quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- biltong



[biltong 词源字典] - biltong: [19] Biltong, strips of sun-dried meat – anything from beef to ostrich – used as iron rations in southern Africa, has the unpromising literal meaning ‘buttock-tongue’ (Afrikaans bil is ‘buttock’, tong is ‘tongue’). The reason for the name is supposedly that the meat for biltong was customarily cut from the hind quarters of the animal, and that the coiner found in it, perhaps rather optimistically, a resemblance to the taste of smoked ox tongue.
[biltong etymology, biltong origin, 英语词源] - moose




- moose: [17] The moose’s name is a native American word. It comes from Natick moos, which has been linked by some with Narragansett moosu ‘he strips’, an allusion to the moose’s habit of stripping the bark from trees.
- deadline (n.)




- "time limit," 1920, American English newspaper jargon, from dead (adj.) + line (n.). Perhaps influenced by earlier use (1864) to mean the "do-not-cross" line in Civil War prisons, which figured in the Wirz trial.
And he, the said Wirz, still wickedly pursuing his evil purpose, did establish and cause to be designated within the prison enclosure containing said prisoners a "dead line," being a line around the inner face of the stockade or wall enclosing said prison and about twenty feet distant from and within said stockade; and so established said dead line, which was in many places an imaginary line, in many other places marked by insecure and shifting strips of [boards nailed] upon the tops of small and insecure stakes or posts, he, the said Wirz, instructed the prison guard stationed around the top of said stockade to fire upon and kill any of the prisoners aforesaid who might touch, fall upon, pass over or under across the said "dead line" .... ["Trial of Henry Wirz," Report of the Secretary of War, Oct. 31, 1865]
- funnies (n.)




- "newspaper comic strips," 1852, plural noun formation from funny (adj.).
- goon (n.)




- 1921, in U.S. humorist Frederick J. Allen's piece "The Goon and His Style" (Harper's Monthly Magazine, December 1921), which defines it as "a person with a heavy touch," one who lacks "a playful mind;" perhaps a made-up word, or from gony "simpleton" (1580s), which was applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds. The goons were characters in the "Thimble Theater" comic strip (starring Popeye) by U.S. cartoonist E.C. Segar (1894-1938); they appeared in Segar's strips from mid-1930s and, though they reportedly gave children nightmares, enjoyed a burst of popularity when they appeared in animated cartoons in 1938. The most famous was Alice the Goon, slow-witted and muscular (but gentle-natured) character who began as the Sea Hag's assistant. Segar might have got the word directly from sailors' jargon.
Later 20c. senses of the word all probably stem from this: Sense of "hired thug" is first recorded 1938 (in reference to union "beef squads" used to cow strikers in the Pacific Northwest). She also was the inspiration for British comedian Spike Milligan's "The Goon Show." Also used among American and British POWs in World War II in reference to their German guards. What are now "juvenile delinquents" were in the 1940s sometimes called goonlets. - lasagna (n.)




- "pasta cut in long, wide strips; a dish made from this," 1760 (as an Italian word in English), from Italian (plural is lasagne), from Vulgar Latin *lasania, from Latin lasanum "a pot," from Greek lasanon "pot with feet, trivet."
- list (n.1)




- "catalogue consisting of names in a row or series," c. 1600, from Middle English liste "border, edging, stripe" (late 13c.), from Old French liste "border, band, row, group," also "strip of paper," or from Old Italian lista "border, strip of paper, list," both from a Germanic source (compare Old High German lista "strip, border, list," Old Norse lista "border, selvage," Old English liste "border"), from Proto-Germanic *liston, from PIE *leizd- "border, band." The sense of "enumeration" is from strips of paper used as a sort of catalogue.
- louver (n.)




- also louvre, early 14c., "domed turret-like structure atop a building to disperse smoke and admit light," from Old French lovier, of uncertain origin. One theory connects it to Medieval Latin *lodarium, which might be from a Germanic source (compare Old High German louba "upper room, roof;" see lobby). Another suggests it is from French l'ouvert, literally "the open place," from le, definite article, + past participle of ouvrir "to open." Meaning "overlapping strips in a window (to let in air but keep out rain)" first recorded 1550s. The form has been influenced by apparently unrelated French Louvre, the name of the palace in Paris, which is said to be so named because its builder, Philip Augustus, intended it as a wolf kennel. Related: Louvered.
- moose (n.)




- 1610s, from an Algonquian language, probably Narragansett moos or Abenaki moz (compare Penobscot muns, Ojibwa mooz, Unami Delaware /mo:s/), said by early sources to be from moosu "he strips off," in reference to the animals' stripping bark for food.
- schedule (n.)




- late 14c., sedule, cedule "ticket, label, slip of paper with writing on it," from Old French cedule (Modern French cédule), from Late Latin schedula "strip of paper" (in Medieval Latin also "a note, schedule"), diminutive of Latin scheda, scida "one of the strips forming a papyrus sheet," from Greek skhida "splinter," from stem of skhizein "to cleave, split" (see shed (v.)). Also from the Latin word are Spanish cédula, German Zettel.
The notion is of slips of paper attached to a document as an appendix (a sense maintained in U.S. tax forms). The specific meaning "printed timetable" is first recorded 1863 in railway use. Modern spelling is a 15c. imitation of Latin, but pronunciation remained "sed-yul" for centuries afterward; the modern British pronunciation ("shed-yul") is from French influence, while the U.S. pronunciation ("sked-yul") is from the practice of Webster, based on the Greek original. - segment (n.)




- 1560s, from Latin segmentum "a strip or piece cut off, a cutting, strips of colored cloth," from secare "to cut" (see section (n.)), with euphonious alteration of -c- to -g- before -m-. Latin segmentum was used in Medieval Latin as a geometry term, translating Greek tmema, and the word was first picked up in English in this sense. Meaning "segmental portion of anything circular" is from 1640s; general sense of "a division, section" is from 1762.
- skinner (n.)




- late 14c., "a dealer in skins," from skin (n.); as "one who skins," 1690s, agent noun from skin (v.). The surname is attested from mid-13c. Also in U.S. use "one who strips, robs, or plunders;" the name given to a band of marauders who committed depredations on Loyalists in New York during the Revolution. Compare Old Norse skinnari "a dealer in skins; a skinner, tanner."
- skive (v.1)




- "split or cut into strips, pare off, grind away," 1825, from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse skifa "to cut, split," from Proto-Germanic *skif-, from Proto-Indo-European *skei- "to cut, split" (see shed (v.)). Related: Skived; skiving.
- strip (n.)




- "long, narrow, flat piece," mid-15c., "narrow piece of cloth," probably related to or from Middle Low German strippe "strap, thong," and from the same source as stripe (n.1). Sense extension to wood, land, etc. first recorded 1630s.
Sense in comic strip is from 1920. Airport sense is from 1936; race track sense from 1941. Meaning "street noted for clubs, bars, etc." is attested from 1939, originally in reference to Los Angeles' Sunset Strip. Strip mine (n.) attested by 1892, as a verb by 1916; so called because the surface material is removed in successive parallel strips. - stripe (n.2)




- "a stroke or lash," early 15c., probably a special use of stripe (n.1), from the marks left by a lash. Compare also Dutch strippen "to whip," West Frisian strips, apparently cognate but not attested as early as the English word.
- stripper (n.)




- 1580s, transitive, "person who strips" (the bark off trees, etc.), agent noun from strip (v.). Meaning "machine or appliance for stripping" is from 1835. Sense of "strip-tease dancer" is from 1930 (see strip-tease). Meaning "chemical for removing paint" is from 1937.
- swaddle (v.)




- "bind with long strips of cloth," late 15c. alteration of Middle English swathlen (c. 1200), probably a frequentative form of Old English swaþian (see swathe). Related: Swaddled; swaddling. Phrase swaddling clothes is from Coverdale (1535) translation of Luke ii:7.
Young children ... are still bandaged in this manner in many parts of Europe to prevent them from using their limbs freely, owing to a fancy that those who are left free in infancy become deformed. [Century Dictionary, 1891]
Wyclif uses swathing-clothes (late 14c.). - tinsel (n.)




- mid-15c., "a kind of cloth made with interwoven gold or silver thread," from Middle French estincelle "spark, spangle" (see stencil (n.)). "In 14-15th c. Fr., the s of es- had long been mute" [OED]. Meaning "very thin sheets or strips of shiny metal" is recorded from 1590s. Figurative sense of "anything showy with little real worth" is from 1650s, suggested from at least 1590s. First recorded use of Tinseltown for "Hollywood" is from 1972.
- Velcro (n.)




- 1958, proprietary name (Britain), from French vel(ours) cro(ché) "hooked velvet."
Here is a nonmetallic fastener with no mechanical parts. It is simply two strips of nylon, one woven with thousands of tiny protruding hooks, the other with loops. Pressed together, they catch like a burr to clothing, can't be parted except by peeling. American Velcro, Manchester, N.H., makes them to hold anything from pants to upholstery. ["Popular Science," December 1958]
- fajitas




- "A dish of Mexican origin consisting of strips of spiced beef or chicken, chopped vegetables, and grated cheese, wrapped in a soft tortilla and often served with sour cream", Mexican Spanish, literally 'little strips'.
- trug




- "A shallow oblong basket made of strips of wood, traditionally used for carrying garden flowers and produce", Late Middle English (denoting a basin): perhaps a dialect variant of trough.
- goujons




- "Deep-fried strips of chicken or fish", From French goujon 'gudgeon' (see gudgeon1).