palaver: [18] Palaver originated as a piece of naval slang picked up by English sailors in Africa. There they came across Portuguese traders negotiating with the local inhabitants, a process known in Portuguese as palavra ‘speech’ (a descendant of Latin parabola, source of English parable). They took the Portugese word over as palaver, applying it first to ‘negotiations’, and then by extension to ‘idle chatter’. => parable
palaver (n.)
1733 (implied in palavering), "talk, conference, discussion," sailors' slang, from Portuguese palavra "word, speech, talk," traders' term for "negotiating with the natives" in West Africa, metathesis of Late Latin parabola "speech, discourse," from Latin parabola "comparison" (see parable). Meaning "idle talk" first recorded 1748. The verb is 1733, from the noun. Related: Palavering.
实用例句
1. We don't want all that palaver, do we?
我们不想那样小题大做，不是吗？来自柯林斯例句
2. What's all the palaver about?
这些鸡毛蒜皮的事到底是为什么？来自《权威词典》
3. What a palaver there was about paying the bill !
付账的事真费口舌呀！来自辞典例句
4. What a palaver there was about paying the bill!
付账的事真费口舌呀!来自互联网
5. However, another fascinating question, hitherto absent from the current palaver, may prove more tractable.
