rather: [OE] Rather originated as the comparative form of the now obsolete adjective rathe ‘quick’, and so to begin with meant ‘more quickly’, hence ‘earlier, sooner’. Its most frequent modern meaning, ‘more willingly’, emerged as recently as the 16th century. Rathe itself went back to a prehistoric Germanic *khrathaz, which may have been derived from the same base as produced English rash ‘impetuous’. => rash
rather (adv.)
Old English hraþor "more quickly, earlier, sooner," also "more readily," comparative of hraþe, hræþe "quickly, hastily, promptly, readily, immediately," which is related to hræð "quick, nimble, prompt, ready," from Proto-Germanic *khratha- (cognates: Old Norse hraðr, Old High German hrad), from PIE *kret- "to shake." The base form rathe was obsolete by 18c. except in poetry (Tennyson); superlative rathest fell from use by 17c. Meaning "more willingly" is recorded from c. 1300; sense of "more truly" is attested from late 14c.
The rather lambes bene starved with cold
[Spenser, "The Shepheardes Calender" (Februarie), 1579]
双语例句
1. Rather taken aback by such forwardness, I slammed down the phone.
如此无礼的言语让我火冒三丈，我砰的一下把电话挂了。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The process is not a circle but rather a spiral.
这个过程不是一个圆周运动而是螺旋上升型的。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I gradually got rather disillusioned with the whole setup of the university.
渐渐地，我对大学的整个体制感到相当失望。
来自柯林斯例句
4. She was in rather a bad film about the Mau Mau.