post: Including the prefix post-, English has four different words post. The oldest, ‘long upright piece of wood, metal, etc’ [OE], was borrowed from Latin postis. From it was derived the verb post ‘fix to a post’, which in turn produced poster [19], denoting a placard that can be ‘posted’ up. Post ‘mail’ [16] comes via French poste and Italian posta from Vulgar Latin *posta, a contracted version of posita, the feminine form of the past participle of Latin pōnere ‘put, place’ (source of English position).
The notion underlying the sense ‘mail’ is of riders ‘placed’ or stationed at intervals along a road so as to carry letters at speed by a relay system. Post ‘job’ [16] reached English via a very similar route, this time from the neuter form of the Latin past participle, positum. This became *postum in Vulgar Latin, which produced Italian posto, French poste, and English post.
Here again the word’s original meaning, ‘position where a soldier is placed’, reflects that of its Latin source pōnere. The prefix post- comes from the Latin preposition post ‘after’. It occurs in a number of English words that go back to Latin ancestors (including posterior [16], posthumous, postpone [16], postscript [16], and the more heavily disguised preposterous), as well as being widely used to create new coinages (such as postgraduate [19] and postwar [20]). => position
post (adv.)
1540s, "with post horses," hence, "rapidly;" especially in the phrase to ride post "go rapidly," from post (n.3).
post (n.1)
"a timber set upright," from Old English post "pillar, doorpost," and Old French post "post, upright beam," both from Latin postis "door, post, doorpost," perhaps from por- "forth" (see pro-) + stare "to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand, set down, make or be firm" (see stet). Similar compound in Sanskrit prstham "back, roof, peak," Avestan parshti "back," Greek pastas "porch in front of a house, colonnade," Middle High German virst "ridepole," Lithuanian pirstas, Old Church Slavonic pristu "finger" (PIE *por-st-i-).
post (n.2)
"place when on duty," 1590s, from Middle French poste "place where one is stationed," also, "station for post horses" (16c.), from Italian posto "post, station," from Vulgar Latin *postum, from Latin positum, neuter past participle of ponere "to place, to put" (see position (n.)). Earliest sense in English was military; meaning "job, position" is attested 1690s.
post (n.3)
"mail system," c. 1500, "riders and horses posted at intervals," from post (n.2) on notion of riders and horses "posted" at intervals along a route to speed mail in relays, probably formed on model of Middle French poste in this sense (late 15c.). Meaning "system for carrying mail" is from 1660s.
post (v.4)
"to put up bail money," 1781, from one of the nouns post, but which one is uncertain. Related: Posted; posting.
post (v.1)
"to affix (a paper, etc.) to a post" (in a public place), hence, "to make known," 1630s, from post (n.1). Related: Posted; posting.
post (v.2)
in bookkeeping, "to transfer from a day book to a formal account," 1620s, from post (n.2) via a figurative sense of "carrying" by post horses. Related: Posted; posting.
post (v.3)
"to send through the postal system," 1837, from post (n.3). Earlier, "to travel with relays of horses" (1530s). Related: Posted; posting.
post (v.5)
"to station at a post," from post (n.2). Related: Posted; posting.
实用例句
1. We post up a set of rules for the house.
我们张贴了一份房屋生活守则。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He flipped through the post without opening any of it.
他飞快地翻了一下邮件，但一封也没有打开。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Now look yonder, just beyond the wooden post there.
看那边，就在木头柱子的旁边。
来自柯林斯例句
4. He really was one of the finest boxers in post-war Britain.
他确实是战后英国最优秀的拳击手之一。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The pilot wisely decided to return to Farnborough post haste.
