avail
/əˈveɪl/verb
1
avail oneself of
use or take advantage of (an opportunity or available resource)利用（机会, 可用资源）：my daughter did not avail herself of my advice.
我女儿没有听从我的建议。
2
- help or benefit有助于; 有益于：
with obj. no amount of struggle availed Charles任何努力都无助于查尔斯
no obj., with infinitive the dark and narrow hiding place did not avail to save the fugitives.黑暗狭窄的藏身地并未能挽救那些逃亡者。
短语
avail someone nothing
- archaic (of an action) be of no help at all to someone〈古〉（行动）无助于某人。
of little（或no）avail
- not very (or not at all) effective or successful几乎（或根本）无效的。
to little（或no）avail
- with little (or no) success or benefit几乎（或根本）毫无作用; 无助：
he tried to get his work recognized, but to little avail.
他试图使自己的工作得到认可, 但却几乎毫无作用。
词源
Middle English: from obsolete vail 'be of use or value' （apparently on the pattern of pairs such as amount， mount）， from Old French valoir, from Latin valere 'be strong， be of value'.