hub: [17] Hub is one of those words that emerge unheralded from the undergrowth of language, its forbears uncertain. It seems originally to have meant ‘lump’, and is probably ultimately the same word as hob [16]. This was at first spelled hub and may have denoted a lump of clay used as a bakestone, or a brick or clay projection at the back of a fire on which things were placed to keep warm. And hobnail [16] is etymologically a nail with a large ‘lumpy’ head. => hob
hub (n.)
"solid center of a wheel," 1640s, perhaps from hubbe, originally "lump," the source of hob of a fireplace and hobnail, as in boots. A wheelwright's word, not generally known or used until c. 1828; it reached wider currency in connection with bicycles. Meaning "center of interest or activity or importance" first recorded 1858 in writings of Oliver W. Holmes, and originally especially of Boston.
"Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system." [O.W. Holmes, "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table"]
"[E]verybody knows that Boston used to be called the Hub, meaning the hub of the universe. It may still be the hub, because the center of a wheel moves slowly." [J.P. Marquand, "Life," March 24, 1941]
中文解释
集线器
实用例句
1. the commercial hub of the city
城市的商业中心
来自《权威词典》
2. Chicago is a hub of airline traffic.
芝加哥是航运中心.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. As a hub of finance and communications, Paris is now almost equal to London.
作为一个金融和交通中心，巴黎现在几乎可媲美伦敦。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Lee was at the hub of some incisive attacks in the second half.
在下半场，李组织了几次快速进攻。
来自柯林斯例句
5. London was on the rise, starting to replace Amsterdam as the hub of world trade.
