Online Etymology Dictionary

bouncer (n.): mid-19c. in various senses, noun derivative of bounce (v.) in its original sense of "thump, hit." Earliest attested is "boaster, bully, braggart" (1833); also "large example of its kind" (1842); "enforcer of order in a bar or saloon" (1865, American English, originally colloquial).
"The Bouncer" is merely the English "chucker out". When liberty verges on license and gaiety on wanton delirium, the Bouncer selects the gayest of the gay, and -- bounces him! ["London Daily News," July 26, 1883]
bouncing (adj.): "vigorous, big," 1570s, present participle adjective from bounce (v.).
bouncy (adj.): 1895, from bounce (n.) + -y (2).
bound (v.1): "to form the boundary of," also "to set the boundaries of," late 14c., from bound (n.). Related: Bounded; bounding.
bound (v.2): "to leap," 1580s, from French bondir "to rebound, resound, echo," from Old French bondir "to leap, rebound; make a noise, beat (a drum)," 13c., ultimately "to echo back," from Vulgar Latin *bombitire "to buzz, hum" (see bomb (n.)), perhaps on model of Old French tentir, from Vulgar Latin *tinnitire.
bound (adj.1): "fastened," mid-14c., in figurative sense of "compelled," from bounden, past participle of bind (v.). Meaning "under obligation" is from late 15c.; the literal sense "made fast by tying" is the latest recorded (1550s).
bound (adj.2): "ready to go," c.1200, boun, from Old Norse buinn past participle of bua "to prepare," also "to dwell, to live," from Proto-Germanic *bowan (cf. Old High German buan "to dwell," Old Danish both "dwelling, stall"), from PIE root *bheue- "to be, exist, dwell" (see be). Final -d is presumably through association with bound (adj.1).
bound (n.): "limit," c.1200, from Anglo-Latin bunda, from Old French bonde "limit, boundary, boundary stone" (12c., Modern French borne), variant of bodne, from Medieval Latin bodina, perhaps from Gaulish. Now chiefly in out of bounds, which originally referred to limits imposed on students at schools.
boundary (n.): 1620s, from bound (n.) + -ary.
bounder (n.): 1560s, "one who sets bounds," agent noun from bound (v.1); British English slang meaning "person of objectionable social behavior, would-be stylish person," is from 1882, perhaps from bound (v.2) on notion of one trying to "bound" into high society, but earliest usage suggests one outside the "bounds" of acceptable socializing, which would connect it with the noun.
boundless (adj.): 1590s, from bound (n.) + -less. Related: Boundlessly; boundlessness.
bounteous (adj.): late 14c., from bounty + -ous; originally "full of goodness," but always shading toward "generous in bestowing," a sense which logically might have been left to bountiful. Related: Bounteously; bounteousness.
bountiful (adj.): late 15c., from bounty + -ful. Related: Bountifully.
bounty (n.): mid-13c., "generosity," from Old French bonte "goodness" (12c., Modern French bonté), from Latin bonitatem (nominative bonitas) "goodness," from bonus "good" (see bene-). Sense of "gift bestowed by a sovereign or the state" led to extended senses of "gratuity to a military recruit" (1702) and "reward for killing or taking a criminal or enemy" (1764).
I do ... promise, that there shall be paid ... the following several and respective premiums and Bounties for the prisoners and Scalps of the Enemy Indians that shall be taken or killed .... ["Papers of the Governor of Pennsylvania," 1764]
bouquet (n.): 1716, introduced to English by Lady Mary Montague from French bouquet, originally "little wood," from Picard form of Old French bochet (14c.), diminutive of bosco, from Medieval Latin boscus "grove" (see bush (n.)).
bourbon (n.): type of American corn whiskey, 1846, from Bourbon County, Kentucky, where it first was made, supposedly in 1789. Bourbon County was organized 1785, one of the nine established by the Virginia legislature before Kentucky became a state. The name reflects the fondness felt in the United States for the French royal family, and especially Louis XVI, in gratitude for the indispensable support he had given to the rebel colonists. See Bourbon.
Bourbon: line of French kings (who also ruled in Naples and Spain), of whom it was proverbially said, "they learn nothing and forget nothing." The royal family ruled in France 1589-1792 and 1815-1848; its name is from Bourbon l'Archambault, chief town of a lordship in central France, probably from Borvo, name of a local Celtic deity associated with thermal springs, whose name probably is related to Celtic borvo "foam, froth."
bourgeois (adj.): 1560s, "of the French middle class," from French bourgeois, from Old French burgeis, borjois "town dweller" (see bourgeoisie). Sense of "socially or aesthetically conventional" is from 1764; in communist and socialist writing, as a noun, "a capitalist" (1883).
It is better to be a good ordinary bourgeois than a bad ordinary bohemian. [Aldous Huxley, 1930]
bourgeoise (adj.): proper French fem. of bourgeois (q.v.).
bourgeoisie (n.): 1707, "body of freemen in a French town; the French middle class," from French bourgeois, from Old French burgeis, borjois (12c.) "town dweller" (as distinct from "peasant"), from borc "town, village," from Frankish *burg "city" (see borough). Communist use for "the capitalist class generally" attested from 1886.
bourn (n.1): also bourne, "small stream," especially of the winter torrents of the chalk downs, Old English brunna, burna "brook, stream," from Proto-Germanic *brunnoz "spring, fountain" (cf. Old High German brunno, Old Norse brunnr, Old Frisian burna, German Brunnen "fountain," Gothis brunna "well"), ultimately from PIE root *bhreue- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn" (see brew (v.)).
bourn (n.2): "destination," 1520s, from French borne, apparently a variant of bodne (see bound (n.)). Used by Shakespeare in Hamlet's soliloquy (1602), from which it entered into English poetic speech. He meant it probably in the correct sense of "boundary," but it has been taken to mean "goal" (Wordsworth, Matthew Arnold) or sometimes "realm" (Keats).
The dread of something after death, The vndiscouered Countrey; from whose Borne No Traueller returnes. ["Hamlet" III.i.79]
bourse (n.): "stock exchange," 1570s, burse, from Old French borse "money bag, purse" (12c.), from Medieval Latin bursa "a bag" (see purse (n.)). French spelling and modern sense of "exchange for merchants" is first recorded 1845, from the name of the Paris stock exchange. The term originated because in 13c. Bruges the sign of a purse (or perhaps three purses), hung on the front of the house where merchants met.
boustrophedon (n.): 1783, ancient form of writing with lines alternately written left-to-right and right-to-left, from Greek, literally "turning as an ox in plowing," from bous "ox" (see cow (n.)) + strephein "to turn" (see strophe).
bout (n.): 1540s, from Middle English bught, probably from an unrecorded Old English variant of byht "a bend," from Proto-Germanic *bukhta- (see bight (n.)). Sense evolved from "a circuit of any kind" (as of a plow) to "a round at any kind of exercise" (1570s), "a round at fighting" (1590s), "a fit of drinking" (1660s).
boutique (n.): "fashion shop," 1953, earlier "small shop of any sort" (1767), from French boutique (14c.), from Old Provençal botica, from Latin apotheca "storehouse" (see apothecary). Latin apotheca directly into French normally would have yielded *avouaie.
boutonniere (n.): 1877, from French boutonnière, from bouton (see button (n.)).
bovine (adj.): 1817, from French bovin (14c.), from Late Latin bovinus, from Latin bos (genitive bovis) "ox, cow," from PIE *gwous- (see cow (n.)). Figurative sense of "inert and stupid" is from 1855.
bovver: 1969, Cockney pronunciation of bother "trouble" (q.v.), given wide extended usage in skinhead slang.
bow (v.): Old English bugan "to bend, to bow down, to bend the body in condescension," also "to turn back" (class II strong verb; past tense beag, past participle bogen), from Proto-Germanic *bugon (cf. Dutch buigen, Middle Low German bugen, Old High German biogan, German biegen, Gothic biugan "to bend," Old Norse boginn "bent"), from *beugen, from PIE root *bheug- (3) "to bend," with derivatives referring to bent, pliable, or curved objects (cf. Sanskrit bhujati "bends, thrusts aside;" Old High German boug, Old English beag "a ring"). The noun in this sense is first recorded 1650s. Related: Bowed; bowing. Bow out "withdraw" is from 1942.
bow (n.1): weapon for shooting arrows, Old English boga "archery bow, arch, rainbow," from Proto-Germanic *bugon (cf. Old Norse bogi, Old Frisian boga, Dutch boog, German Bogen "bow;" see bow (v.)). The sense of "a looped knot" is from 1540s. The musician's bow (1570s) formerly was curved like the archer's. Bowlegged is attested from 1550s.
bow (n.2): "front of a ship," mid-14c., from Old Norse bogr or Middle Dutch boech "bow of a ship," literally "shoulder (of an animal)," the connecting notion being "the shoulders of the ship." See bough.
bow tie (n.): by 1887, from bow (n.) in the sense "ribbon or other fabric tied in a bow-knot" (by 1874) + tie (n.).
bow-wow: imitative of a dog's barking, first recorded 1570s.
bowdlerize (v.): 1836, from Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), English editor who in 1818 published a notorious expurgated Shakespeare, in which, according to his frontispiece, "nothing is added to the original text; but those words and expressions omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family." Related: Bowdlerized; bowdlerizing.
bowel (n.): c.1300, from Old French boele "intestines, bowels, innards" (12c., Modern French boyau), from Medieval Latin botellus "small intestine," originally "sausage," diminutive of botulus "sausage," a word borrowed from Oscan-Umbrian, from PIE *gwet-/*geut- "intestine" (cf. Latin guttur "throat," Old English cwið, Gothic qiþus "belly, womb," German kutteln "guts, chitterlings").

Greek splankhnon (from the same PIE root as spleen) was a word for the principal internal organs, which also were felt in ancient times to be the seat of various emotions. Greek poets, from Aeschylus down, regarded the bowels as the seat of the more violent passions such as anger and love, but by the Hebrews they were seen as the seat of tender affections, especially kindness, benevolence, and compassion. Splankhnon was used in Septuagint to translate a Hebrew word, and from thence early Bibles in English rendered it in its literal sense as bowels, which thus acquired in English a secondary meaning of "pity, compassion" (late 14c.). But in later editions the word often was translated as heart. Bowel movement is attested by 1874.
bower (n.): Old English bur "room, hut, dwelling, chamber," from Proto-Germanic *buraz (cf. Old Norse bur "chamber," Swedish bur "cage," Old High German bur "dwelling, chamber," German Bauer "birdcage"), from *bu- "to dwell," from PIE root *bheue- "to be, exist, dwell" (see be). Modern spelling developed after mid-14c. Sense of "leafy arbor" (place closed in by trees) is first attested 1520s. Hence, too, Australia's bower-bird (1847).
bowery (n.): "farm, plantation," from Dutch bowerij "homestead farm" (from the same source as bower); a Dutch word probably little used in America outside New York, and there soon limited to one road, The Bowery, that ran from the built-up part of the city out to the plantations in middle Manhattan, attested from 1787; the city's growth soon overran it, and it was noted by 1840 as a commercial district notorious for squalor, rowdiness, and low life.
Bowery Boy, the typical New York tough of a generation or two ago, named from the street which he chiefly affected .... He rather prided himself on his uncouthness, his ignorance, and his desperado readiness to fight, but he also loved to have attention called to his courage, his gallantry to women, his patriotic enthusiasm, and his innate tenderness of heart. A fire and a thrilling melodrama called out all his energies and emotions. [Walsh, 1892]
bowie knife: 1827, named for its inventor, U.S. fighter and frontiersman Col. James "Jim" Bowie (1799-1836), and properly pronounced "boo-ee."
bowl (n.): Old English bolla "pot, cup, bowl," from Proto-Germanic *bul- "a round vessel" (cf. Old Norse bolle, Old High German bolla), from PIE *bhl-, from root *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole).
bowl (v.): "to roll a ball on the ground," typically as part of a game or contest, mid-15c., from bowl "wooden ball" (see bowls). Specifically of cricket from 1755; cricket use is source of late 19c. expressions bowl over, etc. Related: Bowled; bowling.
bowler (n.1): "hard round hat," 1861, said to be from a J. Bowler, 19c. London hat manufacturer. A John Bowler of Surrey, hat manufacturer, was active from the 1820s to the 1840s, and a William Bowler, hat-manufacturer, of Southwark Bridge Road, Surrey, sought a patent in 1854 for "improvements in hats and other coverings for the head." But perhaps the word is simply from bowl (n.); cf. Old English heafodbolla "brainpan, skull." The earliest usages are with a lower-case b-.
bowler (n.2): "player at bowls," c.1500.
bowling (n.): 1530s, originally "playing at bowls," verbal noun from bowl (v.). Bowling alley is from 1550s.
bowls (n.): game played with balls, mid-15c. (implied in bowlyn), from gerund of bowl "wooden ball" (early 15c.), from Old French bole (13c., Modern French boule) "ball," ultimately from Latin bulla "bubble, knob, round thing" (see bull (n.2)).
Noon apprentice ... [shall] play ... at the Tenys, Closshe, Dise, Cardes, Bowles nor any other unlawfull game. [Act 11, Henry VII, 1495]
Bowman's capsule: 1882, named for English surgeon William Bowman (1816-1892).
bowser (n.): a dog's name, 1806, perhaps imitative of baying.
bowsprit (n.): "spar extending from the bow of a ship," late 13c., probably from Middle Low German bochspret, from boch "bow of a ship" (see bow (n.2)) + spret "pole" (cf. Old English spreot "pole," Dutch spriet "spear;" see sprit). French beaupre is a Dutch loan word.
bowyer (n.): "maker of bows," attested late 12c. as a surname, from bow (n.1) + -yer.
box (n.1.): Old English box "a wooden container," also the name of a type of shrub, from Late Latin buxis, from Greek pyxis "boxwood box," from pyxos "box tree," of uncertain origin. See OED entry for discussion. German Büchse also is a Latin loan word.

Meaning "compartment at a theater" is from c.1600. Meaning "pigeon-hole at a post office" is from 1832. Meaning "television" is from 1950. Slang meaning "vulva" is attested 17c., according to "Dictionary of American Slang;" modern use seems to date from c.WWII, perhaps originally Australian, on notion of "box of tricks." Box office is 1786; in the figurative sense of "financial element of a performance" it is first recorded 1904. Box lunch (n.) attested from 1899. The box set, "multiple-album, CD or cassette issue of the work of an artist" is attested by 1955.