英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

galvanize [galvanize 词源字典]: galvanize: [19] The verb galvanize commemorates the work of Italian physicist Luigi Galvani (1737–98), who in 1762 discovered voltaic electricity by attaching the legs of dead frogs to pairs of different metals. It was first used literally, for the production of muscular spasms by electrical means (Sydney Smith in 1825: ‘Galvanize a frog, don’t galvanize a tiger’), but by the mid-19th century it was being employed figuratively, for ‘stimulate, spur’. The sense ‘coat electrolytically with metal’, dates from the 1830s.
[galvanize etymology, galvanize origin, 英语词源]
garage: garage: [20] As the motor-car age got under way at the start of the 20th century, a gap opened up in the lexicon for a word for ‘car-storage place’. English filled it in 1902 by borrowing French garage. The first references to it show that the term (station was an early alternative) was originally applied to large commercially run shelters housing many vehicles – the equivalent more of modern multi-storey car parks than of garages (the Daily Mail, for example, on 11 January 1902, reports the ‘new “garage” founded by Mr Harrington Moore, hon. secretary of the Automobile Club … The “garage”, which is situated at the City end of Queen Victoria-street, has accommodation for 80 cars’, and Alfred Harmsworth, in Motors 1902, wrote of ‘stations or “garages” where a number of cars can be kept’).

It was not long, however, before individual houses got more personalized garages, and the application to an establishment where vehicle repairs are carried out and fuel sold soon followed. The French word garage itself is a derivative of the verb garer, which originally meant ‘dock ships’. It comes from Old French garer ‘protect, defend’, a loanword from Old High German warōn (to which English ward, warn, and the -ware of beware are related).
=> beware, ward, warn
heave: heave: [OE] Heave is part of a major family of English words that can trace their ancestry back to Indo-European *kap- ‘seize’. One of its Latin descendants was the verb capere ‘take’, which has given English capable, capacious, capstan, caption, captious, capture, case (for carrying things), cater, chase, prince, and many others.

To Germanic it gave *khabjan, from which come German heben ‘lift’ and English heave (which also originally meant ‘lift’; ‘throw’ and ‘haul’ are 16th-century developments). Haft [OE] (literally ‘something by which one seizes or holds on to something’) and heavy are derived from the same base as heave, and have may be related. Hefty [19] comes from heft ‘weight, heaviness’ [16], which was formed from heave on the analogy of such pairs as weave and weft.
=> capable, capacious, capstan, caption, captive, capture, case, cater, chase, haft, heavy, hefty, prince
practice: practice: [15] The ultimate source of practice is Greek prássein ‘do, practise’. From its base *prak- were derived the noun praxis ‘doing, action’ (source of English praxis [16]) and the adjective praktós ‘to be done’. On this was based praktikós ‘concerned with action, practical’. This passed into English via late Latin practicus as practice [14], which was later superseded by practical [17].

From practicus was derived the medieval Latin verb practicāre, later practizāre. This passed into English via Old French practiser as practise [15]. The derived noun practise was altered to practice in the 16th century, on the analogy of pairs like advice/advise.
=> practical, practise, pragmatic, praxis
upholster: upholster: [19] Upholster has no etymological connection with holsters. It is a back-formation from upholsterer [17], which itself was derived from an earlier but now obsolete upholster ‘person who deals in or repairs small articles’. This was an agent noun formed from the verb uphold [13] (a compound of up and hold), in the now defunct sense ‘repair’.
=> hold
bracket (n.): 1570s, bragget, "architectural support," probably from Middle French braguette "codpiece armor" (16c.), from a fancied resemblance of architectural supports to that article of attire (Spanish cognate bragueta meant both "codpiece" and "bracket"), diminutive of brague "knee pants," ultimately from Gaulish *braca "pants," itself perhaps from Germanic (compare Old English broc "garment for the legs and trunk;" see breeches). The architectural meaning also might reflect the "breeches" sense, on the notion of two limbs or of appliances used in pairs. The typographical bracket is first recorded 1750, so called for its resemblance to double supports in carpentry (a sense attested from 1610s). Senses affected by Latin brachium "arm."
bye (1): in sporting use, a variant of by (prep). Originally in cricket, "a run scored on a ball that is missed by the wicket-keeper" (1746); later, in other sports, "position of one who is left without a competitor when the rest have drawn pairs" (1883), originally in lawn-tennis.
case (n.2): "receptacle," early 14c., from Anglo-French and Old North French casse (Old French chasse "case, reliquary;" Modern French châsse), from Latin capsa "box, repository" (especially for books), from capere "to take, hold" (see capable).

Meaning "outer protective covering" is from late 14c. Also used from 1660s with a sense "frame" (as in staircase, casement). Artillery sense is from 1660s, from case-shot "small projectiles put in cases" (1620s). Its application in the printing trade (first recorded 1580s) to the two trays where compositors keep their types in separate compartments for easy access led to upper-case letter for a capital (1862) and lower-case for small letters.
"The cases, or receptacles, for the type, which are always in pairs, and termed the 'upper' and the 'lower,' are formed of two oblong wooden frames, divided into compartments or boxes of different dimensions, the upper case containing ninety-eight and the lower fifty-four. In the upper case are placed the capital, small capital, and accented letters, also figures, signs for reference to notes &c.; in the lower case the ordinary running letter, points for punctuation, spaces for separating the words, and quadrats for filling up the short lines." ["The Literary Gazette," Jan. 29, 1859]
comparison (n.): mid-14c., from Old French comparaison (12c.), from Latin comparationem (nominative comparatio), noun of action from past participle stem of comparare "make equal with, liken, bring together for a contest," literally "to couple together, to form in pairs," from com- "with" (see com-) + parare "prepare" (see pare).
fishnet (n.): "net used to catch fish," Old English fiscnett; see fish (n.) + net (n.). From 1881 in reference to a type of stitch that resembles fishnet. By 1912 in reference to women's hosiery.
There has been considerable misconception as to the purpose of the fishnet hose imported by the ECONOMIST and illustrated on page 177. The newspaper representatives who viewed it at the ECONOMIST'S fashion exhibition used it as a pretext for many humorous articles and conveyed the impression that it was to be worn next the skin. The purpose is to use it over white or colored hose, to produce an unusual effect. Every store should have one or more pairs for exhibition purposes, if for no other reason. ["Dry Goods Economist," June 22, 1912]
fixer (n.): 1849, of chemicals, etc.; 1885 as a person who "makes things right;" agent noun from fix (v.). Fixer-upper is from 1967 as "that which repairs other things" (in an advertisement for a glue); by 1976 as a real-estate euphemism for "property that needs a lot of work."
geminate (adj.): "duplicated, found in pairs," early 15c., from Latin geminatus "twinned, equal," past participle of geminare "to double, repeat," related to geminus "twin, born together; paired, double," perhaps from PIE *yem- "to pair." As a verb, from 1630s. Related: Geminated; geminating; geminative.
in- (2): element meaning "into, in, on, upon" (also im-, il-, ir- by assimilation of -n- with following consonant), from Latin in- "in" (see in). In Old French this often became en-, which usually was respelled in English to conform with Latin, but not always, which accounts for pairs like enquire/inquire. There was a native form, which in West Saxon usually appeared as on- (as in Old English onliehtan "to enlighten"), and some verbs survived into Middle English (such as inwrite "to inscribe"), but all now seem to be extinct. Not related to in- (1) "not," which also was a common prefix in Latin: to the Romans impressus could mean "pressed" or "unpressed."
love bird (n.): 1590s, small species of West African parrot, noted for the remarkable attention mating pairs pay to one another; figurative sense of "a lover" is attested from 1911.
Hold hands, you lovebirds. [Emil Sitka]
roofer (n.): "one who makes or repairs roofs," 1835, agent noun from roof (v.).
spade (n.2): black figure on playing cards," 1590s, probably from Italian spade, plural of spada "the ace of spades," literally "sword, spade," from Latin spatha "broad, flat weapon or tool," from Greek spathe "broad blade" (see spade (n.1)). Phrase in spades "in abundance" first recorded 1929 (Damon Runyon), probably from bridge, where spades are the highest-ranking suit.
The invitations to the musicale came sliding in by pairs and threes and spade flushes. [O.Henry, "Cabbages & Kings," 1904]
Derogatory meaning "black person" is 1928, from the color of the playing card symbol.
steeplejack (n.): "one who climbs steeples, chimneys, etc. to make repairs," 1881, from steeple + jack (n.) "fellow, man."
trousers (n.): "garment for men, covering the lower body and each leg separately," 1610s, earlier trouzes (1580s), extended from trouse (1570s), with plural ending typical of things in pairs, from Gaelic or Middle Irish triubhas "close-fitting shorts," of uncertain origin. Early recorded use of the word indicates the garment was regarded as Celtic: "A jellous wife was like an Irish trouze, alwayes close to a mans tayle" [1630]. The unexplained intrusive second -r- is perhaps by influence of drawers or other words in pairs ending in -ers.
upholsterer (n.): "tradesman who finishes or repairs articles of furniture" (1610s), from upholdester (early 15c.; early 14c. as a surname), formed with diminutive (originally fem.) suffix -ster + obsolete Middle English noun upholder "dealer in small goods" (c. 1300), from upholden "to repair, uphold, keep from falling or sinking" (in this case, by stuffing); see uphold (v.).
anachronic: "Relating to or involving anachronism", Early 19th century: from anachronism, on the pattern of pairs such as synchronism, synchronic.
tetrapterous: "(Of an insect) having two pairs of wings", Early 19th century: from modern Latin tetrapterus (from Greek tetrapteros, from tetra- 'four' + pteron 'wing') + -ous.
Moraxella: "A genus of Gram-negative bacteria (family Neisseriaceae) inhabiting the mucous membranes of mammals and causing infections of the middle ear, respiratory tract, and conjunctiva; specifically a subgenus of this genus comprising rod-shaped bacteria occurring in pairs or chains; (also moraxella) a bacterium of this genus", 1940s. From scientific Latin Moraxella from the name of Victor Morax, Swiss ophthalmologist, who discovered the bacteria + classical Latin -ella).
castanets: "Small concave pieces of wood, ivory, or plastic, joined in pairs by a cord and clicked together by the fingers as a rhythmic accompaniment to Spanish dancing", Early 17th century: from Spanish castañeta, diminutive of castaña, from Latin castanea 'chestnut'.