核心畫面

Picture a hand, or a pair of eyes, moving slowly across the whole surface of something — from one end to the other, missing nothing. A going-over is that one complete pass. What the pass is for is what changes from meaning to meaning: to find faults, to get the thing clean, or, in one rough British use, to hurt a person.

可以想成有一隻手、或一雙眼睛,在東西表面上從這頭慢慢移到那頭,一處都沒漏掉。「a going-over」就是那「整個更多收起可以想成有一隻手、或一雙眼睛,在東西表面上從這頭慢慢移到那頭,一處都沒漏掉。「a going-over」就是那「整個經過一遍」的一次動作。至於經過是為了什麼,就看場合:可能是為了找出毛病,可能是為了把它弄乾淨,也可能——在英式口語裡——是把這股力道用在人身上。三個意思共用同一個 give something/somebody a going-over 的骨架,所以真正決定意思的,是中間放的是什麼。

Two branches

從頭到尾經過一遍

這一家就是核心畫面本身:手或眼睛在整個東西上走過一遍。差別只在走過之後想達成什麼——看清楚,還是弄乾淨。

noun · C1

A thorough check of something, or of someone's work or past, in which every part is looked at closely to find out whether it is all right.

徹底檢查

把同一個動作用到人身上

句型完全沒變,只是 give 後面放的是人。原本用在東西上的那股「一遍一遍來」的力道,落到人身上就成了打人。這是英式口語的用法,來源標為 British English。

noun · C2

To hit someone and hurt them. This use is informal, and the source marks it as British English.

痛打一頓