英语词汇peter out的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

peter out. It seems unlikely that disappointed American miners during the ’49 gold rush derived the expression to peter out, “to taper off or come to an end,” from the French peter, “to break wind.” This would indeed have been an expression of their disappointment when a mine failed to yield more gold, but there were ample American words available to express the same sentiment. Another guess is that the peter here refers to the apostle Peter, who first rushed to Christ’s defense in the Garden of Gethsemane, sword in hand, and then before the cock crowed thrice denied that he even knew Him. Most likely the expression springs from the fact that veins of ore in mines frequently petered out, or turned to stone. The gunpowder mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, commonly called pe- ter by miners, was used as an explosive in mining operations and when a vein of gold was exhausted it was said to have been petered out.

词汇	peter out
词源	peter out. It seems unlikely that disappointed American miners during the ’49 gold rush derived the expression to peter out, “to taper off or come to an end,” from the French peter, “to break wind.” This would indeed have been an expression of their disappointment when a mine failed to yield more gold, but there were ample American words available to express the same sentiment. Another guess is that the peter here refers to the apostle Peter, who first rushed to Christ’s defense in the Garden of Gethsemane, sword in hand, and then before the cock crowed thrice denied that he even knew Him. Most likely the expression springs from the fact that veins of ore in mines frequently petered out, or turned to stone. The gunpowder mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, commonly called pe- ter by miners, was used as an explosive in mining operations and when a vein of gold was exhausted it was said to have been petered out.
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