ebb: [OE] Water that is ebbing is literally going ‘off’ or ‘away’. The word comes from West Germanic *abjon, a noun formed from *ab, ancestor of modern English of, off, which denoted removal or departure. => of, off
ebb (n.)
Old English ebba "falling of the tide, low tide," perhaps from Proto-Germanic *af- (cognates: Old Frisian ebba, Old Saxon ebbiunga, Middle Dutch ebbe, Dutch eb, German Ebbe), from PIE root *apo- "off, away" (see apo-). Figurative sense of "decline, decay, gradual diminution" is from late 14c. Ebb-tide is from 1776.
ebb (v.)
Old English ebbian "flow back, subside," from the root of ebb (n.). Figurative use in late Old English. Related: Ebbed; ebbing.
雙語例句
1. We decided to leave on the ebb at six o'clock next morning.
我們決定第二天早晨6點鐘趁退潮時離開。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The Government's popularity is at its lowest ebb.
政府的支持率跌到了最低點。
來自柯林斯例句
3. the ebb and flow of the tide
海潮的漲落
來自《權威詞典》
4. Private and public virtues were at the lowest ebb.
公德與私德均在衰落之中.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
5. The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.