喜樂美語
  1. 1

    A nosegay is a small bunch of flowers, small enough to hold in one hand or pin on clothes. The old idea in the name is that the flowers were “gay” in the old sense — bright and pretty — and you held them to your nose for the smell. People used them when streets and rooms smelled bad. Today the word is rather old-fashioned and a little literary; a flower shop is more likely to say or just a small bouquet. You will still meet nosegay in wedding writing, historical stories, and garden books. It has nothing to do with a gay person, and it is not a joke about noses. It is flowers.

    小花束

    例句逐字對照、搭配詞、易混淆字

    這一義的完整解析還沒打開。訂閱後可以看到例句怎麼拆、常跟哪些字一起出現， 以及容易跟它搞混的字。

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組成From Late Middle English: nose + gay, when gay meant a bright, pretty thing or ornament — equivalent to nose + gay in that older sense.

同家族的字

  • noseyou held the flowers up to smell them
  • gayold sense: bright and pretty, not the usual modern meaning

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。

nosegaynoun/ˈnəʊzɡeɪ/

  • 1

    A small bunch of fragrant flowers or herbs tied in a bundle, often presented as a gift; nosegays were originally intended to be put to the nose for the pleasant sensation or to mask unpleasant odours.

    • [N]o more is Pierce Pennileſſe to be cald the Devils Orator for making a Supplication to the Devill, than hee is to bee helde for a Rhethoritian for ſetting foorth Gabrielis Scurvei Rhetor, wherein hee thought to have knockt out the braines of poore Tullies Orator, but in veritie did nothing elſe, but gather a flauntinge unſavory ſore-horſe noſegay out of his well furniſhed garland.
    • Mr. [John] White joins with the reſt of his fellow-voyagers, in vindicating the characters of the Portugueſe ladies from the indiſcriminate cenſure which is caſt on them in Dr. Hawkſworth's account of Captain [James] Cook's firſt voyage: we muſt therefore conclude, that Dr. [Daniel] Solander, and the two gentlemen who were with him, muſt have miſtaken the intent of the noſegays which were ſo plentifully beſtowed on them by the ladies, from their balconies, as they walked through the ſtreets of this place in the evening.
  • 2

    An aroma, a scent.

    • The 80-year-old Government Opium and Alkaloid Works in Neemuch smells better than it looks. The turfy-chocolaty nosegay of raw opium wafts from hundreds of milk cans.

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。