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A loophole is a small gap in a rule or law that lets someone avoid what the law was meant to make them do, while still staying technically legal. People exploit a loophole, find a loophole, close a loophole.
A loophole loophole，漏洞 is a small gap in a rule or law是規則或法律裡的一個小空隙 that lets someone avoid what the law was meant to make them do能讓人避開法律本來要求他做的事 while still staying technically legal同時在技術上仍然合法。People exploit a loophole人們會鑽漏洞 find a loophole找到漏洞 close a loophole堵住漏洞。
Tax, contracts, school rules, and online terms are full of talk of loopholes. It is a slightly formal, news-and-office word, but everyone meets it.
Tax, contracts, school rules, and online terms稅法、合約、校規、網路條款裡 are full of talk of loopholes到處都在講漏洞。It is a slightly formal, news-and-office word這是個略正式、常出現在新聞和辦公室裡的詞 but everyone meets it但每個人都會遇到。
The picture underneath is older and more physical: a loophole was a narrow slit in a castle wall that you could shoot through — a hole you could use. The law sense is that slit: the rule looks solid, but there is a gap you can fire through.
The picture underneath is older and more physical它背後的畫面更古老、更具體：a loophole was a narrow slit in a castle wall loophole原本是城牆上的一道窄縫 that you could shoot through可以從裡面射箭出去 — a hole you could use一個你可以利用的洞。The law sense is that slit法律上的意思就是那道縫 the rule looks solid規則看起來很牢固 but there is a gap you can fire through但其實有個空隙可以鑽過去。
It is not a looping hole, even though the modern spelling looks like loop + hole.
It is not a looping hole它不是「繞圈的洞」 even though the modern spelling looks like loop + hole即使現在的拼法看起來像 loop加 hole。
組成From Middle English loupe, an opening in a wall, plus hole, from a Germanic source. It only looks like loop + hole on the surface. Compare old words like Medieval Latin loupa and Middle Dutch lupen “to watch”.
同家族的字
- holethe second half, in its ordinary “gap” sense; the first half is the old wall-opening word, not loop
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。
loopholenoun/ˈluːphəʊl/
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historicalA slit in a castle wall; today, any similar window for shooting a ranged weapon or letting in light.
- […] and having a fair loophole, as it were, from a broken hole in the tree, he took a sure aim, without being seen, waiting till they were within about thirty yards of the tree, so that he could not miss.
- There was a loophole in this wall, to let the light in, just at the height of a person's head, who was sitting near the chimney.
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A method of escape, especially an ambiguity or exception in a rule or law that can be exploited in order to avoid its effect.
- Coupling the poor girl's intelligence with my previous knowledge, and the result of our good friend's inquiries on the spot, I left him no loophole of escape, and laid bare the whole villany which by these lights became plain as day.
- You have a contract that says you will work until Island Towers is finalized, which I interpret as completion of construction, or I can stop you working elsewhere. And there's no loopholes, because you drafted it and you're the best.
loopholeverb/ˈluːphəʊl/
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governmentmilitarypoliticsTo prepare a building for defense by preparing slits or holes through which to fire on attackers
- The lower windows were barricaded, and the whole building loopholed for musketry fire.
- The doors were barricaded, the shutters closed upon the windows and loopholed, and provisions were brought in from the outhouses.
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To exploit (a law, etc.) by means of loopholes.
- Abroad they had developed loopholing the law into an art; in Israel they jettisoned loopholing for ignoring the law wherever possible. Obeying laws was for naive fools.
- De-moralizing the subject can be, quite simply, demoralizing, as stirring statements of ideals turn into persnickety rules with exceptions crying out to be loopholed.
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。