【英语学习】【WOTD】raddled 释义/词源/示例

raddled adj. [RAD-uld]

Definition

1: being in a state of confusion: lacking composure
1：处于彷徨迷惑，不确定的状态；缺少镇静，沉着

2: broken-down, worn
2：衰弱的，疲惫的

Did You Know?

The origin of raddled is unclear. Its participial form suggests verbal parentage, and indeed there is a verb raddle just a few decades older than raddled that seems a likely source. This raddle means "to mark or paint with raddle," raddle here being red ocher, or sometimes other pigments, used for marking animals. Raddle eventually came to mean "to color highly with rouge," the metaphor connecting the raddling of animal husbandry with immoderate makeup application: to be raddled thusly was not a compliment. The "confused" sense of raddled is often associated with the influence of alcohol or drugs. That connection is in keeping with the word's earliest known use, from a 1694 translation of French writer Francois Rabelais: "A ... fellow, continually raddled, and as drunk as a wheelbarrow."

词源（词根）演变：raddle (v.) -> raddled (adj. )

raddled这个单词的起源并不明确。不过这个词的分词形式暗示了它的动词起源；事实上，有一个动词raddle的确早于形容词raddled几十年出现，看起来象是可能的来源。动词raddle的意思是“用raddle（赭石）标记或者描绘”，这里的raddle是指红赭石，或者其他的颜料，用于标记家畜。raddle最终表示“用胭脂/红铁粉重重的涂抹”，对“畜牧业中的家畜进行标记/涂抹”引申出了比喻意义“极端地实施化妆”：所以“to be raddled(浓妆艳抹)”并不是一个褒义的赞扬。 raddled的另一个意思“彷徨的，迷惑的”通常与酒精/毒品挂钩。这个联系保持着这个词已知的最早期的用法：在1694年，法国作家Francois Rabelais的作品翻译成英文时，用了如下的句子“一个小伙子，持续的摇摇晃晃地，就好象一个喝醉了酒的独轮手推车”

注：participial adj. 分词的；participial form：分词形式；parentage：出身，血统，亲子关系；raddle：赭石；red ocher：红赭石，代赭石，氧化铁；pigment：颜料，色素；rouge：胭脂，红铁粉；methphor：象征，比喻；animal husbandary：畜牧业；immoderate：极端的；makeup application：实施化妆；thusly：adv. 因此，这样；wheelbarrow：独轮手推车

Examples

• We were met at the door by a raddled old man who turned out to be the actor's father, and who in his day had also been an estimable presence on the London stage.
  
  在门口，一个衰弱的老头接待了我们，后来我们才发现他是那个演员的父亲，这位老父亲曾经也是伦敦舞台上的显赫人物。
  
  注：estimable：【旧/文】值得尊敬的
• "The real skill of Swan Song is the kaleidoscopic portrait; it paints of its raddled hero. The narrative moves through time from Capote's tawdry childhood and friendship with Harper Lee to his withered end in Fu Manchu pyjamas."
  
  Swan Song（人名？）真正的技巧就是他万花筒般的肖像画；它描绘了它的衰惫的英雄。叙事按时间顺序从Captoe早年富丽堂皇的孩童时期以及与Harper Lee的友谊，到晚年穿着Fu Manchu睡衣，如百花凋零。
  
  --- Alex Preston, The Observer (London), 22 July 2018
  
  注：kaleidoscopic：kalos(beautiful) + eidos(form) + scope(view) 万花筒似的，千变万化的；narrative：叙事，叙述；tawdry：廉价而俗丽的，非常华丽的；wither：枯萎，干枯，凋谢；pyjamas：睡衣，（穆斯林穿的）宽松裤