- 1
Unloose means to something, to let it loose, to set it free. You unloose a knot, unloose a rope, unloose a horse from its post. It also gets used for letting something out that was being held back — to unloose a torrent of words, to unloose a flood of anger. The odd thing about this word, and it is worth telling your students because it looks like a mistake, is that 'unloose' and 'loose' mean the same thing. Normally 'un-' reverses a word, so you would expect unloose to mean 'tie up'. It does not. That is because the 'un-' here is an old strengthening prefix rather than a reversing one — it makes the stronger, not opposite. English has a few of these oddities. The word is old-fashioned and literary; the Bible line 'whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose' is where many people have met it. In ordinary modern English, use '', 'undo', 'loosen', or 'let go of'. You will also see 'unloosen', which is even stranger and means the same thing again.
解開、鬆開、放開(古老書面用法,現在多說 untie 或 loosen)
原始詞典資料6 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。
unlooseverb/(ˌ)ʌnˈluːs/
- 1
To loosen or undo (something that entangles, fastens, holds, or interlocks).
- Turne him to any Cauſe of Pollicy, / The Gordian Knot of it he will vnlooſe, / Familiar as his Garter: […]
- [S]uch ſmiling rogues as theſe, / Like Rats oft bite the holy cords a twaine, / Which are t' intrince, t' vnlooſe: […]
- 2
To relax or slacken (something that clasps or grips, such as the arms or hands).
- 3
To free (someone or something) from a constraint; (figuratively) to release (something which has been suppressed, such as emotions or objectionable things).
- Then Yorke vnlooſe thy long impriſoned thoughts, / And let thy tongue be equall with thy heart.
- Thus did the melancholy Tale conclude, / And a ſhort, ſilent Interval ensu'd. / The next in Birth unlooſ'd her artful Tongue, / And drew attentive all the Siſter-Throng.
- 4
archaicTo remove or take off (especially something undesirable).
- 5
To become loose or come off.
- 6
To free from a constraint.
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。