dwell: [OE] Dwell has changed its meaning remarkably over the centuries. In Old English it meant ‘confuse, lead astray’. It goes back to a Germanic base *dwel-, *dwal-, *dwul-, which also produced Old English dwola ‘error’, Gothic dwals ‘foolish’, and Old High German gitwelan ‘be stunned’, and beyond that to Indo-European *dhwel-, source of Greek tholós ‘dirt’ and Irish dall ‘blind’.
Already by the end of the Old English period, ‘lead astray’ had progressed to ‘hinder, delay’, probably under the influence of the related Old Norse dvelja ‘delay’, and this subsequently developed through ‘linger’ to (in the 13th century) ‘make one’s home in a place’.
dwell (v.)
Old English dwellan "to mislead, deceive," originally "to make a fool of, lead astray," from Proto-Germanic *dwelan "to go or lead astray" (cognates: Old Norse dvöl "delay," dvali "sleep;" Middle Dutch dwellen "to stun, make giddy, perplex;" Old High German twellen "to hinder, delay;" Danish dvale "trance, stupor," dvaelbær "narcotic berry," source of Middle English dwale "nightshade"), from PIE *dhwel-, extended form of root *dheu- (1) "dust, cloud, vapor, smoke" (and related notions of "defective perception or wits").
Related to Old English gedweola "error, heresy, madness." Sense shifted in Middle English through "hinder, delay," to "linger" (c. 1200, as still in phrase to dwell upon), to "make a home" (mid-13c.). Related: Dwelled; dwelt; dwells.
雙語例句
1. I shut out the memory which was too painful to dwell on.
我不再去回憶那些痛苦不堪的往事了。
來自柯林斯例句
2. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
沉湎於虛幻的夢想而忘記現實的生活，是毫無益處的。
來自電影《哈利波特與魔法石》
3. Sometimes his mind would dwell on the horrors he had been through.
有時他會老是想著他所經曆過的種種恐怖.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like.
不厭其煩地談論墓地以及諸如此類的事是一種病態.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
5. A great number of water fowls dwell on the island.