| 单词 | 词组 |
| 释义 | 〔adage〕It is sometimes claimed that the expressionold adage is redundant, inasmuch as a saying must have a certain tradition behind it to count as anadage in the first place. But the word adage is first recorded by the OED in the phrase old adage, showing that this redundancy itself is very old.Such idiomatic redundancy is paralleled by similar phrases such asyoung whelp. 有时人们认为old adage 这种表达方式很累赘， 因为谚语首先必须具有一定的传统才能成为adage 。 但是adage 这个词首次是以 old adage 这个词组形式收录于 《牛津英语词典》， 由此可表明这种累赘本身就很古老。这种谚语上的累赘与类似的词组对等，如年轻的幼犬 〔retronym〕A word or phrase created because an existing term that was once used alone needs to be distinguished from a term referring to a new development, asacoustic guitar in contrast to electric guitar or analog watch in contrast to digital watch. 新词，后词：一个原本独自存在的词语，因必须与另一个表示新变化的词语区别，而创造出来的字或词组，例如acoustic guitar（民谣吉他） 相对于 electric guitar（电吉他） ， analog watch（有长短针手表） 相对于 digital watch（数字手表） 〔denote〕Denote means "to mark" or "to signify directly"; connote means "to suggest or convey to the mind what is not explicit.”In speaking of words or expressions,denote describes the relation between the expression and the thing it conventionally names, whereasconnote describes the relation between the word and the images or associations it evokes. Thus, the wordChristmas denotes the holiday celebrated on December 25 and connotes turkey, mistletoe, and chestnuts roasting on an open fire.Denote 意思是“作标记“或“直接记作“： connote 意思是“暗示那些没有明显表示出来的意义”。在表示词和词组意义时denote 描述词语与某事物通常意义之间的关系， 而connote 描述的是这个词与它唤起的图象或联想之间的关系。 这样Chrismas 这个词指(denote)在十二月二十五日庆祝的那个节日， 并意味着火鸡、圣诞树或在篝火上烧烤的栗子〔charade〕An episode in this game or a word or phrase so represented.字谜：这种游戏的一段或这种表现形式的单词或词组〔Gallicism〕A French phrase or idiom appearing in another language.法国成语：出现在另一种语言中的一个法语词组或习语〔majority〕The phrasegreater majority is appropriate only when considering two majorities: 词组greater majority 只是在两个多数作比较时才适用： 〔able〕 It should be avoided when such an ascription is unwarranted, as with passive constructions involving forms of the verbbe; thus it is inconsistent to sayThe problem was able to be solved through the method she had learned about in business school, since this sentence ascribes no capacity or ability to the problem itself.In such cases,can or could can usually be substituted: The problem could be solved . . . By contrast, passives withget ascribe a more active role to their subjects, and here theable to construction can be used: 当这种起因并非必要时，则被动态中用到动词be应避免使用这词组， 因此这问题可用她在商业学校中学到的方法来解决 的说法是矛盾的， 其原因是这个句子并未将某种能力归因于问题本身。在这种情况下，通常可使用can 或 could 来替代： 这问题可以被解决… 。相反，带get 的被动态表示一个更为能动的主语， 这样able to 结构就可以用为： 〔absolute〕Of, relating to, or being a word, phrase, or construction that is isolated syntactically from the rest of a sentence, asthe referee having finally arrived in The referee having finally arrived, the game began. 独立的，分离的：在句法上与句子其它部分相分离的一个单词、词组或结构，如：裁判最终到了 在 裁判终于到了，比赛开始了 之中 〔nothing〕According to the traditional rule,nothing is invariably treated as a singular, even when followed by an exception phrase containing a plural noun: 根据传统法则，nothing 始终是作为一个单数， 除了你的恐惧之外没有什么可以阻挡你甚至后跟一个含复数名词的词组时也不例外： 〔Ogden〕British psychologist and educator who designed Basic English, a simplified form of English made up of 850 words.奥格登，查尔斯·凯：(1889-1957) 英国心理学家和教育家，设计了基础英语-由850个词组成的简化英语形式〔very〕 as well as by other syntactic criteria.But the status of other participles is still in flux.Some speakers accept phrases such asvery appreciated, very astonished, or very heartened, while others prefer alternatives usingvery much. What is more, some participles allow treatment as adjectives in one sense but not another:one may speak ofa very inflated reputation, for example, but not, ordinarily, of a very inflated balloon. As a result, there is no sure way to tell which participles may be modified by a barevery —syntactic tests such as the use of the participle as an attributive adjective will themselves yield different judgments for different speakers—and writers must trust their ears.When in doubt, the use ofvery much is generally the safer alternative. 也可以由其它句法标准衡量。但是其它分词的位置还仍旧在变动，一些人同意例如very appreciated, very astonished（非常欣赏的，非常惊讶的） 或者 very heartened（极受鼓舞的） 这样的词组， 而另一些人喜欢选择使very much （非常的） 这种用法。 另外，有些分词允许在某些意义上用作形容词，但不能用在其它意义上：例如一个人可以说a very inflated reputation（很好的名誉） ，但一般不说 a very inflated balloon（很鼓的气球）。 这样一来，就很难辨别哪一个分词能只用very 修饰——句法测验， 例如作为一个定语形容词的分词用法，对于不同的说话者能产生不同的判断——作者必须相信他们的耳朵。当有疑问时，very much 的用法通常是一个比较安全的选择 〔question〕An interrogative sentence, phrase, or gesture.疑问句：质问性的句子、词组或手势〔provincialism〕A regional word, phrase, pronunciation, or usage.方言，土腔：地方性的用字、词组、发音或是习惯用语〔accent〕Vocal prominence or emphasis given to a particular syllable, word, or phrase.强调：一音节、单词或词组在发音上的突出和强调〔prosaism〕A prosaic word, phrase, or other expression.散文体：散文式词语、词组或其他表达方法〔gender〕Traditionally,gender has been used primarily to refer to the grammatical categories of "masculine,” "feminine,” and "neuter"; but in recent years the word has become well established in its use to refer to sex-based categories,as in phrases such asgender gap and the politics of gender. This usage is supported by the practice of many anthropologists,who reservesex for reference to biological categories, while usinggender to refer to social or cultural categories. According to this rule,one would sayThe effectiveness of the medication appears to depend on the sex (not gender ) of the patient, butIn peasant societies, gender (not sex ) roles are likely to be more clearly defined. This distinction is useful in principle,but it is by no means widely observed,and considerable variation in usage occurs at all levels.传统地，gender 已被主要用来指“阳性”、“阴性”和“中性”的语法类别， 自近年来，这个单词已被人们普遍接受为指基于性别区分的类别，例如在词组性别差异 和 性别政治 中， 这种用法被许多人类学家所支持，他们把sex 局限为生物类别， 而用gender 来指社会和文化方面的类别。 根据这种规则，我们应该说医疗的有效性似乎取决于 （而不是 gender ） 病人的性别， 但是在农业国家中，性别的 （不是 sex ） 角色易于有更清楚的定义。 这种区分在原则上是有用的，但无法被人们广泛注意，而且大量变体出现于在不同水平的用法中〔quarter〕When referring to the time of day,the articlea is optional in phrases such as (a) quarter to (or of, before, or till ) nine; (a) quarter after (or past ) ten. 当用来指一天的某一时间时，冠词a 在诸如 (a) quarter to （或 of, before 或 till ) nine； (a) quarter after（或 past ) ten 这类词组中可自由选择 〔substantive〕A word or group of words functioning as a noun.作名词用的词组：作名词用的一个词或一组词〔crocodile〕The crocodile may owe its name to its resemblance to a much smaller creature, a lizard that lived in the stone walls of Ionia.This lizard's name,krokodilos, is thought to be a compound of krokē, "pebble, gravel,” and drilos, which is only attested as meaning "circumcised man" but is assumed to mean "worm" as well. According to Herodotus, Ionians in Egypt noted the resemblance, probably humorously, between basking crocodiles and their own "worm of the stones.”The modern form of Englishcrocodile represents a return to the Classical Latin spelling crocodīlus, Latin having borrowed the word from Greek.But other spellings occurred in Classical Greek and Latin, and one of these Latin spellings,cocodrillus, passed into Medieval Latin and Old French (cocodril ) and then into English, so that our earliest possible use of the word, in a work perhaps composed before 1300, is spelledcokedrille. It was not until the 16th century that the word came to have its present spelling.The various spellings met with in the history ofcrocodile reflect the same sort of variations that occurred in the history of alligator. 鳄鱼可能是因为与一种比它小得多的生物，即生长在爱奥尼亚的石墙中的蜥蜴外表相似而得名。这种蜥蜴的名字krokodilos 被认为是由 kroke （意为“卵石，砾石”）一词和 drilos 这一（只被证明有“受割的人”的意思但又被假定有“蠕虫”的意思的）词组成的复合词。 希罗多德认为，埃及境内的爱奥尼亚人可能出于幽默而记下了晒太阳的鳄鱼和他们本地的“石头中的蠕虫”之间的类似点。英语的crocodile 的现代形式反映了古拉丁语拼法 crocodilus 的回归， 拉丁语中的这个词是从希腊语中引入的。但是出现在古希腊语和古拉丁语中的其它拼法以及其中一种拉丁语拼法，cocodrillus ， 却进入到中世纪拉丁语和古法语(cocodril )中，然后又进入到英语中， 所以出现在可能写于1300年以前的一篇文章中的我们最早有可能使用该词时的拼法是cokedrille 。 直到16世纪，这个词才变成现在这种拼法。在crocodile 一词的演变历史中的多种拼法也反映了在 alligator 一词的演变历史中的相似变化 〔COBOL〕A language based on English words and phrases, used in programming digital computers for various business applications.COBOL语言：一种基于英文单词与词组的语言，用于编写数字式计算机的各式各样的商务程序〔give〕To guide or direct, as by persuasion or behavior. Used with an infinitive phrase:促使，引起：通过劝说或行为来带领或指引。用于不定式词组中：〔ethnic〕When in a Middle English text written before 1400it is said that a part of a temple fell down and "mad a gret distruccione of ethnykis,”one wonders why ethnics were singled out for death.The wordethnic in this context, however, means "gentile,” coming as it does from the Greek adjectiveethnikos, meaning "national, foreign, gentile.”The adjective is derived from the nounethnos, "people, nation, foreign people,” that in the plural phraseta ethnē meant "foreign nations.” In translating the Hebrew Bible into Greek,this phrase was used for Hebrewgōyīm, "gentiles"; hence the sense of the noun in the Middle English quotation.The nounethnic in this sense or the related sense "heathen" is not recorded after 1728, although the related adjective sense is still used. But probably under the influence of other words going back to Greekethnos, such asethnography and ethnology, the adjectiveethnic broadened in meaning in the 19th century. After this broadeningthe noun sense "a member of a particular ethnic group,”first recorded in 1945, came into existence.在一篇1400年以前的中古英语文章中写道，一座神殿的一部分倒塌了并“导致一个种族的彻底毁灭”，人们想知道为什么一个种族单单被挑出去死。但是ethnic 在这个上下文中的意思是“异教徒”， 来自于希腊语的形容词ethnikos ， 意为“民族的，外来的，异教的”。该形容词源自名词ethnos， 意为“民族、种族、外来人”， 它的复数形式ta ethne， 意为“外来民族”。 在把希伯来圣经翻译成希腊语的过程中，这一词组被用作希伯来语中的goyim， 意为“异教徒”； 因此名词的含意在中世纪英语被引用。即使相关含意讲的名词ethnic 在1728年之后也未被收录，尽管这时相关的形容词含义已被应用， 但大概在那些可追溯到古希腊语ethnos 的词， 如ethnograthy 和 ethnology 的影响下， 形容词ethnic 在19世纪时对词义进行了扩充。 这次扩充后，名词词意为“某一特定的种族群体中的一员”，在1945年被首次收录并开始存在〔swan〕To declare; swear. Used in the phraseI swan as an interjection. 发誓，声明：声明；发誓。作为感叹词用于词组I swan 中 〔weigh〕Way. Used in the phraseunder weigh. 道路。用在词组under weigh 之中 〔quotha〕Used to express surprise or sarcasm, after quoting the word or phrase of another.的确：在引用了另一人所说的词或词组后，用来表示惊讶或嘲讽的感叹词〔phrase〕A word or group of words read or spoken as a unit and separated by pauses or other junctures.片语：作为读和说的词或词组的单位，并通过暂停或其他连音隔开〔stampede〕The Spanish wordestampida, meaning "explosion, bang, crash, uproar,” seems very fitting to describe a rush of animals, such as buffaloes, horses, or cattle,and was so used first in American Spanish.From this use came our wordstampede (actually from the Spanishestampido, a masculine noun corresponding to the feminine estampida, first recorded in 1828). Thusstampede, now a general English word, is an Americanism, that is, a word or expression that originated in the United States.Later the United States was to see stampedes of miners who rushed westward to find gold.Not surprisingly, an early instance of this word to describe a stampede of human beings is found in theSan Francisco Herald in 1851. 西班牙语estampida 的意思是“爆炸，巨响，击碎，吼叫”， 似乎很适合形容兽群如野牛、马群或牛的惊跑，并且首先被使用于美国西班牙语中。由此就出现了我们的stampede （事实上源于与西班牙语estampida 相对应的 estampido ，于1828年首次被记录下来）。 因此，stampede ，一个目前很普遍的英语词，是一种美国英语， 也就是说来源于美国的一个单词或词组。后来，美国目睹了成千上万向西淘金的人群。1851年在旧金山的先驱 中出现了形容大批人群蜂拥而至的这个字就不足为怪了 〔descriptor〕A word, a phrase, or an alphanumeric character used to identify an item in an information storage and retrieval system.描述符：在信息的存取系统中标识一条信息的单字、词组或混合字符串〔menu〕An enormous menu might be considered an oxymoronif one were to restrict the word etymologically.Menu can be traced back to the Latin word minūtus, meaning "small in size, amount, or degree"and also "possessing or involving minute knowledge.”Latinminūtus became Old French menut and Modern French menu, "small, fine, trifling, minute.” The French adjective came to be used as a nounwith the sense of "detail, details collectively,” and "detailed list.”As such, it was used in the phrasemenu de repas, "list of items of a meal,” which was shortened tomenu. This word was borrowed into English,being first recorded in 1837.The French word had been borrowed before,perhaps only briefly,as a shortening of the French phrasemenu peuple, "the common people.” This usage, however, is recorded in only one text, in 1658.“一个庞大的菜单”这一说法可能会被看成是一种矛盾的修辞法，如果人们从语源学角度对这个词进行限制的话。Menu 这个词的词源可上溯到拉丁词 minutus， 意为“尺寸、数量或程度小的”，或者“具备或涉及到精细知识的。”这个拉丁词minutus 而后又成为古法语单词 menut 和现代法语单词 menu， 意为“小的、精巧的、琐碎的、详细的。” 这个法语形容词逐渐被用作名词，意为“细节、诸多细节”及“详细的名单”。就这样，它被用于词组menu de repas， 意为“一张菜肴明细单”， 后来这个词组又被简略为menu。 这个简略词被引入英语中，最早出现于1837年。这个法语单词以前也曾被英语借用过，但也许只用了很短一段时间，而且是作为意为“普通民众”的法语词组menu peuple 的简略词。 然而这一用法仅在1658年的一篇文章中出现过〔headword〕A word, phrase, or name, usually set in boldface or other distinctive type, that serves as the heading for an entry in a dictionary, an encyclopedia, or a similar reference work. Also called entry word 标题词：作为字典、百科全书或类似参书中词条标题的通常印为黑体或其它特别字体的词、词组或名字 也作 entry word〔sierra〕Perhaps in formal contextsit is wise after mentioning a mountain range such as the Sierra Nevadato refer to it next asthe Sierras rather thanthe Sierra Mountains, sincemountains is inherent in sierra. Nonetheless, many Californians and Nevadans in particular will be very familiar with phrases such asthe Sierra Mountains. Such phrases are used because to a non-Spanish speakersierra does not necessarily have a meaning, unless one is familiar with the English wordsierra, "a rugged range of mountains having an irregular profile,” borrowed from Spanish. In Spanishsierra originally meant "saw" and so was aptly applied to a range of hills or mountains rising in peaks that suggested the teeth of a saw.It comes from Latinserra, "saw,” to which can also be traced our wordserrated. 也许在正式的语境中，提到了一山脉如内华达山脉之后，紧接着再提到时称为the Sierra ， 而不是the Sierra Mountains ， 因为mountains 是包含在 sierra 之中的。 尽管如此，许多加利福尼亚人，尤其是内华达人对类似the Sierra Mountains 这样的词组很熟悉。 使用这样的词组是因为对一个非西班牙语的人来说，sierra 一词并不一定有意义， 除非是一个熟悉这个从西班牙语中借用来的英语单词sierra （一崎岖的山脉，有曲折的轮廓）的人。 在西班牙语中，sierra 原意为“锯子”， 所以很恰当地被用来指峰峦叠起，使人联想起锯齿的山脉或群山。这个词来源于拉丁文serra （锯子）， serrated 也可以追溯到这个拉丁词 〔better〕The phrasehad better is acceptable, as long as the had or its contraction is preserved: You had better do it or You'd better do it, but not You better do it. See Usage Note at best ,rather 词组had better 中，要保留使用 had 或其缩写形式才能被接受： you had better do it 或 you'd better do it， 而不是 you better do it 参见 best,rather〔whence〕The constructionfrom whence has been criticized as redundant since the 18th century. It is true thatwhence incorporates the sense of from : 词组from whence 自18世纪以来便一直被批评为重复且与语义无增的词。 确实whence 这个词含有 from 之意： 〔punctuation〕The use of standard marks and signs in writing and printing to separate words into sentences, clauses, and phrases in order to clarify meaning.标点法：在写作及印刷中运用标准符号或标志以隔开词而形成句子、从句及词组从而使意思清晰〔fact〕Fact has a long history of usage in the sense "allegation of fact,” as in "This tract was distributed to thousands of American teachers, but the facts and the reasoning are wrong" (Albert Shanker).This practice has led inevitably to the introduction of the phrasestrue facts and real facts, as inThe true facts of the case may never be known. These usages may occasion qualms among critics who hold that facts cannot be other than true,but they often serve a useful purpose.Fact 有一个漫长的历史用于表示“宣告事实”， 如在“这个小册子被散发到数以千计的美国教师手中，可这个宣称的事实和推理过程是错误的” （阿尔伯特·尚克）。这个惯例不可避免地导致引进词组true facts 和 real facts ， 如在这个案件的真实可能从未被证实 中。 这些用法在那些认为不可能不是真的事实的批评家中可能引起疑虑，而他们常用于有用的目的〔responsible〕In recent years,many people have objected to the use of the phraseclaim responsibility with reference to the authors of terrorist acts, as inA small separatist group claimed responsibility for the explosion, in which 30 passengers were killed. It is true that the phrase is not entirely felicitous,in as much as it does not convey the speaker's conviction that the action is deplorable.But alternatives such asadmit or take the blame cannot be recommended either, since they would imply misleadingly that the instigators had themselves acknowledged that the action was wrongful.近年来，许多人反对使用与恐怖主义活动制造者相关的词组claim responsibility ， 如一小撮分离主义者声称对那次致使30位旅客丧生的爆炸负责 。 这个词组确实是不得体的，因为它没有表达说话者对悲惨行为的谴责。但也不能推荐如admit 和 take the blame 等替代词， 因为它们可能使人误导以为煽动者自己也承认行动是错误的〔palindrome〕A word, phrase, verse, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. For example:回文：正读、反读都相同的一个单词、词组、诗节或句子，例如：〔holler〕To shout out (words or phrases).See Synonyms at shout 喊出（词组或短语） 参见 shout〔sic〕Thus; so. Used in written texts to indicate that a surprising or paradoxical word, phrase, or fact is not a mistake and is to be read as it stands.原文如此：这样；如此在书面文本中用来指明一个令人奇怪或反论的词、词组或事实，其并非是错误的，而要被理解为它所代表的意义〔superman〕Overman and Beyondman hardly seem likely names for a superhero, but perhapsOverman might be "leaping tall buildings at a single bound" had the German word Übermensch been translated differently than it was. However, Nietzsche's term for the ideal superior man was translated into English assuperman, first recorded in a work by George Bernard Shaw published in 1903. Such a term comes to us through a process called loan translation, or calque formation,whereby the semantic components of a word or phrase in one language are literally translated into their equivalents in another language,GermanÜbermensch, made up of über, "super-,” and Mensch, "man,” thus becoming superman. Becauseüber- can also be translated "beyond" and "over,” we also findoverman and beyondman as calques for the word Übermensch, but they did not take root.Shaw, in a letter written before 1917, noted that"some of our most felicitous writers . . . had been using such desperate and unspeakable forms as Beyondman, when the glib Superman was staring them in the face all the time.”Hence, when it came to naming a new comic strip hero,Superman was the logical choice, a name first recorded in 1938. Overman 和 Beyondman 看上去几乎不象超级英雄的名称， 但是，如果将德语中 Übermensch 这个单词译作不同于原有的译法时，那么，也许 Overman 可能是“纵身一跃就能跃过高楼大厦”。 然而，尼采给予理想超人的名称译成英语为Superman ， 这个词最早见于乔治·萧伯纳的出版于1903年的一部作品中。这个词是通过借译而来的，或者说是通过仿造而来的，在以上这样的过程中，一个词或词组的语义成分被直译成另一语言中的与之相对应的成分。德语单词 Übermensch 是由 uber （即英语中"super-”之意）和 Mensch （即英语中"man"之意）组成的，这样的话，此词在英语中就成了 Superman 。 因为 über 也可译为"beyond"和"over"， 所以我们发现 躡ermensch 也被借译为 overman 和 beyondman 。 但是，这两个词并没有在英语中确立下来。萧伯纳在写于1917年之前的一封信中说道：“一些措辞最巧妙的英语作家，竟一直使用象Beyondman这种令人绝望而又无法形容的词，却对一直面对面盯着他们的‘Superman’视而不见”。这样，当要命名一个新的连环漫画中的英雄时，Superman 一词就成了理所当然的选择，这个名称首次记录于1938年 |
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