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A swatch is a small sample piece of cloth — the little square you hold up against a wall or your skin to see whether you like the colour and feel before buying metres of it. Shops keep them in books or on rings, so a customer can flip through and compare.
A swatch is a small sample piece of cloth所謂swatch,是一小塊布樣 — the little square you hold up against a wall or your skin就是你拿起來比在牆上或皮膚上的那個小方塊 to see whether you like the colour and feel before buying metres of it用來看看喜不喜歡顏色和質感,再決定要不要買整塊布。Shops keep them in books or on rings店家會把它們裝訂成冊或串在環上, so a customer can flip through and compare讓客人可以翻著比較。
The word has spread well beyond fabric. Paint shops give you swatches, those card strips with five shades printed on them. In design and computer software, a swatch is a small block of colour you save and — every graphics program has a swatches panel. Makeup people swatch lipsticks by drawing a stripe on the back of the hand, and there the word has even become a verb: to swatch a colour is to put a test stripe somewhere visible.
The word has spread well beyond fabric這個字早就用到布料以外的地方了。Paint shops give you swatches油漆行會給你swatch, those card strips with five shades printed on them就是印著五種色階的那種色卡條。In design and computer software在設計和電腦軟體裡, a swatch is a small block of colour you save and reuseswatch是你存起來、可以重複使用的一小塊顏色 — every graphics program has a swatches panel每個繪圖軟體都有一個swatches面板。Makeup people swatch lipsticks by drawing a stripe on the back of the hand化妝的人會在手背上畫一條試色來swatch口紅, and there the word has even become a verb在這裡這個字甚至變成了動詞: to swatch a colour is to put a test stripe somewhere visibleto swatch a colour就是在看得見的地方畫一條試色。
The key idea running through all of these is: a small piece shown so you can judge the whole. That is why it is never a large piece. A metre of cloth is not a swatch, however much you are only testing it.
The key idea running through all of these is貫穿這些用法的核心概念是: a small piece shown so you can judge the whole拿一小塊出來讓你判斷整體。That is why it is never a large piece這就是為什麼swatch絕不會是一大塊。A metre of cloth is not a swatch一整碼的布不是swatch, however much you are only testing it不管你只是在試用它。
And yes — Swatch is also a Swiss watch brand. Different thing entirely; that name is a squeeze of "Swiss watch".
And yes而且沒錯 — Swatch is also a Swiss watch brandSwatch也是一個瑞士手錶品牌。Different thing entirely這完全是不同的東西; that name is a squeeze of "Swiss watch."那個品牌名字是"Swiss watch"(瑞士錶)擠壓縮成的。
組成From an old dialect word in northern England, swache, first recorded in 1512, meaning the counter-piece of a tally stick — a matching piece kept for checking. Where it came from before that, nobody knows for certain.
原始詞典資料8 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。
Swatchname
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A brand of relatively inexpensive Swiss analog watches.
swatchnoun詞源 1/swɒtʃ/
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A piece, pattern, or sample, generally of cloth or a similar material.
- He held a swatch of the wallpaper up to see if the colors would match the room.
- [...] I beg you will go to Bailie Delap's shop, and get patterns of his best black bombaseen, and crape, and muslin, and bring them over to the parsonage, the morn's morning. [...] You will get, likewise, swatches of mourning print, with the lowest prices.
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A selection of such samples bound together.
- “Aisha, access the Pupa's informational color swatches. Okay, royal blue means the Pupa has kennel cough, cornflower blue means one of us just had a sex dream about the other one, navy blue means his Hulu plan is expiring, robin's egg blue means we get a free Xbox, Pacific blue means we all die at midnight!” [all gasp] “We were so close to gettin' that Xbox!”
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A clump or portion of something.
- I found myself truly moved by a stage event for the first time in years. I found myself humming tunes that one might not rightfully call tunes. Days later, I still remember these musical phrasings in little swatches of sound.
- Mix ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson in your palette until you get a rich purple, then paint a swatch on dry watercolor paper [...]. Next paint a swatch of ultramarine blue on dry watercolor paper. While this is still wet, add alizarin crimson to the lower part of the blue wash, and watch the colors connect and blend [...]. Compare the two swatches.
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A demonstration, an example, a proof.
- Pray Sir, pay off the Old Debt, before I truſt you more New. This is a Swatch of Your Faith, and how much You are a Man of Your Word.
- There were about nine score strangers in Midgehop; four score of them William Blaik entertained, [...]. And I believe their neighbour, Robert Bigger would be much the same. This I record once for all, for a swatch of the hospitality of the parish; for God has given this people a largeness of heart, to communicate of their substance, on these and other occasions also.
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obsoleteA tag or other small object attached to another item as a means of identifying its owner; a tally; specifically the counterfoil of a tally.
- ITEM that the said Clerkis of the Brevements entre all the Taillis of the Furniunturs in the Jornall Booke in the Countynghous every day furthwith after the Brede be delyveret to the Pantre and then the Stoke [i.e., main part] of the Taill to by delyveret to the Baker and the Swache to the Pantler. … ITEM that the said Clerkis of the Brevements entre all the Taills of the Brasyantors in the Jornall Booke in the Countynghous at every tyme furthwith after the Bere be delyveret into the Buttry and then the Stoke of the Taill to be delyveret to the Brewar and the Swatche to the Butler.
- A SWACHE, A Tally. N[orth] C[ountry]
swatchverb詞源 1/swɒtʃ/
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To create a swatch, especially a sample of knitted fabric.
- Swatching is important in knitting to obtain the correct gauge.
- This season, before you even think about the makeup you need, think about the beige/grey/rust/brown colors—and the clothes—you've been seeing on the preceding pages (to remind you, we've swatched some of them here).
swatchnoun詞源 2/swɒtʃ/
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A channel or passage of water between sandbanks, or between a sandbank and a seashore.
- It muſt be obſerved, that the paſſages, called Cockerlees, are no other than ſwatches through the Long-Sand.
- The Swatch, or Swatch of no ground, a chaſm in the bank, is ſituated between the latitudes of 21° and 21° 22′ North, and the middle of it lies about 50 leagues Weſt of the meridian of the White Cliffs.
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。