(亦作muckle) archaic or Scottish & N. English
- a large amount〈古或苏格兰, 北英格兰〉大量, 许多。
- very large巨大的：
she had a great big elephant ... that's one of those mickle beasts from Africa.
她有一头巨象…那是非洲巨型动物之一。
- much; a large amount许多, 大量。
USAGE
The original proverb many a little makes a mickle was misquoted （and first recorded in the writing of George Washington, 1793） as many a mickle makes a muckle. While mickle and muckle are, by origin, merely variants of the same (now dialect) word meaning 'a large amount'， the misquotation spawned a misunderstanding that has now become widespread: that mickle means 'a small amount'， and muckle means the opposite, 'a large amount'.
短语
many a little makes a mickle （亦作many a mickle makes a muckle）
- proverb many small amounts accumulate to make a large amount〈谚〉积少成多; 集腋成裘。
词源
Old English micel 'great, numerous, much'， of Germanic origin; from an Indo-European root shared by Greek megas, megal-.