orgy: [16] Orgy comes ultimately from Greek órgia (like English organ, a descendant of the Indo-European base *worg- ‘work’), which denoted ‘religious revels involving dancing, singing, getting drunk, and having sex’. It was a plural noun, and passed into English via Latin orgia and French orgies as orgies. This was very much a historical term, denoting the goings-on in ancient Greece, but in the 18th century it was singularized to orgy, and used for any ‘copulatory revelry’. => organ, work
orgy (n.)
1560s, orgies (plural) "secret rites in the worship of certain Greek and Roman gods," especially Dionysus, from Middle French orgies (c. 1500, from Latin orgia), and directly from Greek orgia (plural) "secret rites," especially those of Bacchus, from PIE root *werg- "to do" (see organ). The singular, orgy, was first used in English 1660s for the extended sense of "any licentious revelry." OED says of the ancient rites that they were "celebrated with extravagant dancing, singing, drinking, etc.," which gives "etc." quite a workout.
实用例句
1. It was reminiscent of a scene from a Roman orgy.
这一幕让人想起古罗马荒淫的狂欢宴会。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He blew £533,000 in an 18-month orgy of spending.
他在18个月的奢靡生活中挥霍了533,000英镑。
来自柯林斯例句
3. One eye-witness said the rioters were engaged in an orgy of destruction.
