fan (n.2)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"devotee," 1889, American English, originally of baseball enthusiasts, probably a shortening of fanatic, but it may be influenced by the fancy, a collective term for followers of a certain hobby or sport (especially boxing); see fancy (n.). There is an isolated use from 1682, but the modern word likely is a late 19c. formation. Fan mail attested from 1920, in a Hollywood context; Fan club attested by 1930.
Before the close of the republic, an enthusiastic partisan of one of the factions in the chariot races flung himself upon the pile on which the body of a favourite coachman was consumed, and perished in the flames. [Lecky, "European Morals"]
fandom (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"the realm of avid enthusiasts," 1903, from fan (n.2) + -dom.
jabroni (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 2000, professional wrestling slang for one whose main purpose is to make the better-known wrestlers of the organization look good; he or she does this by losing to them. More commonly known as a jobber (though some enthusiasts claim there is a difference), and perhaps a mock-Italianized form of that word (but compare jaboney "naive person, immigrant, hoodlum," of unknown origin, American English, in use c. 1990).
Jobber -- A performer who regularly loses on television and doesn't receive much if any push. A comparable term for such a performer is jabroni, which is a favorite catch-phrase of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. To soften the blow of such labels, some wrestling promotions refer to jobbers as enhancement talent. Carpenter was the phrase used by earlier generations. ["The Professional Wrestlers' Instructional and Workout Guide," 2005]
kismet (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"fate, destiny," 1834, from Turkish qismet, from Arabic qismah, qismat "portion, lot, fate," from root of qasama "he divided."
From a nation of enthusiasts and conquerors, the Osmanlis became a nation of sleepers and smokers. They came into Europe with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other: were they driven out of their encampment, it would be with the Koran in one hand and the pipe in the other, crying: 'Kismet! Kismet! Allah kehrim!' (God hath willed it! God is great!) [Dr. James O. Noyes, "The Ottoman Empire," "The Knickerbocker," October 1858]
Popularized as the title of a novel in 1877.
rally (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1650s, originally in the military sense of "a regrouping for renewed action after a repulse," from rally (v.1). Sense of "mass meeting to stir enthusiasm" first attested 1840, American English. Sense of "gathering of automobile enthusiasts" is from 1932, from French rallye, itself from the English noun. Sports sense of "long series of hits" in tennis, etc., is from 1881, earlier "series of back-and-forth blows in a boxing match" (1829).
uranian (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"homosexual," 1893, from the reference to Aphrodite in Plato's "Symposium;" Urania "Heavenly" (Greek Ourania; see Uranus) being an epithet of Aphrodite as born of Uranus and also as distinguished from the vulgar Venus of commonplace lust.
But the son of the heavenly Aphrodite is sprung from a mother in whose birth the female has no part, but she is from the male only; this is that love which is of youths only, and the goddess being older has nothing of wantonness. Those who are inspired by this love turn to the male, and delight in him who is the more valiant and intelligent nature; any one may recognize the pure enthusiasts in the very character of their attachments. [B. Jowett, transl., 1874]
Also as a noun, "a homosexual person" (1908). Related uranism "homosexuality" (1893).