carpe diem Look up carpe diem at Dictionary.com
1817, from L., "enjoy the day," lit. "pluck the day (while it is ripe)," an aphorism from Horace ("Odes" I.xi), from PIE *kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest."
carpel Look up carpel at Dictionary.com
1835, from Fr. carpel (1817), from Gk. karpos "fruit," from PIE base *kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest" (see harvest).
carpenter Look up carpenter at Dictionary.com
early 14c. (attested from 1121 as a surname), from O.N.Fr. carpentier (O.Fr. charpentier), from L.L. (artifex) carpentarius "wagon (maker)," from L. carpentum "two-wheeled carriage, cart," from Gaul., from O.Celt. *carpentom (cf. O.Ir. carpat, Gael. carbad "carriage"), probably related to Gaul. karros (see car). Replaced O.E. treowwyrhta. First record of carpenter bee is from 1844.
carpentry Look up carpentry at Dictionary.com
late 14c., carpentrie, from O.Fr. carpenterie (Fr. charpenterie), from L. carpentaria (fabrica) "carriage-maker's (workshop);" see carpenter.
carpet Look up carpet at Dictionary.com
1291, "coarse cloth;" 1345, "tablecloth, bedspread," from O.Fr. carpite, from M.L. carpita "thick woolen cloth," pp. of L. carpere "to card, pluck," probably because it was made from unraveled, shreded, "plucked" fabric, from PIE *kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest" (see harvest). Meaning shifted 15c. to floor coverings. The verb meaning "to cover with a carpet" is from c.1626. From 16c.-19c. often with a tinge of contempt, when used of men (e.g. carpet-knight, 1576) by assoc. with luxury, ladies' boudoirs, and drawing rooms. On the carpet "summoned for reprimand" is 1900, U.S. colloquial (but cf. carpet (v.) "call (someone) to be reprimanded," 1823, British servants' slang). To sweep (something) under the carpet in the fig. sense is first recorded 1963.
carpetbagger Look up carpetbagger at Dictionary.com
1868, Amer.Eng., scornful appellation for Northerners who went South after the fall of the CSA seeking private gain or political advancement. The name is based on the image of men arriving with all their worldly goods in a big carpetbag (1830), a soft-cover traveling case made of carpet fabric. Sense extended to any opportunist from out of the area.
carpool Look up carpool at Dictionary.com
by 1942, Amer.Eng., from car + pool (2).
carport Look up carport at Dictionary.com
1939, Amer.Eng., from car + port (1).
carpus Look up carpus at Dictionary.com
1679, from Mod.L. carpus, from Gk. karpos "wrist."
carrack Look up carrack at Dictionary.com
late 14c., from O.Fr. carraque, from Arabic qaraqir, pl. of qurqur "merchant ship," perhaps from L. carricare (see charge).
carrefour Look up carrefour at Dictionary.com
1477, "place where four ways meet," from O.Fr. carrefor (13c., quarrefour), from L. quadrifurcus "four-forked," from quatuor "four" + furca "fork." "Formerly quite naturalized, but now treated only as French" [OED].
carrel Look up carrel at Dictionary.com
1590s, from M.L. carula "small study in a cloister," perhaps from L. corolla "little crown, garland," used in various senses of "ring" (e.g. of Stonehenge: "ŝis Bretons renged about ŝe feld, ŝe karole of ŝe stones beheld," 1330); extended to precincts and spaces enclosed by rails, etc. Specific sense of "private cubicle in a library" is from 1919.
carriage Look up carriage at Dictionary.com
1388, "act of carrying, means of conveyance," from Anglo-Fr. cariage "cart, carriage," from carier "to carry" (see carry). Specific sense of "horse-drawn, wheeled vehicle for hauling people" first attested 1706.
carrion Look up carrion at Dictionary.com
early 13c., from Anglo-Fr. carogne, from V.L. *caronia "carcass," from L. caro "meat."
carrot Look up carrot at Dictionary.com
1533, from M.Fr. carrotte, from L. carota, from Gk. karoton "carrot," from PIE *kre-, from base *ker- "horn, head," so called for its horn-like shape. Planted as a garden vegetable by 1609 by Jamestown colonists.
carrousel Look up carrousel at Dictionary.com
variant of carousel.
carry Look up carry at Dictionary.com
c.1320, from Anglo-Fr. carier "to transport in a vehicle," from Gallo-Romance *carrizare, from L.L. carricare, from L. carrum (see car). Sense of "gain victory in an election" is from 1619. Carrier "person or animal that carries and disseminates infection without suffering obvious disease" is from 1899; genetic sense is 1933. As a short form of aircraft carrier it dates from 1917. Carrier pigeon is from 1641. Carry-all in the baggage sense is from 1884. Carrying capacity is attested from 1883. Carry on "continue to advance" is from 1649; carryings-on "questionable doings" is from 1663. Carry-castle (1598) was an old descriptive term for an elephant.
cart Look up cart at Dictionary.com
c.1200, from O.N. kartr, akin to O.E. crĉt "chariot," perhaps orig. "body of a cart made of wickerwork, hamper;" related to O.E. cradol (see cradle). The verb meaning "to carry in a cart" is from c.1440.
cartage Look up cartage at Dictionary.com
1428, from cart.
carte blanche Look up carte blanche at Dictionary.com
1707, from Fr., lit. "blank paper" (see card (n.)); figurative sense of "full discretionary power" is from 1766.
carte-de-visite Look up carte-de-visite at Dictionary.com
1861, from Fr., lit. "visiting card" (see card (n.)); photograph portrait mounted on a 3.5 by 2.5 inch card.
cartel Look up cartel at Dictionary.com
1560, "a written challenge," from M.Fr. cartel, from It. cartello, dim. of carta "card." It came to mean "written agreement between challengers" (1692). Sense of "a commercial trust" comes 1902, via Ger. Kartell.
Cartesian Look up Cartesian at Dictionary.com
1656, from Cartesius, Latinized form of the name of Fr. philosopher and mathematician René Descartes (1596-1650).
Carthage Look up Carthage at Dictionary.com
ancient city of North Africa, from Phoenician quart khadash "new town."
Carthusian Look up Carthusian at Dictionary.com
c.1394, from L. Cartusianus, in reference to an austere order of monks founded 1086 by St. Bruno at Chartreux, village in Dauphiné, France.
cartilage Look up cartilage at Dictionary.com
1540s, from L. cartilago (gen. cartilaginis) "cartilage, gristle."
cartilaginous Look up cartilaginous at Dictionary.com
1540s, from L. cartilaginosus, from cartilaginem (nom. cartilago) "cartilage, gristle."
cartography Look up cartography at Dictionary.com
1859, from Fr. cartographie, from M.L. carta (see card (n.)) + Fr. -graphie, from Gk. -graphein "to write, to draw."
carton Look up carton at Dictionary.com
1816, from Fr. carton "pasteboard," from It. cartone "pasteboard," augmentive of M.L. carta "paper" (see card (n.)). Originally the material for making paper boxes; extended 1906 to the boxes themselves.
cartoon Look up cartoon at Dictionary.com
1671, from Fr. carton, from It. cartone "strong, heavy paper, pasteboard," thus "preliminary sketches made by artists on such paper," augmentive of M.L. carta "paper" (see card (n.)). Extension to comical drawings in newspapers and magazines is 1843. Cartoonist first recorded 1880.
"Punch has the benevolence to announce, that in an early number of his ensuing Volume he will astonish the Parliamentary Committee by the publication of several exquisite designs, to be called Punch's Cartoons!" ["Punch," June 24, 1843]
cartouche Look up cartouche at Dictionary.com
1611, Fr. form of cartridge (q.v.). Application to Egyptian hieroglyphics dates from 1830, on resemblance to rolled paper cartridges.
cartridge Look up cartridge at Dictionary.com
1579, corruption of Fr. cartouche "a full charge for a pistol," from It. cartoccio "roll of paper," an augmentive form of M.L. carta "paper" (see card (n.)). The notion is of a roll of paper containing a charge for a firearm.
cartwheel Look up cartwheel at Dictionary.com
late 14c., "wheel of a cart." Meaning "lateral somersault" is recorded from 1864; as a verb, from 1920.
carve Look up carve at Dictionary.com
O.E. ceorfan (class III strong verb; past tense cearf, pp. corfen), from W.Gmc. *kerfan, from PIE base *gerebh- "to scratch," making carve the Eng. cognate of Gk. graphein. Once extensively used, most senses now usurped by cut. Meaning specialized to sculpture, meat, etc., by 16c. Strong conjugation became weak, but archaic carven is still encountered. In a set of dining chairs, the one with the arms, usually at the head of the table, is the carver (1927), reserved for the one who carves.
caryatid Look up caryatid at Dictionary.com
1563, "carved female figure used as a column," from M.Fr. cariatide, from L. caryatides, from Gk. Karyatides "priestess of Artemis at Caryae" (Gk. Karyai), a town in Laconia where dance festivals were held in Artemis' temple.
casaba Look up casaba at Dictionary.com
late 19c., from Kasaba, old name of Turgutlu, in Aegean Turkey, whence the melons were imported to U.S. The old name is lit. "the town."
Casablanca Look up Casablanca at Dictionary.com
city in Morocco, Sp., lit. "white house."
Casanova Look up Casanova at Dictionary.com
1888, from Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seignalt (1725-98), legendary debaucher.
casbah Look up casbah at Dictionary.com
from Fr. casbah, from N.African Arab dialect kasba "fortress."
cascade Look up cascade at Dictionary.com
1641, from Fr., from It. cascata "waterfall," from cascare "to fall," from V.L. *casicare, from L. casum, pp. of cadere "to fall" (see case (1)). The verb is attested from 1702.
case (1) Look up case at Dictionary.com
"state of affairs," early 13c., from O.Fr. cas "an event," from L. casus "a chance," lit. "a falling," from cas-, pp. stem of cadere "to fall, sink, settle down, decline, perish" (used widely: of the setting of heavenly bodies, the fall of Troy, suicides), from PIE base *kad- "to lay out, fall or make fall, yield, break up" (cf. Skt. sad- "to fall down," Armenian chacnum "to fall, become low," perhaps also M.Ir. casar "hail, lightning"). The notion being "that which falls" as "that which happens." Widespread extended senses in law, medicine, grammar, etc. In case "in the event" is recorded from mid-14c. Case history is from 1912, originally medical; case study is from 1933, originally legal.
case (2) Look up case at Dictionary.com
"receptacle," c.1300, from O.N.Fr. casse, O.Fr. chasse, from L. capsa "box," from capere "to take, hold" (see capable). The verb meaning "examine, inspect" (usually prior to robbing) is Amer.Eng. slang first recorded 1915. Artillery sense is from 1660s, from case-shot "small projectiles put in cases" (1620s). Reference in the printing trade (first recorded 1580s) to the two trays where compositors keep their types in separate compartments for easy access led to upper case for capitals and lower case for small letters.
casein Look up casein at Dictionary.com
1841, from L. caseus "cheese" (see cheese).
casement Look up casement at Dictionary.com
1430, probably aphetic of O.Fr. dial. enchassement "window frame," from en- "in," prefix forming verbs, + casse "case, frame" (see case (2)) + -ment. Or possibly from Anglo-L. cassementum, from casse. The Irish surname is originally Mc Casmonde (attested from 1429), from Mac Asmundr, from Ir. mac "son of" + O.N. Asmundr "god protector."
cash Look up cash at Dictionary.com
1593, from M.Fr. caisse "money box," from Prov. caissa, It. cassa, from L. capsa "box" (see case (2)); originally the money box, but the secondary sense of the money in it became sole meaning 18c. Verb meaning "to convert to cash" (as a check, etc.) is first attested 1811. Like most financial terms in Eng., ultimately from It. (cf. bankrupt, etc.). Not related to (but influencing the form of) the colonial British cash "Indian monetary system, Chinese coin, etc.," which is from Tamil kasu, Skt. karsha, Sinhalese kasi. Cash crop is attested from 1869; cash flow from 1954.
cashew Look up cashew at Dictionary.com
1704, aphetic of Fr. acajou, from older Port. acajú from Tupi (Brazil) acajuba, name of the tree that produces the nut.
cashier (n.) Look up cashier at Dictionary.com
"person in charge of money," 1596, from M.Fr. caissier "treasurer," from caisse "money box" (see cash).
cashier (v.) Look up cashier at Dictionary.com
"dismiss," 1592, from M.Du. casseren "to cast off, discharge," from Fr. casser "to discharge, annul," from L.L. cassare "annul," from L. cassus "void, empty" (see quash).
cashmere Look up cashmere at Dictionary.com
1684, old spelling of Kashmir, Himalayan kingdom where wool was obtained from long-haired goats. The name is from Skt. Kashypamara "land of Kashyap," said to be the name of a renowned sage. As a name for this kind of woolen fabric, favored for shawls, etc., or for the shawls themselves, it is attested from 1822.
Casimir Look up Casimir at Dictionary.com
proper name, from Pol. Kazimir, lit. "proclaimer of peace," from kazac "to preach" + mir "peace" (see Mir).