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To betroth someone is to promise that a marriage will happen — to bind two people with a pledge, not yet with a wedding. In older English a father might betroth his daughter to a man, or two families would betroth a couple. Today you will mostly meet it in stories, history, and the phrase be betrothed to (promised in marriage to). Though actually, it is not the comfortable everyday verb for a modern couple: people now say get engaged. Betroth feels formal and old, and sometimes one-sided, as if the promise is being arranged rather than freely chosen. The root idea is a troth: a pledge of truth and faithfulness.
許婚;把…訂婚給(古)
原始詞典資料4 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。
betrothverb/bɪˈtɹəʊð/
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archaicformalOf a man: to promise to take (a woman) as a future spouse; to plight one's troth to.
- And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him goe and returne vnto his houſe, leſt he die in battel, and another man take her.
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archaicformalOften of a parent or guardian: to promise that (two people) be married to each other; specifically and chiefly, to promise that (a woman) be given in marriage to a man; to affiance.
- He betrothed his daughter to a distant relative.
- The couple were betrothed not long after they met each other.
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archaicformalChristianityOf God: to enter into a relationship with (believers, or the church as a whole); also, of a priest: to pledge (himself) to the church prior to being consecrated as a bishop.
- And I [God] will betroth thee [his people] vnto me foreuer; yea, I will betroth thee vnto me in righteouſneſſe, and in iudgement, and in louing kindneſſe, and in mercies. I will euen betroth thee vnto me in faithfulneſſe, and thou ſhalt know the Lord.
- God betrotheth thee in righteouſnes, and putteth righteouſnes into thee; […]
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obsoleteformalTo pledge or promise oneself to (a cause); to espouse; also (sometimes reflexive), to pledge or promise (oneself or one's efforts) to a cause or to do something.
- To priuate fight they haue betroutht themſelues, / Of which conflicte, the end muſt needes be this, / That one do liue, that other die the death.
- [W]hat is he for a foole that betrothes himſelfe to vnquietneſſe?
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。