quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- slush




- slush: [17] Like the very similar (and perhaps ultimately identical) slosh [19] and sludge [17], slush probably originated in imitation of the sound of squelching or splashing. The similarity of early modern Danish slus ‘sleet, mud’ and Norwegian slusk ‘slushy’ suggests the possibility of a Scandinavian borrowing rather than a native formation. Slush fund [19] comes from the use of slush for ‘grease that is a byproduct of cooking in a ship’s galley’, the allusion being to the ‘greasing’ of people’s palms with money.
- 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]
- clap (n.1)




- "loud noise," c. 1200, from clap (v.). Of thunder, late 14c. Meaning "sudden blow" is from c. 1400; meaning "noise made by slapping the palms of the hands together" is from 1590s.
- endogenous (adj.)




- "growing or proceeding from within," especially with reference to a class of plants including cereals, palms, plantains, etc., 1822, from endo- "within" + -genous "producing."
- frond (n.)




- 1785, from Latin frons (genitive frondis) "leafy branch, green bough, foliage." Adopted by Linnæus for the leaf-like organs of ferns, palms, etc., as a word distinct from folium. Later given a more precise meaning in botany.
- palm (n.2)




- tropical tree, Old English palma, Old French palme, both from Latin palma "palm tree," originally "palm of the hand;" the tree so called from the shape of its leaves, like fingers of a hand (see palm (n.1)).
The word traveled early to northern Europe, where the tree does not grow, via Christianity, and took root in the local languages (such as Old Saxon palma, Old High German palma, Old Norse palmr). Palm Sunday is Old English palm-sunnandæg.
In ancient times, a leaf or frond was carried or worn as a symbol of victory or triumph, or on feast days; hence figurative use of palm for "victory, triumph" (late 14c.). Palm court "large room in a hotel, etc., usually decorated with potted palms" first recorded 1908. - palmy (adj.)




- "triumphant," c. 1600, from palm (n.2) in the "triumph" sense + -y (2). Literal meaning "full of palms" attested from 1660s.
- sago (n.)




- "starch made of the piths of palms," 1570s, via Portuguese and Dutch from Malay sagu, the name of the palm tree from which it is obtained (attested in English in this sense from 1550s). Also borrowed in French (sagou), Spanish (sagu), German (Sago).
- slush (n.)




- 1640s, "melting snow, snow and water," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian and Swedish slask "slushy ground;" obsolete Danish slus "sleet"), all probably imitative of the sound of sloshing. Slush fund is first attested 1839, from an earlier sense of slush "refuse fat" (1756); the money from the sale of a ship's slush was distributed among the officers, which was the original sense of the phrase. The extended meaning "money collected for bribes and to buy influence" is first recorded 1874, no doubt with suggestions of "greasing" palms.