browse: [16] Although the noun has now largely died out, browse was originally both a verb and a noun, and appears to come from Old French broust, brost ‘young shoots, twigs’ (hence the verb meant originally ‘feed on such shoots’). The source of the French word is not clear, but it is probably ultimately Germanic; a certain similarity in form and meaning has suggested a connection with the Old Saxon verb brustian ‘bud’ which, if it were so, would mean that browse is related to breast. The modern figurative sense, applied to shops, libraries, etc seems to be 19th-century.
browse (v.)
mid-15c., "feed on buds," from Middle French brouster, from Old French broster "to sprout, bud," from brost "young shoot, twig," probably from Proto-Germanic *brust- "bud, shoot," from PIE *bhreus- "to swell, sprout" (see breast (n.)). Lost its final -t in English on the mistaken notion that the letter was a past participle inflection. Figurative extension to "peruse" (books) is 1870s, American English. Related: Browsed; browsing.
雙語例句
1. Slow music encourages supermarket-shoppers to browse longer but spend more.
舒緩的音樂會促使超市購物者花更長的時間瀏覽商品的同時花更多的錢。
來自柯林斯例句
2. I stopped in several bookstores to browse.
我曾在幾家書店停留，翻看里面的書。
來自柯林斯例句
3. You are welcome to come in and browse.
歡迎您光臨本店隨便看看。
來自《權威詞典》
4. to browse a site on the World Wide Web
在萬維網上瀏覽一個網站
來自《權威詞典》
5. There are plenty of biographies for him to browse over.