• vt. 忍受；容忍
• n. 小溪；小河

詞源不詳，可能來自break, 分開。

brook

brook: [OE] There are two distinct words brook in English. The one meaning ‘stream’ is comparatively isolated; it apparently has relatives in other Germanic languages (such as German bruch), but they mean ‘swamp’, and there the story ends. The now rather archaic verb brook, however, meaning ‘stand for, tolerate’, can be traced right back to an Indo-European base *bhrug-, from which English also gets fruit and frugal.

Its Germanic descendant was *brūk- ‘use’, which has given rise to a range of current verbs in the Germanic languages, including German brauchen ‘use, need’. The Old English version was brūcan, which also meant ‘use’. A particular application to food (‘use’ in the sense ‘eat’, and later ‘be able to digest’) started to develop in the late Old English period, and by the 16th century this had come to be used more generally (rather like stomach) for ‘tolerate’.
=> frugal, fruit

brook (n.)

"small stream," Old English broc "flowing stream, torrest," of obscure origin, probably from Proto-Germanic *broka- which yielded words in German (Bruch) and Dutch (broek) that have a sense of "marsh." In Sussex and Kent, it means "water-meadow," and in plural, "low, marshy ground."

brook (v.)

"to endure," Old English brucan "use, enjoy, possess; eat; cohabit with," from Proto-Germanic *bruk- "to make use of, enjoy" (cognates: Old Saxon brukan, Old Frisian bruka, Old High German bruhhan, German brauchen "to use," Gothic brukjan), from PIE root *bhrug- "to make use of, have enjoyment of" (cognates: Latin fructus). Sense of "use" applied to food led to "be able to digest," and by 16c. to "tolerate."

1. Ahead, he saw the side railings of First Bridge over Crooked Brook.

他看見了克魯克德河上第一大橋的橋欄就在前面。

來自柯林斯例句

2. The army will brook no weakening of its power.

這支部隊不會容忍對其實力的削弱。

來自柯林斯例句

3. In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.

在我們房間能聽到遠處小溪汩汩的流水聲.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

4. The straight flow of the brook formed a ravine.

不間斷的溪水形成了一個峽谷.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

5. I could hear the sound of a babbling brook.

我聽得見小溪潺潺的流水聲.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》