英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

low (adv.)[low 词源字典]: early 13c., from low (adj.). Of voices or sounds, from c. 1300.[low etymology, low origin, 英语词源]
low (n.2): "hill," obsolete except in place names, Old English hlaw "hill, mound," especially "barrow," related to hleonian "to lean" (see lean (v.)). Compare Latin clivus "hill" from the same PIE root.
low key (adj.): also low-key, 1895, from low (adj.) + key (n.1), perhaps from the musical sense.
low-budget (adj.): 1939, originally of motion pictures; from low (adj.) + budget (n.).
low-class (adj.): 1868, from low (adj.) + class (n.).
low-down (adj.): also low down, lowdown, "vulgar," 1888, from low (adj.) + down (adv.). Earlier it meant "humble" (1540s). As a noun, 1915, from the adjective, American English.
low-grade (adj.): 1867, originally in mining, with reference to ores, from low (adj.) + grade (n.).
low-life (adj.): "disreputable, vulgar," 1794, from low (adj.) + life; as a noun, "coarse, no-good person" it is recorded from 1911. Also lowlife.
low-profile (adj.): 1957, in reference to automobile wheels, from low (adj.) + profile (n.). General sense by 1970, American English, in reference to Nixon Administration policy of partial U.S. disengagement from burdensome commitments abroad.
lowboy (n.): "chest of drawers on short legs," 1891, a hybrid from low (adj.) + French bois "wood" (see bush).
lowbrow (n.): also low-brow, "person who is not intellectual," 1902, from low (adj.) + brow. Said to have been coined by U.S. journalist Will Irwin (1873-1948). A low brow on a man as a sign of primitive qualities was common in 19c. fiction, but it also was considered a mark of classical beauty in women.
A low brow and not a very high one is considered beautiful in woman, whereas a high brow and not a low one is the stamp of manhood. ["Medical Review," June 2, 1894]
As an adjective from 1913.
lower (v.1): c. 1600, "to descend, sink," from lower (adj.), from Middle English lahghere (c. 1200), comparative of low (adj.). Transitive meaning "to let down, to cause to descend" attested from 1650s. Related: Lowered; lowering. In the sense "to cause to descend" the simple verb low (Middle English lahghenn, c. 1200) was in use into the 18c.
lower (v.2): "to look dark and threatening," also lour, Middle English louren, luren "to frown" (early 13c.), "to lurk" (mid-15c.), from Old English *luran or from its cognates, Middle Low German luren, Middle Dutch loeren "lie in wait." Form perhaps assimilated to lower (1). Related: Lowered; lowering.
lower (adj.): c. 1200, lahre, comparative of lah (see low (adj.)).
lower-case (adj.): also lowercase, 1680s; see lower (adj.) + case (n.2).
lowercase (v.): "to set (text) in lower-case type," 1911, from lower-case (adj.). Related: Lowercased; lowercasing.
lowermost: 1560s, from lower (adj.) + -most.
lowest (adj.): c. 1200, laghesst, superlative of lah (see low (adj.)).
Lowestoft (n.): type of porcelain, named for a town in Suffolk where it was made from 1757.
lowing (n.): early 13c., verbal noun from low (v.).