powder: [13] The ultimate ancestor of powder is Latin pulvis ‘dust’ (source also of English pulverize [16]). This was related to Latin pollen ‘fine flour’ (source of English pollen), Latin puls ‘gruel’ (source of English poultice and pulse ‘legume’), and Greek póltos ‘gruel’. => pollen, poultice, pulse, pulverize
powder (n.)
c. 1300, "ash, cinders; dust of the earth;" early 14c., "pulverized substance;" mid-14c., "medicinal powder;" late 14c. as "gunpowder," from Old French poudre "dust, powder; ashes; powdered substance" (13c.), earlier pouldre (11c.), from Latin pulverem (nominative pulvis) "dust" (see pollen). Specialized sense "gunpowder" is from late 14c. In the sense "powdered cosmetic," it is recorded from 1570s.
In figurative sense, powder keg is first attested 1855. Powder room, euphemistic for "women's lavatory," is attested from 1936. Earlier it meant "place where gunpowder is loaded on a warship" (1620s). Powder horn attested by 1530s. Powder puff first recorded 1704; as a symbol of femaleness or effeminacy, in use from at least 1930s.
Phrase take a powder "scram, vanish," is from 1920; it was a common phrase as a doctor's instruction, so perhaps from the notion of taking a laxative medicine or a sleeping powder, with the result that one has to leave in a hurry (or, on another guess, from a magician's magical powder, which made things disappear). Powder blue (1650s) was smelt used in laundering; as a color name from 1894.
powder (v.)
c. 1300, "to put powder on;" late 14c., "to make into powder," from Old French poudrer "to pound, crush to powder; strew, scatter," from poudre (see powder (n.)). Related: Powdered; powdering.
双语例句
1. Unless these questions are solved, the region will remain a powder keg.
除非这些问题得到解决，否则该地区会一直是个火药桶。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
将面粉和发酵粉筛入中等大小的搅拌碗中。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Blend a little milk with the custard powder to form a paste.
往蛋奶沙司粉里加入一点儿牛奶，搅成糊糊。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The powder immediately ignited and set off a chain reaction of explosions.
火药立即点燃，引发一连串爆炸。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Using a pestle and mortar, pulverise the bran to a coarse powder.
