slow: [OE] The etymological notion underlying slow is ‘dullness, sluggishness’; ‘lack of speed’ is a secondary development. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *sl?waz, which also produced Swedish sl? and Danish sl?v ‘dull, blunt’. The original idea of ‘sluggishness’ is better preserved in the derivative sloth [12] (etymologically ‘slow-ness’). => sloth
slow (adj.)
Old English slaw "inactive, sluggish, torpid, lazy," also "not clever," from Proto-Germanic *sl?waz (cognates: Old Saxon sleu "blunt, dull," Middle Dutch slee, Dutch sleeuw "sour, tart, blunt," Old High German sleo "blunt, dull," Old Norse sljor, Danish sl?v, Swedish sl? "blunt, dull"). Meaning "taking a long time" is attested from early 13c. Meaning "dull, tedious" is from 1841. As an adverb c. 1500. The slows "imaginary disease to account for lethargy" is from 1843.
slow (v.)
1550s, "make slower;" 1590s, "go slower," from slow (adj.). Related: Slowed; slowing. Old English had slawian (intransitive) "to be or become slow, be sluggish," but the modern use appears to be a 16c. re-formation.
雙語例句
1. The slow-worm is in fact not a snake but a legless lizard.
蛇蜥其實(shí)不是蛇,而是無腳的蜥蜴。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Why were grown-ups always so stuffy and slow to recognize good ideas?