英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

boss (v.)[boss 词源字典]: 1856, from boss (n.1). Related: Bossed; bossing.[boss etymology, boss origin, 英语词源]
bossa nova: 1962, Brazilian style of music, from Portuguese, literally "new tendency."
bossy (adj.): 1540s, "swelling, projecting and rounded, decorated with bosses" from boss (n.2). Meaning "domineering, fond of ordering people about" is recorded 1882, from boss (n.1) + -y (2). As a common cow name it represents Latin bos "cow" (see cow (n.)).
Boston: U.S. city, 1630, named for town in Lincolnshire, a region from which many settlers came to New England. The name is said to be literally "Botolph's Stone," probably from the name of some Anglo-Saxon landowner (Old English Botwulf). Boston Massacre was March 5, 1770; three civilians killed, two mortally wounded. Card game Boston (1800) is based on the siege of Boston during the American Revolution. The Boston Tea Party (1824) took place on Dec. 16, 1773 (see tea party).
bosun (n.): a mid-19c. respelling to reflect the modern pronunciation of boatswain.
bot (n.): in Internet sense, c. 2000, short for robot. Its modern use has curious affinities with earlier uses, such as "parasitical worm or maggot" (1520s), of unknown origin; and Australian-New Zealand slang "worthless, troublesome person" (World War I-era). The method of minting new slang by clipping the heads off words does not seem to be old or widespread in English. Examples (za from pizza, zels from pretzels, rents from parents) are American English student or teen slang and seem to date back no further than late 1960s.
botanic (adj.): 1650s, from French botanique (17c.) or directly from Medieval Latin botanicus, from Greek botanikos "of herbs," from botane "a plant, grass, pasture, fodder." The Greek words seems to have more to do with pasturage than plants; compare related botamia "pastures, meadows," boter "herdsman," boton "grazing beast."
botanical (adj.): 1650s, from botanic + -al. Related: Botanically.
botanist (n.): 1680s; see botany + -ist.
botany (n.): 1690s, from botanic. The -y is from astronomy, etc. Botany Bay so called by Capt. Cook on account of the great variety of plants found there.
botch (v.): late 14c., bocchen "to repair," later, "to spoil by unskillful work" (1520s); of unknown origin. Related: Botched; botching. As a noun from c. 1600.
both (adj., pron.): there are several theories, all similar, and deriving the word from the tendency to say "both the." One is that it is Old English begen (masc.) "both" (from Proto-Germanic *ba, from PIE *bho "both") + -þ extended base. Another traces it to the Proto-Germanic formula represented in Old English by ba þa "both these," from ba (feminine nominative and accusative of begen) + þa, nominative and accusative plural of se "that." A third traces it to Old Norse baðir "both," from *bai thaiz "both the," from Proto-Germanic *thaiz, third person plural pronoun. Compare similar formation in Old Frisian bethe, Dutch beide, Old High German beide, German beide, Gothic bajoþs.
bother (v.): 1718, probably from Anglo-Irish pother, because its earliest use was by Irish writers Sheridan, Swift, Sterne. Perhaps from Irish bodhairim "I deafen." Related: Bothered; bothering. As a noun from 1803.
botheration (n.): 1797, noun of action from bother (v.).
bothersome (adj.): 1817, from bother + -some (1).
botony (n.): 1570s, in heraldry, from Old French botoné (Modern French boutonné) "covered with buds," past participle of boutonner "to bud," from bouton "bud, button," 12c., from Frankish or some other Germanic source.
Botox: a commercial name for botulinum toxin, and composed of elements from those words, approved in U.S. as a temporary cosmetic injection in 2002.
botryo-: before vowels botry-, word-forming element meaning "cluster, cluster-like," from Greek botrys "cluster of grapes," which is of unknown origin.
bottle (n.): mid-14c., originally of leather, from Old French boteille (12c., Modern French bouteille), from Vulgar Latin butticula, diminutive of Late Latin buttis "a cask," which is perhaps from Greek. The bottle, figurative for "liquor," is from 17c.
bottle (v.): 1640s, from bottle (n.). Related: Bottled; bottling.