albatross

• n. [鸟] 信天翁；沉重负担

词态变化

中文词源

来自葡萄牙语alcatruz. 拼写受词根alb影响而俗化。

英文词源

albatross

albatross: [17] The word albatross has a confused history. The least uncertain thing about it is that until the late 17th century it was alcatras; the change of the first element to albaseems to have arisen from association of the albatross’s white colour with Latin albus ‘white’. However, which particular bird the alcatras was, and where the word alcatras ultimately came from, are much more dubious.

The term was applied variously, over the 16th to the 19th centuries, to albatrosses, frigate birds, gannets, gulls, and pelicans. Its immediate source was Spanish and Portuguese alcatraz ‘pelican’ (hence Alcatraz, the prison-island in San Francisco Bay, USA, once the haunt of pelicans), which was clearly of Arabic origin, and it has been speculated that it comes from Arabic al qādūs ‘the bucket’, on the premise that the bucket of a water-wheel used for irrigation resembles a pelican’s beak.

Arabic qādūs itself comes from Greek kádos ‘jar’.

albatross (n.)

1670s, probably from Spanish or Portuguese alcatraz "pelican" (16c.), perhaps derived from Arabic al-ghattas "sea eagle" [Barnhart]; or from Portuguese alcatruz "the bucket of a water wheel" [OED], from Arabic al-qadus "machine for drawing water, jar" (from Greek kados "jar"), in reference to the pelican's pouch (compare Arabic saqqa "pelican," literally "water carrier"). Either way, the spelling was influenced by Latin albus "white." The name was extended, through some mistake, by English sailors to a larger sea-bird (order Tubinares).

Albatrosses were considered good luck by sailors; figurative sense of "burden" (1936) is from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) about the bad luck of a sailor who shoots an albatross and then is forced to wear its corpse as an indication that he, not the whole ship, offended against the bird. The prison-island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay is named for pelicans that roosted there.

双语例句

1. Privatization could become a political albatross for the ruling party.

私有化可能会成为该执政党一个难以摆脱的政治障碍。

来自柯林斯例句

2. The albatross can stay airborne at sea for days at a time.

信天翁在海上可以一连在空中待几天.

来自《简明英汉词典》

3. The albatross is the king of gliders.

信天翁是滑翔鸟类之王.

来自《用法词典》

4. Our only companion is the wandering albatross, which glides effortlessly and gracefully behind the yacht.

陪伴我们的仅有那只盘旋的信天翁，它在游艇后面优雅轻盈地翱翔。

来自柯林斯例句

5. Any ship that crosses the Pacific is accompanied for many days by the smaller albatross.

任何太平洋通过的船只都有有较小的信天翁伴随着飞行好多天.

来自辞典例句