| 词汇 | back and fill |
| 词源 | back and fill. Hardly any progress is made when you back and fill a sailing ship; that is, when you are tacking the craft while the tide is running with her and the wind is against her. The sails are alternately backed and filled and the ship seems to remain in roughly the same place, going back and then for- ward. The term was a natural for sailors, and then landlubbers, to apply to any vacillating or irresolute action—to hem and haw. |
| 随便看 |
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。