小词详解 | scavenger
scavenger 英 [ˈskævɪndʒə(r)] 美 [ˈskævɪndʒər]
外刊例句
Mobile apps to match scavengers with rubbish producers are proliferating.
将拾荒者与垃圾制造者相匹配的移动应用大量涌现。
——《经济学人》Peter Quill, a heavily armed professional scavenger.
彼得·奎尔,一个全副武装的职业拾荒者。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[noun] a person who searches for and collects discarded items
[名词] 搜索并收集废弃物品的人。
深入解读
scavenger是scavager的变体,源自诺曼时代的英国法语scawageour,本指“在大街上对外地商人征收关税的人”。在封建时期,商人到外地经商需要向当地领主缴纳税金,称为scavage,意在保护本地贸易,而负责征收scavage的人就是scavager。后来,这些人又增加了负责街道清洁的职责,因此scavenger又产生了“清道夫、拾荒者”的含义。另外,在动物领域,scavenger专指“食腐动物”,如秃鹫(vulture)和豺(jackal)等。
名人用例
Life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party.
当你将捡破烂想象成惊喜派对时,生活就更容易了。
出自吉米·巴菲特(Jimmy Buffett,1946年12月25 日-),美国音乐家、作家、演员和商人。
同近义词
junkman: a person who travels round an area buying old or unwanted clothes and household items in order to resell them
sweeper: a person or device that cleans a floor or road by sweeping
garbageman: a man employed to take away household rubbish; a dustman
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