address: [14] Address originally meant ‘straighten’. William Caxton, for example, here uses it for ‘stand up straight’: ‘The first day that he was washed and bathed he addressed him[self] right up in the basin’ Golden Legend 1483. This gives a clue to its ultimate source, Latin dīrectum ‘straight, direct’. The first two syllables of this seem gradually to have merged together to produce *drictum, which with the addition of the prefix ad- was used to produce the verb *addrictiāre.
Of its descendants in modern Romance languages, Italian addirizzare most clearly reveals its source. Old French changed it fairly radically, to adresser, and it was this form which English borrowed. The central current sense of ‘where somebody lives’ developed in the 17th and 18th centuries from the notion of directing something, such as a letter, to somebody. => direct
address (v.)
early 14c., "to guide or direct," from Old French adrecier "go straight toward; straighten, set right; point, direct" (13c.), from Vulgar Latin *addirectiare "make straight," from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + *directiare, from Latin directus "straight, direct" (see direct (v.)). Late 14c. as "to set in order, repair, correct." Meaning "to write as a destination on a written message" is from mid-15c. Meaning "to direct spoken words (to someone)" is from late 15c. Related: Addressed; addressing.
address (n.)
1530s, "dutiful or courteous approach," from address (v.) and from French adresse. Sense of "formal speech" is from 1751. Sense of "superscription of a letter" is from 1712 and led to the meaning "place of residence" (1888).
雙語例句
1. Someone cranked up the volume of the public address system.
有人調大了公共廣播係統的音量。
來自柯林斯例句
2. I looked your address up in the personnel file.
我在人事檔案裏找到了你的地址。
來自柯林斯例句
3. Send your details on a card to the following address.
在明信片上寫明你的近況寄到下麵的地址。
來自柯林斯例句
4. He took my name and address, scribbling it down in his notebook.
他要了我的姓名和地址，匆匆寫在他的筆記本上。
來自柯林斯例句
5. The President gave an address to the American people.