quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- crankshaft (n.)



[crankshaft 词源字典] - 1803, from crank (v.) + shaft (n.). The basic form of the mechanism appears to date from Roman times.[crankshaft etymology, crankshaft origin, 英语词源]
- cranky (adj.)




- "cross-tempered, irritable," 1807, from crank (n.) + -y (2). The evolution would be from earlier senses of crank, such as "a twist or fanciful turn of speech" (1590s); "inaccessible hole or crevice" (1560s). Grose's 1787 "Provincial Glossary" has "Cranky. Ailing sickly from the dutch crank, sick," and identifies it as a Northern word. Jamieson's Scottish dictionary (1825) has crank in a secondary sense of "hard, difficult," as in crank word, "a word hard to be understood;" crank job, "a work attended with difficulty, or requiring ingenuity in the execution." Related: Crankily; crankiness.
Ben. Dang it, don't you spare him--A cross grain'd cranky toad as ever crawl'd. (etc.) [Richard Cumberland, "Lovers Resolutions," Act I, 1813]
- cranny (n.)




- mid-15c., possibly from a diminutive of Middle French cran "notch, fissure" (14c.), from crener "to notch, split," from Medieval Latin crenare, possibly from Latin cernere "to separate, sift" (see crisis). But OED casts doubt on this derivation.
- crap (v.)




- "defecate," 1846, from one of a cluster of words generally applied to things cast off or discarded (such as "weeds growing among corn" (early 15c.), "residue from renderings" (late 15c.), underworld slang for "money" (18c.), and in Shropshire, "dregs of beer or ale"), all probably from Middle English crappe "grain that was trodden underfoot in a barn, chaff" (mid-15c.), from Middle French crape "siftings," from Old French crappe, from Medieval Latin crappa, crapinum "chaff." Related: Crapped; crapping.
Despite folk etymology insistence, not from Thomas Crapper (1837-1910) who was, however, a busy plumber and may have had some minor role in the development of modern toilets. The name Crapper is a northern form of Cropper (attested from 1221), an occupational surname, obviously, but the exact reference is unclear. Crap (v.) as a variant of crop (v.) was noted early 19c, as a peculiarity of speech in Scotland and the U.S. Southwest (Arkansas, etc.).
Draw out yere sword, thou vile South'ron!
Red wat wi' blude o' my kin!
That sword it crapped the bonniest flower
E'er lifted its head to the sun!
[Allan Cunningham (1784-1842), "The Young Maxwell"]
- crap (n.)




- "act of defecation," 1898; see crap (v.). Sense of "rubbish, nonsense" also first recorded 1898.
- crape (n.)




- 1630s, Englished spelling of crepe (q.v.).
- crappie (n.)




- type of freshwater fish, 1856, American English, of unknown origin; perhaps from Canadian French dialectal crappé.
- crappy (adj.)




- 1846, from crap (n.) + -y (2). Related: Crappily; crappiness.
- craps (n.)




- 1843, American English, unrelated to the term for excrement, instead it is from Louisiana French craps "the game of hazard," from an 18c. continental French corruption of English crabs, which was 18c. slang for "a throw of two or three" (the lowest throw), which perhaps is from crab (n.2), the sense in crab apple. The 1843 citation (in an anti-gambling publication, "An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling") calls it "a game lately introduced into New Orleans."
- crapulent (adj.)




- 1650s, from Latin crapulentus "very drunk," from crapula "excessive drinking" (see crapulous). Related: Crapulence.
- crapulous (adj.)




- 1530s, "sick from too much drinking," from Latin crapula, from Greek kraipale "hangover, drunken headache, nausea from debauching." The Romans used it for drunkenness itself. English has used it in both senses. Related: Crapulously; crapulousness.
- crash (v.)




- late 14c., crasschen "break in pieces;" probably imitative. Meaning "break into a party, etc." is 1922. Slang meaning "to sleep" dates from 1943; especially from 1965. Computing sense is from 1973. Related: Crashed; crashing.
- crash (n.)




- 1570s, from crash (v.); sense of "financial collapse" is from 1817, "collision" is from 1910; references to falling of airplanes are from World War I.
- crass (adj.)




- 1540s, from Middle French crasse (16c.), from Latin crassus "solid, thick, fat; dense." The literal sense always has been rare in English; meaning "grossly stupid" is recorded from 1650s, from French. Middle English had cras (adj.) "slow, sluggish, tardy" (mid-15c.), also crassitude "thickness." Related: Crassly; crassness.
- crate (n.)




- "large box," 1680s, earlier "hurdle, grillwork" (late 14c.), from Latin cratis "wickerwork, lattice, kitchen-rack," or from Dutch krat "basket;" both perhaps from a common PIE root *kert- "to turn, entwine" (see hurdle (n.)).
- crate (v.)




- "to put in a crate," 1871, from crate (n.). Related: Crated; crating.
- crater (n.)




- 1610s, from Latin crater, from Greek krater "bowl for mixing wine with water," from kera- "to mix," from PIE root *kere- "to mix, confuse; cook" (see rare (adj.2)). Used in Latin for bowl-shaped mouth of a volcano. Applied to features of the Moon since 1831 (they originally were thought to be volcanic). As a verb, from 1830 in poetry, 1872 in science. Related: Cratered; cratering.
- cravat (n.)




- 1650s, from French cravate (17c.), from Cravate "Croatian," from German Krabate, from Serbo-Croatian Hrvat "a Croat" (see Croat). Cravats came into fashion 1650s in imitation of linen scarves worn by Croatian mercenaries in the French army in the Thirty Years War.
- crave (v.)




- Old English crafian "ask, implore, demand by right," from North Germanic *krabojan (cognates: Old Norse krefja "to demand," Danish kræve, Swedish kräva); perhaps related to craft in its base sense of "power." Current sense "to long for" is c. 1400, probably through intermediate meaning "to ask very earnestly" (c. 1300). Related: Craved; craving.
- craven (adj.)




- early 13c., cravant, perhaps from Old French crevante "defeated," past participle of cravanter "to strike down, to fall down," from Latin crepare "to crack, creak." Sense affected by crave and moved from "defeated" to "cowardly" (c. 1400) perhaps via intermediary sense of "confess oneself defeated." Related: Cravenly; cravenness.