quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- curb



[curb 词源字典] - curb: [15] Ultimately, curb and curve are the same word. Latin curvāre ‘bend’ passed into Old French as courber, which Middle English borrowed as courbe ‘bend’. This seems to have formed the basis of a noun courbe or curb, which was originally used for a strap to restrain a horse, the underlying meaning perhaps being that pulling on the strap ‘bent’ the horse’s neck, thereby restraining it.
The sense ‘enclosing framework’ began to emerge in the early 16th century, perhaps mainly through the influence of the French noun courbe, which meant ‘curved piece of timber, iron, etc used in building’. Its chief modern descendant is ‘pavement edge’, a 19th-century development, which has generally been spelled kerb in British English.
=> circle, crown, curve[curb etymology, curb origin, 英语词源] - bait (n.)




- "food put on a hook or trap to lure prey," c. 1300, from Old Norse beita "food," related to Old Norse beit "pasture," Old English bat "food," literally "to cause to bite" (see bait (v.)). Figurative sense "anything used as a lure" is from c. 1400.
- mice (n.)




- plural of mouse (n.); Old English mys, shows effects of i-mutation.
A cube of cheese no larger than a die
May bait the trap to catch a nibbling mie.
[Bierce]
- overall (adv.)




- "everywhere," Old English ofer eall, from ofer "over" (see over) + eall (see all). Sense of "including everything" is from 1894. The noun in the clothing sense (usually plural) of "loose trousers of a strong material worn by cowboys, etc." is from 1782. Specific sense "loose fitting canvas trousers with a bib and strap top" (originally worn by workmen over other clothes to protect them from wet, dirt, etc.) is attested from 1897.