quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- cornerstone (n.)




- late 13c., from corner (n.) + stone (n.). The figurative use is from early 14c.
I endorse without reserve the much abused sentiment of Governor M'Duffie, that "Slavery is the corner-stone of our republican edifice;" while I repudiate, as ridiculously absurd, that much lauded but nowhere accredited dogma of Mr. Jefferson, that "all men are born equal." No society has ever yet existed, and I have already incidentally quoted the highest authority to show that none ever will exist, without a natural variety of classes. [James H. Hammond, "Letter to an English Abolitionist" 1845]
- fantastic (adj.)




- late 14c., "existing only in imagination," from Middle French fantastique (14c.), from Medieval Latin fantasticus, from Late Latin phantasticus "imaginary," from Greek phantastikos "able to imagine," from phantazein "make visible" (middle voice phantazesthai "picture to oneself"); see phantasm. Trivial sense of "wonderful, marvelous" recorded by 1938. Old French had a different adjective form, fantasieus "weird; insane; make-believe." Medieval Latin also used fantasticus as a noun, "a lunatic," and Shakespeare and his contemporaries had it in Italian form fantastico "one who acts ridiculously."
- ridiculous (adj.)




- 1540s, ridyculouse, from Latin ridiculosus "laughable," from ridiculus "that which excites laughter," from ridere "to laugh." Shakespeare and other 17c. writers sometimes spelled it rediculous. Slang extensions to "outrageous" (1839); "excellent" (1959, jazz slang). Related: Ridiculously; ridiculousness.
- Heath Robinson




- "Ingeniously or ridiculously over-complicated in design or construction", Early 20th century: named after W. Heath Robinson (see Robinson, Heath).