reach: [OE] Reach goes back ultimately to a prehistoric West Germanic *raikjan, a word of uncertain origin which also produced German reichen and Dutch reiken. It originally meant ‘stretch out the hand’, and ‘attain’ and ‘arrive at’ are secondary semantic developments.
reach (v.)
Old English ræcan, reccan "reach out, stretch out, extend, hold forth," also "succeed in touching, succeed in striking; address, speak to," also "offer, present, give, grant," from West Germanic *raikjan "stretch out the hand" (cognates: Old Frisian reka, Middle Dutch reiken, Dutch reiken, Old High German and German reichen), from Proto-Germanic *raikijanau, perhaps from PIE root *reig- "to stretch out" (cognates: Sanskrit rjyati "he stretches himself," riag "torture" (by racking); Greek oregein "to reach, extend;" Lithuanian raižius "to stretch oneself;" Old Irish rigim "I stretch").
Shakespeare uses the now-obsolete past tense form raught (Old English ræhte). Meaning "arrive at" is early 14c.; that of "succeed in influencing" is from 1660s. Related: Reached; reaching. Reach-me-down "ready-made" (of clothes) is recorded from 1862, from notion of being on the rack in a finished state.
reach (n.)
1520s, from reach (v.); earliest use is of stretches of water. Meaning "extent of reaching" is from 1540s; that of "act of reaching" is from 1560s.
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?
[Browning, "Andrea del Sarto"]
双语例句
1. It was the uncommitted that Labour needed to reach.
工党需要拉拢的是未表态者。
来自柯林斯例句
2. I tried to reach the foot brakes but I couldn't.
我试图去够脚刹，但是没能踩到。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He recovered from a 4-2 deficit to reach the quarter-finals.
他在2比4落后的情况下实现逆转闯进1/4决赛。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Amy went and kissed him, and then danced out of his reach.
