释义 |
gulf I. \ˈgəlf, ˈgəu̇f\ noun (-s) Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English goulf, golf, from Middle French golfe, from Old French, from Old Italian golfo, from Late Latin colpus, colfus, from Greek kolpos bosom, bay, gulf; akin to Old English hwealf vault, arch, Old High German walbo vault, arch, hwelben to vault, arch, Old Norse hvalf vault, Gothic hwilftrjom, dative plural, coffin 1. : a part of an ocean or sea extending into the land : a partially landlocked sea that is usually larger than a bay < the Gulf of Mexico > 2. a. : a hollow place in the earth : a deep chasm or basin : abyss < a gulf opened between the little town … and its suburbs — Charles Lyell > b. : a deep narrow pass < the state's three central north-south gulfs … are the natural gateways through mountains otherwise impassable by road — New York Times > 3. a. : a sucking eddy : whirlpool < and whirl round the gulf before they sink — Samuel Johnson > b. : something that swallows up or devours < the gulfs … in which the population of the country is lost — Jeremy Bentham > 4. : an impassable or unbridgeable gap that serves as a means of separation : a wide interval < the broad and deep gulf which … divides the living from the dead, the organic from the inorganic — W.R.Inge > < theory and reality, principles and practice — how many have fallen in the gulf between them — Theodore Draper > 5. archaic : draft 2 II. transitive verb (-ed/-ing/-s) 1. : to swallow up : engulf 2. : to pass (a British university student) without honors |