英语词汇fifth wheel的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

词汇	fifth wheel
词源	fifth wheel. Looking at the fifth wheel of wagons and carriag- es many people thought it had no function, but this wheel, or circular plate, which was attached to the upper side of the front axle and never touched the ground, supported the vehicle’s body when it made a turn. Ignorance prevailed, however, and the expression fifth wheel came to mean “a useless or needless person or thing in any enterprise.”
随便看	not by a long shot not by bread alone notch not dry behind the ears no-tel motel not for love or money nothing in excess nothing is certain but death and taxes nothing like it to keep your ears pink nothing on the ball nothing to fear but fear itself no tickee no washee not in the same league with not just another pretty face notre pierre not right not so hot not the only pebble on the beach not to be sneezed at not to care a straw not to get the bat off one-s shoulder not to know beans not to know beef from bulls’ foot not to know if one is coming or going not to know one-s ass from one-s elbow

英语词源词典收录了13259条英语词源词条，基本涵盖了全部常用英语词汇的起源、历史，是研究英语词汇或通过词源学英语的必备工具。