本文经授权转载自微信公众号：田间小站
考研 CET6 TEM8 GRE
外刊例句
- They also detained dozens of investors, bankers and regulators in investigations of the market mayhem; at least two others committed suicide before the authorities could get to them.
在调查这场市场乱局时，政府还扣押了几十名投资者、银行业人士及监管官员；至少两人在被当局调查前自杀。
——《经济学人》 - Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was detained last week.
《华尔街日报》记者埃文·格什科维奇上周被拘留。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[verb] keep (someone) from proceeding; hold back
[动词] 阻止（某人）前行；阻挡
深入解读
Detain 是一个与小站（微信公众号：田间小站）去年推送的 attain 同词根 tain, ten, tin （拿住）的单词。
其中， detain 由前缀 de- （完全、加强）+词根 tain 构成，源自拉丁语 detinere （抵挡住、阻挡），15世纪初经古法语 detenir （抵挡住、阻挡）进入英语，最初用来表示“扣留、扣押”应给的某物，不过这一含义现已过时。
等到了15世纪末， detain 开始用在法律领域表示“拘留、扣押”，也就是将某人关在警局、拘留所、监狱等官方场所，通常是为了询问犯罪问题或在政治敏感的情况下，比如：
- 一个怪人已被警察拘留接受进一步审讯。
One eccentric has been detained by the police for questioning.
从这个概念出发，再到了16世纪90年代后， detain 开始引申表示“留住、耽搁、阻留”，常作正式用语使用，主要指短暂地阻止某人前行，包括留病人、伤者等住院观察或治疗，比如：
- 因公滞留
be detained by business - 伤者中有几个人被留院观察了一夜。
Several of the injured were detained overnight in hospital.
名著用例
Perplexed, Ron followed Harry back to the Gryffindor Tower at a run. They were temporarily detained by Peeves, who had jammed a door on the fourth floor shut and was refusing to let anyone pass until they set fire to their own pants, but Harry and Ron simply turned back and took one of their trusted shortcuts.
罗恩纳闷地跟着哈利跑回格兰芬多塔楼，他们被皮皮鬼耽搁了一小会儿。皮皮鬼堵上了五楼的一扇门，非要每人把自己裤子烧着才让过去，但哈利和罗恩掉头走了一条可靠的近道。
出自英国作家J·K·罗琳的奇幻小说《哈利·波特》系列的第六本《哈利·波特与混血王子》（Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince）。
同近义词
- delay: make (someone or something) late or slow
- retard: delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment
- arrest: seize (someone) by legal authority and take into custody
