Online Etymology Dictionary

American dream: coined 1931 by J.T. Adams (1878-1949), U.S. writer and historian, in "Epic of America."
[The American Dream is] "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." [Adams]
Others have used the term as they will.
dream: c.1250 in the sense "sequence of sensations passing through a sleeping person's mind," probably related to O.N. draumr, Dan. drøm, Swed. drom, O.S. drom, Du. droom, O.H.G. troum, Ger. traum "dream," perhaps from W.Gmc. *draugmas "deception, illusion, phantasm" (cf. O.S. bidriogan, O.H.G. triogan, Ger. trügen "to deceive, delude," O.N. draugr "ghost, apparition"). Possible cognates outside Gmc. are Skt. druh- "seek to harm, injure," Avestan druz- "lie, deceive." But O.E. dream meant only "joy, mirth," also "music." Words for "sleeping vision" in O.E. were mæting and swefn (from PIE *swep-no-, cf. Gk. hypnos). Much study has failed to prove that O.E. dream "noisy merriment" is the root of the modern word for "sleeping vision," despite being identical in spelling. Either the meaning of the word changed dramatically or "vision" was an unrecorded secondary O.E. meaning of dream, or there are two separate words here. "It seems as if the presence of dream 'joy, mirth, music,' had caused dream 'dream' to be avoided, at least in literature, and swefn, lit. 'sleep,' to be substituted" [OED]. Dream in the sense of "ideal or aspiration" is from 1931, from earlier sense of "something of dream-like beauty or charm" (1888). Dreamy is 1567 in the sense "full of dreams;" 1941 as "perfect, ideal." Dreamboat "romantically desirable person" is from 1947. Dreamland is c.1834; dreamscape is 1959, in a Sylvia Plath poem.
African-American: isolated instances from at least 1863 (Afro-American is attested in 1853, in freemen's publications in Canada), but the modern use is a re-invention first attested 1969 (in reference to the African-American Teachers Association) which became the preferred term in some circles for "U.S. black" (n. or adj.) by the late 1980s. Mencken, 1921, reports Aframerican "is now very commonly used in the Negro press."
Amex: blend of American Express, trademark registered in U.S. 1950 by American Express Co.
un-American: 1818, from un- (1) "not" + American (see America).
"Everything is un-American that tends either to government by a plutocracy or government by a mob." [Theodore Roosevelt, 1917]
dreamt: past tense and pp. of dream.
Anglo: "American, English-speaking white person," 1941, southwestern U.S., from Anglo-American (1738), from Anglo-, comb. form of Angle, as used in Anglo-Saxon (q.v.) + American. Anglo was used similarly in Canada from 1800 and Britain from 1964.
Amerind: 1899, coined by Maj. John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) at the Bureau of American Ethnology, where he was director, from American + Indian.
swagger: 1590, first recorded in Shakespeare ("Midsummer Night's Dream," III.i.79), probably a frequentative form of swag (v.). The noun is attested from 1725.
son of a bitch: 1707 as a direct phrase, but implied much earlier.
"Abide þou þef malicious!
Biche-sone þou drawest amis
þou schalt abigge it ywis!"
["Of Arthour & of Merlin," c.1330]
"Probably the most common American vulgarity from about the middle of the eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth" [Rawson].
"Our maid-of-all-work in that department [indecency] is son-of-a-bitch, which seems as pale and ineffectual to a Slav or a Latin as fudge does to us. There is simply no lift in it, no shock, no sis-boom-ah. The dumbest policeman in Palermo thinks of a dozen better ones between breakfast and the noon whistle." [H.L. Mencken, "The American Language," 4th ed., 1936, p.317-8]
Abbreviated form SOB from 1918. Mencken, complaining of the tepidity of the American vocabulary of profanity, writes that the toned-down form son-of-a-gun "is so lacking in punch that the Italians among us have borrowed it as a satirical name for an American: la sanemagogna is what they call him, and by it they indicate their contempt for his backwardness in the art that is one of their great glories."
Xanadu: Mongol city founded by Kublai Khan, 1625, Anglicized form of Shang-tu. Sense of "dream place of magnificence and luxury" derives from Coleridge's poem (1816).
buckskin: 1433, "skin of a buck," from buck (n.) + skin. Meaning "leather made from buckskin" was in use by 1804. The word was a nickname for American troops in the American Revolution.
squaw: "American Indian woman," 1634, from Massachuset (Algonquian) squa "woman" (cf. also Narraganset squaws "woman"). "Over the years it has come to have a derogatory sense and is now considered offensive by many Native Americans" [Bright]. Widespread in U.S. place names, sometimes involving a translation of local American Indian words for "woman."
sansei: "American born of nisei parents; third-generation Japanese-American," 1945, from Japanese san "three, third" + sei "generation."
Anti-American (adj.): also antiamerican, 1793, in ref. to British parliamentary policies, from anti- + American.
Yankee: 1683, a name applied disparagingly by Du. settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) to English colonists in neighboring Connecticut. It may be from Du. Janke, lit. "Little John," dim. of common personal name Jan; or it may be from Jan Kes familiar form of "John Cornelius," or perhaps an alt. of Jan Kees, dial. variant of Jan Kaas, lit. "John Cheese," the generic nickname the Flemings used for Dutchmen. It originally seems to have been applied insultingly to Dutch, especially freebooters, before they turned around and slapped it on the English. A less-likely theory is that it represents some southern New England Algonquian language mangling of English. In Eng. a term of contempt (1750s) before its use as a general term for "native of New England" (1765); during the American Revolution it became a disparaging British word for all American native or inhabitants. Shortened form Yank in reference to "an American" first recorded 1778.
neocon: by 1987, abbreviation for neo-conservative in the U.S. political sense.
"Neoconservatism is the first variant of American conservatism in the past century that is in the 'American grain.' It is hopeful, not lugubrious; forward-looking, not nostalgic; and its general tone is cheerful, not grim or dyspeptic. Its 20th-century heroes tend to be TR, FDR, and Ronald Reagan. Such Republican and conservative worthies as Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, and Barry Goldwater are politely overlooked." [Irving Kristol, "The Neoconservative Persuasion," in "The Weekly Standard," Aug. 25, 2003]
kike: derogatory slang for "Jew," 1904, perhaps originating among Ger.-American Jews in reference to newcomers from Eastern Europe, whose names ended in -ki or -ky. Philip Cowen, first editor of "The American Hebrew," suggests a source in Yiddish kikel "circle." According to him, Jewish immigrants, ignorant of writing with the Latin alphabet, signed their entry forms with a circle, eschewing the "X" as a sign of Christianity. Ellis Island immigration inspectors began calling such people kikels, and the term shortened as it passed into general use.
daydream: 1680s (n.), from day + dream. As a verb, attested from 1820. Related: Daydreaming (1820).
cha-cha: "type of Latin-American ballroom dance," 1954, echoic of the music.
killdeer: 1731, Amer.Eng., species of North American ring-plover, the name imitative of its cry.
reverie: c.1366, "wild conduct, frolic," from O.Fr. reverie "revelry, raving, delirium," from resver "to dream, wander, rave," of uncertain origin (also the root of rave). Meaning "daydream" is first attested 1657. As a type of musical composition, it is attested from 1880.
Puck: "mischievous fairy" (in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), probably from pouke "devil, evil spirit" (c.1300), from O.E. puca, cognate with O.N. puki "devil," of unknown origin (cf. pug). Capitalized since 16c. His disguised name was Robin Goodfellow.
rapt: c.1400, "carried away" (in an ecstatic trance), from L. raptus, pp. of rapere "seize, carry off" (see rapid). Sense of "engrossed" first recorded 1509. As a pp. adj. in Eng., the back-formed verb rap "to affect with rapture" was common c.1600-1750. The fig. sense is from the notion of "carried up into Heaven (bodily or in a dream)," as in a saint's vision.
oneirocritic: "a judge or interpreter of dreams," 1588 (implied in oneirocritical), from Gk. oneirokritikos "pertaining to the interpretation of dreams," from oneiros "a dream" + krites "discerner, judge" (see critic).
doughboy: "U.S. soldier," 1865, said to have been in oral use from 1854, or from the Mexican-American War (1847), it is perhaps from resemblance of big buttons on old uniforms to biscuits of that name, but there are various other conjectures.
buck-eye: "American horse chestnut" (1763), said to be so called from resemblance to a stag's eye. Meaning "native of Ohio" is attested since 1822.
Tony: 1947, awards given by American Theatre Wing (New York), from nickname of U.S. actress, manager, and producer Antoinette Perry (1888-1946).
skedaddle: "to run away," 1861, American Civil War military slang, of unknown origin, perhaps connected to earlier use in northern England dialect with a meaning "to spill."
canoodle: by 1850s, "to indulge in caresses and fondling endearments" [OED], U.S. slang, of uncertain origin. The earliest known source is 1859, British, identifying the word as American.
JAP: acronym for Jewish-American Princess, attested from mid-1970s.
banana republic: "small Central American state with an economy dependent on banana production," 1935, Amer.Eng.
Crow: Indian tribe of the American Midwest, the name is a rough translation of their own name, Apsaruke.
dory (1): "small, flat-bottomed boat," 1709, Amer.Eng., perhaps from a West Indian or Central American Indian language.
powwow: 1624, "priest, sorcerer," from a southern New England Algonquian language (probably Narragansett) powwow "shaman, medicine man, Indian priest," from a verb meaning "to use divination, to dream," from Proto-Algonquian *pawe:wa "he dreams, one who dreams." Meaning "magical ceremony among N.Amer. Indians" is recorded from 1663. Sense of "council, conference, meeting" is first recorded 1812. Verb sense of "to confer, discuss" is attested from 1780.
chili: 1662, from Nahuatl xilli, native name for the peppers. Not named for the South American country.
grouper: 1697, from Port. garupa, probably of South American Indian origin, perhaps from a word in Tupi.
A.A.A.: abbreviation of American Automobile Association, attested 1902, Amer.Eng., the year the organization was founded.
catalpa: c.1740, from an American Indian language of the Carolinas, perhaps Creek (Muskogean) /katalpa/, lit. "head-wing."
nimby: acronym for not in my back yard, 1980, Amer.Eng., supposedly coined by Walter Rodgers of the American Nuclear Society.
legion: c.1200, from O.Fr. legion "Roman legion" (3,000 to 6,000 men, under Marius usually with attached cavalry), from L. legionem (nom. legio) "body of soldiers," from legere "to choose, gather," also "to read" (see lecture). Generalized sense of "a large number" is due to (inaccurate) translations of allusive phrase in Mark v.9. American Legion, U.S. association of ex-servicemen, founded in 1919; Legionnaires' Disease, caused by Legionella pneumophilia, was named for outbreak July 1976 at American Legion convention in Philadelphia's Bellevue Stratford Hotel. Legion of Honor is Fr. légion d'honneur, an order of distinction founded by Napoleon in 1802. Foreign Legion is Fr. légion étrangère "body of foreign volunteers in a modern army," originally Polish, Belgian, etc. units in French army; they traditionally served in colonies or distant expeditions.
rebel (adj.): c.1300, from O.Fr. rebelle (12c.), from L. rebellis "insurgent, rebellious," from rebellare "to rebel, wage war against," from re- "opposite, against," or perhaps "again" + bellare "wage war," from bellum "war." The noun is attested from c.1400. Meaning "supporter of the American cause in the War of Independence" is from 1775; sense of "supporter of the Southern cause in the American Civil War" is attested from April 15, 1861.
"The Southern troops, when charging or to express their delight, always yell in a manner peculiar to themselves. ... The Confederate officers declare that the rebel yell has a particular merit, and always produces a salutary and useful effect upon their adversaries. A corps is sometimes spoken of as a 'good yelling regiment.' " [A.J.L. Fremantle, "Three Months in the Southern States," 1863]
The verb (1375) is from O.Fr. rebeller, from L. rebellare. Rebellion first attested c.1340; rebellious is from 1432.
DAE: the usual acronym for "A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles," published in four volumes between 1936 and 1944, edited by Sir William A. Craigie and James R. Hulbert.
haunt: early 13c., from O.Fr. hanter "to frequent, resort to, be familiar with" (12c.), probably from O.N. heimta "bring home," from P.Gmc. *khaimat-janan, from *khaimaz- (see home). Use in ref. to a spirit returning to the house where it had lived perhaps was in P.Gmc., but it was reinforced by Shakespeare's plays, and it is first recorded 1590 in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The noun meaning "spirit that haunts a place, ghost" is first recorded 1843, originally in stereotypical U.S. black speech. Haunts (n.) "place or places one frequents" is early 14c., from the verb.
paca: Central and South American rodent, 1657, from Sp., from Tupi (Brazil) paca.
atlatl: Native American throwing stick, 1871, from Nahuatl (Aztec) atlatl "spear-thrower."
Amtrak: U.S. government-run railway corporation, 1971, contraction of American Track. Also is known as National Railway Passenger Corp.
somnolence: late 14c., from O.Fr. sompnolence, from L. somnolentia "sleepiness," from somnolentus, from somnus "sleep," from PIE *swep-no, from base *swep- "sleep" (cf. Skt. svapnah, Avestan kvafna-, Gk. hypnos, Lith. sapnas, O.C.S. sunu, O.Ir. suan, Welsh hun "sleep," L. sopor "a deep sleep," O.E. swefn, O.N. svefn "a dream").
Gatling gun: 1870, named for designer Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling (1818-1903); first used in late battles of American Civil War.
Gallup poll: 1940, from George H. Gallup (1901-1984), U.S. journalist and statistician, who in 1935 set up the American Institute of Public Opinion.