- 1
To betoken something is to be a sign of it, often of something that has not fully arrived yet. Dark clouds betoken rain. A sudden hush in a hall may betoken that the head teacher has walked in. It is a , slightly old word; in speech people are more likely to say be a sign of, mean, or point to. It does not mean you hand someone a token, and it is not a cousin of , even though the two can look a little alike at first glance.
預示；是…的徵兆
組成be- + token. Literally “to be a token — a sign — of.” From Old English betācnian.
同家族的字
- tokenthe same “sign” piece; a token is a sign or a stand-in
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
betokenverb/bɪˈtoʊ.kən/
- 1
To signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
- There be other 2 signes in often use of which the first is made thus + and betokeneth more : the other is thus made – and betokeneth lesse.
- During the fight, we ran forward a few paces, but a heavy, rushing flight betokened an easy victory, and the stranger flew away.
- 2
To foreshow by present signs; indicate something future by that which is seen or known.
- “ Ah ! hospitable land, thou (nevertheless) betokenest war,” i. e., although hospitable, thou nevertheless betokenest war. — Bello.
- Since the Report was published there has been a rather unnatural absence of follow-up propaganda for the Liner trains, which seems to betoken a disinclination to embark on the heavy expenditure involved until a long-term patronage of the projected services has been assured.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。