serviceable

service(from L. servus; slave)-able

adj. [useful; good enough to be used and to perform its function. ]

  ex. His English was not as good as his Chinese, but serviceable enough.

  ex. Although it is old, this car is serviceable.

 

 

 

 

servile

serv(slave)-ile

adj.奴才般的 [submissive and extremely willing to act to please others.]

  ps. He is servile to her in order to win her heart.  (好人...)

  synonym: fawning adj. ( p.199), obsequious adj. (p.328)

 

 

 

 

 

servitude

serv-i-tude

n.奴役 [condition of being forced to work for others and having no freedom]

  ex. Slavery, a brutal form of servitude.

 

Servitude - Official Trailer (film)

A group of frustrated waiters at a kitschy steakhouse take over their restaurant for one final, glorious, revenge-filled night when they discover they are all about to be fired.

 

 

 

 

 

setback

set-back

n.頓挫,  挫折 [A setback is an event that delays your progress or reverses some of the progress that you have made.]

   ex. He has suffered a serious setback in his political career.

   ps. 還有其他用在專業上的意思:像金字塔建築中就有setback的設計

 

 

 

 

 

settle

v.安頓 [to come to order or rest]

  ps. settle 有很多用法,而主要的概念是下沉、安置,就像塵埃落定一樣。

  ex. The French settled this colony.

  ex. settle a lawsuit = 庭外和解

  ex. the dust settled down after a sand storm.

 

 

Kimbra - Settle Down (with lyrics)

 

 

 

 

 

 

sever

v. [to cut completely through it or to cut it completely off.]

  ex. He severed his right foot in a motorbike accident.

  ex. oil still gushing from a severed fuel line.

  ex. He was able to sever all emotional bonds to his family.

  ps. to separate forever

 

from L. separate

 

 

 

 

 

severe

adj.劇烈的, 嚴格的 [very serious, harsh or critical.; strict or harsh in attitude or treatment]

  ex. a severe critic of modern drama.

  ex. Her plain black dress was too severe for such a cheerful occasion.

  ps. severe weather alerts

  ps. severe back pain 

 

 

 

 

 

sewer

n.下水道 [an artificial conduit, usually underground, for carrying off waste water and refuse, as in a town or city.]

  ps. sewage n.污水

  ps. Ninja turtles

n. [a person or thing that sews(縫).]

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

sextant

n. A sextant is an instrument used to measure the angle between any two visible objects. Its primary use is to determine the angle between a celestial object and the horizon which is known as the object's altitude. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight and it is an essential part of celestial navigation. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart. Common uses of the sextant include sighting the sun at solar noon and sighting Polaris at night, to find one's latitude (in northern latitudes). Sighting the height of a landmark can give a measure of distance off and, held horizontally, a sextant can measure angles between objects for a position on a chart.

是由牛頓先引進這種測量概念的。

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

shackle

n.手銬; 腳鐐 [something (as a manacle or fetter) that confines the legs or arms]

n.束縛 [something that checks or prevents free action as if by fetters]

 

How to make a Paracord Bracelet with an Adjustable Shackle

 

 

 

 

 

shale

n.頁岩 wiki [Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite.]

 

The process in the rock cycle which forms shale is called compaction. The fine particles that compose shale can remain suspended in water long after the larger and denser particles of sand have deposited. Shales are typically deposited in very slow moving water and are often found in lakes and lagoonal deposits, in river deltas, on floodplains and offshore from beach sands. They can also be deposited on the continental shelf, in relatively deep, quiet water. 

 

The Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields.[2] It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At 505 million years (Middle Cambrian) old,[3] it is one of the earliest fossil beds containing soft-part imprints.

 

Oil shale 

Shale Fracking Process

 最特別的是有橫向的drill

 

 

 

 

 

 

sham

n. [something false, fake, or fictitious that purports to be genuine]

  ex. a sham diamond.

  ex. She claims to know all about computers but really she's a sham.

  ex. Their marriage had become a complete sham.

adj. [pretended; counterfeit; feigned]

  ex. sham sympathy

   relative word:

   (adj.) adulterated, fake, synthetic

   (v.) counterfeit

 

ps. The shamrock refers to the young sprigs of clover or trefoil. It is known as a symbol of Ireland, with St. Patrick having used it as a metaphor for the Christian Trinity, according to legend. The name shamrock is derived from Irish seamróg, which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover  meaning simply "little clover" or "young clover"

 

 

 

 

 

shambles

n. [a state or condition of complete disorder]

  ps. 最常用的方法是 in a shambles = in a chaotic and disorderly condition.

  ex. After the party the living room is in a shambles.

 

  Etymology: 最早的意思來自於""stool, footstool, table for vending,"" 販賣東西實用的桌子或著凳子,在1540s傳到英文時變成屠宰場的意思了。

 

The Shambles (official name Shambles) is an old street in York, England, with overhanging timber-framed buildings, some dating back as far as the fourteenth century. It was once known as The Great Flesh Shambles, probably from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels (literally 'flesh-shelves'), the word for the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. As recently as 1872 there were twenty-five butchers' shops in the street but now there are none. There is still a butcher in the adjacent Little Shambles which leads to York's open-air Newgate Market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

shard

n. [a piece of broken glass, pottery, or metal.]

   ex. a shard of pottery that dates to about 3,000 years ago.

 

The Shard, also referred to as the Shard of Glass, is a 72-storey skyscraper in London. Its construction began in March 2009; it was topped out on 30 March 2012[11] and inaugurated on 5 July 2012.[12] It opened to the public on 1 February 2013.[1][13][14] Standing 309.6 metres (1,016 ft) high,[3] the Shard is the tallest building in the European Union.

 

The Shard - a new landmark for London

 

 

 

 

 

shatter

v. [to break suddenly and violently into small pieces]

  ex. The pot shattered as it hit the floor.

  ex. The explosion shattered all the windows.

  ex. The failure of this exam really shatters my confidence.

  ps. scatter v.

 

 

 

 

 

 

shavings

n. [ very thin pieces of wood or other material which have been cut from a larger piece.]

  ps. shave v. 刮鬍子

 

 

 

 

 

 

shear

v.剪 [to remove by or as if by cutting or clipping with a sharp instrument]

   ex. 剪羊毛 to shear wool from sheep.

   ps. shears 大剪刀 [a cutting implement similar or identical to a pair of scissors but typically larger],  一般的剪刀用scissors

 

 

 

 

How to shear a sheep