| 词组 | naught |
| 释义 | naught 1. Naught, nought. Two British commentators, Gowers in Fowler 1965 and Chambers 1985, prefer the spelling nought for "zero" and naught for "nothing." This, indeed, seems to be prevailing British practice: • It is when a certain number of noughts begins to appear at the end of the figures ... that our eyes begin to glaze over —Hardcastle, Punch, 10 Apr. 1974 • This precaution becomes as naught when the squad is turned about —John Peel, Punch, 13 May 1975 In American English, the word is not commonly used in either spelling to mean "zero"; naught is somewhat more common than nought when the meaning is "nothing." 2. Flesch 1964 and Copperud 1964, 1970, 1980 asperse naught "nothing" as quaint and bookish. Sometimes it is so for deliberate effect: • Say not the struggle naught availeth —Simon 1980 In most cases, however, the use of this word is limited not by quaintness but by the rather narrow range of constructions it idiomatically fits into. It is used primarily with avail or in such phrases as come (or bring) to naught: • It availed him naught —The Economist, 22 Sept. 1984 • It occurred to me that the great care I was using in completing my diary might come to naught —Eric Randall, Newsweek, 15 Sept. 1986 • ... brought to naught by what Isak Dinesen called the business of being women —Abigail McCarthy, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 6 Feb. 1983 |
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