| 词组 | mantel, mantle |
| 释义 | mantel, mantle These two words are now usually regarded as distinct from each other, with mantel used for a shelf above a fireplace, and mantle used for a cloak or a cover. However, they were originally nothing more than spelling variants (both derived from the Old French mantel, "cloak"), and mantle still occurs on occasion as a variant of mantel: • An autographed picture of John Dewey dominates the mantle —William D. Lewis, AAUP Bulletin, December 1967 • Hand hewn beams, original mantle, plank floors throughout —advt., N.Y. Times Mag., 25 May 1980 This use of mantle seems now to be largely confined to American English (American dictionaries treat it as standard, but British dictionaries do not recognize it). The few commentators who take note of it are all American, and all of them prefer mantel in such contexts. Our evidence shows that most writers prefer mantel as well: • ... a bottle of J & B on the mantel —Donald Barthelme, New Yorker, 17 July 1971 • ... in a fishbowl on his mantel —Joseph Wam-baugh, The Black Marble, 1978 • ... he pauses by the fireplace mantel —John Updike, Playboy, September 1981 |
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