Online Etymology Dictionary

Cox: surname, from early 16c., earlier Cocks (c.1300), in many cases from cock (n.1), which apparently was used as a personal name in O.E., also as a familiar term for a boy, later used of apprentices, servants, etc. Perhaps in some cases for the sign of an inn. In some cases perhaps from cook, or Welsh coch "red."
coxcomb: 1560s, from cokkes comb (see cockscomb).
coxswain: 1327, from cock "ship's boat" (from O.Fr. coque "canoe") + swain "boy," from O.N. sveinn "boy, servant."
coy: early 14c., from O.Fr. coi, earlier quei "quiet, still," ultimately from L. quietus "resting, at rest" (see quiet). Meaning "shy" emerged 14c. Meaning "unwilling to commit" is 1961.
coyote: 1759, Amer.Eng., from Mexican Sp., from Nahuatl coyotl.
coz: 1550s, familiar abbreviation of cousin.
coze (v.): to chat, 1828, perhaps from Fr. causer.
cozen: 1561, perhaps from Fr. cousiner "cheat on pretext of being a cousin;" or from M.E. cosyn "fraud, trickery" (1453), perhaps related to O.Fr. coçon "dealer," from L. cocionem "horse dealer."
cozy: 1709, colsie, Scottish dialect, perhaps of Scand. origin (cf. Norw. kose seg "be cozy"). In Britain, usually cosy.
cpr: by 1979, abbreviation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
cpu: by 1970, abbreviation of central processing unit.
crab: O.E. crabba, from a general Gmc. root (cf. Low Ger. krabben "to scratch, claw"). The constellation name is attested in Eng. from c.1000; the Crab Nebula (1868), however, is in Taurus, and is so called for its shape. Crab "fruit of the wild apple tree" (early 15c.) may be from unrelated Scandinavian scrab, of obscure origin. The combination of "bad-tempered, combative" and "sour" in the two words naturally yielded a meaning of "complain irritably," which is pre-1400. Crabgrass is c.1600, originally a marine grass of salt marshes; modern meaning is from 1743.
crabby: 1520s, in obs. sense "crooked, gnarled, rough," from extended sense of crab. Meaning "disagreeable, sour, peevish" is attested from 1776, Amer.Eng. Both senses were found earlier in crabbed (c.1510 and c.1300 respectively).
crack: O.E. cracian "make a sharp noise," from P.Gmc. *krakojan, probably onomatopoeic. The noun meaning "split, opening," is 14c. Meaning "try, attempt" first attested 1836, probably a hunting metaphor, from slang sense of "fire a gun." Meaning "rock cocaine" is first attested 1985. Cracked "mentally unsound" is 17c. (though the equivalent Gk. word was used in this sense by Aristophanes), while crack as in "top-notch, superior" is slang from 1793. Crackpot "pretentious, worthless person" dates from 1883. The superstition that it is bad luck to step on sidewalk cracks has been traced to c.1890.
crackdown: also crack down; 1935 (n.), 1940 (v.), from crack + down.
cracker: 1440, "hard wafer," but the specific application to a thin, crisp biscuit is 1739. Cracker-barrel (adj.) "emblematic of down-home ways and views" is from 1877. Cracker, Southern U.S. derogatory term for "poor, white trash" (1766), is from c.1450 crack "to boast" (e.g. not what it's cracked up to be), originally a Scottish word. Especially of Georgians by 1808, though often extended to residents of northern Florida.
"I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." [1766, G. Cochrane]
cracker-jack: also crackerjack, "something excellent," 1895, U.S. colloquialism, apparently a fanciful construction. The caramel-coated popcorn-and-peanuts confection was said to have been introduced at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893). Supposedly a salesman gave it the name when he tasted some and said, "That's a cracker-jack," using the then-popular expression. The name was trademarked 1896. The "Prize in Every Box" was introduced 1912.
crackhead: slang, "crack cocaine addict," by 1986, from crack (in the drug slang sense) + head. In earlier slang, crack-headed meant "crazy" (1796), from the literal sense of crack.
crackle (v.): c.1560, crackelen, frequentative of cracken "to crack." The noun is recorded from 1833.
crackpot: 1883, probably from pot in a slang sense of "head." Cf. crack-brain "crazy fellow" (c.1570).
cradle: O.E. cradol "little bed," from P.Gmc. *kradulas "basket." Cat's cradle is from 1768. Cradle-snatching "amorous pursuit of younger person" is 1925, U.S. slang.
craft: O.E. cræft "power, strength, might," from P.Gmc. *krab-/*kraf-. Sense shifted to "skill, art" (via a notion of "mental power"), which led to the n. meaning of "trade." Use for "small boat" is first recorded 1671, probably from some nautical sense of "vessels of small craft," referring either to the trade they did or the seamanship they required.
craftsman: mid-14c., craftes man, from craft + man. Written as one word from late 14c. Related: Craftsmanship (1650s).
crafty: O.E. cræftig "strong, powerful," later "skillful," degenerating by c.1200 to "cunning, sly."
crag: c.1300, probably from a Celtic source akin to O.Ir. crec "rock," and carrac "cliff," and Manx creg.
craggy: mid-15c., from crag.
cram: O.E. crammian "press something into something else," from P.Gmc. base *kram-/*krem-. Meaning "study intensely for an exam" is British student slang first recorded 1803.
cramp (n.): "muscle contraction," late 14c., from O.Fr. crampe, from a Frankish word (cf. O.H.G. krapmhe "cramp, spasm," related to kramph "bent, crooked"). The same P.Gmc. root yielded M.Du. crampe, M.L.G. krampe, one of which gave Eng. cramp "a metal bar bent at both ends" (c.1500), which yielded a metaphoric sense (first recorded 1719) of "something that confines or hinders." Writer's cramp is first attested 1853.
cranberry: 1647, Amer.Eng. adaptation of Low Ger. kraanbere, from kraan "crane" + M.L.G. bere "berry," perhaps from a resemblance between the plants' stamens and the beaks of cranes. Ger. and Du. settlers in the New World apparently recognized the similarity between the European berries (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and the larger N.Amer. variety (V. macrocarpum) and transferred the name. In England, they were marshwhort or fenberries, but the N.Amer. berries, and the name, were brought over late 17c. The native Algonquian name for the plant is represented by W.Abenai popokwa.
crane: O.E. cran "large wading bird," from PIE *ger- (cf. Gk. geranos, Welsh garan, Lith. garnys "heron, stork"), perhaps echoic of its cry. Metaphoric use for "machine with a long arm" is first attested 1299. Verb meaning "to stretch (the neck)" is from 1799.
cranial: 1800, from Mod.L. cranium, from Gk. kranion "skull" (see cranium).
craniotomy: 1855, from Mod.L., from Gk. kranion "skull" (see cranium) + connecting element -o- + -tomy.
cranium: 1540s, from M.L. cranium, from Gk. kranion "skull," related to kara "head." Strictly, the bones which enclose the brain.
crank: O.E. cranc- preserved only in crancstæf "a weaver's instrument," from P.Gmc. base *krank-, and related to crincan "to bend, yield." Eng. retains the literal sense of the ancient root, while Ger. and Du. krank "sick," formerly "weak, small," is a figurative use. The sense of "an eccentric person," especially one who is irrationally fixated, is first recorded 1833, said to be from the crank of a barrel organ, which makes it play the same tune over and over, but more likely a back-formation from cranky "cross-tempered, irritable" (1821), and evolving from earlier senses of "a twist or fanciful turn of speech" (1594) or "inaccessible hole or crevice" (1562). Popularized 1881 when it was applied to Horace Greeley during Guiteau's trial. The verb meaning "turning a crank" is first attested 1908, with reference to automobile engines.
crankshaft: 1854, from crank + shaft. The basic form of the mechanism appears to date from Roman times.
cranny: c.1440, supposedly from M.Fr. cran "notch, fissure," from crener "to notch, split," from M.L. crenare, prob. from L. cernere "to separate, sift" (see crisis). But OED casts doubt on this derivation.
crap: "defecate" 1846 (v.), 1898 (n.), from one of a cluster of words generally applied to things cast off or discarded (e.g. "weeds growing among corn" (1425), "residue from renderings" (1490s), 18c. underworld slang for "money," and in Shropshire, "dregs of beer or ale"), all probably from M.E. crappe "grain that was trodden underfoot in a barn, chaff" (c.1440), from M.Fr. crape "siftings," from O.Fr. crappe, from M.L. crappa, crapinum "chaff." Sense of "rubbish, nonsense" also first recorded 1898. Despite folk etymology insistence, not from Thomas Crapper (1837-1910) who was, however, a busy plumber and may have had some minor role in the development of modern toilets. The name Crapper is a northern form of Cropper (attested from 1221), an occupational surname, obviously, but the exact reference is unclear.
crape: 1633, Anglicized spelling of crepe (q.v.).
crappy: 1846, from crap.
craps: 1843, Amer. Eng., unrelated to the term for excrement, from Louisiana Fr. craps, from Fr., corruption of Eng. crabs (see crab), 18c. slang for "a throw of two or three," which is perhaps from the crab sense in crab apple.
crapulent: 1650s, from L. crapulentus "very drunk," from crapula "excessive drinking," from Gk. kraipale (see crapulous). Related: Crapulence (1727).
crapulous: 1530s, "sick from too much drinking," from L. crapula, from Gk. kraipale "hangover, drunken headache, nausea from debauching." The Romans used it for drunkenness itself. English has used it in both senses.
crash: c.1400, crasschen "break in pieces," appeared 14c. with no identifiable ancestors or relatives, and is probably onomatopoeic. Sense of "financial collapse" is 1817, "collision" is 1910, "falling airplane" is W.W.I. Computing sense is 1973, which makes it one of the earliest computer jargon words. Meaning "break into a party, etc." is 1922. Slang meaning "sleep" dates from 1943; especially from 1965.
crass: 1545, from M.Fr. crasse, from L. crassus "solid, thick, dense." The literal sense has always been rare in Eng.
crate: 1688, from L. cratis "wickerwork, lattice," or from Du. krat "basket."
crater: 1613, from Gk. krater "bowl for mixing wine with water," from kera- "to mix." used in L. for bowl-shaped mouth of a volcano. Applied to features of the Moon since 1860.
cravat: 1650s, from Fr. cravate, from Cravate "Croatian," from Ger. Krabate, from Serbo-Croat Hrvat "a Croat," from O.Slav. Churvatinu "Croat," lit. "mountaineer, highlander," from churva "mountain" (cf. Rus. khrebet "mountain chain"). Cravats came into fashion 1650s in imitation of linen scarves worn by Croatian mercenaries in the French army in the Thirty Years War.
crave: O.E. crafian "demand by right," from N.Gmc. *krabojan, perhaps related to craft. Current sense "to long for" is c.1400, probably through intermediate meaning "to ask very earnestly" (c.1300).
craven: early 13c., perhaps from O.Fr. cravante "defeated," pp. of cravanter, from L. crepare "to crack, creak." Sense affected by crave and moved from "defeated" to "cowardly" (1580s) perhaps via intermediary sense of "confess oneself defeated."
cravings: "urgent desires," 17c., from craving (mid-15c.); see crave.