| 词汇 | portuguese man-of-war |
| 词源 | Portuguese man-of-war. This is the common name of Physalia pelagica, derisively named the Portuguese man-of-war by the English in the 18th century, when the once powerful Por- tuguese navy had gone into a state of decline. The designation is a strange one, for small as it is, the Portuguese man-of-war can be deadly. Actually not an individual animal but a colony of highly specialized polyps, it has tentacles up to 50 feet long that discharge a toxic substance that has painfully stung, paralyzed, and even killed swimmers coming into contact with them. |
| 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。