The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word HistoriesA gold mine of fascinating word histories! This engaging and informative book reveals the origins of 1,500 words from "abigail" to "zombie", tracing in terms from the mythology of ancient Greece to the comic strips of the 20th century. This delightful volume will help you discover how a skimpy bathing suit came to be called a "bikini" and what "serendipity" has to do with Horace Walpole. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 79
Page 10
... applied to ' the fact or state of having been elsewhere at the time ' . These legal senses were included in Noah Webster's Dictio- nary in 1828 . By 1912 , alibi had also acquired in American English the generalized sense of ' an excuse ...
... applied to ' the fact or state of having been elsewhere at the time ' . These legal senses were included in Noah Webster's Dictio- nary in 1828 . By 1912 , alibi had also acquired in American English the generalized sense of ' an excuse ...
Page 21
... applied , often capitalized , to the scriptural writings called the Apocrypha . [ ML , fr . LL , neut . pl . of apocryphus secret , uncanonical ( said of writings not to be read to the congregation ) , fr . LGk apokryphos , fr . Gk ...
... applied , often capitalized , to the scriptural writings called the Apocrypha . [ ML , fr . LL , neut . pl . of apocryphus secret , uncanonical ( said of writings not to be read to the congregation ) , fr . LGk apokryphos , fr . Gk ...
Page 23
... applied to a number of grasslike plants and in time came to refer specifically to hemp . A prod- uct of the hemp plant was used as an intoxicant , and thus from Arabic we get our word hashish . The process whereby a general plant word ...
... applied to a number of grasslike plants and in time came to refer specifically to hemp . A prod- uct of the hemp plant was used as an intoxicant , and thus from Arabic we get our word hashish . The process whereby a general plant word ...
Page 24
... applied to murderers irrespective of religious or Eastern con- notations . English borrowed its word assassin , probably from Middle French , in the fourteenth century , when it first appeared ( in the singular ) in the form hassassis ...
... applied to murderers irrespective of religious or Eastern con- notations . English borrowed its word assassin , probably from Middle French , in the fourteenth century , when it first appeared ( in the singular ) in the form hassassis ...
Page 36
... applied to certain areas of the cloth during dyeing to prevent those areas from receiving dye . The result is a splotchy effect caused by patches of un- dyed fabric . Large handkerchiefs are often tie - dyed to give them a more vibrant ...
... applied to certain areas of the cloth during dyeing to prevent those areas from receiving dye . The result is a splotchy effect caused by patches of un- dyed fabric . Large handkerchiefs are often tie - dyed to give them a more vibrant ...
Common terms and phrases
adjective akin to Gk akin to OHG alter American ancient animal appeared applied assumed attested back-formation became began bird borrowed into English called Church cognate common compound denote developed dialect Dictionary diminutive Dutch earlier earliest early eighteenth century England English borrowed English word etymology fascism fifteenth folk etymology fourteenth century French word gave rise German glish Gmc origin Goth Greek horse influenced Italian known language Late Latin later Latin verb Latin word LIEBFRAUMILCH literally meaning meant Medieval Latin Middle English Middle French Modern English neut nineteenth century noun Old English Old French Old High German Old Norse perh person phrase plural popular prob pronunciation refer Roman semantic seventeenth century Shakespeare similar sixteenth century song sound Spanish spelling synonym teenth century term tion trans translation turn verb Vulgar Latin WGmc writing
Popular passages
Page 142 - This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars...
Page 37 - twould a saint provoke," (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke ;} " No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face : One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead — And — Betty — give this cheek a little red.
Page 214 - And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Page 236 - Behold, we know not anything; I can but trust that good shall fall At last— far off— at last, to all, And every winter change to spring. So runs my dream; but what am I? An infant crying in the night; An infant crying for the light, And with no language but a cry.
Page 94 - There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.
Page 6 - So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of " agnostic." It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the " gnostic " of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant...
Page 105 - We don't want to fight, but by jingo if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too.
Page 114 - THE Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.