| 例句 |
tan adjective •a tan waistcoat:yellowish-brown, light brown, pale brown, beige, tawny.▶verb 1.•use a sunscreen to help you tan:become suntanned, get a suntan, brown, go/get/become brown, bronze. 2.informal •I'll tan his hide. See thrash (sense 1). WORD NOTE tan In Edward Albee's play The American Dream, there is a running gag about whether a hat is beige, wheat, or cream. Fine distinctions used to be made about gradations of racial makeup ( quadroon, octoroon, etc.) and correlating skin tone (chocolate, coffee, yellow, mocha, olive), but in contemporary usage we seem to consider brown colors beneath precise description. — SMConversational, opinionated, and idiomatic, these Word Notes are an opportunity to see a working writer's perspective on a particular word or usage. |