英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

embarrass: embarrass: [17] As in the case of embargo, the etymological meaning of embarrass is ‘put behind bars’. It comes ultimately from Italian imbarrare ‘surround with bars’, hence ‘impede’, a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘in’ and Vulgar Latin *barra ‘bar’ (source of English bar). From this was derived imbarazzare, which passed into English via Spanish embarazar and French embarrasser. Its original meaning ‘impede, hamper’ remains in use, chiefly in the context ‘financially embarrassed’, but has been overtaken in frequency by ‘disconcert’.
=> bar, barrier
irony: irony: [16] Irony has no etymological connection with iron. It comes via Latin īrōnia from Greek eirōneíā, which signified ‘deliberately pretending ignorance, particularly as a rhetorical device to get the better of one’s opponent in argument’. This was a derivative of eírōn ‘dissembler’, which in turn came from the verb eírein ‘say’. This original sense of ‘dissimulation’ survives in the expression Socratic irony, a reference to Socrates’ use of such feigned ignorance as a pedagogical method, but it has been overtaken as the main sense of the word by ‘saying the opposite of what one means’.
issue: issue: [13] The words issue and exit are closely related etymologically. Both go back ultimately to the Latin verb exīre ‘go out’. Its past participle exitus became in Vulgar Latin exūtus, whose feminine form exūta was used as a noun meaning ‘going out, exit’. This passed into Old French as eissue, later issue, and thence into English.

The original literal sense of the word still survives in English, particularly in relation to the outflow of liquid, but has been overtaken in frequency by various metaphorical extensions denoting a ‘giving out’ – such as the ‘issue’ of a book or magazine. The sense ‘point of discussion or consideration’ probably comes from a medieval legal expression join issue, which originally meant ‘jointly submit a disputed matter to the decision of the court’, and hence ‘argue about something’.
=> exit
nation: nation: [13] Etymologically a nation is a ‘breed’ or ‘stock’. It is one of a wide range of English words that go back ultimately to Latin nāscī ‘be born’, and its immediate source is the derived noun nātiō. This literally meant ‘that which has been born’, a ‘breed’, but was soon used by extension for a ‘species’ or ‘race’, and then by further narrowing down for a ‘race of people, nation’.

The notion of ‘common ancestry’ underlying the term survived into English, but over the centuries has gradually been overtaken by the political concept of an organized territorial unit. The derivative nationality dates from the 17th century.
=> native
pigeon: pigeon: [14] Pigeon comes ultimately from late Latin pīpiō. This meant originally simply ‘young bird’, and was formed from the onomatopoeic base *pīp- (source also of English pipe), which imitated the chirps of young birds. It gradually specialized in use to ‘young pigeon, squab’, and both the general and the specific senses passed via Vulgar Latin *pībiō into Old French as pijon. By the time it arrived in English, however, only the ‘young pigeon’ sense survived, and this was soon overtaken by ‘pigeon’ in general.
=> pipe
seethe: seethe: [OE] Seethe was once the standard word for ‘boil’, until it began to be overtaken by the French import boil in the Middle English period. In the 16th century a new meaning, ‘soak’, emerged, now preserved only in the past participle sodden. And the modern metaphorical ‘be violently agitated’ came on the scene in the 17th century. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *seuth-, which also produced German sieden and Dutch zieden ‘boil’. English suds probably comes from a variant of the same base.
=> sodden
belated (adj.): 1610s, "overtaken by night," past participle adjective from belate "to make late, detain," from be- + late. Sense of "coming past due, behind date" is from 1660s. Related: Belatedly.
benight (v.): 1550s, "to be overtaken by darkness," from be- + night. Figurative sense (especially in past participle adjective benighted) of "to involve in moral or intellectual darkness" is from c. 1600.
hussy (n.): 1520s, "mistress of a household, housewife," alteration of Middle English husewif (see housewife). Gradually broadened to mean "any woman or girl," and by 1650 was being applied to "a woman or girl who shows casual or improper behavior," and a general derogatory sense had overtaken the word by late 18c. "It is common to use housewife in a good, and huswife or hussy in a bad sense" [Johnson].
overtake (v.): "to come up to, to catch in pursuit," early 13c., from over- + take (v.). According to OED, originally "the running down and catching of a fugitive or beast of chase"; it finds the sense of over- in this word "not so clear." Related: Overtaken; overtaking. Old English had oferniman "to take away, carry off, seize, ravish."
pooped (adj.): "tired," 1931, of unknown origin, perhaps imitative of the sound of heavy breathing from exhaustion (compare poop (n.2)). But poop, poop out were used in 1920s in aviation, of an engine, "to die." Also there is a verb poop, of ships, "to be overwhelmed by a wave from behind," often with catastrophic consequences (see poop (n.1)); hence in figurative nautical use, "to be overcome and defeated" (attested in 1920s).
It is an easy thing to "run"; the difficulty is to know when to stop. There is always the possibility of being "pooped," which simply means being overtaken by a mountain of water and crushed into the depths out of harm's way for good and all. [Ralph Stock, "The Cruise of the Dream Ship," 1921]