英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

Black Shirt [Black Shirt 词源字典]: 1922, member of Fasci di Combattimento, Italian paramilitary unit founded 1919 by Mussolini; so called for their uniforms.[Black Shirt etymology, Black Shirt origin, 英语词源]
black widow (n.): type of poisonous spider (Latrodectus mactans) in U.S. South, 1904, so called from its color and from the female's supposed habit of eating the male after mating (they are cannibalistic, but this particular behavior is rare in the wild). Sometimes also known as shoe-button spider. The name black widow is attested earlier (1830s) as a translation of a name of the "scorpion spider" of Central Asia.
Blackamoor (n.): "dark-skinned person," 1540s, from black (adj.) + Moor, with connecting element.
blackball (v.): also black-ball, "to exclude from a club by adverse votes," 1770, from black (adj.) + ball (n.1). Black balls of wood or ivory dropped into an urn during secret ballots.
blackberry (n.): early 12c., from Old English blaceberian, from black (adj.) + berry. Also in Old English as bremelberie, bremelæppel (from bramble). The wireless handheld device of the same name introduced 1999.
blackbird (n.): late 15c. (late 13c. as a surname), from black (adj.) + bird (n.1). OED says so called for being the only "black" (really dark brown) bird among the songbirds, reflecting an older sense of bird that did not include rooks, crows, ravens.
blackboard (n.): 1823, from black + board (n.1). Blackboard jungle "inner-city school rife with juvenile delinquency" is from Evan Hunter's novel title (1954).
blacken (v.): c. 1200, "become black or dark;" early 14c., "make black, darken, dye (hair);" see black + -en (1). Figurative sense of "to besmirch" (with dishonor, etc.) is from early 15c. Related: Blackened; blackening.
blackguard (n.): 1530s, scullion, kitchen knave. Perhaps once an actual military or guard unit; more likely originally a mock-military reference to scullions and kitchen-knaves of noble households, of black-liveried personal guards, and of shoeblacks. By 1736, sense had emerged of "one of the criminal class." Hence the adjectival use (1784), "of low or worthless character."
blackhead (n.): "comedo," 1837, from black (adj.) + head (n.). So called for its appearance.
blackie (n.): also blacky, "a black person," 1815, from black (adj.) + -y (3).
blacking (n.): "thing which makes (something else) black," 1570s; as "action of making black," c. 1600, verbal noun from black (v.).
blackish (adj.): mid-15c., from black (adj.) + -ish.
blackjack (n.): used in many senses since 16c., earliest is possibly "tar-coated leather jug for beer" (1590s), from black (adj.) + jack in any of its many slang senses. The weapon so called from 1889; the card game by 1900.
blackleg (n.): "swindler," especially in equestrian events, 1771, from black (adj.) + leg (n.), but the exact signification is uncertain.
blacklist (n.): also black-list, black list, "list of persons who have incurred suspicion," 1610s, from black (adj.), here indicative of disgrace, censure, punishment (attested from 1590s, in black book) + list (n.). Specifically of employers' list of workers considered troublesome (usually for union activity) is from 1888. As a verb, from 1718. Related: Blacklisted; blacklisting.
blackly (adv.): 1560s, from black (adj.) + -ly (2).
blackmail (n.): 1550s, from black (adj.) + Middle English male "rent, tribute," from Old English mal "lawsuit, terms, bargaining, agreement," from Old Norse mal "speech, agreement;" related to Old English mæðel "meeting, council," mæl "speech," Gothic maþl "meeting place," from Proto-Germanic *mathla-, from PIE *mod- "to meet, assemble" (see meet (v.)). From the practice of freebooting clan chieftains who ran protection rackets against Scottish farmers. Black from the evil of the practice. Expanded c. 1826 to any type of extortion money. Compare silver mail "rent paid in money" (1590s); buttock-mail (Scottish, 1530s) "fine imposed for fornication."
blackmail (v.): 1852, from blackmail (n.). Related: Blackmailed; blackmailing.
blackness (n.): late 14c., from black (adj.) + -ness.