dome: [16] Dome originally meant ‘house’ in English – it was borrowed from Latin domus ‘house’ (source of English domestic). However, in other European languages the descendants of domus had come to signify more than a humble dwelling house, and its new meanings spread to English. The word increasingly encompassed stately mansions and important places of worship. Italian duomo and German dom mean ‘cathedral’, for instance (a sense adopted by English in the late 17th and early 18th centuries), and since a leading characteristic of Italian cathedrals is their cupola, the word was soon applied to this. => domestic
dome (n.)
"round, vaulted roof," 1650s, from French dome (16c.), from Provençal doma, from Greek doma "house, housetop" (especially a style of roof from the east), related to domos "house" (see domestic).
In the Middle Ages, German dom and Italian duomo were used for "cathedral" (on the notion of "God's house"), so English began to use this word in the sense "cupola," an architectural feature characteristic of Italian cathedrals. Used in U.S. also with reference to round summits of mountains.
实用例句
1. The builders have perched a light concrete dome on eight slender columns.
建筑工人在8根细柱上架起轻巧的混凝土穹顶。
来自柯林斯例句
2. the dome of St Paul's Cathedral
圣保罗大教堂的穹顶
来自《权威词典》
3. A band of grey hair encircled his bald dome.
他的秃头四周长着一圈灰白的头发.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. A band of gray hair encircled his bald dome.
他的秃头顶四周长着一圈灰白的头发.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. Are these pillars strong enough to keep up that dome?
