看得見的晃動
這一家就是那支蠟燭本身:真的有東西在眼前小幅度地飄。
verb · C1
To move or shine unsteadily, shifting a little this way and that instead of holding still — used about a flame, a light, a shadow, or something light moving in the air.
搖曳;閃動
One way to hold this word: picture a candle that is still burning, but the flame will not sit still. It is not going out and nobody has knocked it over — it just keeps drifting a little this way, a little that way. Two things are true at once: the flame is still there, and it is not steady. English then takes that flame and puts it inside people. A voice does it, attention does it, loyalty does it, and a decision caught between two choices does it too. Whenever you meet waver, look for something that ought to be holding still and is not.
Wiktionary traces the verb to Middle English waveren, "to move back and forth, swing; to move unsteadily, totter", and figuratively "to be changeable or unstable", related to Old English wafian, "to wave". The physical drifting and the figurative unsteadiness are recorded side by side from early on, which is why one word still covers both today.
Wiktionary 把這個動詞追到中古英語 waveren,意思是「來回擺動、搖晃、站不穩」,而且很早就同時帶著「反覆無常」的比喻用法;它跟古英語 wafian(揮動)是同一家。看得見的晃動和心裡的動搖,從很早就並排記錄著,所以今天一個字還能同時管兩邊。
Wiktionary entry for waver (verb, etymology 1), supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:466382436:56262)
Two branches
看得見的晃動
這一家就是那支蠟燭本身:真的有東西在眼前小幅度地飄。
verb · C1
To move or shine unsteadily, shifting a little this way and that instead of holding still — used about a flame, a light, a shadow, or something light moving in the air.
搖曳;閃動
心裡的晃動
把燭火換成信心、注意力或決心,畫面完全一樣:本來穩穩的東西開始飄。所以英文說 his voice wavered 和 his faith wavered,用的是同一個字,一句你聽得見,一句你看不見。
verb · B2
If something such as your belief, loyalty, attention, courage or voice wavers, it becomes weaker or less steady, so it no longer holds as firmly as it did before.
動搖;變得不穩
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。
Wavername
A river in northern Cumbria, England, which flows into the Solway Firth.
waververb詞源 1/ˈweɪvə/
To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
datedTo move without purpose or a specified destination; to roam, to wander.
archaicTo sway back and forth, as if about to fall; to reel, to stagger, to totter.
To begin to weaken or show signs of weakening in resolve; to falter, to flinch, to give way.
To feel or show doubt or indecision; to be indecisive between choices; to vacillate.
Of a body part such as an eye or hand, or the voice: to become unsteady; to shake, to tremble.
Of light, shadow, or a partly obscured thing: to flicker, to glimmer, to quiver.
Chiefly of a quality or thing: to change, to fluctuate, to vary.
obsoleteFollowed by from: to deviate from a course; to stray, to wander.
obsoleteOf the wits: to become confused or unsteady; to reel.
obsoleteTo cause (someone or something) to move back and forth.
obsoleteTo cause (someone) to begin to or show signs of weakening in resolve; also (rare), to weaken in resolve due to (something).
wavernoun詞源 1/ˈweɪvə/
An act of moving back and forth, swinging, or waving; a flutter, a tremble.
A state of beginning to weaken or showing signs of weakening in resolve; a falter.
A state of feeling or showing doubt or indecision; a vacillation.
wavernoun詞源 2/ˈweɪvə/
One who waves their arms, or causes something to swing or wave.
artscraftshairdressingA person who specializes in treating hair to make it wavy.
artscraftshairdressingA tool used to make hair wavy.
historicalmediaprintingpublishingIn full waver roller: a roller which places ink on the inking table of a printing press with a back and forth, waving motion.
obsoleteSynonym of waverer (“one who feels or shows doubt or indecision; a vacillator”).
wavernoun詞源 3/ˈweɪvə/
dateddialectalA sapling or other young tree left standing when other trees around it have been felled.
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。