英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bet [bet 词源字典]: bet: [16] Since its comparatively late arrival, bet has ousted the earlier lay, wager, and game as the main term for ‘risking money on an uncertain outcome’ (gamble is later still). It is by no means clear where it came from; the usual explanation is that it is short for the noun abet, in the sense ‘instigation, encouragement, support’ – that is, one is giving one’s ‘support’ to that which one thinks, or hopes, may happen in the future (abet itself comes from the Old French verb abeter, and is related to English bait).

It first appears in Robert Greene’s Art of Cony Catching 1592, which suggests an origin in the argot of smalltime Elizabethan criminals.
=> abet, bait, bite[bet etymology, bet origin, 英语词源]
bimbo: bimbo: [20] Bimbo most recently made its mark on the English language in the 1980s, when it was in heavy use among journalists to denigrate buxom young women of limited IQ who sold the secrets of their affairs with the rich and famous to the press. It was by no means a newcomer, though. It first crossed the Atlantic to America, from Italy, in the late 1910s. In Italian it means ‘baby’, and US slang took it up in the colloquial sense of baby, for referring to a usually hapless fellow.

By the 1920s it was being applied equally to young women, especially promiscuous or empty-headed ones (the latter feature probably reinforced by the appearance of dumbo ‘fool’ in the early 1930s).
gun: gun: [14] Gun probably comes, unlikely as it may seem, from the Scandinavian female forename Gunnhildr (originally a compound of gunnr ‘war’ and hildr ‘war’). It is by no means unusual for large fearsome weapons to be named after women (for reasons perhaps best left to psychologists): the huge German artillery weapon of World War I, Big Bertha, and the old British army musket, Brown Bess, are cases in point.

And it seems that in the Middle Ages Gunnhildr or Gunhild was applied to various large rock-hurling seige weapons, such as the ballista, and later to cannon. The earliest recorded sense of gun (on this theory representing Gunne, a pet form of Gunhild) is ‘cannon’, but it was applied to hand-held firearms as they developed in the 15th century.
lack: lack: [12] The word lack is not known to have existed in Old English, although it is by no means impossible that it did. If it was a borrowing, a possible source would have been Middle Dutch lak ‘deficiency, fault’. This has been traced back to a prehistoric Germanic *lak-, a variant of which produced English leak.
=> leak
boll (n.): Old English bolla "bowl, cup, pot," merged with Middle Dutch bolle "round object," borrowed 13c., both from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole). Influenced in meaning by Latin bulla "bubble, ball," ultimately from the same PIE root. Extended c. 1500 to "round seed pod of flax or cotton." Boll weevil is 1895, American English.
In south Texas, among Spanish-speaking people, the insect is generally known as the 'picudo,' a descriptive name which refers to the snout or beak of the insect. English-speaking planters generally referred to the insect at first as 'the sharpshooter,' a term which for many years has been applied to any insect which causes through its punctures the shedding of the squares or the rotting of the bolls. As there are several native insects that are commonly called sharpshooters and which, though injurious, are by no means to be compared with this insect, it becomes necessary to discourage in every way the use of the word sharpshooter as applied to this weevil. The adoption of the term 'Mexican cotton-boll weevil' for the new pest is recommended. [New Mexico College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No. 19, April 1896]
A case of entomology meddling in etymology.
cornet (n.): c. 1400, "A wind instrument made of wood and provided with six finger holes" [Middle English Dictionary], from Old French cornet (14c.) "a small horn," diminutive of corn "a horn," from Latin cornu "horn," from PIE *ker- (1) "horn; head, uppermost part of the body" (see horn (n.)). Modern use is short for cornet-à-pistons "cornet with pistons."
The quality of the tone is penetrating and unsympathetic, by no means equal to that of the trumpet, for which it is commonly substituted. ["cornet" entry in "Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia," 1902]
mean (n.): "that which is halfway between extremes," early 14c., from Old French meien "middle, means, intermediary," noun use of adjective from Latin medianus "of or that is in the middle" (see mean (adj.2)). Oldest sense is musical; mathematical sense is from c. 1500. Some senes reflect confusion with mean (adj.1). This is the mean in by no means (late 15c.).
means (n.): "course of action," late 14c., from mean (n.); sense of "wealth" is first recorded c. 1600. Compare French moyens, German Mittel. Phrase by no means attested from late 15c.; means-test is from 1930.
no: "negative reply," early 13c., from Old English na (adv.) "no, never, not at all," from ne "not, no" + a "ever." First element from Proto-Germanic *ne (cognates: Old Norse, Old Frisian, Old High German ne, Gothic ni "not"), from PIE root *ne "no, not" (see un-). Second element from PIE *aiw- "vital force, life, long life, eternity" (see aye (adv.)).

As an adjective meaning "not any" (c. 1200) it is reduced from Old English nan (see none), the final -n omitted first before consonants and then altogether. As a noun from c. 1300. Phrase no can do "it is not possible" is attested from 1827, a locution of English-speaking Chinese noted 19c. in China, Australia and West Coast of U.S.
We repeated our advice again and again, but got no answer but a loud horse-laugh, and their national maxim of No can do: Europe fashion no do in China. ["Reminiscences of a Voyage to and from China," in "Paxton's Horticultural Register," London, 1836]
Construction no X, no Y attested from 1530s (in no peny no pardon). No problem as an interjection of assurance first attested 1963. No way as an expression meaning "it can't be done" is attested by 1968 (no way "by no means" is from c. 1400).
non-: prefix meaning "not, lack of," or "sham," 14c., from Anglo-French noun-, from Old French non-, from Latin non "not, by no means, not at all, not a," from Old Latin noenum "not one" (*ne oinom, from PIE *ne "not" + *oi-no-; see one). In some cases perhaps from Middle English non "not" (adj.), from Old English nan (see not).
Three Rs (n.): 1824; said to have been given as a toast by Sir William Curtis (1752-1829), a beloved lord mayor of London in the 1820s, who seems to have been a figure of fun to whom many mangled phrases were attributed. Among the toasts he is alleged to have given at public dinners were "The Female Ladies of London;" "The three C's--Cox, King, and Curtis;" and "The three R's--Reading, Writing, and Rithmetic."
It has been very much the fashion amongst a class of persons to attribute to Sir W. C. ... a vulgarity and ignorance of speech which are by no means consistent with his character and conduct. The worthy and hospitable baronet has a rapid mode of speech, but it is always correct ; and although some eccentricities are mixed up in his composition, he is highly honourable, and has been a very useful member of society, particularly to his London constituents. ["The Mirror," Jan. 29, 1825]
After listing some examples, the article continues:
It is, however, very certain, that at a city festival some years ago, having indulged very freely, he fell asleep, when some wag, choosing to consider him dead, wrote his epitaph, which was found next morning pinned to the baronet's dress coat:--

"Here lies the great Curtis,
Of London, Lord May'r:
He's left this here world,
And gone to that there."
treadmill (n.): invented (and named) 1822; originally an instrument of prison discipline; from tread (v.) + mill (n.1). Treadwheel as a similar method of driving machinery is from 1570s.
As a corrective punishment, the discipline of the stepping mill has had a most salutary effect upon the prisoners, and is not likely to be easily forgotten, while it is an occupation which by no means interferes with, nor is calculated to lessen the value of, those branches of prison regulation which provide for the moral and religious improvement of the criminal. ["Description of the Tread Mill Invented by Mr. William Cubitt of Ipswich for the Employment of Prisoners," London, 1822]
By later generations regarded as a path to physical fitness.