每日一词：gallivant（转自 韦氏词典）

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Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for December 29, 2019 is:

gallivant • \GAL-uh-vant\  • verb

1 informal : to travel, roam, or move about for pleasure

2 dated, informal : to go about usually ostentatiously or indiscreetly with members of the opposite sex

Examples:

After graduating from college, Maureen spent a year gallivanting all over before coming back home to find a job.

“‘Star Wars’ films have gallivanted all over galaxies far, far away, but the stories have remained Skywalker-adjacent, or at least tangentially connected to the narrative introduced decades ago in the original trilogy.” — Jeremy Egner, The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2019

Did you know?

Back in the 14th century, gallant, a noun borrowed from the French galant, denoted a young man of fashion. By the middle of the next century, it was being used more specifically to refer to such a man who was attentive to, and who had a fondness for the company of, women. In the late 1600s, this “ladies’ man” sense gave rise to the verb gallant to describe the process a paramour used to win a lady’s heart, and “to gallant” became synonymous with “to court.” Etymologists think that the spelling of the verb gallant was altered to create gallivant, which originally meant “to act as a gallant” or “to go about usually ostentatiously or indiscreetly with members of the opposite sex.” Nowadays, however, gallivant is more likely to describe wandering than romancing.

Lake桑

December 29, 2019 at 01:00PM


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