beak: [13] English acquired beak via Old French bec from Latin beccus, which was probably borrowed from some Gaulish word (the original Latin word for ‘beak’ was rostrum). The Roman historian Suetonius (c. 69–140 AD) tells of one Antonius Primus, a native of Toulouse, who was nicknamed as a boy Beccus, ‘that is, hen’s beak’. The Old English term for ‘beak’ was bile ‘bill’. => soubriquet
mid-13c., "bird's bill," from Old French bec "beak," figuratively "mouth," also "tip or point of a nose, a lance, a ship, a shoe," from Latin beccus (source also of Italian becco, Spanish pico), said by Suetonius ("De vita Caesarum" 18) to be of Gaulish origin, perhaps from Gaulish beccus, possibly related to Celtic stem bacc- "hook." Or there may be a link in Old English becca "pickax, sharp end." Jocular sense of "human nose" is from 1854 (but also was used mid-15c. in the same sense).
双语例句
1. The gull held the fish in its beak.
海鸥嘴里叼着鱼。
来自《权威词典》
2. the bird's horny beak
鸟的角质喙
来自《权威词典》
3. The bird had a worm in its beak.
鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. This bird employs its beak as a weapon.
这种鸟用嘴作武器.
来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
5. This bird, sharp of eye and deft of beak, can accurately peck the flying insects in the air.
