单词 | 较早 |
释义 | 〔celebrant〕Strictly speaking,celebrant should be reserved for an official participant in a religious ceremony or rite. In an earlier survey, however,a majority of the Usage Panel accepted the use ofcelebrant to mean "a participant in a celebration" (as inNew Year's Eve celebrants ). In this more general sense,celebrator is an undisputed alternative. 严格地说,celebrant 应该仅用来指宗教庆典或仪式的正式参与者。 但在较早的调查中,用法专题使用小组的大多数成员接受了celebrant 的用法, 意指“庆祝活动的参与者”,(如参加新年晚会庆祝的人 )。 在这个较为广泛的意义上,celebrator 毫无争议地可与其替换使用 〔Archeozoic〕Of, belonging to, or designating the earlier of two divisions of the Precambrian era.早期前寒武纪(的):前寒武纪的两期中较早的一期的,属于它的或以其命名的〔that〕The relics found were those of an earlier time.所发现的遗迹是较早的年代〔retrograde〕Reverting to an earlier or inferior condition.退化的:回到较早或较低级的状态的〔prove〕Proved is actually the older form of the past participle; proven is a Scottish variant that was first introduced into wider usage in legal contexts: Proved 实际上是过去式的较早形式; proven 是这个词的苏格兰语变体, 它首先在法律领域得到广泛的使用: 〔till〕Till is actually the older word, withuntil having been formed by the addition to it of the prefix un-, meaning "up to.” In the 18th centurythe spelling'till became fashionable, as iftill were a shortened form of until. Although'till is now nonstandard, 'til is sometimes used in this way and is considered acceptable, though it is etymologically incorrect. Till 实际上是这两个词中较早使用的一个, 在它前面加一个表示“直到”的前缀un- 构成了 until 。 在18世纪,'till 这种拼写方式很时髦, 似乎till 成了 until 的缩写形式。 尽管'till 现在不是标准的用法, 即使从词源学角度讲它是不正确的,'til 有时还这样使用,而且被认为是可以接受的 〔back〕Being owed or due from an earlier time; in arrears:积欠的:较早时期应拥有或到期的;拖欠的:〔funky〕When asked which words in the English language are the most difficult to define precisely,a lexicographer would surely mentionfunky. The meaning offunky seems well captured by Geneva Smitherman in Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America, where she states that funky means “[related to] the blue notes or blue mood created in jazz, blues, and soul music generally, down-to-earth soulfully expressed sounds; by extension [related to] the real nitty-gritty or fundamental essence of life, soul to the max.”Be that as it may,funky is first recorded in 1784 in a reference to musty, old, moldy cheese. Funky then developed the sense "smelling strong or bad,” which could be used to describe body odor.Butfunky was applied to jazz, too—a usage explained in 1959 by one F. Newton inJazz Scene : "Critics are on the search for something a little more like the old, original, passion-laden blues: the trade-name which has been suggested for it is ‘funky’(literally: ‘smelly,’ i.e. symbolizing the return from the upper atmosphere to the physical, down-to-earth reality).” Funky comes from the earlier nounfunk, which meant "a strong smell or stink.” This noun can probably be traced back to the Latin wordfūmus, "smoke.” 当被问及英语中最难准确定义的是哪些词时,词典编纂者肯定会提到funky 这个词。 Funky 的含义似乎被热纳瓦·史密斯曼在 语言和证明: 美国黑人语言一节中解释得很清楚,她认为 funky 指“主要在爵士乐、布鲁斯歌曲、灵乐这些发自灵魂深处的音乐中创造出的音符式的忧郁; 由此延伸为与生命本质精髓有关的,表现美国黑人及其文化特点到极致的。”Funky 最早可能被记录于1784年,用于指发霉的、过期的奶酪。 后来,funky 引申到这层意思“闻起来强烈或有异味的,” 可以用来形容身体的气味。但funky 也用于指爵士乐方面, 这种用法于1959年在一位名叫F·牛顿的人的书爵士舞台 中有所解释: “批评家们正在找一种有些更象原始的、激情洋溢的老布鲁斯歌曲一样的东西:用来表现后的词就是‘有气息的’(字面意义:‘有气味的,’也就是说,从高高在上的格调降回到自然而率直的风格)。” Funky 一词来自较早出现的名词funk, 意为“一种刺鼻的气味或臭味”。 这个词可能可追溯到拉丁词fumus, “烟” 〔Pleistocene〕Of, belonging to, or designating the geologic time, rock series, and sedimentary deposits of the earlier of the two epochs of the Quaternary Period, characterized by the alternate appearance and recession of northern glaciation and the appearance of the progenitors of human beings. See table at geologic time 更新世的:属于或标志第四纪的两个时期中较早时代的地质时期、岩石系列和沉积矿床的,这一时期以互生外貌、北方冰蚀退缩和人类祖先的出现为特征 参见 geologic time〔senile〕In earlier writings one finds phrases such as "asenile maturity of judgment" and "green and vigorous senility, ” demonstrating that these two words have not always been burdened with their current negative connotations. Senile and senility are examples of pejoration, the process by which a word's meaning changes for the worse over time.Even thoughsenile (first recorded in 1661) and senility (first recorded in 1778) initially had neutral senses such as "pertaining to old age,” it is probable that the weakness (in particular the mental weakness) that sometimes accompanies old age eventually caused negative senses to predominate.Certainly some pejorative associations were present in Latinsenīlis, "relating to an old man, aged,” the ultimate source of both words, and in related Latin words such assenēscere, which could mean "to deteriorate with age.” But it seems that pejorative associations have taken over these words in English through general usage,perhaps because average life expectancy has risen steadily over the years.在较早的文学作品中人们可以找到形如“判断力Senile(老练) 成熟”和“精力旺盛的有魄力的 Senility(老态龙钟) ”的短语,表明这两个词一直没有表示他们流行的消极的含义。 Senile 和 senility 是词义转贬的范例, 即一个词的意思随时间变化变得越来越坏。尽管senile (首次记载于1661年)和 senility (首次记载于1778年)最初具有中性的意义,例如“关于老年的”, 可能是伴随老年出现的衰弱(特别是智力衰弱)最终导致了反面的意思居支配地位。当然有一些词义转贬的联系表现在拉丁文中的senilis (“关于老人的,老年的”),是这两个词的最早的词源, 和与之相关的拉丁词如senecer ,意为“随年纪恶化”。 但是看起来在英语中通过广泛的使用词义转贬的联系已经取代了这些词,可能是由于平均估计寿命随时代发展稳步上升〔telephone〕When one telephones someone else,one never gives a second thought to the linguistic and etymological processes illustrated by the wordtelephone. To begin with,the nountelephone is one of a class of technological and scientific words that are made up of combining forms, in this casetele- and -phone. These forms are derived from classical languages:tele- is from the Greek combining form tēle- or tēl-, a form of tēle, meaning "afar, far off,” while-phone is from Greek phōnē, "sound, voice.” Such words derived from classical languages can be put together in French or German,for example, as well as in English.Which language actually gave birth to them cannot always be determined.In this case Frenchtelephone (about 1830) seems to have priority. The word was used for an acoustic apparatus, as it originally was in English (1844).Alexander Graham Bell appropriated the word for his invention in 1876,and in 1877 we have the first instance of the verbtelephone meaning "to speak to by telephone.” The verb is an example of a linguistic process called functional shift.This occurs when we use a noun as a verb,an adjective as a noun, or a noun as an adjective.Thus, we are changing the syntactic function of the word,just as we do when wetelephone a friend. 当某人打电话给别人时,他决不会再想一想单词Telephone 所说明的语言学的和词源学的发展历程。 开始时,名词telephone 是由复合形式构成的一类技术和科学术语中的一个, 在这个例子中是tele- 和 -phone 。 这些形式来自于古典语言:tele- 来自于希腊语的复合形式 tele- 或 tel- ( tele 的形式,意为“在远处,遥远地”), 而-phone 则来自希腊语 phone (“声音,嗓音”)。 这些来自古典语言的词可以在法语或德语中放在一起,例如,同英语一样。这些词到底诞生于哪一种语言通常无法确认。在这个例子中,法语telephone (大约于1830年)看起来出现较早。 这个单词正如它最初出现在英语中(1844年)的意思一样,在法语中它用于指声音设备。亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔在1876年用这个词指代他的发明物,1877年我们有了第一个意为“用电话与…交谈”的动词telephone 的实例。 这个动词是称为功能转移的语言学进程的一个例子。这种情况在我们将名词作为动词,将形容词作为名词或将名词作为形容词使用时就发生。这样,我们正在改变单词的句法功能,正如在我们打电话给 一位朋友时所做的一样 〔branch〕an unpaved road that branches from the main road; a theory that branches from an older system of ideas.从主干道分岔出来的未铺砌的小路;从较早的思想体系中分支出来的理论〔Willard〕American educator who was an early proponent of higher education for women.威拉德,爱玛·哈特:(1787-1870) 美国教育家。是较早倡导妇女接受高等教育的人之一〔backlash〕An antagonistic reaction to an earlier action:激烈反应,激烈反对:对一个较早行动的对抗性反应:〔prime〕First or early in time, order, or sequence; original.最初的,首先的:在时间、次序或顺序上是第一或较早的;原始的〔return〕 Revert refers to returning to an earlier, often less desirable condition, practice, subject, or belief: Revert 指回到一个较早的、通常不太理想的状态、习俗、主题或信仰: 〔anterior〕Occurring before in time; earlier.先前的:时间上先发生的;较早的〔forefather〕A person who is from an earlier time and has originated or contributed to a common tradition shared by a particular group.先人:生活在较早时代并且开创了某一特定集体的共同传统或为此作出了贡献的人〔revise〕A proof made from an earlier proof on which corrections have been made.改样:由已作更正的较早校样做出的校样〔qualify〕To reach the later stages of a selection process or contest by competing successfully in earlier rounds.取得…的资格:在较早的回合中,通过成功地竞争而达到竞选过程或竞赛的最后阶段〔scan〕In the 1969 edition ofThe American Heritage Dictionary a dead issue was buried by our Usage Panel, 85 percent of whom thought it was acceptable to usescan in the sense "to look over quickly,” though the note stated that this was less formal usage.The usage issue was raised becausescan in an earlier sense meant "to examine closely.” From a historical perspective it is easy to see how these two opposite senses ofscan developed. The source of our word, Latinscandere, which meant "to climb,” came to mean "to scan a verse of poetry,” because one could beat the rhythm by lifting and putting down one's foot.The Middle English verbscannen, derived from scandere, came into Middle English in this sense (first recorded in a text composed before 1398). In the 16th century this highly specialized sense having to do with the close analysis of verse developed other senses,such as "to criticize, examine minutely, interpret, perceive.” From these senses having to do with examination and perception,it was an easy step to the sense "to look at searchingly" (first recorded in 1798),perhaps harking back still to the careful, detailed work involved in analyzing prosody.But a thorough search can change into a quick one, as it seems to have done in the case of the verbscan. 在1969年版的美国传统词典 中,我们的用法委员会放弃了一个已废弃的争议, 其中85%的人认为scan 意为“快速浏览”是可接受的, 虽然注释上说这是非正式的用法。之所以这么用是因为scan 在较早的意义上表示“仔细检查”。 从历史的角度了解scan 的两个相反意思如何发展是容易的。 这个单词的词源是拉丁语scandere ,意为“攀登”,后又演化为“标出诗之格律”, 因为人们可以通过抬起或放下脚来打拍子。中世纪英语动词scannen 即是在这个意义上从 scandere 转化而来的(首次被记载在一本1398年之前编辑的教科书上)。 在16世纪这个已经高度专门化并且用来表示仔细分析诗歌的词语又发展出了其它的意项,如“批评、细致入微地检查、翻译或理解”。从这些表示检查和察觉的意思,很容易就过渡到“细察”(1798年首次被记载)的意义,也可能返回到仔细分析诗体的细微工作。但就象这个动词scan 一样,彻底地搜查可能变成快速地浏览 〔apartheid〕Although South Africa has not furnished a great number of words that have achieved general currency in British and American English,one in particular,apartheid, has gained wide circulation. The first recorded use ofapartheid as an English term, in the Cape Times on October 24, 1947, is an ironic commentary on much of the word's use since then: "Mr. Hofmeyr said apartheid could not be reconciled with a policy of progress and prosperity for South Africa.” According to the March 15, 1961, issue of theLondon Times, the wordself-development was supposed to replace apartheid as the official term used by the South African Broadcasting Corporation for "the Government's race policies. ” And inMove Your Shadow, published in 1985, Joseph Lelyveld says that the "word is [now] shunned, even resented by the [National Party's] high priests as if it were an epithet fashioned by the country's enemies.” Butapartheid as a word and as a reality has been slow to disappear. The history ofapartheid, however, offers a possible model for change in this policy, for the word is an example of a mixture and combination of resources, in this case linguistic.Apartheid is an English word that came into South African English from Afrikaans, the language of the Dutch settlers of South Africa. They in turn had made up the word from the Dutch wordapart, "separate,” and the suffix -heid, which corresponds to our suffix -hood. Thusapartheid literally means "separateness.” The Dutch had earlier borrowed the wordapart, as did we, from the French phrase à part, meaning "to one side.” 尽管南非并没有向英国和美国英语里加入很多得以普遍使用的词汇,但尚有一例外,apartheid 这个词就得到了普遍应用。 apartheid 一词作为英语词汇的使用最早记录于1947年10月24日的 开普时报 上,从那时起对该词的使用就作了反讽式的评论: “霍夫梅伊先生说种族隔离制不能与南非进步及繁荣的政策相容。”根据1961年3月15日的一期伦敦时报 , 南非广播公司试图以self-development 作为官方用语来代替 apartheid 表示“政府的种族政策”。 在1985年出版的移动你的影子 中,约瑟夫·莱莉瓦德说“这个词为高级牧师们所回避甚至痛恨, 似乎它是这个国家的敌人创造出来的修饰语。”但apartheid 作为词汇和作为现实存在消失得很慢。 然而apartheid 的历史为这种政策的变化提供了一个可能的模式, 因为这个词是语言学方面各种来源混合及联合的一个例子。Apartheid 是从南非的荷兰殖民者的语言进入南非英语的一个英语词汇。 依次由荷兰词apart “分隔”,和后缀 -heid (其与后缀 -hood 相对应)构成。 这样,apartheid 可逐字译为“分隔,隔离。” 荷兰人较早地借用了apart 一词,就如我们从法语里借用了意为“到一边”的 a part 一样 〔headquarter〕In an earlier surveya majority of the Usage Panel found both these examples to be unacceptable in formal writing.Although ample citational evidence exists for these usages,writers who wish to avoid criticism should consider the use of alternative expressions,for example:The magazine has just assigned him to (or has stationed him in ) a building that houses many foreign journalists. 在一次较早的调查中,大部分用法专题使用小组成员认为这两个例子在正式写作中是不能被接受的。虽然在大量引文中证实存在这种用法,但为免于批评,作家应该考虑运用其它表达方法来代替,例如:杂志社派他 (或者 has stationed him in ) 去有很多外国记者的大楼。 〔rathe〕Appearing or ripening early in the year, as flowers or fruit.早熟的:在一年内出现较早或成熟较早的,例如花朵或水果〔backlist〕A publisher's list of older titles kept in print.存书目录:保存在出版物中的较早篇目的出版者目录〔gift〕Gift has a long history of use as a verb meaning "to present as a gift; endow.” The practice appears to provide a useful distinction,in as much as the verbgive can sometimes be ambiguous between "to transfer physical possession" and "to transfer ownership"; and in fact a verb analogous togift is found in a number of other languages (for example, Italianregalare, "to give as a gift,” from regalo, "gift, present"). Unfortunately the verbal use ofgift in Modern English is irredeemably tainted (as is its derivative giftable ) by its association with the language of advertising and publicity (as in Gift her with this copper warming plate ). In an earlier surveythe usage was rejected by a large majority of the Usage Panel.Where clarity is required, substitutessuch asgive as a gift, bestow, or donate are recommended. · The phrasefree gift should, of course, be considered redundant. But the increasing currency of its use is indicative mainly of the degree to which the wordgift itself has been expropriated by advertisers to refer to merchandise offerings to which an obligation is attached—if not a direct price, then taking a test drive,sitting through a sales pitch, or enrolling in a book club.It is perhaps to this use ofgift, rather than to the redundancy free gift, that critics ought most strenuously to object. Gift 作动词意为“赠送礼物,赠予”的用法已有很长的历史了, 这种惯用法的出现提供了有用的区分,因为作为动词give 可能有时会在“传递有形财产“和”传递所有权“之间有模棱两可的意思; 但事实上类似于gift 的词是在其它语言上建立起来的 (如意大利语的regalare “作为礼物给予”来自于 regalo “礼物,礼品”)。 不幸的是gift 在现代英语中动词性质的用法由于广告语言和公众语言的联系而不可挽回地被污染了(如它的派生词 giftable )(又如在 给她这个铜暖盘作为礼物 )。 在较早的一个调查中,这种用法被大部分的用法专题使用小组的成员所反对。为了在此处的用法更清晰的一些替代词,如give as a gift, bestow 或 donate 被采纳了。 词组free gift 自然是应该被认为是多余的, 但是这种用法的迅速使用主要表示了gift 这个词被广告商所侵用而用来指提供商品优惠是一种附加的义务——如果不是直接的价格, 那么就参加一次竞赛活动,等待商品广告宣传或在一个读书俱乐部中报名登记。也许gift 的这种用法应该比冗余的 free gift 更为批评家所坚决反对 〔old〕Often Old Abbr. O,o.Being the earlier or earliest of two or more related objects, stages, versions, or periods. 常作 Old 缩写 O,o.较早的:两个或更多个相关事物、阶段、版本或阶段中较早的或最早的一个的〔old〕Belonging to or being of an earlier time:从前的:属于或存在于较早的一段时期的:〔prioritize〕It can be argued thatprioritize serves a useful function in providing a single word to mean "arrange according to priority,” but like many other recent formations with-ize, it is widely regarded as corporate or bureaucratic jargon.In an earlier survey,prioritize was unacceptable to the great majority of the Usage Panel. See Usage Note at -ize 人们当然可以争论prioritize 在提供一个单字以表示“按优先次序排列”上的有用功能, 但是象许多其他新近形成的以-ize 结尾的词一样, 它被广泛地认为是公司或官僚主义的行话。在较早的一次调查中发现,用法专题使用小组中绝大多数认为prioritize 不可接受 参见 -ize〔ok〕(seeant- ) Latin antīquus , "appearing before, having prior aspect,” former ( *anti- , before); ( 参见ant-) 拉丁语 antīquus , “在…之前出现, 有较早的因素,” 从前的,前者的 *anti- , 在…之前; 〔mannequin〕A department store mannequin is often not a man and often not little,yetmannequin goes back to the Middle Dutch word mannekijn, the diminutive form ofman. Of course we must consider the fact thatman in Dutch, as in English, has often been used to mean "person.” As for the size of a mannequin,the Middle Dutch word could mean "dwarf" but in Modern Dutch developed the specialized sense of "an artist's jointed model.”This was the sense in which we adopted the word (first recorded in 1570),another term likeeasel and landscape that was taken over from the terminology of Dutch painters of the time. The word borrowed from Dutch now has the formmanikin. We later adopted the French version of the Dutch word as well,giving Englishmannequin. Mannequinis considered to be first recorded in a dictionary published from 1730 to 1736 or in 1902,depending on whether one regards early forms showing French influence as variants ofmanikin or as representations of a new word. In any event,mannequin is now the form most commonly encountered and the one commonly used for a department store dummy as well as a live model.一个百货店的时装模特一般不用男子并且也不会太小,但mannequin 一词来源于中世纪时的荷兰语 mannekijn, 是man 的小词形式。 当然,我们应该考虑到在荷兰语和英语中,man 被用来指“一个人”。 至于人体模型的大小,这个中世纪荷兰词语可以表示“侏儒”,但在现代荷兰语中发展出一个特定的意思是“艺术家的关节活动的人体模型”。我们取的就是这个意思(最早记载于1570年),其它如easel 和 landscape 也是从当时荷兰画家所用术语中搬过来的。 从荷兰语来的这个词今天的形式是manikin 。 我们后来又接受了这个荷兰词的法语变体,英语词是manneqin 。 Mannequin一般认为最早记载于一本字典中, 出版于1730-1736年间或1902年,主要看是把该词的较早的形式看作是用法语影响的manikin 一词的变体还是看作是一个新词。 不论如何,mannequin 一词现在已经是最为常见的形式了, 通常用来表示百货商店里的人体模型或真人模特〔old〕These adjectives describe what belongs to or dates from an earlier time or period.这些形容词用来描绘那些属于或可追溯到一较早时间或较早时期的东西。 |
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