street: [OE] Etymologically, a street is a road that has been ‘spread’ – with paving stones, that is. A ‘paved’ road, in other words. The term was borrowed into prehistoric West Germanic from Latin strāta, short for via strāta ‘paved road’. Strāta was the feminine form of strātus, the past participle of sternere ‘spread out’ (source of English strata, stratify, etc). The related Germanic forms are German strasse and Dutch straat, while the term is also preserved in the Romance languages, in Italian strada, which was borrowed by Romanian as strada. => strata
street (n.)
Old English stret (Mercian, Kentish), str?t (West Saxon) "street, high road," from Late Latin strata, used elliptically for via strata "paved road," from fem. past participle of Latin sternere "lay down, spread out, pave," from PIE *stre-to- "to stretch, extend," from root *stere- "to spread, extend, stretch out" (see structure (n.)).
One of the few words in use in England continuously from Roman times. An early and widespread Germanic borrowing (Old Frisian strete, Old Saxon strata, Middle Dutch strate, Dutch straat, Old High German straza, German Strasse, Swedish str?t, Danish str?de "street"). The Latin is also the source of Spanish estrada, Old French estrée, Italian strada.
"The normal term in OE for a paved way or Roman road, later extended to other roads, urban streets, and in SE dialects to a street of dwellings, a straggling village or hamlet" [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]. Originally of Roman roads (Watling Street, Icknield Street). "In the Middle Ages, a road or way was merely a direction in which people rode or went, the name street being reserved for the made road" [Weekley].
Used since c. 1400 to mean "the people in the street;" modern sense of "the realm of the people as the source of political support" dates from 1931. The street for an especially important street is from 1560s (originally of London's Lombard-street). Man in the street "ordinary person, non-expert" is attested from 1831. Street people "the homeless" is from 1967; expression on the street "homeless" is from 1852. Street smarts is from 1971; street-credibility is from 1979. Street-sweeper as an occupation is from 1848.
例文
1. She loved it，this was just up her street .
彼女はこれが好きで、これはちょうど彼女の意に合っている。
2.He has made friends with the kids on the street .
路上をさまよっていた子供と友達になった。
3.A Wall Street Journal editorial encapsulated the views of many conservatives.＜ウォールストリートジャーナル＞の社説は、多くの保守派の人々の見方を概説している。
4.A block up the street I found a parking lot.
街に沿って1ブロック北に渡って、駐車場を見つけました。
5.I let myself out into the street and pulled the door shut.