mass: English has two distinct words mass. The one meaning ‘Eucharist’ [OE] comes from late Latin missa, a noun use of the feminine past participle of mittere ‘send’ (source of English admit, commit, dismiss, mission, etc) possibly arising from Ite, missa est ‘Go, it is the dismissal’, the last words of the Latin Eucharist service. Mass ‘amount of matter’ [14] comes via Old French masse and Latin massa from Greek maza ‘barley cake’, hence ‘lump, mass’.
The derivative massive [15] goes back ultimately to Vulgar Latin *massīceus. A possible relative is massage [19], a borrowing from French. It was a derivative of masser ‘massage’, which may have been acquired from Portuguese amassar ‘knead’, a verb based on massa ‘mass, dough’. => admit, commit, dismiss, mission, transmit; massage, massive
mass (v.)
"to gather in a mass" (intransitive), 1560s, from mass (n.1) or from French masser. Transitive sense by c. 1600. Related: Massed; massing.
mass (n.1)
"lump, quantity, size," late 14c., from Old French masse "lump, heap, pile; crowd, large amount; ingot, bar" (11c.), and directly from Latin massa "kneaded dough, lump, that which adheres together like dough," probably from Greek maza "barley cake, lump, mass, ball," related to massein "to knead," from PIE root *mag- "to knead" (source of Lithuanian minkyti "to knead," see macerate). Sense extended in English 1580s to "a large quantity, amount, or number." Strict sense in physics is from 1704.
As an adjective from 1733, first attested in mass meeting in American English. mass culture is from 1916 in sociology (earlier in biology); mass hysteria is from 1914; mass media is from 1923; mass movement is from 1897; mass production is from 1920; mass grave is from 1918; mass murder from 1880.
mass (n.2)
"Eucharistic service," Old English mæsse, from Vulgar Latin *messa "eucharistic service," literally "dismissal," from Late Latin missa "dismissal," fem. past participle of mittere "to let go, send" (see mission); probably so called from the concluding words of the service, Ite, missa est, "Go, (the prayer) has been sent," or "Go, it is the dismissal." Sometimes glossed in Old English as sendnes "send-ness."
中文解释
1. 音译“弥撒”。
实用例句
1. On his desk is a mass of books and papers.
他的书桌上有大堆的书籍和文件。
来自柯林斯例句
2. In the spring, the meadow is a mass of daffodils.
春天，草地上开满了黄水仙。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Pope John Paul celebrated mass today in a city in central Poland.
教皇保罗二世今天在波兰中部的一个城市主持了弥撒。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Only with mass direct action will we obtain such change.
只有采取大规模直接行动，我们才会取得这样的改变。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The 1939-45 world war involved the mass of the population.
