pray

• vt. 祈祷；恳求；央求
• vi. 祈祷；请；恳求
• n. (Pray)人名；(匈)普劳伊；(英)普雷

来自古法语preier,祈祷，祈求，来自拉丁语precari,乞求，要求，恳求，来自PIE*prek,要求，恳求，词源同precarious,deprecate,postulate.

1. address God; say a prayer

2. call upon in supplication; entreat;

"I beg you to stop!"

pray

pray: [13] Latin precārī meant ‘ask for, entreat, pray’ (it has given English deprecate [17] and imprecation [16]). In Vulgar Latin it became *precāre, which passed into English via Old French preier. The noun prayer [13] goes back ultimately to the Latin adjective precārius ‘obtained by asking or praying’ (source also of English precarious), which was derived from precārī.
=> deprecate, imprecation, precarious

pray (v.)

early 13c., "ask earnestly, beg," also (c. 1300) "pray to a god or saint," from Old French preier "to pray" (c.900, Modern French prier), from Vulgar Latin *precare (also source of Italian pregare), from Latin precari "ask earnestly, beg, entreat," from *prex (plural preces, genitive precis) "prayer, request, entreaty," from PIE root *prek- "to ask, request, entreat" (cognates: Sanskrit prasna-, Avestan frashna- "question;" Old Church Slavonic prositi, Lithuanian prasyti "to ask, beg;" Old High German frahen, German fragen, Old English fricgan "to ask" a question).

Parenthetical expression I pray you, "please, if you will," attested from 1510s, contracted to pray 16c. Related: Prayed; praying. Praying mantis attested from 1809. The "Gardener's Monthly" of July 1861 lists other names for it as camel cricket, soothsayer, and rear horse.

ask, beg, demand, require, request, implore, claim, pray, entreat

这些动词均有"要求，请求"之意。

ask：最普通用词，指向对方提出要求或请求，长、晚辈，上下级之间都可使用。

beg：指恳切地或再三地请求或要求，常含低三下四意味，也多用于应酬场合。

demand：一般指理直气壮地提出强烈要求，或坚持不让对方拒绝的要求。

require：强调根据事业、需要或纪律、法律等而提出的要求。

request：正式用词，指非常正式，有礼貌的请求或恳求，多含担心因种种原因对方不能答应的意味。

implore：书面用词，着重指迫切、焦急或痛苦地恳求或哀求，常含较强的感情色彩。

claim：指有权或宣称有权得到而公开提出的要求。

pray：语气庄重，指热情、诚恳和敬祈的要求，现不很常用。

entreat：泛指一般"恳求或哀求"，含企图说服对方或用热烈的请求软化反对意见的意味。

plead, appeal, beg, petition, entreat, pray

这些动词均含"请求，恳求"之意。

plead： 指谦卑而又不失尊严地请求，侧重迫切感。

appeal： 常指以道义原则为基础或以法律为依据的请求。

beg比plead通俗，不用于法律范畴，指低声下气地请求，有时含贬义，指某人喋喋不休地要求得到帮助。

petition： 指正式而热切地请愿或祈求。

entreat的意义与beg的大致相同，但较文雅。

pray： 指祈求，多用于宗教用语中。

They knelt down and prayed.

他们跪下来祷告。

牛津词典

I'll pray for you.

我将为你祈祷。

牛津词典

to pray for peace

祈求和平

牛津词典

She prayed to God for an end to her sufferings.

她祈求上帝结束她的苦难。

牛津词典

We prayed (that) she would recover from her illness.

我们为她的康复祈祷。

牛津词典

He prayed to be forgiven.

他祈求宽恕。

牛津词典

We're praying for good weather on Saturday.

我们十分企盼星期六是个晴天。

牛津词典

I prayed that nobody would notice my mistake.

我但愿没人注意到我的错误。

牛津词典

What, pray, is the meaning of this?

请问，这是什么意思？

牛津词典

Pray continue.

请继续。

牛津词典

He spent his time in prison praying and studying...

他把狱中的时间都用于祈祷和学习。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

Now all we have to do is help ourselves and to pray to God.

我们现在所要做的就是自助并向上帝祈祷。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I'm just praying that somebody in Congress will do something before it's too late...

我只是在祈求国会中会有人在还来得及的时候做点什么。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

One can only pray that the team's manager learns something from it...

大家也只能希冀球队教练从中汲取教训。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

And what, pray, do you buy and sell, Major?

梅杰，请问，你都买卖些什么？

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I beg your pardon, pray continue.

抱歉，请继续。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

We pray to God to deliver us from evil.

我们祈求上帝把我们从罪恶中拯救出来.

《简明英汉词典》

We pray you to set the child free.

我们恳求你放了这个孩子.

《简明英汉词典》

He got down and began to pray.

他跪下并且开始祈祷.

《简明英汉词典》

In times of difficulty, she pray for an oracle to guide her.

在困难的时候, 她祈祷神谕来指引她.

《简明英汉词典》

They visited the Shrine of Our Lady to pray for redemption.

他们参观了圣母马利亚的神龛,为赎罪而祈祷.

《简明英汉词典》

Pray ( tell me ), what is your name?

请问大名?

《现代汉英综合大词典》

We do pray you to show mercy.

我们恳求你发发慈悲.

《简明英汉词典》

I pray you for mercy.

我求你发发慈悲吧.

《简明英汉词典》

The congregation knelt to pray.

会众跪下来祈祷.

《简明英汉词典》

We pray God's forgiveness.

我们祈求上帝的宽恕.

《简明英汉词典》

I will pray to God for your safety.

我要向上帝祈祷保佑你们平安.

《简明英汉词典》

Christians hope and pray for salvation.

基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救.

《现代英汉综合大词典》