spread: [OE] Spread is a general West Germanic word, with relatives in German spreiten and Dutch speiden. These point back to a common prehistoric ancestor *spraidjan. Where that came from is not clear, although it may have links with Latin spargere ‘scatter, sprinkle’ (source of English aspersion [16] and sparse [18]) and Greek speírein ‘sow’ (a relative of English sperm, spore, etc).
spread (v.)
c. 1200, "to stretch out, to lay out; diffuse, disseminate" (transitive), also "to advance over a wide area" (intransitive); probably from Old English sprædan "to spread, stretch forth, extend" (especially in tosprædan "to spread out," and gesprædung "spreading"), from Proto-Germanic *spreit- (cognates: Danish sprede, Old Swedish spreda, Middle Dutch spreiden, Old High German and German spreiten "to spread"), extended form of PIE root *sper- (4) "to strew" (see sprout (v.)). Reflexive sense of "to be outspread" is from c. 1300; that of "to extend, expand" is attested from mid-14c. Transitive sense of "make (something) wide" is from late 14c. As an adjective from 1510s. Related: Spreading.
spread (n.)
1620s, "act of spreading;" 1690s, "extent or expanse of something," from spread (v.). Meaning "copious meal" dates from 1822; sense of "food for spreading" (butter, jam, etc.) is from 1812. Sense of "bed cover" is recorded from 1848, originally American English. Meaning "degree of variation" is attested from 1929. Meaning "ranch for raising cattle" is attested from 1927.
实用例句
1. The conditions are ripe for the spread of disease.
这种疾病传播的条件已经成熟。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Sex education is also expected to help check the spread of AIDS.
人们还希望性教育有助于控制艾滋病的蔓延。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The move follows growing public concern over the spread of the disease.
针对公众对该疾病的不断蔓延日益担忧，从而出台了这一举措。
来自柯林斯例句
4. He campaigned for peace and against the spread of nuclear weapons.
他为裁军运动和反对核武器扩散而奔走。
来自柯林斯例句
5. He was fed-up with the lies being spread about him.
