quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- always




- always: [13] In Old English, the expression was alne weg, literally ‘all the way’. It seems likely that this was used originally in the physical sense of ‘covering the complete distance’, but by the time it starts to appear in texts (King Alfred’s is the first recorded use, in his translation of Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae around 888) it already meant ‘perpetually’. Alway survived into modern English, albeit as an archaism, but began to be replaced as the main form by always in the 12th century.
The final -s is genitive, not plural, and was originally added to all as well as way: alles weis. It has a generalizing force, much as in modern English one might say of a morning for ‘every morning’.
=> way - glue




- glue: [14] Glue is an ancient word, whose ancestry can be traced back all the way to Indo- European *gloi-, *glei-, *gli- ‘stick’. Its Latin descendant was glūten, from which English gets gluten [16], glutinous [16], and agglutinate [16]. In post-classical times this spawned a new form, glūs, which English acquired via Old French glu as glue.
=> agglutinate, gluten, glutinous - grey




- grey: [OE] Grey is an ancient colour term, traceable back all the way to a prehistoric Indo- European *ghrēghwos. From this was descended West and North Germanic *grǣwaz, which produced German grau, Dutch grauw, Swedish grå, and Danish graa as well as English grey. The distinction in spelling between British grey and American gray is a comparatively recent one. Dr Johnson in his Dictionary 1755 gave gray as the main form, and even into the early 20th century it was still quite common in Britain (The Times used it, for instance). Nor is grey by any means unknown in America.
- nest




- nest: [OE] Etymologically, a nest is a place for ‘sitting down’. It is a very ancient word, and traces its history all the way back to Indo- European *nizdo-, a compound formed from *ni ‘down’ (source of English beneath and nether) and *sed- (ancestor of English sit). From it came English nest (a word shared by German and Dutch), and also Latin nīdus ‘nest’, source of Old French niche ‘nest’ – whence English niche [17]. Nestle [OE] was derived from nest.
=> beneath, nestle, nether, sit - thorn




- thorn: [OE] Thorn is an ancient word, which goes all the way back to an Indo-European *trnus. The Germanic descendant of this was *thurnuz, which evolved into German dorn, Dutch doorn, Swedish and Danish torn, and English thorn.
- always (adv.)




- mid-14c., compound of Old English phrase ealne weg "always, quite, perpetually," literally "all the way," with accusative of space or distance, though the oldest recorded usages refer to time; see all + way (n.). The adverbial genitive -s appeared early 13c. and is now the standard, though the variant alway survived into 1800s. OED speculates allway was originally of space or distance, "but already in the oldest Eng. transferred to an extent of time."
- bank (n.1)




- "financial institution," late 15c., from either Old Italian banca or Middle French banque (itself from the Italian word), both meaning "table" (the notion is of the moneylender's exchange table), from a Germanic source (compare Old High German bank "bench"); see bank (n.2).
Bank holiday is from 1871, though the tradition is as old as the Bank of England. To cry all the way to the bank was coined 1956 by flamboyant pianist Liberace, after a Madison Square Garden concert that was packed with patrons but panned by critics. - out (adv.)




- Old English ut "out, without, outside," common Germanic (Old Norse, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Gothic ut, Middle Dutch uut, Dutch uit, Old High German uz, German aus), from PIE root *ud- "up, out, up away" (cognates: Sanskrit ut "up, out," uttarah "higher, upper, later, northern;" Avestan uz- "up, out," Old Irish ud- "out," Latin usque "all the way to, without interruption," Greek hysteros "the latter," Russian vy- "out"). Meaning "into public notice" is from 1540s. As an adjective from c. 1200. Meaning "unconscious" is attested from 1898, originally in boxing. Sense of "not popular or modern" is from 1966. As a preposition from mid-13c.
Sense in baseball (1860) was earlier in cricket (1746). Adverbial phrase out-and-out "thoroughly" is attested from early 14c.; adjective usage is attested from 1813; out-of-the-way (adj.) "remote, secluded" is attested from late 15c. Out-of-towner "one not from a certain place" is from 1911. Shakespeare's It out-herods Herod ("Hamlet") reflects Herod as stock braggart and bully in old religious drama and was widely imitated 19c. Out to lunch "insane" is student slang from 1955; out of this world "excellent" is from 1938; out of sight "excellent, superior" is from 1891. - scalper (n.)




- 1650s as a type of surgical instrument; 1760 as "one who removes scalps," agent noun from scalp (v.).
Meaning "person who re-sells tickets at unauthorized prices for a profit," 1869, American English; earliest reference is to theater tickets, but often used late 19c. of brokers who sold unused portions of railway tickets. [Railways charged less per mile for longer-distance tickets; therefore someone travelling from New York to Chicago could buy a ticket all the way to San Francisco, get out at Chicago and sell it to a scalper, and come away with more money than if he had simply bought a ticket to Chicago; the Chicago scalper would hold the ticket till he found someone looking for a ticket to San Francisco, then sell it to him at a slight advance, but for less than the official price.] Perhaps from scalp (v.); scalper was a generic term for "con man, cheater" in late 19c. Or perhaps the connecting sense is the bounty offered for scalps of certain destructive animals (attested in New England from 1703) and sometimes Indians (i.e., having only part of something, but still getting paid). Some, though, see a connection rather to scalpel, the surgical instrument. - way (n.)




- Old English weg "road, path; course of travel; room, space, freedom of movement;" also, figuratively, "course of life" especially, in plural, "habits of life" as regards moral, ethical, or spiritual choices, from Proto-Germanic *wegaz (cognates: Old Saxon, Dutch weg, Old Norse vegr, Old Frisian wei, Old High German weg, German Weg, Gothic wigs "way"), from PIE *wegh- "to move" (see weigh).
From c. 1300 as "manner in which something occurs." Adverbial constructions attested since Middle English include this way "in this direction," that way "in that direction," both from late 15c.; out of the way "remote" (c. 1300). In the way "so placed as to impede" is from 1560s.
From the "course of life" sense comes way of life (c. 1600), get (or have) one's way (1590s), have it (one's) way (1709). From the "course of travel" sense comes the figurative go separate ways (1837); one way or (the) other (1550s); have it both ways (1847); and the figurative sense of come a long way (1922).
Adverbial phrase all the way "completely, to conclusion" is by 1915; sexual sense implied by 1924. Make way is from c. 1200. Ways and means "resources at a person's disposal" is attested from early 15c. Way out "means of exit" is from 1926. Encouragement phrase way to go is short for that's the way to go.