allay

• vt. 减轻；使缓和；使平静

古英语前缀a-, 放下，离开，来自PIE *uz, 词源同out ，此处受前缀al- 影响俗化. 单词lay,放置。

allay

allay: [OE] In Old English, alecgan meant literally ‘lay aside’ (-a ‘away, aside, out’, lecgan ‘lay’). The more recent senses ‘relieve, mitigate’ developed from the 13th to the 15th centuries owing to the influence of two formally similar Old French verbs: aleger ‘lighten’ (from Latin alleviāre, source of English alleviate [15]); and al(e)ier ‘qualify, moderate’ (source of English alloy).
=> lay

allay (v.)

Old English alecgan "to put down, remit, give up," a Germanic compound (cognates: Gothic uslagjan, Old High German irleccan, German erlegen), from a- "down, aside" + lecgan "to lay" (see lay).

Early Middle English pronunciations of -y- and -g- were not always distinct, and the word was confused in Middle English with various senses of Romanic-derived alloy and allege, especially the latter in an obsolete sense of "to lighten," from Latin ad- "to" + levis (see lever).

Amid the overlapping of meanings that thus arose, there was developed a perplexing network of uses of allay and allege, that belong entirely to no one of the original vbs., but combine the senses of two or more of them. [OED]

The double -l- is 17c., a mistaken Latinism. Related: Allayed; allaying.

1. He did what he could to allay his wife's fears.

他竭尽所能来消除妻子的各种恐惧。

来自柯林斯例句

2. The police tried to allay her fears but failed.

警察力图减轻她的恐惧,但是没有收到什么效果.

来自《简明英汉词典》

3. They are trying to allay public fears about the spread of the disease.

他们正竭力减轻公众对这种疾病传播的恐惧.

来自《简明英汉词典》

4. Despite its condescension toward the Bennet family, the letter begins to allay Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy.

尽管这封信对班纳特家的态度很高傲, 但它开始消除伊丽莎白对达西的偏见.

来自《简明英汉词典》

5. Father helped to allay her fears.

父亲帮助她消除恐惧.

来自辞典例句