check

Compared meaning: a bill for food or drinks (noun).

比较义项：账单（n.）。

• check 本词

  In American English, this is the itemized bill a server brings to the table once a meal is finished; asking for 'the check' is the standard restaurant phrase.

  在美式英语中，尤指服务员在用餐结束后送到餐桌上的账单清单；索要账单的标准说法就是“the check”。

  The waiter brought our check as soon as we finished eating.

  服务员一等我们吃完就把账单送了过来。

• tab

  Refers to a running total of charges, often at a bar, that builds up over time before being settled all at once; more informal, as in 'open a tab' or 'pick up the tab'.

  指在酒吧等场合逐渐累积、最后一次性结清的消费总额；语气更随意，常见于“开一个tab（挂账）”或“pick up the tab（请客买单）”等说法。

  He ran up a large tab at the bar before closing time.

  打烊前，他在酒吧已经积攒了一大笔账单。

Check and tab both can mean a bill for food or drinks. Check, in American English, is the bill a server brings after a meal. Tab is casual, a running total settled all at once, often at a bar. Not compared: check (inspect), tab (label).

这两个词在“账单”这个意义上很接近，但语域和使用场景不同：check 更正式、特指美式英语中餐厅服务员送来的账单；tab 更随意，指逐渐累积、之后一次性结清的消费额，常用于酒吧。这里不比较 check 的“检查”动词义，也不比较 tab 的“标签”“拉环”等其他义项。

Compared meaning: to stop or slow down a harmful process (verb).

比较义项：阻止、抑制某种进程的发展（动词）。

• check 本词

  More common and general; used for slowing or halting the growth, spread or increase of a rate, trend or feeling; can mean partial slowing, not necessarily complete stop; common in everyday and news contexts.

  更常见、更通用；用于减缓或阻止某种比率、趋势或情绪的增长或蔓延；可以表示部分减缓，不一定完全停止；常见于日常用语和新闻语境中。

  Rising interest rates helped check inflation over the past year.

  利率上升帮助抑制了去年的通货膨胀。

• arrest

  More formal and literary; usually implies stopping something harmful or undesirable abruptly and completely, often used with disease, decay or development; rare in everyday speech.

  更正式、更书面化；通常表示突然、彻底地阻止某种有害或不良的进程，常与疾病、衰退或发展等词搭配；日常口语中较少使用。

  Doctors managed to arrest the spread of the infection with strong antibiotics.

  医生们通过强效抗生素成功阻止了感染的蔓延。

Check and arrest can both mean to stop a harmful process. Check is common, meaning to slow or partly control a trend or feeling. Arrest is formal, meaning to stop something harmful, like a disease, suddenly and completely. Not compared: check (inspect), arrest (detain).

这两个词在此义项中都指阻止某个（通常是消极的）进程发展，但语气和使用场景不同：check 更常用、更口语化，常指减缓或部分遏制某种趋势或情绪；arrest 更正式、更书面化，通常指彻底、突然地阻止有害进程（如疾病、衰退），日常口语中较少使用。这里不比较 check 的其他义项（如“检查、核对”）和 arrest 的其他义项（如“逮捕”）。