OCLC，頁 632，列 3:

Yet the dancers are beautiful, their cool movement has a couth simplicity, and there are moments when a gesture of almost absolute beauty stands transfixed in some transom of sublime comprehension.

1991，Dance and Dancers，London: Dance & Dancers Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC，頁 37:

[John] Dankworth's care over the shaping and presentation of his music led occasionally to complaints that it was clever, lightweight stuff, lacking the rough passion which many regarded as the mark of authentic jazz, a view summed up by the critic Kitty Grime in the much-quoted phrase "couth, kempt and shevelled".

2010年February7日，“Sir John Dankworth [obituary]”, in The Daily Telegraph，London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC，存檔自the original on 2019-01-24:


coy

源自中古英語 coy，源自古法語 coi，早期形式quei (“安静的”)，源自拉丁語 quiētus (“在休息的”)。quiet 的同源對似詞。

coyer (comparative)
coyest (superlative)

The ill-bred miss, the bird-brained Jill, / May simper and be coy at will; / A lady, sir, as you will find, / Keeps counsel, or she speaks her mind, / Means what she says and scorns to fence / And palter with feigned innocence.

1981，A. D. Hope，“His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell”, in A Book of Answers:


condescending

more condescending (comparative)
most condescending (superlative)

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

别一副居高临下的语气和我说话！你老是把我当小孩子！

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

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


cranky

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

crankier (comparative)
crankiest (superlative)

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

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

脾气不好的，易怒的，暴躁的

He got home from a long day at work tired and cranky.

他忙了一天工作回到家，又累心情又差。

性情乖僻的，心理有问题的

Uncle Esau is as cranky as hell, and a peculiar old duck, but I think he'll like a fine upstanding young man as big as you be.

1934 December, Robert E. Howard, The Road to Bear Creek, in Action Stories,

crank (“（指船因货物堆放不恰当或压舱物不足而容易）倾覆的”)之同義詞

a cranky vessel


crass

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

crasser (comparative)
crassest (superlative)

粗鲁的；愚钝的，麻木不仁的，对别人漠不关心的，不明辨是非的

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

粗糙的，笨拙的，不精致的

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

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

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

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


Dalian

more Dalian (comparative)
most Dalian (superlative)

萨尔瓦多·达利（西班牙超现实主义画家）的；和萨尔瓦多·达利有关的。


deadpan

more deadpan (comparative)
most deadpan (superlative)

a deadpan face or look

deadpan behaviour or speech

The comedian remained deadpan.


debonair

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

more debonair (comparative)
most debonair (superlative)

客气的，殷勤的，有礼貌的

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

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

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

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

有魅力的，潇洒的，自信的，精心打扮的


dastard

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

more dastard (comparative)
most dastard (superlative)

Like dastard Curres, that having at a bay

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

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

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

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

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


dastardly

dastardlier (comparative)
dastardliest (superlative)


daunting

more daunting (comparative)
most daunting (superlative)

disconcerting

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

dismaying

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

formidable

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

frightening

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

unnerving

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

unsettling

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

undaunting

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

令人生畏的，吓人的，让人气馁的

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

这是一项很有挑战性的工作，但是事先做好准备了以后还是完成了。

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


demented

dement的过去分词，源自拉丁語 dēmentāre。

more demented (comparative)
most demented (superlative)

精神失常的，心理有问题的

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

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

One of these new recruits is Jagger Froid, a demented alien from the Black Hole Galaxy, who dishes out punishment with a laser-sharp tongue.

c. 1990, How to Play Super C (PDF) (instruction manual), Konami, page 4:

a demented idea


decrepit

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

more decrepit (comparative)
most decrepit (superlative)

老态龙钟的； 破旧不堪的

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

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

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

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


deplorable

原始印歐語詞
 *de
形容词借自法語 déplorable (“可悲的”)，或源自其词源晚期拉丁語 dēplōrābilis + 英語 -able (“能够...的”)。其中Dēplōrābilis派生自拉丁語 dēplōrō (“抱怨；痛惜，悲痛”) + -ābilis (“能够...的，应受...的”)，而dēplōrō源自dē- (程度增强前缀) + plōrō (“喊出；抱怨；悲痛”)（可能源自原始印歐語 *pleh₃(w)- (“流；游泳”)）。
名词派生自形容词。美国政治相关义项指的是美国政客及民主党人希拉里·克林顿（1947年生）在2016年美国总统选举期间的一次讲话中说，她的对手共和党人唐纳德·特朗普（1946年生）的支持者是“basket of deplorables”（一群可悲的人）。

more deplorable (comparative)
most deplorable (superlative)

/dɪˈplɔːɹəbəɫ/

极差的，恶劣的，应遭谴责的

Poor children suffer permanent damage due to deplorable living conditions and deplorable treatment by law enforcement.

贫困儿童因恶劣的生活环境和执法机构对其的不公待遇而遭受永久性创伤。

Poor children are often accused of having deplorable manners, when they are, in fact, simply responding to society in ways that mirror how society treats them.

贫困儿童常被指责教养差，但其实他们只是以社会对待他们的方式回应社会而已。

We were all saddened by the deplorable death of his son.

我们都为他儿子的悲惨离世而深感痛心。

There was a youth and his mother, and a maidservant on board, who were going passengers, and thinking the ship was ready to sail, unhappily came on board the evening before the hurricane began; and having no provisions of their own left, they were in a more deplorable condition than the rest.

1719, Daniel Defoe, The life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe

If, however, the early symptoms of insanity be neglected till the brain becomes accustomed to the irregular actions of disease, or till organic changes take place from the early violence of those actions, then the case becomes hopeless of cure. In this situation, in too many cases, the victim of this deplorable malady is cast off by his friends, thrust into a dungeon or in chains, there to remain till the shattered intellect shall exhaust all its remaining energies in perpetual raving and violence, till it sinks into hopeless and deplorable idiocy.

1840, Public Documents of the State of Maine, "Report Relating to the Insane Hospital", Committee on Public Buildings


deft

源自中古英語 defte、daft (“温柔的”)，源自古英語 dæfte (“温和的，温柔的，温顺的”)，源自原始西日耳曼語 *daftī (“合适的”)，派生自*dabaną (“合适”)，源自原始印歐語 *dʰh₂ebʰ- (“适”)。相近同源词包括哥特語 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐍉𐍆𐍃 (gadōfs，“合适的”)、西弗里斯蘭語 deftich (“杰出的”)、荷蘭語 deftig (“杰出的”)、德語 deftig (“粗野的”)。较远同源词包括俄語 добро (dobro，“财富，物资”)和拉丁語 faber (“匠人；熟练的”)。

defter (comparative)
deftest (superlative)

He assembled it in one fluid, deft motion.

他流畅灵活地一下把它组装了起来。


dejected

借自拉丁語 dēiciō。

more dejected (comparative)
most dejected (superlative)

I pitied poor Miss Read’s unfortunate situation, who was generally dejected, seldom cheerful, and avoided company […]

1818, Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs, Philadelphia: T.S. Manning, Volume I, p. 73,


despondent

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

more despondent (comparative)
most despondent (superlative)

沮丧的，绝望的，气馁的，灰心的

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

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


disheveled

more disheveled (comparative)
most disheveled (superlative)


dishevelled

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

more dishevelled (comparative)
most dishevelled (superlative)

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

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

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

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


disillusioned

more disillusioned (comparative)
most disillusioned (superlative)


disingenuous

more disingenuous (comparative)
most disingenuous (superlative)

falso

不高尚的；与荣誉不相称的

不高尚的；与荣誉不相称的或不高贵的；低劣的, 卑贱的；不相称的；虚假的或虚伪的。

不坦白的；不老实的；不率真的；狡猾的。

假装天真来达到某种目的或进行欺骗。


devil-may-care

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


devilish

源自中古英語 develissh、develyssh，等价于devil + -ish。同源词包括薩特弗里斯蘭語 düvelsk、düüwelsk (“恶魔般的”)、西弗里斯蘭語 duvelsk (“恶魔般的”)、荷蘭語 duivels (“恶魔般的”)、德國低地德語 düvelsk (“恶魔般的”)、德語 teuflisch (“恶魔般的”)、丹麥語 djævelsk (“恶魔般的”)、瑞典語 djävulsk (“恶魔般的”)、挪威語 djevelsk (“恶魔般的”)。

more devilish (comparative)
most devilish (superlative)

a devilish grin

A devilish effort yielded a devilish success.

不懈努力会带来巨大成功。


dispassionate

more dispassionate (comparative)
most dispassionate (superlative)

冷静的，理智的，公正的，不受感情影响的


disquieting

more disquieting (comparative)
most disquieting (superlative)

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

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


dissociative

It was a lonely, dissociative time in my life, when I stayed holed up in my apartment for weeks on end.

那是我生活中一段孤独，离群的时期，那时我呆在公寓里一连好几个星期。

The dissociative techniques separated ammonium chloride into hydrochloric acid and ammonia.

离解法将氯化铵分解为了盐酸和氨。

He had to take a few weeks off school after a dissociative episode.

他分离性障碍发作以后休学了几个星期。


dogged

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

more dogged (comparative)
most dogged (superlative)

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

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

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

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

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


doggone

"Hist!" exclaimed Black George. "I'll be dog-gone ef [if] I don't think we're chawed [chewed] up this time, sure as sin!"

1849，Emerson Bennett，Leni-Leoti; or, Adventures in the Far West:

I lost my doggone keys again!

我又把那把破钥匙弄丢了。


dilapidated

more dilapidated (comparative)
most dilapidated (superlative)

破败不堪的，荒废的，快要倒塌的

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

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


dim-witted

more dim-witted (comparative)
most dim-witted (superlative)


downtrodden

源自downtrod的过去分词。

more downtrodden (comparative)
most downtrodden (superlative)

a patch of downtrodden soil


disadvantageous

more disadvantageous (comparative)
most disadvantageous (superlative)


drear

drearer (comparative)
drearest (superlative)

Earth raised up her head
From the darkness dread and drear,

1794, William Blake, Earth's Answer, lines 1-2

I spoke, perplexed by something in the signs
Of desolation I had seen and heard
In this drear pilgrimage to ruined shrines:

1874，James Thomson，The City of Dreadful Night:

Now dreary dawns the eastern light,
And fall of eve is drear, …

1922, A. E. Housman, Last Poems, XXVIII, lines 1-2


dreary

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

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

阴沉的，荒凉的，凄凉的，悲怆的

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

雨连续下了三天，阴沉的天气使人们的心情也郁郁寡欢。

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

在好久以前一个凄凉的午夜，疲惫不堪的我想道...

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

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

剧烈的，严重的，骇人听闻的


disarming

more disarming (comparative)
most disarming (superlative)

a disarming smile

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

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


discourteous

more discourteous (comparative)
most discourteous (superlative)

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

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


exquisite

源自拉丁語 exquīsītus，exquīrō (“找出，找到”)的过去分词。

more exquisite (comparative)
most exquisite (superlative)

上好的，优质的，杰出的，突出的，卓越的

They sell good coffee and pastries, but their chocolate is exquisite.

他们卖的咖啡和糕点不错，但是他们的巧克力很棒。

Sourav Ganguly scored an exquisite century in his debut Test match.

exquisite pain or pleasure

挑剔的，严苛的，非常讲究的

exquisite judgment, taste, or discernment

严格的判断，挑剔的品味或挑剔的眼光


extortionate

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

more extortionate (comparative)
most extortionate (superlative)

/ɛkˈstɔːʃənət/

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

/ɛkˈstɔɹʃənət/

extortionable

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

extortious

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

modest

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

unextortionate

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

过高的，高得离谱的；过于昂贵的

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


eerie

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

eerier (comparative)
eeriest (superlative)

creepy

怪异的，诡异的，怪诞的，离奇的，令人毛骨悚然的

spooky

怪异的，诡异的，怪诞的，离奇的，令人毛骨悚然的

怪异的，诡异的，怪诞的，离奇的，令人毛骨悚然的

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

午夜过后那片坟地好像有诡异的声音传来。

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

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

She began to feel eerie.

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

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide


eery

eerie的另一種拼寫法


effervescent

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

more effervescent (comparative)
most effervescent (superlative)

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

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

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

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


egregious

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

more egregious (comparative)
most egregious (superlative)

/ɪˈɡɹiː.d͡ʒəs/

/əˈɡɹiː.d͡ʒi.əs/

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

严重的，剧烈的 （尤带有负面色彩）

The student has made egregious errors on the examination.

学生在考试时犯了很严重的错误。

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

非常坏的，非常糟糕的，骇人听闻的


eh

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

My French fries were eh.


entrancing

more entrancing (comparative)
most entrancing (superlative)


eldritch

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

more eldritch (comparative)
most eldritch (superlative)

/ˈɛl.dɹɪt͡ʃ/

超自然的，渗人的，恐怖的，怪异的，离奇的

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

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

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

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

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


ephemeral

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

more ephemeral (comparative)
most ephemeral (superlative)

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

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

sentences not of ephemeral, but of eternal, efficacy

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

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

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

仅存在一天的，仅存活一天的 （如花朵，昆虫，疾病等）

常年干涸但会在降雨时出现的

The graben constitutes a depositional basin and a topographic low, underlain by Cretaceous shales, in which volcanic debris accumulated in ephemeral lakes and streams in Oligocene and early Miocene time.

1986, W.H. Raymond, "Clinoptilolite Deposit in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, U.S.A.", in Yūichi Murakami et al. (editors), New Developments in Zeolite Science and Technology (conference proceedings), Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-444-98981-9, page 80:


electrochemical

电化学的，和电化学反应相关的


elegiac

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

more elegiac (comparative)
most elegiac (superlative)

/ˌɛləˈd͡ʒaɪək/

/ˌɛləˈd͡ʒaɪæk/

the elegiac distich or couplet, consisting of a dactylic hexameter and pentameter

挽歌般的，表达哀伤的，表达哀悼的


elusive

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

more elusive (comparative)
most elusive (superlative)

难以掌控的： 难以捕获的，难以抓住的

The elusive criminal was arrested.

难以掌控的： 难以记住的

难以掌控的： 难以理解的，捉摸不透的

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

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

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


erotic

more erotic (comparative)
most erotic (superlative)


erstwhile

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


erudite

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

more erudite (comparative)
most erudite (superlative)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


esoteric

源自古希臘語 ἐσωτερικός (esōterikós，“属于内圈的”)，源自ἐσωτέρω (esōtérō，“更往里”)，ἔσω (ésō，“在里面”)的比较级，源自ἐς (es)、εἰς (eis，“向里”)（本词原指希腊哲学家的秘密授课，与公开的或exoteric的相对）。

more esoteric (comparative)
most esoteric (superlative)

/ˌiːs.əʊˈtɛɹ.ɪk/

/ˌɛs.əˈtɛɹ.ɪk/

arcane

内行的，秘传的，密教的，深晦的

recondite

内行的，秘传的，密教的，深晦的

acroamatic

内行的，秘传的，密教的，深晦的

cerebral

理论性的 （带有神秘或宗教色彩）

内行的，秘传的，密教的，深晦的

The writing in this manual is very esoteric; I’d need a degree in engineering just to understand it!

这个手册里写的东西只有非常内行的人才能看得懂，我得读个工学学位才能看得懂。

理论性的 （带有神秘或宗教色彩）

an esoteric purpose

an esoteric meeting


wack

wacker (comparative)
wackest (superlative)

Every record they ever made was straight-up wack.

他们做过的唱片都好难听。


wacky

源自whack (“猛击”)，意指人因为经常撞脑袋，所以举止怪异。

wackier (comparative)
wackiest (superlative)

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

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


whimsical

more whimsical (comparative)
most whimsical (superlative)

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

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


washed-up

more washed-up (comparative)
most washed-up (superlative)


willy-nilly

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

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


wide-awake

more wide-awake (comparative)
most wide-awake (superlative)


wayfaring

源自中古英語 wayferande、weyverinde、wayverinde，源自古英語 weġfarende、weġfērende (“跋涉的”)，等价于way + faring。与冰島語 vegfarandi同源。还见wayfare。

旅行中的；(尤指) 徒步旅行的


wishy-washy

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

优柔寡断的，不干脆的，犹豫不决的

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

公关部不想被问细节，给了一个模棱两可的答复。

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

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

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

饭堂的橙汁太淡了，不仅不甜，连橙色都很淡。

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

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

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

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


woozy

源自中古英語 wosy (“泥泞的”)，源自中古英語 wose (“泥土，泥浆”) + -y。oozy 的同源對似詞。可能受到了boozy的影响。

woozier (comparative)
wooziest (superlative)

迷糊的，头昏眼花的，混乱的

I got off the rollercoaster feeling a bit woozy.

我下了过山车，有点晕乎乎的。

醉的 （受酒精或药物影响的）


whack

不详，原为苏格兰英语。可能是拟声词，但对比中古英語 thakken ← 古英語 þaccian（其因与本词异文合并而派生出thwack）。

whacker (comparative)
whackest (superlative)

wack (“疯狂的”)的另一種寫法

That's whack, yo!

As they joked about the big butts on female celebrities and what rappers had the whackest lyrics, Malcolm paid little attention to Kalia besides squeezing her hand or grabbing her arm to hold himself up […]

2007, Joyce E. Davis, Can't Stop The Shine, page 51:


vacuous

借自拉丁語 vacuus (“空的”)。

more vacuous (comparative)
most vacuous (superlative)

空洞的，无意义的；无聊的


verbose

源自拉丁語 verbōsus (“冗长的，长篇大论的，啰嗦的”) + 英語 -ose (指“满是...、像...”的后缀)。verbōsus派生自verbum (“词语”)（最终源自原始印歐語 *werh₁- (“说”)）+ -ōsus (指“满是...、过于...、倾向于...”的后缀，用于从名词构成形容词)。。等价于verb + -ose。

more verbose (comparative)
most verbose (superlative)

冗长的，啰嗦的 [自17世纪]

I omit more than an Hundred Things, that would engage to perſonal Reflection; for my Soul hath no Pleaſure in ſtriving therein, as knowing the inconſiſtancy of that uncharitable virulent Temper with a Chriſtian Spirit, which I am aſſured is quite another Thing, from what is Verboſe, Abuſive[,] Cavilling, Airy, and meerly Notional; [...]

1672，W[illiam] P[enn]，“To the Impartial Reader”, in The Spirit of Truth Vindicated, against that of Error & Envy; […]，[London: […] Andrew Sowle ...], →OCLC，頁 8:

We mentioned as another of the faults of Dr. [Charles] Anthon's book, that it exhibited his usual verbose grandiloquence. [...] We objected, for instance, to the lexicon, as loaded with useless words; and we suggested that the probable cause was the desire of procuring for it the appearance of completeness and originality.

1840 October，“Art. XI.—Critical Notices. 1.—A Reply to an Attack on Anthon’s Greek Reader, in the North American Review for July, 1840. The Knickerbocker. Extra. New York. 8vo. pp. 11.”, in The North American Review，卷 LI, 期 CIX, Boston, Mass.: Ferdinand Andrews, […], →ISSN, →OCLC，頁 498:

So with sentences or the combinations of words. Much skill is required for their construction. They must convey your meaning accurately, and as far as possible in the natural order of thought, and yet they must not be complex, involved, verbose, stiff, ungainly, or tautological. They must be brief, but not curt; explicit, but not verbose. Here, again, good taste must be your guide, rather than rules which teachers propound, but which the pupil never follows.

1863，Edward W[illiam] Cox，“Letter VIII. Words—Sentences—Rhythm.”, in The Arts of Writing, Reading and Speaking, in Letters to a Law Student，London: John Crockford, […], →OCLC，頁 51:

On the Furness section the sign at Grange is as brief—PASSENGERS MUST CROSS BY THE SUBWAY—as that at the next station, Arnside, is verbose: PASSENGERS ARE REQUESTED TO CROSS THE LINE BY THE BRIDGE. IT IS DANGEROUS TO CROSS THE RAILS.

1942 April，Bernard Fielding，“Crossing the Line”, in Railway Magazine，頁 103:

In modern processors, you pay a bigger performance hit for having verbose code than for having an extra function call because larger code can cause secondary cache hits.

1999，Michael Hyman，Phani Vaddadi，“Dealing with Compiler-generated Code”, in Mike and Phani’s Essential C++ Techniques (Books for Professionals by Professionals)，New York, N.Y.: Apress, →DOI, →ISBN, technique 46 (Wrap New to Save Space)，頁 40:

Some patients are especially difficult to interview. Recalcitrant patients, verbose patients, confused patients, patients whose command of the English language is limited, patients with hearing impairments, patients with aphasia, impatient patients, and patients hospitalized in isolation rooms all may be difficult to interview. [...] The best approach for recalcitrant or verbose patients is to exert firm control of the interview and ask directed questions to draw information from the recalcitrant patient and redirect the verbose patient.

2012，Karen J. Tietze，“Taking Medication Histories”, in Clinical Skills for Pharmacists: A Patient-focused Approach，第3rd版, St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier Mosby, →ISBN，頁 38，列 1:

详细的 （输出、日志等，常用来做诊断调试）

You should use verbose logging sparingly. Turning on verbose logging for every process would result in log files so large they would become useless.

2001，Richard Blum，“Common Postfix Problems”, in Postfix，Indianapolis, Ind.: Sams Publishing, →ISBN, part III (Advanced Postfix Server Topics)，頁 532:

Verbose logging adds extra detail and increases the descriptiveness of the log entries made. Verbose logging also adds one additional client log file that is specific to DCM, SmsClrHost.log, and one management point log file, MP_GetSdmPackage.log.

2009，Kerrie Meyler，Byron Holt，Greg Ramsey [et al.]，“Desired Configuration Management”, in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Unleashed，Indianapolis, Ind.: Sams Publishing, →ISBN, part III (Configuration Manager Operations):

For troubleshooting purposes, enable verbose logging for the WUA by following these steps: [...]

2015，Andre Della Monica，Chris Shilt，Russ Rimmerman，Rushi Faldu，“Understanding Software Update Architecture: Client Side”, in Microsoft System Center: Software Update Management Field Experience，Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft Press, →ISBN，頁 19:


valorous

more valorous (comparative)
most valorous (superlative)

this present booke compyled by virgyle ryght subtyl and Ingenyous oratour & poete Intytuled Eneydos hath be translated oute of latyn in to comyn langage In whiche may alle valyaunt prynces and other nobles see many valorous fayttes of armes.

大約1490 William Caxton (translator), The Boke of Eneydos, Westminster, Preface,

[…] he esteems himself happy that he hath fallen into the hands of one, as he thinks, the most brave, valorous, and thrice-worthy signieur of England.

1599，William Shakespeare，“The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)，London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, 出版於 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

[…] I shall be at York—at the head of my daring and valorous fellows, as ready to support any bold design as thy policy can be to form one.

1820，沃尔特·司各特，艾凡赫，卷 (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), 爱丁堡: […] Archibald Constable and Co.；伦敦：Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

He held up the glass. “To your valorous wounds. To the silver medal.”

1929, Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, New York: Scribner, Book I, Chapter 10, p. 70,

There are many valorous stories told of her, which enthral grown men as well as children.

2004, Andrea Levy, Small Island, London: Review, Chapter Twelve, p. 139,


vapid

借自拉丁語 vapidus (“（指葡萄酒）不新鲜的”)。

more vapid (comparative)
most vapid (superlative)

乏味的，枯燥的，平平无奇的

In Koons' best-known works—a life-sized poly-chromed wood replica of Michael Jackson and his pet chimp Bubbles; vapid fin de siècle readymades such as a trio of basketballs floating in a fishtank […]

1995，Steven Daly，Nathaniel Wice，“Koons, Jeff”, in alt.culture，New York: HarperPerennial, →ISBN:

Then there was a little more trite conversation between Mr. Arabin and Mr. Harding; trite, and hard, and vapid, and senseless.

1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the Second, page 30 ISBN 1857150570


vassal

源自中古英語 vassal，源自古法語 vassal，源自中世紀拉丁語 vassallus (“男仆，佣人”)，源自拉丁語 vassus (“佣人”)，源自高盧語 *wassos (“少年，乡绅”)，源自原始凱爾特語 *wastos (“佣人”)（对比古愛爾蘭語 foss和威爾士語 gwas）。


vehement

借自中古法語 vehement（现代法語 véhément，对比意大利語 veemente、葡萄牙語 veemente、西班牙語 vehemente）；或源自拉丁語 vehemēns (“猛烈的；热切的；猛烈的；热情的；强调的”)，可能源自vē- (指“缺少”的前缀) + mēns (“心智；智力；判断力，思考能力”)。

more vehement (comparative)
most vehement (superlative)

音频 (通用美式，女性)

音频 (通用美式，男性)

激动的，热情的，热烈的，热切的；激烈的

Yet the Fiends ſeemed to come nearer and nearer, but when they were come even almoſt at him, he cried out with a moſt vehement voice, I will walk in the ſtrength of the Lord God; ſo they gave back, and came no further.

1678，John Bunyan，The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which is to Come: Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream wherein is Discovered, the Manner of His Setting Out, His Dangerous Journey; and Safe Arrival at the Desired Countrey，London: Printed for Nath[aniel] Ponder at the Peacock in the Poultrey near Cornhill, →OCLC，頁 79:

Amy shook her head, vehement. "The vine didn't kill them. The Mayans did. They tried to flee and the Mayans shot them. The vine just claimed their bodies once they'd been shot. There's no thought involved in that. No—"

2006，Scott [Bechtel] Smith，The Ruins: A Novel，New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN，頁 236:


venerable

more venerable (comparative)
most venerable (superlative)


voracious

源自拉丁語 vorāx，源自vorō (“吞噬”)。

more voracious (comparative)
most voracious (superlative)

/vɔːˈɹeɪ.ʃəs/

/vəˈɹeɪ.ʃəs/

I never had so much as . . . one wish to God to direct me whither I should go, or to keep me from the danger which apparently surrounded me, as well from voracious creatures as cruel savages.
（請為本引文添加中文翻譯）

1719年，丹尼尔·笛福，《鲁滨逊漂流记》，第6章：

The old man was up, betimes, next morning, and waited impatiently for the appearance of his new associate, who after a delay that seemed interminable, at length presented himself, and commenced a voracious assault on the breakfast.
（請為本引文添加中文翻譯）

1867年，查尔斯·狄更斯, 《雾都孤儿》，第45章：

Retreating before stronger breeds, hungry and voracious, the Eskimo has drifted to the inhospitable polar regions.

If he carried chiefly his appetite, a zeal for tiled bathrooms, a conviction that the Pullman car is the acme of human comfort, and a belief that it is proper to tip waiters, taxicab drivers, and barbers, but under no circumstances station agents and ushers, then his Odyssey will be replete with good meals and bad meals, bathing adventures, compartment-train escapades, and voracious demands for money.
（請為本引文添加中文翻譯）

1922年，沃尔特·李普曼，《传播概念》，第7章：

Methodical and voracious, these hackers wanted all the files they could find.
（請為本引文添加中文翻譯）

2005年，Nathan Thornburgh，"The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies"，《时代杂志》，8月29日：

a voracious reader


uptight

uptighter (comparative)
more uptight (comparative)
uptightest (superlative)
most uptight (superlative)

Don't be so uptight! You won't go to jail for crossing the street against the light.

别那么死板嘛！过马路闯一次红灯又不会进监狱。

He came from a very uptight religious background, but you wouldn't know that now!

他有对性很压抑的宗教背景，但是现在完全不会看得出来。

Withnail: Just because the best tailoring you’ve ever seen is above your fucking appendix doesn’t mean anything. / Danny: Don’t get uptight with me, man.


undulate

借自晚期拉丁語 undulātus (“起伏的，荡漾的”)，源自不可考的*undula (“小波浪”)，拉丁語 unda (“波浪”)。

more undulate (comparative)
most undulate (superlative)

起伏的，荡漾的，像波浪的


unencumbered

more unencumbered (comparative)
most unencumbered (superlative)

That large room had always awed Ivor: even as a child he had never wanted to play in it, for all that it was so limitless, the parquet floor so vast and shiny and unencumbered, the windows so wide and light with the fairy expanse of Kensington Gardens.

1922，Michael Arlen，“1/1/3”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

The commuters from the suburbs come unencumbered with luggage, children and prams, and can almost be relied upon to find their way blindfold to their trains.

1962 April，J. N. Faulkner，“Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways，頁 258:

"You are wrong," replied Mrs. Courtenaye: "luxury is but a trifle—not so power and position. With an unencumbered estate, you take the first place in the county; you obtain the finest field for the exertion of your talents; and England has no distinction to which you may not reasonably aspire."

1837，L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon]，“The Confession”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […]，卷 I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC，頁 142:


unremitting

1728年，un- + remitting，源自remit，源自拉丁語 remittō，借其词义“减弱，减轻”，现已罕用。并非源自*unremit，该词不存在。

more unremitting (comparative)
most unremitting (superlative)

/ˌʌnɹɪˈmɪtɪŋ/

/ˌʌnɹɪˈmɪɾɪŋ/

These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour.

1818，Mary Shelley，章號 4, in Frankenstein:

We can achieve this god‐likeness only by unremitting and strenuous effort of the intellect.

1961: J. A. Philip. Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato. In: Proceedings and Transactions of the American Philological Association 92. p. 467.

The human life span will be extended to 200 years, but the last 150 will be spent in unremitting pain and sadness.

2004，George Carlin，“IN THE FUTURE”, in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?，New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL，頁 93:

In fact, eighteenth-century British erotica has been the subject of unremitting attention for the last two decades.

2011，Patrick Spedding，James Lambert，“Fanny Hill, Lord Fanny, and the Myth of Metonymy”, in Studies in Philology，卷 108, 期 1，頁 114:

"To meet the ambitions set-out by the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, we need to have an unremitting focus upon sustainable delivery, innovation and collaboration. [...]."

2021年July14日，Stefanie Foster，“Network News: Porterbrook takes over Long Marston rail site”, in RAIL，期 935，頁 28:


unruly

源自中古英語 unruly (“不安定的，骚动的”)，等价于un- + rule + -ly（对比中古英語 ruly、reuli (“符合教规的”)），但也是早期形式中古英語 unrouly、unroly (“unquiet, restless”)的变换形式，等价于un- + roolie。后者源自古諾爾斯語 *úróligr或受其影响，与丹麥語 urolig (“骚动的”)、瑞典語 orolig (“骚动的”)、冰島語 órólegur (“激动的”)有关。亦对比中古英語 unroo、unro (“焦虑”)。详见roo。

unrulier (comparative)
unruliest (superlative)

失控的，暴乱的，无法无天的

The police gathered to contain the unruly mob.

警察集合起来控制了失控的人群。

Unruly boys who will not grow up / Must be taken in hand / Unruly girls who will not settle down / They must be taken in hand

1985，Morrissey & Johnny Marr （作曲作詞）, “Barbarism Begins at Home”, in Meat Is Murder，演出者 The Smiths:

Richard DeLongpre: Are you okay, my boy angel?

2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1):


unsavory

more unsavory (comparative)
most unsavory (superlative)

His unsavory reputation as a mobster came back to haunt him when he ran for mayor of New York.


unscathed

He was quite relieved to finish the conversation unscathed.

On Tyneside, the suburban electric services were relatively unscathed by the conditions.

1962 March，“The New Year Freeze-up on British Railways”, in Modern Railways，頁 159:

This was not the cagey, cautious approach which had been widely anticipated. Rather, it was a signal that McCoist had reached a fairly significant conclusion – that his only hope of getting through this storm unscathed was to get his fragile team back on the front foot.

2011年December29日，Keith Jackson，“SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0”, in Daily Record:

This final running sore through several years did not leave the Queen unscathed, since it was clear that the palace had neglected its duty, either to persuade Charles to give up his long-running affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, or to protect and advise Diana how to cope with the international celebrity that had suddenly been thrust upon her.

September 8 2022，Stephen Bates，“Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian:


uncouth

源自中古英語 uncouth，源自古英語 uncūþ (“不明的；不熟悉的；奇怪的”)，源自原始西日耳曼語 *unkunþ，源自原始日耳曼語 *unkunþaz (“未知的”)，等价于un- + couth。

uncouther (comparative)
more uncouth (comparative)
uncouthest (superlative)
most uncouth (superlative)

couth

奇怪的，奇特的，不寻常的

奇怪的，奇特的，不寻常的

The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
Affects me equally; nor can I like
This uncouth' dream, of evil sprung I fear […]

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

Harsh words, though pertinent, uncouth appear: / None please the fancy, who offend the ear.

1699，Samuel Garth，The Dispensary, Canto IV, line 204:

If Yule found it delightful, why did Kipling find it uncouth?

2014，James Lambert，“A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography，卷 27, 期 1，頁 58:

“I don’t think it’s uncouth to talk about it. I think it’s a reality that has to inform the urgency with which we approach those issues.”

2021年May10日，Ian Prasad Philbrick，引 Brian Fallon, “‘We May Not Have a Full Two Years’: Democrats’ Plans Hinge on Good Health”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


unscrupulous

more unscrupulous (comparative)
most unscrupulous (superlative)

毫无顾忌的，肆无忌惮的，不择手段的，没有道德的

The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital.

1888，Rutherford B. Hayes，Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes，卷 IV, Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society, 出版於 1925，頁 374:


unflappable

more unflappable (comparative)
most unflappable (superlative)

collected

临危不惧的，沉着冷静的 （自1954年）

cool

临危不惧的，沉着冷静的 （自1954年）

even-keeled

临危不惧的，沉着冷静的 （自1954年）

flappable

临危不惧的，沉着冷静的 （自1954年）

临危不惧的，沉着冷静的 （自1954年）

The whole thing looked remarkably like an implacable force meeting an unflappable object.

It was for this reason that when Lord Hailsham first described Harold Macmillan as "unflappable'", it became an instant catchword, distancing the incoming Prime Minister from his predecessor

1978，James D. Margach，The abuse of power: the war between Downing Street and the media from Lloyd George to Callaghan:


unabashed

more unabashed (comparative)
most unabashed (superlative)

abashless

不害羞的，不在乎的，不怕丑的

composed

不害羞的，不在乎的，不怕丑的

poised

不害羞的，不在乎的，不怕丑的

unaffected

不害羞的，不在乎的，不怕丑的

undaunted

不害羞的，不在乎的，不怕丑的

unshamed

不害羞的，不在乎的，不怕丑的

abashless

人尽皆知的，没有掩盖的，没有掩饰的

barefaced

人尽皆知的，没有掩盖的，没有掩饰的

blatant

人尽皆知的，没有掩盖的，没有掩饰的

impudent

人尽皆知的，没有掩盖的，没有掩饰的

obvious

人尽皆知的，没有掩盖的，没有掩饰的

shameless

人尽皆知的，没有掩盖的，没有掩饰的

unrestrained

人尽皆知的，没有掩盖的，没有掩饰的

不害羞的，不在乎的，不怕丑的

For the third time Allan looked at his lawyer. And for the third time his lawyer looked back at him quite unabashed.

1866，Wilkie Collins，Armadale, Third book, Chapter V:

Armed with her utter faith in the goodness she must stand unabashed before the arrogance that scoffs at the power of spirit.

1919，Rabindranath Tagore，Letter to M. K. Gandhi:

人尽皆知的，没有掩盖的，没有掩饰的

指所作所为、情绪、事实等

[...]; a balance not artfully calculated, as her tears and her falterings showed, but resulting naturally from her unabashed sincerity.

1920，Edith Wharton，“Chapter XXV”, in The Age of Innocence: