discuss: [14] The ultimate source of discuss meant ‘smash to pieces’. It comes from discuss-, the past participle stem of Latin discutere, a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and quatere ‘shake’ (from which English also gets concussion and quash). Its literal meaning was ‘smash apart, break up’, and this gradually developed via ‘scatter, disperse’ to, in post-classical times, ‘investigate, examine’ and eventually ‘debate’.
The apparently wide semantic discrepancy between ‘scatter, disperse’ and ‘examine’ was probably bridged by some such intermediate notion as ‘disperse or separate in the mind so as to distinguish and identify each component’. => concussion, quash
discuss (v.)
mid-14c., "to examine, investigate," from Latin discuss-, past participle stem of discutere "to dash to pieces, agitate," in Late Latin and Vulgar Latin also "to discuss, investigate" (see discussion). Meaning "examine by argument, debate" is from mid-15c. Related: Discussed; discussing.
双语例句
1. The Politburo has been meeting in Peking to discuss the situation.
政治局已在北京召开会议讨论形势。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Senior politicians met today to discuss the future of European economic unity.
高级政要今天会晤，探讨欧洲经济一体化的未来。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The magazine's aim is to discuss topical issues within a Christian framework.
该杂志的宗旨是在基督教框架下讨论时下的热门话题。
来自柯林斯例句
4. All he ever does is discuss the same boring list of medications.
他就会翻来覆去讨论同一个无聊的药品单。
来自柯林斯例句
5. They will discuss how to bail the economy out of its slump.
