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TEM8
外刊例句
- Unemployment rates may wiggle only a bit from month to month, but beneath that calm, labour markets are a roiling mess.
失业率每月也许只有轻微的波动,但在平静的表象下,劳动力市场动荡纷乱。
——《经济学人》 - But he might be wishing he'd left himself more wiggle room on timing.
但他可能会希望自己在时机选择上给自己留有更多的回旋余地。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[verb] move or cause to move up and down or from side to side with small rapid movements
[动词] (使)以小而快速的动作上下或左右移动
深入解读
Wiggle 是一个与小站推送过的 haggle, juggle 有着相同结尾的单词,可以一并联想记忆。
该词也是一个经常可以在英文儿歌中听到的单词,常作非正式用语表示“(使)摇动、转动、扭动”,主要指屁股、尾巴、耳朵、牙齿、脚趾以及螺丝、把手、钉子等以小而快速的动作不规则地上下或左右移动,也可以形容道路、河流等像是一扭一摆地“蜿蜒前行”,比如:
- 那个调情老手走路时卖弄风情地扭着屁股。
The flirt wiggled her hips seductively as she walked.
除了运动、跳舞时会扭动以外,常常为了摆脱某个事物的束缚也会进行扭动,这在英语中则可以用 wiggle out of sth 指“从……挣脱出来”,多用来喻指通过不正当的手段摆脱某个事物,比如:
- 贝丝从歹徒的怀里挣脱出来,跑向妈妈。
Beth wiggled out of the bandit's arms and ran to her mother. - 那个小捣蛋鬼正试图逃避他的约定。
The little fiend is trying to wiggle out of his agreement.
用作名词时, wiggle 除了表示轻微的“扭动、摆动、摇动、起伏”外,还可以引申指“扭动状线、凹凹凸凸的线”,比如:
- 把大海画成一条条波纹线
draw the sea as a series of wiggles
名著用例
He took out his wand, tapped the board, and the arrows began to wiggle over the diagram like caterpillars.
他取出魔杖,朝图板上一点,那些箭头就像毛毛虫一样在图上蠕动起来。
出自英国作家J.K.罗琳奇幻小说《哈利·波特》系列的第二本《哈利·波特与密室》(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)。
同近义词
- jiggle: shake (something) lightly up and down or from side to side
- wriggle: twist and turn with quick writhing movements
- wobble: move unsteadily from side to side