bet: [16] Since its comparatively late arrival, bet has ousted the earlier lay, wager, and game as the main term for ‘risking money on an uncertain outcome’ (gamble is later still). It is by no means clear where it came from; the usual explanation is that it is short for the noun abet, in the sense ‘instigation, encouragement, support’ – that is, one is giving one’s ‘support’ to that which one thinks, or hopes, may happen in the future (abet itself comes from the Old French verb abeter, and is related to English bait).
It first appears in Robert Greene’s Art of Cony Catching 1592, which suggests an origin in the argot of smalltime Elizabethan criminals. => abet, bait, bite
bet
1590s, as both a verb and noun, in the argot of petty criminals, of unknown origin; probably a shortening of abet or else from obsolete beet "to make good," from Old English b?tan "make better, arouse, stimulate," from Proto-Germanic *baitjan, in which case the verb would be the original. The original notion is perhaps "to improve" a contest by wagering on it, or it is from the "bait" sense in abet. Used since 1852 in various American English slang assertions (compare you bet "be assured," 1857). Related: Betting.
雙語(yǔ)例句
1. Jockeys are forbidden to bet on the outcome of races.
職業(yè)賽馬騎師禁止對(duì)賽馬結(jié)果下注。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
2. Do you always have a bet on the Grand National?
你總是對(duì)全國(guó)賽馬大會(huì)下點(diǎn)注嗎？
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
3. Large overseas-based trusts are an excellent each way bet.
大型海外基金的投資前景非常好。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
4. I bet you make breakfast and wash up their plates, too.
我肯定是你做的早餐并且清洗了他們的餐具。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
5. It is a safe bet that the current owners will not sell.