ail: [OE] Now virtually obsolete except in the metaphorical use of its present participial adjective ailing, ail is of long but uncertain history. The Old English verb egl(i)an came from the adjective egle ‘troublesome’, which had related forms in other Germanic languages, such as Middle Low German egelen ‘annoy’ and Gothic agls ‘disgraceful’, aglo ‘oppression’. The derivative ailment did not appear until as late as the 18th century.
ail (v.)
c. 1300, from Old English eglan "to trouble, plague, afflict," from Proto-Germanic *azljaz (cognates: Old English egle "hideous, loathsome, troublesome, painful;" Gothic agls "shameful, disgraceful," agliþa "distress, affliction, hardship," us-agljan "to oppress, afflict"), from PIE *agh-lo-, suffixed form of root *agh- (1) "to be depressed, be afraid." Related: Ailed; ailing; ails.
It is remarkable, that this word is never used but with some indefinite term, or the word no thing; as What ails him? ... Thus we never say, a fever ails him. [Johnson]
双语例句
1. " What should ail me to harm this misbegotten and miserable babe?
“ 加害于这样一个不幸的私生婴儿,难道我发疯了?
来自英汉文学 - 红字
2. It may provide answers to some of the problems that ail America.
这一点可能解答困扰美国的某些问题.
来自互联网
3. What should ail me to harm this and miserable babe?
加害于这样一个不幸的私生婴儿,难道我发疯了?
来自互联网
4. Oh , what could ail thee , knight at arms, alone and palely loitering?
是什么让你痛苦身披战甲孤单无力徘徊的骑士?
来自互联网
5. My boss has been aIl Smiles lately but I keep wondering why!
