gravel: [13] Gravel is of Celtic origin. It has been traced to a prehistoric Celtic *gravo- ‘gravel’, never actually recorded but deduced from Breton grouan and Cornish grow ‘soft granite’. French borrowed it as grave ‘gravel, pebbles’ (perhaps the source of the English verb grave ‘clean a ship’s bottom’ [15], now encountered virtually only in graving dock, from the notion of ships being hauled up on to the pebbles of the seashore for cleaning). The Old French diminutive of grave was gravelle – whence English gravel.
gravel (n.)
"stone in small, irregular fragments," early 13c., from Old French gravele "sand, gravel; sea-shore; sandy bed of a river," diminutive of grave "sand, seashore" (Modern French grève), possibly from Celtic *graw- (compare Welsh gro "coarse gravel," Breton grouan, Cornish grow "gravel"), perhaps ultimately from PIE *ghreu- "to rub, grind" (see grit (n.)). Gravel-crusher was World War I slang for "infantryman."
实用例句
1. I signed in and crunched across the gravel to my room.
我签到后嘎吱嘎吱走过石子路来到我的房间。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Two young men were racing motorcycles on the loose gravel.
两个小伙子正在松散的砾石路面上赛摩托车。
来自柯林斯例句
3. She heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway.
