careen: [16] Careen comes ultimately from carīna, the Latin word for a ‘nutshell’, which is related to Greek káruon ‘nut’ and Sanskrit kárakas ‘coconut’. The idea of a ‘nut’ as a metaphor for a ‘boat’ is a fairly obvious one (shell is similarly used for a ‘rowing boat’), and the Latin word came to be used for a ‘ship’s keel’, the raised seam of a walnut perhaps suggesting the line of the timber along the ship’s bottom.
It passed via the Genoese dialect carena into French, where a vessel en carène was turned over on its side so that its keel was exposed; hence the verb. The equation of careen with career ‘go wildly’ is 20th-century and of American origin.
careen (v.)
1590s, "to turn a ship on its side" (with the keel exposed), from French cariner, literally "to expose a ship's keel," from Middle French carene "keel" (16c.), from Italian (Genoese dialect) carena, from Latin carina "keel of a ship," originally "nutshell," possibly from PIE root *kar- "hard" (see hard (adj.)).
Intransitive sense of "to lean, to tilt" is from 1763, specifically of ships; in general use by 1883. In sense "to rush headlong," confused with career (v.) since at least 1923. [To career is to move rapidly; to careen is to lurch from side to side (often while moving rapidly).] Earlier figurative uses of careen were "to be laid up; to rest." Related: Careened; careening.
双语例句
1. Their ship was put into port to careen and refit.
