curtail

英 [kɜː'teɪl] 美 [kɚ'tel]

解释

※ 提供单词"curtail"的中文意思、发音示范及音标对照，中英文词源、例句和用法等。

curtail 缩短

来自PIE*sker, 剪，切，词源同shear, short. -ault, 贬义后缀，词源同valiant, 勇敢的，顽固的。比较-ard, 贬义后缀，来自hard, 见bastard. 原指剪短尾巴的马，拼写受tail影响俗化。

curtail: curtail: [16] The now defunct English noun curtal meant ‘horse with a docked tail’. It was borrowed in the 16th century from French courtault, a derivative of the adjective court ‘short’. Like English curt [17] this came from Latin curtus ‘cut off, shortened’, which in common with English short and shear, can be traced back to an Indo-European base *ker- or *sker- ‘cut’. In the late 16th century the noun was converted into a verb, originally meaning literally ‘dock a horse’, and the close semantic link with ‘tails’ led to its alteration to curtail.
=> cuirass, curt, shear, shirt, short, skirt
curtail (v.): late 15c., from Middle French courtault "made short," from court "short" (Old French cort, from Latin curtus; see curt) + -ault pejorative suffix of Germanic origin. Originally curtal; used of horses with docked tails, which probably influenced the spelling in general use; curtal is retained in poetics to describe a "shortened" stanza or poem. Related: Curtailed; curtailing.

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1. I told Louie that old age would curtail her activities in time.: 我告诉路易，一上年纪她的活动量就会减少。

2. NATO plans to curtail the number of troops being sent to the region.: 北约计划缩减派往该地区的士兵数量。

3. It is necessary to curtail or alter normally coexisting stimuli.: 必需消除或改变正常时并存的刺激.

4. Again the purpose of this action was to curtail inflation.: 此行动的目的在于抑制通货膨胀.