英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

broom [broom 词源字典]: broom: [OE] Broom was originally the name of the yellow-flowered bush; its application to the long-handled brush did not come about until the 15th century (the underlying notion is of a brush made from broom twigs tied to a handle). The plant-name occurs throughout the Germanic languages, but it is applied to quite a wide range of plants: Old High German brāmma, for instance, is a ‘wild rose’; Old Saxon hiopbrāmio is a ‘hawthorn bush’; and English bramble probably comes from the same source.
=> bramble[broom etymology, broom origin, 英语词源]
loggerhead: loggerhead: [16] Loggerhead originally meant much the same as blockhead – a stupid person with a block of wood for a head (in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost (1588), Berowne calls Costard a ‘whoreson loggerhead’). The first part of it probably represents logger ‘block for hobbling a horse’, which in turn was based on log, but how it came to be used in the phrase at loggerheads, meaning ‘in conflict’ and first recorded in 1831, is unclear.

Perhaps the underlying image is of two stupid people having an in-your-face argument, but loggerhead was also used over the centuries for various bulbous-ended objects, including a long-handled tool for melting pitch, and it could be that a fight is being invoked in which these fearsome articles are being used as weapons.
polo: polo: [19] In Balti, a Tibetan language of northern Kashmir, polo means ‘ball’. English travellers in Kashmir in the 1840s observed a game being played on horseback which involved trying to knock a wooden polo into a goal using a longhandled mallet. The English sahibs lost no time in taking the game up themselves, and by 1871 it was being played back home in England, under the name ‘polo’.
scullery: scullery: [15] A scullery is etymologically a place where ‘dishes’ are handled. For it goes back ultimately to Latin scutra ‘wooden dish’. Its diminutive form scutella was used for a sort of square tray or stand for plates, glasses, vases, etc. Association with scūtum ‘shield’ led to this being changed in Vulgar Latin to *scūtella, which passed into Old French as escuele ‘dish’. Its derivative escuelerie ‘place where dishes, plates, and other kitchen utensils are kept, cleaned, etc’ passed into English via Anglo- Norman squillerie as scullery. Also descended from scutella are English scuttle and skillet.
able (adj.): early 14c., from Old French (h)able (14c.), from Latin habilem, habilis "easily handled, apt," verbal adjective from habere "to hold" (see habit). "Easy to be held," hence "fit for a purpose." The silent h- was dropped in English and resisted academic attempts to restore it 16c.-17c. (see H), but some derivatives (such as habiliment, habilitate) acquired it via French.
Able-whackets - A popular sea-game with cards, in which the loser is beaten over the palms of the hands with a handkerchief tightly twisted like a rope. Very popular with horny-fisted sailors. [Smyth, "Sailor's Word-Book," 1867]
amphora (n.): early 14c., "two-handled vessel for holding wine, oil, etc.," from Latin amphora from Greek amphoreus "an amphora, jar, urn," contraction of amphiphoreus, literally "two-handled," from amphi- "on both sides" (see amphi-) + phoreus "bearer," related to pherein "to bear" (see infer). Also a liquid measure in the ancient world, in Greece equal to 9 gallons, in Rome to 6 gallons, 7 pints.
buck (n.1): "male deer," c. 1300, earlier "male goat;" from Old English bucca "male goat," from Proto-Germanic *bukkon (cognates: Old Saxon buck, Middle Dutch boc, Dutch bok, Old High German boc, German Bock, Old Norse bokkr), perhaps from a PIE root *bhugo (cognates: Avestan buza "buck, goat," Armenian buc "lamb"), but some speculate that it is from a lost pre-Germanic language. Barnhart says Old English buc "male deer," listed in some sources, is a "ghost word or scribal error."

Meaning "dollar" is 1856, American English, perhaps an abbreviation of buckskin, a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days, attested in this sense from 1748. Pass the buck is first recorded in the literal sense 1865, American English:
The 'buck' is any inanimate object, usually knife or pencil, which is thrown into a jack pot and temporarily taken by the winner of the pot. Whenever the deal reaches the holder of the 'buck', a new jack pot must be made. [J.W. Keller, "Draw Poker," 1887]
Perhaps originally especially a buck-handled knife. The figurative sense of "shift responsibility" is first recorded 1912. Buck private is recorded by 1870s, of uncertain signification.
dipper (n.): late 14c., as a type of diving bird, agent noun from dip (v.). As a ladle or long-handled utensil for drawing liquid, from 1783, chiefly American English. As the popular U.S. name for the asterism known in Britain as The Plough or Charles' Wain, attested by 1833.
handle (v.): Middle English hondlen, handlen, "touch with the hands, hold in the hands, fondle, pet," also "to deal with, treat, manhandle," from Old English handlian "to touch or move with the hands," also "deal with, discuss;" formed from hand (n.), perhaps with a frequentative suffix, as fondle from fond. Cognate with Old Norse höndla "to seize, capture," Danish handle "to trade, deal," Old High German hantalon "feel, touch; manage," German handeln "to bargain, trade." Related: Handled; handling. Meaning "to act towards" (someone, in a certain manner, usually with hostility or roughness) is from c. 1200. The commercial sense "to trade or deal in" was weaker in English than in some other Germanic languages, but it strengthened in American English (by 1888) from the notion of something passing through one's hands, and see handler.
infest (v.): late 15c., "to attack, assail, hurt, distress, annoy," from Middle French infester, from Latin infestare "to attack, disturb, trouble," from infestus "hostile, dangerous," originally "inexorable, not able to be handled," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + -festus "(able to be) seized." Sense of "swarm over in large numbers" first recorded c. 1600. Related: Infested; infesting.
intractable (adj.): c. 1500, "rough, stormy;" 1540s, "not manageable," from Latin intractabilis "not to be handled, unmanageable," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + tractabilis (see tractable). Related: Intractably.
ladle (n.): "large, long-handled spoon for drawing liquids," Old English hlædel "ladle," from hladan "to load" (see lade) + -le, suffix expressing "appliance, tool" (compare shovel, handle, thimble). The verb is first recorded 1520s, from the noun. Related: Ladled; ladling.
mishandle (v.): c. 1500, from mis- (1) + handle (v.). Related: Mishandled; mishandling.
panhandle (v.): "to beg," 1888, from panhandle (n.) in the begging sense. Related: Panhandled; panhandling.
panhandler (n.): "one who begs," 1893, from panhandle (n.) in begging sense. Related: Panhandled; panhandler; panhandling.
pass (v.): late 13c. (transitive) "to go by (something)," also "to cross over," from Old French passer (11c.), from Vulgar Latin *passare "to step, walk, pass" (source also of Spanish pasar, Italian passare), from Latin passus "step, pace" (see pace (n.)). Intransitive sense of "to go on, to move forward, make one's way" is attested from c. 1300. Figurative sense of "to experience, undergo" (as in pass the time) is first recorded late 14c. Sense of "to go through an examination successfully" is from early 15c. Meaning "decline to do something" is attested from 1869, originally in cards (euchre). In football, hockey, soccer, etc., the meaning "to transfer the ball or puck to another player" is from c. 1865. Related: Passed; passing.

The meaning "to be thought to be something one is not" (especially in racial sense) is from 1935, from pass oneself off (as), first found 1809. The general verb sense of "to be accepted as equivalent" is from 1590s. Pass up "decline, refuse" is attested from 1896. Pass the buck is from 1865, said to be poker slang reference to the buck horn-handled knife that was passed around to signify whose turn it was to deal. Pass the hat "seek contributions" is from 1762. Pass-fail as a grading method is attested from 1955, American English.
quirt (n.): "short-handled braided leather riding whip," 1845, from Mexican Spanish cuarta "rope," related to Spanish cuerda "rope," from Latin corda (see cord (n.)).
racket (n.2): "handled paddle or netted bat used in tennis, etc.;" see racquet.
racquet (n.): "handled hitting device used in tennis, etc.," c. 1500, probably originally "tennis-like game played with open hand" (late 14c.), from Middle French rachette, requette (Modern French raquette) "racket for hitting; palm of the hand," perhaps via Italian racchetta or Spanish raqueta, both often said to be from Arabic rahat, a form of raha "palm of the hand," but this has been doubted. Compare French jeu de paume "tennis," literally "play with the palm of the hand," and compare tennis).
snips (n.): "small, stout-handled shears for metal-working," 1846, from snip (v.).
tractable (adj.): "manageable," early 15c., from Latin tractabilis "that may be touched or handled, workable, tangible, manageable," figuratively, "pliant," from tractare "to handle, manage" (see treat (v.)). Related: Tractability.
balti (1): "(In Pakistani cooking) a spicy dish cooked in a small two-handled pan known as a karahi", 1980s: of uncertain origin: perhaps from Balti.
ulu: "An Eskimo woman’s short-handled knife with a broad crescent-shaped blade", Inuit.
cantharus: "(In ancient Greece and Rome) a large two-handled drinking cup", Latin, from Greek kantharos.