quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- escape
- escape: [14] Originally, escape meant literally ‘take off one’s cloak’, and signified metaphorically ‘throw off restraint’ – much as we might say unbutton. The word appears to come ultimately from Vulgar Latin *excappāre, a hypothetical compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out, off’ and cappa ‘cloak’ (source of English cape). This passed into Old Northern French as escaper (immediate source of the English word), by which time the metaphor had progressed from ‘throwing off restraint’ to ‘gaining one’s liberty’.
=> cape - ruse
- ruse: [15] Ruse and rush ‘hurry’ are ultimately the same word. Both come from Old French ruser ‘drive back, detour’. From this was derived the noun ruse, which brought the sense ‘detour, deviation’ with it into English. It was used in the context of a hunted animal dodging about and doubling back on its tracks to throw off its pursuers, and this led in the early 17th century to the emergence of the metaphorical sense ‘trick, stratagem’.
The precise origins of Old French ruser are uncertain. It is generally referred to Latin recūsāre ‘refuse’, source of English recusant and possibly of refuse, but it has also been speculated that it came via a Vulgar Latin *rursāre or *rusāre from Latin rursus ‘backwards’.
=> rush - flick (v.)
- 1816, "to throw off with a jerk," from flick (n.). Meaning "strike lightly with a quick jerk" is from 1838. Related: Flicked; flicking.
- fume (v.)
- c. 1400, "to fumigate" (transitive), from Old French fumer "to smoke, burn" (12c.), from Latin fumare "to smoke, steam," from fumus "smoke, steam, fume" (see fume (n.)). Intransitive meaning "throw off smoke, emit vapor" is from 1530s; the figurative sense "show anger, be irritated" is slightly earlier (1520s). Related: Fumed; fumes; fuming.