英语词汇hold at bay的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

hold at bay. Surprisingly, scholars haven’t been able to con- nect this expression with hunting dogs that ran down big game like stags and held them at bay by barking, or baying, until the hunters arrived. Perhaps the baying of big-throated hounds bred for this purpose in medieval times did reinforce the ex- pression; but hold at bay, to hold at a standstill, to keep some- one on the defensive, derives from the French phrase tener a bay, which means “to hold in a state of suspense, to hold in abeyance.” The French expression, in turn, comes from the Ital- ian tenere a bada, meaning the same. Bada in the latter phrase indicates the state of suspense or expectation, deriving from the Latin badare, “to open the mouth.” So although the idea of dogs baying at a trapped stag conveys the idea behind the ex- pression perfectly, it literally means to hold agape, or to hold with mouth open.

词汇	hold at bay
词源	hold at bay. Surprisingly, scholars haven’t been able to con- nect this expression with hunting dogs that ran down big game like stags and held them at bay by barking, or baying, until the hunters arrived. Perhaps the baying of big-throated hounds bred for this purpose in medieval times did reinforce the ex- pression; but hold at bay, to hold at a standstill, to keep some- one on the defensive, derives from the French phrase tener a bay, which means “to hold in a state of suspense, to hold in abeyance.” The French expression, in turn, comes from the Ital- ian tenere a bada, meaning the same. Bada in the latter phrase indicates the state of suspense or expectation, deriving from the Latin badare, “to open the mouth.” So although the idea of dogs baying at a trapped stag conveys the idea behind the ex- pression perfectly, it literally means to hold agape, or to hold with mouth open.
随便看	rubber chicken rubber match rubberneck rubber stamp rube rube goldberg contraption rubik-s cube rub out rub the wrong way rudbeckia rudderless rudolf vrba rugby rugger rule of thumb rule the roost rum rumford stove rummage sale rum romanism and rebellion rum row rum sodomy and the lash run a car run amok or amuck run around like a chicken with its head cut off