Online Etymology Dictionary

bicyclist: 1869, from bicycle + -ist.
bid: The modern verb is a merger of two old words. The sense in bid farewell is from O.E. biddan "to ask, entreat, pray, beseech; order; beg" (class V strong verb, past tense bæd, past participle beden), from P.Gmc. *bidjan "to pray, entreat" (cf. Ger. bitten "to ask," O.H.G., 8c.), which, according to Kluge and Watkins is from a PIE base *gwhedh- "to ask, pray" (see bead). A bid at an auction, meanwhile, is from O.E. beodan "offer, proclaim" (class II strong verb; p.t. bead, p.p. boden), from P.Gmc. *biudanan "to stretch out, reach out, offer, present," (cf. Ger. bieten "to offer"), from PIE base *bh(e)udh- "to be aware, make aware" (cf. Skt. bodhati "is awake, is watchful, observes," buddhah "awakened, enlightened;" O.C.S. bljudo "to observe;" Lith. budeti "to be awake;" O.Ir. buide "contentment, thanks").
bidden: pp. of bid and bide.
biddy: "old woman," 1785; meaning "Irish maid-servant" (1861) is Amer.Eng.; both from Biddy, pet form of common Irish proper name Bridget.
bide: O.E. bidan "to stay, continue, live, remain," also "to trust, rely" (cognate of O.N. biða, O.Fris. bidia, Goth. beidan "to wait"), apparently from PIE *bheidh-, an extended stem of one root of O.E. biddan (see bid), the original sense of which was "to command," and "to trust" (cf. Gk. peithein "to persuade," pistis "faith;" L. fidere "to trust," foedus "compact, treaty," O.C.S. beda "need"). Perhaps the sense evolved in prehistoric times through "endure," and "endure a wait," to "to wait." Preserved in Scotland and northern England, replaced elsewhere by abide in all senses except to bide one's time.
bidet: 1620s, from Fr. bidet (16c.), of unknown etymology. Originally in Fr. "a small horse, a pony," thus "a vessel on a low narrow stand, which can be bestridden for bathing purposes."
bidirectional: 1941, from bi- + direction + -al (1). Originally of microphones.
Biedermeier: 1854, from Ger., from Gottlieb Biedermeier, name of a fictitious writer of stodgy poems (invented by Ludwig Eichrodt as a satire on bourgeois taste); the name generally applied to styles prevalent in Germany 1815-48; also "conventional, bourgeois."
biennial: 1620s, from L. biennium "two-year period," from bi- + annus "year." The noun meaning "a biennial plant" is attested by 1770.
biennium: "space of two years," by 1851, from L. biennium, from bi- + annus "year" (see annual).
bier: O.E. bær (W.Saxon), ber (Anglian) "handbarrow, litter, bed," from W.Gmc. *bero (O.H.G. bara, O.Fris. bere, M.Du. bare), from base *ber- and thus related to the O.E. verb beran "to bear" (see bear (v.)), making a bier anything used for carrying, only later limited to funerary sense. Since c.1600, spelling influenced by Fr. bière, from O.Fr. biere, from Frankish *bera, from the same Germanic root.
biff: "to hit," 1888, imitative (as a sound effect, from 1847). As a noun, attested from 1889.
bifocal (adj.): 1888, from bi- + focal (see focus).
bifocals: "bifocal spectacles," 1899, see bifocal. Conceived by Benjamin Franklin, but called by him double spectacles.
bifurcate: 1610s, from M.L. bifurcatus, from L. bi- + furca, the root of fork.
bifurcation: 1610s, "the point at which something splits in two," from bifurcate (q.v.). Meaning "division into two forks" is from 1640s.
big: c.1300, northern England dialect, "powerful, strong," of unknown origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source (cf. Norwegian dial. bugge "great man"). O.E. used micel in many of the same senses. Meaning "of great size" is late 14c.; that of "grown up" is attested from 1550s. Sense of "important" is from 1570s. Big band as a musical style is from 1926. Slang big head "conceit" is first recorded 1850. Big business is 1905; big house "penitentiary" is U.S. underworld slang first attested 1915 (in London, "a workhouse," 1851). In financial journalism, big ticket items so called from 1956. Big lie is from Hitler's grosse lüge.
Big Apple: "New York," 1909 (but popularized by 1970s tourism promotion campaign), apparently from jazz musicians' use of apple for any city, especially a Northern one.
big bang: hypothetical explosive beginning of the universe, developed from the work of Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître and George Gamow, the name first attested 1950 (said to have been used orally 1949) by British astronomer Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) in an attempt to explain the idea in laymen's terms.
Big Ben: clock in the Parliament tower in London, generally said to have been named for Sir Benjamin Hall (1802–1867), first Chief Commissioner of Works, under whose supervision the bell was cast.
Big Brother: "ubiquitous and repressive but apparently benevolent authority" first recorded 1949, from George Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four."
big deal: from mid-19c. in poker or business; as an ironic expression, popular in Amer.Eng. from c.1965, perhaps a translated Yiddishism (cf. a groyser kunst).
Big Dipper: Amer.Eng. name for the seven-star asterism (known in England as Charles's Wain, q.v.) in the constellation Ursa Major, first attested 1849, but certainly older than that. It is always and entirely visible everywhere north of latitude 41N.
Big Mac: trademark name (McDonald's Corp.) of a type of hamburger sandwich, patented 1974 but alleged to have been in use from 1957.
big mouth (n.): also bigmouth "person who talks too much," 1889, Amer.Eng., from big + mouth.
big shot: "important person," 1929, Amer.Eng., from Prohibition-era gangster slang; earlier in the same sense was great shot (1861).
big time: "upper reaches of a profession or pursuit," c.1910 from vaudeville slang; the phrase was common in colloquial use late 19c.-early 20c. in a broad range of senses: "party, shindig, fun, frolic."
big-tent: in reference to political parties welcoming all sorts and not being ideologically narrow, attested by 1987 in Amer.Eng.
bigamist: 1630s, from bigamy + -ist.
bigamy: mid-13c., from O.Fr. bigamie (13c.), from L.L. bigamus "twice married," from bi- "double" + Gk. gamos "marrying" (see gamete).
"Bigamie is unkinde ðing, On engleis tale, twie-wifing." [c.1250]
bigass (adj.): 1940s, U.S. military slang, from big + ass (2).
bigger: comp. of big (q.v.).
biggest: superl. of big (q.v.).
bight: O.E. byht "bend, angle, corner" (related to bow), from P.Gmc. *buhtiz (cf. M.L.G. bucht, Ger. Bucht, Du. bocht, Dan. bught), from PIE base *bheug- "to bend" (cf. O.E. beag, O.H.G. boug "ring;" see bow (v.)). Sense of "indentation on a coastline" is from late 15c.
bigot: 1590s, from Fr. bigot (12c.), in O.Fr. "sanctimonious;" supposedly a derogatory name for Normans, the old theory (not universally accepted) being that it springs from their frequent use of O.E. oath bi God. Plausible, since the Eng. were known as goddamns in Joan of Arc's France, and during World War I Americans serving in France were said to be known as les sommobiches (see also son of a bitch). But the earliest French use of the word (12c.) is as the name of a people apparently in southern Gaul (which led to the now-doubtful, on phonetic grounds, theory that the word comes from Visigoth). Sp. bigote "mustache" also has been proposed as a source, though the sense is not adequately explained. The earliest English sense is of "religious hypocrite," especially a female one, and may have been influenced by beguine. Sense extended 1680s to other than religious opinions.
bigotry: 1670s, from Fr. bigoterie "sanctimoniousness" (see bigot).
bigwig: 1731, from big + wig, in ref. to the imposing wigs formerly worn by men of rank or authority.
bijou: 1660s, from Fr. bijou, from Breton bizou "(jeweled) ring," from bez "finger" (cf. Cornish bisou "finger-ring," 13c.).
bike: 1882, Amer.Eng., shortened and altered form of bicycle.
biker: "motorcycle rider" (especially with reference to club affiliation), 1968, Amer.Eng., from bike in its slang sense of "motorcycle" (1939).
bikini: 1948, from Fr. coinage, 1947, named for U.S. A-bomb test of June 1946 on Bikini, Marshall Islands atoll, locally Pikinni and said to derive from pik "surface" and ni "coconut," but this is uncertain. Various explanations for the swimsuit name have been suggested, none convincingly, the best being an analogy of the explosive force of the bomb and the impact of the bathing suit style on men's libidos (cf. c.1900 British slang assassin "an ornamental bow worn on the female breast," so called because it was very "killing").
"Bikini, ce mot cinglant comme l'explosion même ... correspondant au niveau du vêtement de plage à on anéantissement de la surface vêtue; à une minimisation extrême de la pudeur." [Le Monde, 1947]
Variant style trikini (1967), with separate bra cups held on by Velcro, falsely presumes a compound in bi-.
bilateral: "having two sides," 1775, from bi- + lateral (q.v.).
bilbo: "kind of sword noted for temper and elasticity," 1590s, from Bilbao, town in northern Spain where swords were made, in English Bilboa. The town name is Roman Bellum Vadum "beautiful ford" (over the Nervion River).
Bildungsroman: 1910, from Ger. Bildungsroman, from Bildung "education, formation, growth" (from Bild "picture, image, figure;" O.H.G. bilade) + roman "novel" (see romance). A novel set in the formative years, or the time of spiritual education, of the main character.
bile: 1660s, from Fr. bile (17c.) "bile," also, informally, "anger," from L. bilis "fluid secreted by the liver," also one of the four humors (also known as choler), thus "anger, peevishness" (especially as black bile, 1797).
bilge: 1510s, "lowest internal part of a ship," also "the foulness which collects there," variant of bulge "ship's hull," also "leather bag," from O.N.Fr. boulge "leather sack," from L.L. bulga "leather sack," apparently from Gaulish bulga (see budget).
biliary: "pertaining to bile," 1731, from Fr. biliaire, from bile (see bile). Meaning "bilious in mood or temperament" is recorded from 1837.
bilingual: 1847, from bi- + lingual.
bilingualism: 1873, from bilingual + -ism.
bilious: 1540s, "pertaining to bile, biliary," from Fr. bilieux, from L. biliosus, from bilis (see bile). Meaning "wrathful, peevish, ill-tempered" (as people afflicted with an excess of bile were believed to be) is attested from 1560s. This is the main modern sense in English and French; the more literal meaning being taken up by biliary.