quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- address




- address: [14] Address originally meant ‘straighten’. William Caxton, for example, here uses it for ‘stand up straight’: ‘The first day that he was washed and bathed he addressed him[self] right up in the basin’ Golden Legend 1483. This gives a clue to its ultimate source, Latin dīrectum ‘straight, direct’. The first two syllables of this seem gradually to have merged together to produce *drictum, which with the addition of the prefix ad- was used to produce the verb *addrictiāre.
Of its descendants in modern Romance languages, Italian addirizzare most clearly reveals its source. Old French changed it fairly radically, to adresser, and it was this form which English borrowed. The central current sense of ‘where somebody lives’ developed in the 17th and 18th centuries from the notion of directing something, such as a letter, to somebody.
=> direct - aim




- aim: [14] Etymologically, aim is a contraction of estimate (see ESTEEM). The Latin verb aestimāre became considerably shortened as it developed in the various Romance languages (Italian has stimare, for instance, and Provençal esmar). In Old French its descendant was esmer, to which was added the prefix a- (from Latin ad- ‘to’), producing aesmer; and from one or both of these English acquired aim. The notion of estimating or calculating was carried over into the English verb, but died out after about a hundred years. However, the derived sense of calculating, and hence directing, one’s course is of equal antiquity in the language.
=> esteem, estimate - direct (v.)




- late 14c., "to write (to someone), to address," from Latin directus "straight," past participle of dirigere "set straight," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + regere "to guide" (see regal). Compare dress; address.
Meaning "to govern, regulate" is from c. 1500; "to order, ordain" is from 1650s. Sense of "to write the destination on the outside of a letter" is from 16c. Of plays, films, etc., from 1913. Related: Directed; directing. - direction (n.)




- c. 1400, "orderly arrangement;" c. 1500 as "action of directing," from Latin directionem (nominative directio), noun of action from past participle stem of dirigere (see direct (v.)). Meaning "course pursued by a moving object" is from 1660s. Related: Directional.
- disk (n.)




- American English preferred spelling, 1660s, "round flat surface," from Latin discus "quoit, discus, disk," from Greek diskos "disk, quoit, platter," related to dikein "throw," from PIE *dik-skos-, from root *deik- "to show, pronounce solemnly; also in derivatives referring to the directing of words or objects" [Watkins]; see diction.
Sense of "phonograph disk" is 1888; computing sense is from 1947. Disk jockey first recorded 1941; dee-jay is from 1955; DJ is 1961; video version veejay is 1982. Disk-drive is from 1952. - guidance (n.)




- 1530s, "the process of directing conduct," hybrid from guide (v.) + -ance; replacing 15c. guying. In reference to direction in school, career, marriage, etc., from 1927.
- leading (n.2)




- mid-13c., "a bringing by force," from present participle of lead (v.1). Meaning "direction, guidance" is from late 14c. As an adjective, "directing, guiding."
- misdirect (v.)




- c. 1600, "give wrong directions to;" see mis- (1) + direct (v.). Related: Misdirected; misdirecting.
- Oscar




- masc. proper name, Old English Osgar "god's spear," from gar "spear" (see gar) + os "god" (only in personal names); see Asgard.
The statuette awarded for excellence in film acting, directing, etc., given annually since, 1928, first so called 1936. The name is said to have sprung from a 1931 remark by Margaret Herrick, secretary at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, on seeing the statuette: "He reminds me of my Uncle Oscar." Thus the award would be named for Oscar Pierce, U.S. wheat farmer and fruit grower. - redirect (v.)




- 1805 (implied in redirected), from re- "back, again" + direct (v.). Related: Redirecting.