英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

butyl (n.)[butyl 词源字典]: hydrocarbon radical, 1868, from butyric acid, a product of fermentation found in rancid butter, from Latin butyrum "butter" (see butter (n.)).[butyl etymology, butyl origin, 英语词源]
butyric (adj.): 1826, from stem of Latin butyrum "butter" (see butter (n.)) + -ic.
buxom (adj.): late 12c., buhsum "humble, obedient," from Proto-Germanic *buh- stem of Old English bugen "to bow" (see bow (v.)) + -som, for a total meaning "capable of being bent." Meaning progressed from "compliant, obliging," through "lively, jolly," "healthily plump, vigorous," to (in women, and perhaps influenced by lusty) "plump, comely" (1580s). In Johnson [1755] the primary meaning still is "obedient, obsequious."

Used often of breasts, and by 1950s it had begun to be used more narrowly for "bosomy" and could be paired with slim (adj.). Dutch buigzaam, German biegsam "flexible, pliable" hew closer to the original sense of the English cognate.
buy (v.): Old English bycgan (past tense bohte) "to buy, pay for, acquire; redeem, ransom; procure; get done," from Proto-Germanic *bugjan (cognates: Old Saxon buggjan, Old Norse byggja, Gothic bugjan), which is of unknown origin and not found outside Germanic.

The surviving spelling is southwest England dialect; the word was generally pronounced in Old English and Middle English with a -dg- sound as "budge," or "bidge." Meaning "believe, accept as true" first recorded 1926. Related: Bought; buying. To buy time "prevent further deterioration but make no improvement" is attested from 1946.
buy (n.): "a purchase," especially a worthwhile one, 1879, American English, from buy (v.).
buy-in (v.): verbal phrase, "to purchase a commission or stock," 1826, from buy (v.) + in (adv.). As a noun by 1970.
buy-out (n.): also buy-out, "the purchasing of a controlling share in a company," 1976, from verbal phrase buy out "purchase someone's estate and turn him out of it," 1640s, from buy (v.) + out (adv.).
buyer (n.): c. 1200, biggere "one who purchases," agent noun from buy (v.). Meaning "one whose job is to buy goods for a store" is from 1884. Buyer's market attested from 1886.
buzkashi (n.): Afghan sport, a sort of mounted polo played with a goat carcass, 1956, from Persian buz "goat" + kashi "dragging, drawing."
buzz (v.): late 15c., echoic of bees and other insects. Aviation sense of "fly low and close" is by 1941 (see buzz (n.)). Related: Buzzed; buzzing. Buzz off (1914) originally meant "to ring off on the telephone," from the use of buzzers to signal a call or message on old systems. As a command, it originally would have been telling someone to get off the line.
buzz (n.): "a busy rumour" [Rowe], 1620s (earlier "a fancy," c. 1600), figurative use from buzz (v.). Literal sense of "humming sound" is from 1640s. A "buzz" was the characteristic sound of an airplane in early 20c.; hence verbal sense "to fly swiftly," by 1928; by 1940 especially in military use, "to fly low over a surface as a warning signal" (for example that target practice is about to begin):
The patrol aircraft shall employ the method of warning known as "buzzing" which consists of low flight by the airplane and repeated opening and closing of the throttle. [1941 Supplement to the Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America," Chap. II, Corps of Engineers, War Department, p. 3434, etc. ]
Meaning "pleasant sense of intoxication" first recorded 1935. The children's game of counting off with 7 or multiples of it replaced by buzz is attested from 1864 and is mentioned in "Little Women" (1868). To give (someone) a buzz (by 1922) is from the buzz that announced a call on old telephone systems.
buzz-cut (n.): by 1973, American English, from buzz (n.), perhaps from the sound of the barber's electric clipper, + cut (n.) in the "haircut" sense.
buzz-saw (n.): 1858, American English, from buzz (v.) + saw (n.).
buzzard (n.): c. 1300, from Old French buisart "buzzard, harrier, inferior hawk," from buson, buison, from Latin buteonem (nominative buteo) a kind of hawk, perhaps with -art suffix for one that carries on some action or possesses some quality, with derogatory connotation (see -ard).
buzzer (n.): c. 1600, "buzzing insect," agent noun from buzz (v.). In reference to mechanical devices that buzz, from 1870 (steam-powered at first; electric mechanisms so called from 1884).
buzzword (n.): also buzz word, 1946, from buzz (n.) + word (n.). Noted as Harvard student slang for the key words in a lecture or reading. Perhaps from the use of buzz in the popular counting game.
BVDs (n.): "men's underwear," 1935, from trademark name (dating to 1876) of manufacturer Bradley, Voorhees, and Day.
bwana: respectful or reverential form of address in East Africa, 1878, from Swahili.
by (prep.): Old English be- (unstressed) or bi (stressed) "near, in, by, during, about," from Proto-Germanic *bi "around, about" (cognates: Old Saxon and Old Frisian bi "by near," Middle Dutch bie, Dutch bij, German bei "by, at, near," Gothic bi "about"), from *umbi (cognate with second element in PIE *ambhi "around;" see ambi-).

Originally an adverbial particle of place, in which sense it is retained in place names (Whitby, Grimsby, etc.). Elliptical use for "secondary course" (opposed to main, as in byway, also compare by-blow "illegitimate child," 1590s) was in Old English. This also is the sense of the second by in the phrase by the by (1610s). By the way literally means "in passing by" (mid-14c.); used figuratively to introduce a tangential observation by 1540s.

Phrase by and by (early 14c.) originally meant "one by one," modern sense is from 1520s. By and large (1660s) originally was nautical, "sailing to the wind and off it," hence "in one direction then another."
by-product (n.): also byproduct; 1857, from by + product.