domino: [18] The word domino was borrowed from French, where it originally signified (in the 16th century) a sort of hooded cloak worn by priests. It presumably represents a form of Latin dominus ‘lord, master’, but the reason for the application has never been satisfactorily explained (one suggestion is that it comes from the ritual formula benedicamus Domino ‘let us bless the Lord’).
By the time English acquired it, it had come to mean ‘hooded cloak with a halfmask, worn at masquerades’, and by the 19th century it was being used for the mask itself. It is far from clear whether the application to the game played with small rectangular blocks, which dates in English from the 19th century, represents a new use of the same word or a return to the original Latin, but either way the reason behind the usage is not known.
A possibility that has been advanced is that the winner of the game originally shouted domino! ‘lord!’.
domino (n.)
1801, from French domino (1771), perhaps (on comparison of the black tiles of the game) from the meaning "hood with a cloak worn by canons or priests" (1690s), from Latin dominus "lord, master" (see domain), but the connection is not clear. Klein thinks it might be directly from dominus, "because he who has first disposed his pieces becomes 'the master.' " Metaphoric use in geopolitics is from April 1954, first used by U.S. President Eisenhower in a "New York Times" piece, in reference to what happens when you set up a row of dominos and knock the first one down.
双语例句
1. The domino effect if one train is cancelled is enormous.
如果一班火车被取消，其连锁反应将是巨大的。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Domino server support Notes > IMAP ^ POP 3 > NNTP and Web client server.
Domino支持Notes、IMAP、 POP3、NNTP和Web客户机.
来自互联网
3. What can you tell us about these 4 creeps, Domino?
你对那四个盗贼有什么看法,多米诺?
来自电影对白
4. You take Main Street and you turn left on Domino Square.
你去主要街道,你我在多米诺广场左转.
来自电影对白
5. The first domino to fall is the start of a shooting chain.