Online Etymology Dictionary

magazine: 1583, "place where goods are stored, esp. military ammunition," from M.Fr. magasin "warehouse, depot, store," from It. magazzino, from Arabic makhazin, pl. of makhzan "storehouse," from khazana "to store up." The original sense is almost obsolete; meaning "periodical journal" dates from the publication of the first one, "Gentleman's Magazine," in 1731, from earlier use of the word for a printed list of military stores and information, or in a fig. sense, from the publication being a "storehouse" of information.
brinkmanship: also brinksmanship, with parasitic -s-, from brink (the image of the brink of war dates to at least 1840). Associated with the policies advocated by John Foster Dulles (1888-1959), U.S. Secretary of State 1953-1959. The word springs from Dulles' philosophy as outlined in a magazine interview [with Time-Life Washington bureau chief James Shepley] early 1956:
"The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art. If you cannot master it, you inevitably get into war. If you try to run away from it, if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost."
The quote was widely criticized by the Eisenhower Administration's opponents, and the first attested use of brinkmanship seems to have been in such a context, a few weeks after the magazine appeared, by Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson criticizing Dulles for "boasting of his brinkmanship, ... the art of bringing us to the edge of the nuclear abyss."
byline: 1926, "line giving the name of the writer of an article in a newspaper or magazine;" they typically read BY ________.
science fiction: 1929 (first attested in "Science Wonder Stories" magazine), though there is an isolated use from 1851; abbreviated form sci-fi is from 1955.
socialite: 1928, probably a coinage among writers and editors at "Time" magazine, perhaps as a contraction of social light, in imitation of words in -ite.
audiophile: 1951, originally in "High Fidelity" magazine, from audio- + -phile.
cheesecake: c.1440, from cheese + cake. In fig. uses for "soft, effeminate" from 18c. Slang meaning dates from 1934, when a "Time" magazine article defined it as "leg-pictures of sporty females." In its early years the word often was associated with Marlene Dietrich.
flack: "publicity or press agent," 1946, said to have been coined in show biz magazine "Variety" (but this is not the first attested use), supposedly from name of Gene Flack, a movie agent, but influenced by flak.
zine: 1965, short for fanzine (1949), from fan + suffix abstracted from magazine.
Jugendstil: Ger. equivalent of art nouveau, from "Jugend," lit. "youth," name of a Ger. magazine begun in 1896 + stil "style."
mag: "car wheel made of magnesium alloy," 1969. As an abbreviation of magazine, it dates from 1801. As a nickname for Margaret it is known since M.E. (see magpie).
cleavage: 1816, in geology, "action of splitting (rocks or gems) along natural fissures," from cleave (1). General meaning "action or state of cleaving or being cleft" is from 1867. The sense of "cleft between a woman's breasts in low-cut clothing" is first recorded 1946, when it was defined in a "Time" magazine article as the "Johnston Office trade term for the shadowed depression dividing an actress' bosom into two distinct sections" [Aug. 5].
centerfold: "fold-out center spread of a magazine or newspaper," by 1954, from center + fold. Used especially for illustrations of comely women, hence "woman who poses as a centerfold model" (by 1965).
factoid: 1973, from fact + -oid, first explained, if not coined, by Norman Mailer.
"Factoids ... that is, facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority." [N. Mailer, "Marilyn," 1973]
leaflet: 1787 as a term in botany; 1867 as a term in printing and publication; dim. of leaf (q.v.) in the book sense.
"A newspaperman asked the British authorities for a copy of the leaflets distributed in Germany by British airplanes. According to the London Daily Herald, his request was refused with the following answer: "Copies are not given out, as they might fall into enemy hands." ["The Living Age" magazine, Sept. 1939-Feb. 1940]
auntie: 1792, also aunty, familiar dim. form of aunt (q.v.). As a form of kindly address to an older woman to whom one is not related, attested from 1835, originally in southern U.S., of elderly slave women.
"The negro no longer submits with grace to be called 'uncle' or 'auntie' as of yore." ["Harper's Magazine," October 1883]
pulp: 1563, from L. pulpa "animal or plant pulp, pith of wood." The adjective meaning "sensational" is from pulp magazine (1931), so called from pulp in sense of "the type of rough paper used in cheaply made magazines and books" (1727).
zilch: "nothing," 1966, from earlier sense of "meaningless speech" (1960), originally Mr. Zilch, (1931) comic character in the magazine "Ballyhoo." Perhaps from U.S. college slang (early 1900s) Joe Zilsch "an insignificant person." Probably a nonsense syllable, but Zilch is an actual Ger. surname of Slavic origin.
Wardour-street: "affected pseudo-archaic diction of historical novels," 1888, from street in London lined with shops selling imitation-antique furniture.
"This is not literary English of any date; this is Wardour-Street Early English -- a perfectly modern article with a sham appearance of the real antique about it." [A. Ballantyne, "Wardour-Street English," Longman's Magazine, October, 1888]
flabbergasted: 1772, mentioned (with bored) in a magazine article as a new vogue word, perhaps from some dialect (in 1823 flabbergast was noted as a Sussex word), likely an arbitrary formation from flabby or flapper and aghast.
gung ho: 1942, slang motto of Carlson's Raiders, (2nd Marine Raider Battalion, under Lt. Col. Evans Carlson, 1896-1947), U.S. guerrilla unit operating in the Pacific in World War II, from Chinese kung ho "work together, cooperate." Widely adopted in Amer.Eng. c.1959.
"Borrowing an idea from China, Carlson frequently has what he calls 'kung-hou' meetings .... Problems are threshed out and orders explained." ["New York Times Magazine," Nov. 8, 1942]
in-law: 1894, "anyone of a relationship not natural," abstracted from father-in-law, etc.
"The position of the 'in-laws' (a happy phrase which is attributed ... to her Majesty, than whom no one can be better acquainted with the article) is often not very apt to promote happiness." ["Blackwood's Magazine," 1894]
The earliest recorded use of the phrase is in brother-in-law (13c.); the law is Canon Law, which defines degrees of relationship within which marriage is prohibited.
avuncular: 1831, from L. avunculus "maternal uncle," dim. of avus (see uncle). Used humorously for "of a pawnbroker" (uncle was slang for "pawnbroker" from c.1600 through 19c.).
"My only good suit is at present under the avuncular protection." ["Fraser's Magazine," 1832]
funky: 1784, "old, musty," in reference to cheeses, then "repulsive," from funk (2). It began to develop an approving sense in jazz slang c.1900, probably on the notion of "earthy, strong, deeply felt." Funky also was used early 20c. by white writers in reference to body odor allegedly peculiar to blacks. The word reached wider popularity c.1954 (e.g. definition in "Time" magazine, Nov. 8, 1954) and in the 1960s acquired a broad slang sense of "fine, stylish, excellent."
periodic: 1642, from Fr. périodique (14c.), from L. periodicus, from periodus (see period). Periodical "magazine that publishes regularly" is first attested 1798. Periodic table in chemistry is from notion of the arrangement, in which similar properties recur at intervals in elements in the same area as you read down the rows of the table. This sense of the word is attested fromj 1872.
fleet (n.): O.E. fleot "ship, floating vessel," from fleotan "to float," from P.Gmc. *fleut-, from PIE base *pleu- "to flow, run, swim." Sense of "naval force" is pre-1200. The O.E. word also meant "creek, inlet, flow of water," especially one into the Thames near Ludgate Hill, which lent its name to Fleet Street (home of newspaper and magazine houses, standing for "the English press" since 1882), Fleet prison, etc.
civil war: "battles among fellow citizens or within a community," from civil in a sense of "occurring among fellow citizens;" the sense is attested from late 14c., in batayle ciuile "civil battle," etc. The exact phrase is attested from 1494. Early use typically in ref. to ancient Rome. Later, in England, the struggle between Parliament and Charles I (1641-1651); in U.S., the War of Secession (1861-1865), an application often decried as wholly inaccurate but cemented by the use of the term in the popular "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" series published 1884-87 in "Century Magazine").
petticoat: 1412, pety coote, lit. "a small coat," from petty + coat. Originally a padded coat worn by men under armor, applied 1464 to a garment worn by women and young children. By 1593, the typical feminine garment, hence a symbol of female sex or character.
"Men declare that the petticoatless female has unsexed herself and has left her modesty behind." ["Godey's Magazine," April 1896]
cyber: as a prefix, ultimately from cybernetics (q.v.). It enjoyed explosive use with the rise of the Internet early 1990s. One researcher (Nagel) counted 104 words formed from it by 1994. Cyberpunk (by 1986) and cyberspace were among the earliest.
Cyber is such a perfect prefix. Because nobody has any idea what it means, it can be grafted onto any old word to make it seem new, cool -- and therefore strange, spooky. ["New York" magazine, Dec. 23, 1996]
As a stand-alone, it is attested by 1998 as short for cybersex (which is attested by 1995).
gremlin: "small imaginary creature blamed for mechanical failures," oral use in R.A.F. aviators' slang from Malta, Middle East and India said to date to 1923. First printed use perhaps in poem in journal "Aeroplane" April 10, 1929; certainly in use by 1941, and popularized in World War II and picked up by Americans (e.g. "New York Times" Magazine April 11, 1943). Possibly from a dial. survival of O.E. gremman "to anger, vex" + -lin of goblin; or from Ir. gruaimin "bad-tempered little fellow." Surfer slang for "young surfer, beach trouble-maker" is from 1961.
mega-: prefix, often meaning "large, great," but in precise scientific language "one million" (megaton, megawatt, etc.), from Gk. megas "great, large, mighty" (fem. megale), from PIE *meg- "great" (cf. L. magnus, Goth. mikils, O.E. micel; see mickle). Mega began to be used alone as an adj. 1982.
"High-speed computer stores 2.5 megabits" [headline in "Electronics" magazine, Oct. 1, 1957]
belittle: 1781, "to make small," from be- + little; first recorded in writings of Thomas Jefferson (and probably coined by him), who was roundly execrated for it in England:
"Belittle! What an expression! It may be an elegant one in Virginia, and even perfectly intelligible; but for our part, all we can do is to guess at its meaning. For shame, Mr. Jefferson!" ["European Magazine and London Review," 1787, reporting on "Notes on the State of Virginia"; to guess was considered another barbarous Yankeeism.]
The figurative sense of "depreciate, scorn as worthless" (as the reviewers did to this word) is from 1797.
Mary: fem. proper name, O.E. Maria, Marie, "mother of Jesus," from L. Maria, from Gk. Mariam, Maria, from Aram. Maryam, from Heb. Miryam, sister of Moses (Ex. xv.), of unknown origin, said to mean lit. "rebellion." Nursery rhyme "Mary had a Little Lamb" written early 1830 by Sarah Josepha Hale of Boston; published Sept. 1830 in "Juvenile Miscellany," a popular magazine for children. Mary Jane is 1921 as the proprietary name of a kind of low-heeled shoe worn chiefly by young girls, 1928 as slang for marijuana.
perspiration: 1611, from Fr. perspiration (1561), noun of action from perspirer "perspire," from L. perspirare "blow or breathe constantly," from per- "through" + spirare "to breathe, blow" (see spirit). Applied to excretion of invisible moistures through the skin (1626), hence used as a euphemism for "sweat" from 1725.
"It is well known that for some time past, neither man, woman nor child ... has been subject to that gross kind of exudation which was formerly known by the name of sweat; ... now every mortal, except carters, coal-heavers and Irish Chairmen ... merely perspires." ["Gentleman's Magazine," 1791]
nuclear: 1846, "of or like the nucleus of a cell," from nucleus (q.v.), probably by influence of Fr. nucléaire. Use in atomic physics is from 1914; of weapons, from 1945. Hence nuclear physics (1933), nuclear energy (1941), nuclear war (1954). Nuclear winter coined by Richard Turco, but first attested in article by Carl Sagan in "Parade" magazine, Oct. 30, 1983. General sense of "central" is from 1912. Nuclear family, originally a sociologists' term, is first attested 1949 in "Social Structure," by American anthropologist G.P. Murdock (1897–1985).
vogue: 1571, the vogue, "leading place in popularity, greatest success or acceptance," from M.Fr. vogue "fashion, success, drift, swaying motion (of a boat)" lit. "a rowing," from O.Fr. voguer "to row, sway, set sail," probably from O.Low Ger. *wogon, variant of wagon "float, fluctuate," lit. "to balance oneself" (see weigh). Apparently the notion is of being "borne along on the waves of fashion." It. vogare also probably is borrowed from Gmc. Phrase in vogue "having a prominent place in popular fashion" first recorded 1643. The fashion magazine began publication in 1892.
pro-life: "opposed to abortion," first attested 1976, from pro- + life. Hostile alternative anti-choice attested 1978 in Ms. magazine (see pro-choice).
"What hypocrisy to call such anti-humanitarian people 'pro-life.' Call them what they are -- antichoice." ["Ms.," Oct. 8, 1978]
cover: c.1150, from O.Fr. covrir, from L.L. coperire, from L. cooperire "to cover over," from com- intens. prefix + operire "to close, cover" (see weir). Military sense is from 1687; newspaper sense first recorded 1893; use in football dates from 1907. Betting sense is 1857. As a euphemism for "copulation of horses" it dates from 1535. Meaning "recording of a song already recorded by another" is 1966. Cover-up is from 1927. Cover girl is U.S. slang from 1915, shortening of magazine-cover girl.
imperialism: 1826, originally in a Napoleonic context, also of Rome and of British foreign policy, from imperial + -ism. At times in British usage (and briefly in U.S.) with a neutral or positive sense relating to national interests or the spread of the benefits of Western civilization, but from the begining usually more or less a term of reproach. General sense of "one country's rule over another," first recorded 1878. Picked up disparagingly in Communist jargon by 1918.
"It is the old story of 1798, when French republicanism sick of its own folly and misdeeds, became metamorphosed into imperialism, and consoled itself for its incapacity to found domestic freedom by putting an iron yoke upon Europe, and covering it with blood and battle-fields." [Francis Lloyd, "St. James's Magazine," January 1842]
manifest (adj.): late 14c., "clearly revealed," from L. manifestus "caught in the act, plainly apprehensible, clear, evident," from manus "hand" (see manual) + -festus "struck" (cf. second element of infest). The noun sense of "ship's cargo" is from 1706. The verb sense of "to show plainly" is late 14c., from L. manifestare.
"Other nations have tried to check ... the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the Continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions." [John O'Sullivan (1813-1895), "U.S. Magazine & Democratic Review," July 1845]
Related: Manifested; manifesting; manifestly.
rag (n.): c.1310, probably from O.N. rogg "shaggy tuft," earlier raggw-, or possibly from O.Dan. rag (see rug), or a back-formation from ragged (c.1300), which is from O.N. raggaðr "shaggy," via O.E. raggig "rag-like." It also may represent an unrecorded O.E. cognate of O.N. rogg. As an insulting term for "newspaper, magazine" it dates from 1734; slang for "tampon, sanitary napkin" is attested from 1930s. Rags "personal clothing" is from 1855, Amer.Eng. Rags-to-riches "rise from poverty to wealth" is attested from 1947. Ragtop "convertible car" is from 1955. Raghead, insulting term for "South Asian or Middle Eastern person," first attested 1921.
fortune: c.1300, "chance, luck as a force in human affairs," from O.Fr. fortune (12c.), from L. fortuna, from fors (gen. fortis) "chance, luck," from PIE base *bhrtis-. Often personified as a goddess; her wheel betokens vicissitude. Sense of "owned wealth" first found in Spenser; probably it evolved from senses of "one's condition or standing in life," hence "position as determined by wealth," then "wealth itself." Soldier of fortune first attested 1660s. The fortune cookie (1962) is said to have been invented in 1918 by David Jung, Chinese immigrant to America who established Hong Kong Noodle Co., who handed out cookies that contained uplifting messages as a promotional gimmick. Fortune 500 "most profitable American companies" is 1955, from the list published annually in "Fortune" magazine.
doodle (v.): "scrawl aimlessly," 1935, from dial. doodle, dudle "fritter away time, trifle." It was a noun meaning "simple fellow" from 1620s.
LONGFELLOW: That's a name we made up back home for people who make foolish designs on paper when they're thinking. It's called doodling. Almost everybody's a doodler. Did you ever see a scratch pad in a telephone booth? People draw the most idiotic pictures when they're thinking. Dr. Von Holler, here, could probably think up a long name for it, because he doodles all the time. ["Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," screenplay by Robert Riskin, 1936; based on "Opera Hat," serialized in "American Magazine" beginning May 1935, by Clarence Aldington Kelland]
Related: Doodling. Doodle-bug "type of beetle or larvae" is c.1866, Southern U.S. dialect; the same word was applied 1944 in R.A.F. slang to German V-model flying bombs.
fashion (n.): c.1300, "shape, manner, mode," from O.Fr. façon, from L. factionem (nom. factio) "group of people acting together," lit. "a making or doing," from facere "to make" (see factitious). Sense of "prevailing custom" is from late 15c.; that of "style of attire" is from 1520s. The verb is first recorded early 15c. Related: Fashioned; fashioning.
"To call a fashion wearable is the kiss of death. No new fashion worth its salt is wearable." [Eugenia Sheppard, "New York Herald Tribune," Jan. 13, 1960]
Fashion plate (1851) originally was "full-page picture in a popular magazine showing the prevailing or latest style of dress," in ref. to the "plate" from which it was printed. Transf. sense of "well-dressed person" had emerged by 1920s.
demi-monde: 1855, also demimonde, from Fr. demi-monde "so-so society," lit. "half-world," from demi- "half" + monde, from L. mundus "world" (see mundane). Popularized by use in title of a comedy by Alexandre Dumas fils (1824–1895). Dumas' Demi-Monde "is the link between good and bad society ... the world of compromised women, a social limbo, the inmates of which ... are perpetually struggling to emerge into the paradise of honest and respectable ladies" ["Fraser's Magazine," 1855]. Not properly used of courtesans. Eighteenth-century English demi-rep (1749, the second element short for reputation) was defined as "a woman that intrigues with every man she likes, under the name and appearance of virtue ... in short, whom every body knows to be what no body calls her" [Fielding].
sad: O.E. sæd "sated," from P.Gmc. *sathaz (cf. O.N. saðr, M.Du. sat, Du. zad, O.H.G. sat, Ger. satt, Goth. saþs "satiated"), from PIE *seto- (cf. L. satis "enough, sufficient," O.C.S. sytu, Lith. sotus, O.Ir. saith "satiety"), from base *sa- "satisfied" (cf. Skt. a-sinvan "insatiable"). Sense development seems to have passed through a meaning "heavy," and "weary, tired of" before emerging c.1300 as "unhappy." An alternative course would be through "steadfast, firm," and "serious" to "grave." In the main modern sense, it replaced O.E. unrot, negative of rot "cheerful, glad." Slang sense of "inferior, pathetic" is from 1899; sad sack is 1920s, popularized by World War II armed forces (specifically by cartoon character invented by Sgt. George Baker, 1942, and published in U.S. Armed Forces magazine "Yank"), probably a euphemistic shortening of common military slang phrase sad sack of shit. The verb sadden "to make sorrowful" is from 1600; earlier form was sade, from O.E. sadian.
beatnik: coined 1958 by San Francisco newspaper columnist Herb Caen during the heyday of -nik suffixes in the wake of Sputnik. From Beat generation (1952), associated with beat in its meanings "rhythm (especially in jazz)" as well as "worn out, exhausted," but originator Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) in 1958 connected it with beatitude.
"The origins of the word beat are obscure, but the meaning is only too clear to most Americans. More than the feeling of weariness, it implies the feeling of having been used, of being raw. It involves a sort of nakedness of the mind." ["New York Times Magazine," Oct. 2, 1952]

" 'Beat' is old carny slang. According to Beat Movement legend (and it is a movement with a deep inventory of legend), Ginsberg and Kerouac picked it up from a character named Herbert Huncke, a gay street hustler and drug addict from Chicago who began hanging around Times Square in 1939 (and who introduced William Burroughs to heroin, an important cultural moment). The term has nothing to do with music; it names the condition of being beaten down, poor, exhausted, at the bottom of the world." [Louis Menand, "New Yorker," Oct. 1, 2007]
shit (v.): O.E. scitan, from P.Gmc. *skit-, from PIE *skheid- "split, divide, separate." Related to shed (v.) on the notion of "separation" from the body (cf. L. excrementum, from excernere "to separate"). It is thus a cousin to science and conscience. The noun is O.E. scitte "purging;" sense of "excrement" dates from 1585, from the verb. Despite what you read in an e-mail, "shit" is not an acronym. The notion that it is a recent word may be because the word was taboo from c.1600 and rarely appeared in print (neither Shakespeare not the KJV has it), and even in "vulgar" publications of the late 18c. it is disguised by dashes. It drew the wrath of censors as late as 1922 ("Ulysses" and "The Enormous Room"), scandalized magazine subscribers in 1957 (a Hemingway story in "Atlantic Monthly") and was omitted from some dictionaries as recently as 1970 ("Webster's New World"). Extensive slang usage; verb meaning "to lie, to tease" is from 1934; that of "to disrespect" is from 1903. Noun use for "obnoxious person" is since at least 1508; meaning "misfortune, trouble" is attested from 1937. Shat is a humorous past tense form, not etymological, first recorded 18c. Shite, now a jocular or slightly euphemistic variant, formerly a dialectal variant, reflects the vowel in the O.E. verb (cf. Ger. scheissen). Shit-faced "drunk" is 1960s student slang; shit list is from 1942. To not give a shit "not care" is from 1922; up shit creek "in trouble" is from 1937. Scared shitless first recorded 1936.
"The expression [the shit hits the fan] is related to, and may well derive from, an old joke. A man in a crowded bar needed to defecate but couldn't find a bathroom, so he went upstairs and used a hole in the floor. Returning, he found everyone had gone except the bartender, who was cowering behind the bar. When the man asked what had happened, the bartender replied, 'Where were you when the shit hit the fan?' " [Hugh Rawson, "Wicked Words," 1989]