umbrella: [17] Etymologically, an umbrella is a ‘little shadow’. The word was borrowed from Italian ombrella, a diminutive form of ombra ‘shade, shadow’. This in turn went back to Latin umbra, source of English sombre, umbrage, etc. It originally denoted a ‘sunshade’, and that meaning followed it into English, but it was not long before the vagaries of the British climate saw it being applied to a ‘protector against rain’. => umbrage
umbrella (n.)
"hand-held portable canopy which opens and folds," c. 1600, first attested in Donne's letters, from Italian ombrello, from Late Latin umbrella, altered (by influence of umbra) from Latin umbella "sunshade, parasol," diminutive of umbra "shade, shadow" (see umbrage).
A sunshade in the Mediterranean, a shelter from the rain in England; in late 17c. usage, usually as an Oriental or African symbol of dignity. Said to have been used by women in England from c. 1700; the use of rain-umbrellas carried by men there traditionally is dated to c. 1750, first by Jonas Hathaway, noted traveler and philanthropist. Figurative sense of "authority, unifying quality" (usually in a phrase such as under the umbrella of) is recorded from 1948.
双语例句
1. The man with the umbrella turned the corner again.
拿伞的人又拐进了拐角处。
来自柯林斯例句
2. She opens her umbrella, and walks up River Street.
她撑开伞，沿着河街向前走。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Does coincidence come under the umbrella of the paranormal?
巧合属于超自然现象吗？
来自柯林斯例句
4. Within the umbrella term "dementia" there are many different kinds of disease.
“痴呆”这一统称里包括多种不同的疾病。
来自柯林斯例句
5. It was raining hard, and she hadn't an umbrella.