pad: [16] English has two words pad, both of them borrowed from Low German or Dutch. The ancestral meaning of pad ‘cushion’ seems to be ‘sole of the foot’, although that sense did not emerge in English until the 18th century. Flemish pad and Low German pad both denote ‘sole’, as does the presumably related Lithuanian pādas. Pad ‘tread, walk’ comes from Low German padden, a descendant of the same Germanic source as produced English path.
It was originally a slang term used by 16th- and 17th-century highwayman, muggers, and the like, and its corresponding noun pad survives in footpad [17]. Paddle ‘walk in shallow water’ [16] comes from a Low German or Dutch derivative (the other paddle, ‘oar, bat’ [15], is of unknown origin). => paddle, path
pad (n.)
1550s, "bundle of straw to lie on," possibly from or related to Low German or obsolete Flemish pad "sole of the foot," which is perhaps from PIE *pent- "to tread, go" (see find (v.)), but see path (n.). Meaning "cushion-like part of an animal foot" is from 1790 in English. Generalized sense of "something soft" is from c. 1700; the sense of "a number of sheets fastened together" (in writing pad, drawing pad, etc.) is from 1865.
Sense of "takeoff or landing place for a helicopter" is from 1960. The word persisted in underworld slang from early 18c. in the sense "sleeping place," and was popularized again c. 1959, originally in beatnik speech (later hippie slang) in its original English sense of "place to sleep temporarily."
pad (v.2)
"to stuff, increase the amount of," 1827, from pad (n.); transferred to expense accounts, etc. from 1913. Related: Padded; padding. Notion of a padded cell in an asylum or prison is from 1862 (padded room).
pad (v.1)
"to walk," 1550s, probably from Middle Dutch paden "walk along a path, make a path," from pad, pat "path." Originally criminals' slang, perhaps of imitative origin (sound of feet trudging on a dirt road). Related: Padded; padding.
双语例句
1. Keep a pad handy to jot down queries as they occur.
手边放一本便笺簿，以便有问题时随时记下。
来自柯林斯例句
2. "Here's your ticket," he said, and he tore it off the pad.
“给你票，”他说着，从票本上把票撕了下来。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I moved on round the big house to reach my pad.
我绕过大房子走向我的公寓。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Journalists report seeing a fire on the pad after the launch.
记者们报道说在发射后看到发射台着火了。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Wimbledon has been a launch pad for so many players.
