Online Etymology Dictionary

straw: O.E. streaw "stems or stalks of certain cereals," lit. "that which is scattered or strewn," related to streowian (see strew), from P.Gmc. *strawam "that which is scattered" (cf. O.N. stra, Dan. straa, Swed. strå, O.Fris. stre, O.Du., O.H.G. stro, Ger. Stroh "straw"), from PIE *stere- "to spread" (see structure). The notion is of dried grain stalks strewn on a floor as carpeting or bedding. As a type of what is trifling or unimportant, attested from late 13c. Meaning "hollow tube through which a drink is sucked" is recorded from 1851. To draw straws as a means of deciding something is recorded from 1832. The last straw is from the proverb of the camel. Man of straw "imaginary opponent" is recorded from 1620s. Straw poll is from 1932; earlier straw vote (1866). Straw hat first attested mid-15c. To clutch (or grasp or catch) at straws (1748) is what a drowning man proverbially would do.
pallet (1): "mattress," late 14c., from Anglo-Fr. paillete "straw, bundle of straw," from O.Fr. paillete "chaff," from paille "straw," from L. palea "chaff," cognate with Skt. palavah, O.C.S. pleva, Rus. peleva, Lith. pelus.
fescue: 1513, "pointer," from O.Fr. festue, a kind of straw, from L. festuca "straw, stalk, rod," probably related to ferula (see ferule). Sense of "pasture, lawn grass" is first recorded 1762.
palliard: 1484, "vagabond or beggar" (who sleeps on straw in barns), from M.Fr. paillard, from O.Fr. paillart (13c.), from paille "straw" (see pallet (1)).
litter: c.1300, "a bed," also "bed-like vehicle carried on men's shoulders" (early 14c.), from Anglo-Fr. litere "portable bed," from O.Fr. litiere, from M.L. lectaria "litter" (altered in O.Fr. by influence of lit "bed"), from L. lectus "bed, couch." Meaning extended early 15c. to "straw used for bedding" (early 14c. in Anglo-Fr.) and late 15c. to "offspring of an animal at one birth" (in one bed); sense of "scattered oddments, disorderly debris" is first attested 1730, probably from M.E. verb literen "provide with bedding" (late 14c.), with notion of strewing straw. The verb meaning "to strew with objects" is from 1713. Litterbug first recorded 1947. Littering "act of dropping litter" is from 1960.
redneck: "cracker," 1893; attested 1830 in more specialized sense ("This may be ascribed to the Red Necks, a name bestowed upon the Presbyterians in Fayetteville," from Ann Royall, "Southern Tour I," p.148). According to various theories, red perhaps from anger, or from pellagra, but most likely from mule farmers' outdoors labor in the sun, wearing a shirt and straw hat, with the neck exposed.
stipule: "small appendage at the base of the petiole of a leaf," 1793, from Fr. stipule, from L. stipula "stalk (of hay), straw."
milliner: mid-15c., "vendor of fancy wares, especially those made in Milan," Italian city, famous for straw works, fancy goods, ribbons, bonnets, and cutlery. Meaning of "one who sells women's hats" may be from 1520s, certainly in use by 18c. (it is difficult in early references to know whether the word means a type of merchant or "a resident of Milan" who is selling certain wares).
stipulation: 1552, "engagement or undertaking to do something," from L. stipulationem (nom. stipulatio), from stipulari "exact a promise." Traditionally said to be from L. stipula "straw," in ref. to some obscure symbolic act; this is rejected by most authorities, who, however, have not come up with a better guess. Meaning "act of specifying one of the terms of a contract or agreement" is recorded from 1750.
shakedown: 1730, "impromptu bed made upon loose straw," from shake + down. Fig. verbal sense of "blackmail, extort" is attested from 1872, noun meaning "a thorough search" is from 1914; both probably from the notion of measuring corn. The verbal phrase to shake down "cause to totter and fall" is recorded from c.1400.
calamity: early 15c., from M.Fr. calamite (14c.), from L. calamitatem (nom. calamitas) "damage, loss, failure; disaster, misfortune, adversity," origin obscure. L. writers associated it with calamus "straw," but it is perhaps from a lost root preserved in incolumis "uninjured."
paddy (1): "rice field," 1623, "rice plant," from Malay padi "rice in the straw;" meaning "ground where rice is growing" (1948) is a shortening of paddy field.
etiolate: 1791, from Fr. étoiler, from Norman dialect étule, O.Fr. esteule, from L. stipula "straw." Related: Etiolated.
stubble: c.1300, "stumps of grain stalks left in the ground after reaping," from O.Fr. estuble "stubble" (Fr. éteule), from L. stupla, reduced form of stipula "stalk, straw;" related to stipes "trunk, stick." Applied from c.1600 to bristles on a man's unshaven face.
rick: O.E. hreac "stack of hay or straw," from P.Gmc. *khraukaz (cf. O.N. hraukr, Fris. reak, Du. rook "heap"), perhaps related to ridge.
frippery: 1560s, "old clothes, cast-off garments," from M.Fr. friperie "old clothes, an old clothes shop," from O.Fr. freperie, from frepe "rag," from L.L. faluppa "chip, splinter, straw, fiber." The notion is of "things worn down, clothes rubbed to rags." The ironic meaning "finery" (but with overtones of tawdriness) dates from 1630s.
will-o'-the-wisp: 1661, earlier Will with the wisp (1608), from the masc. proper name Will + wisp "bundle of hay or straw used as a torch."
strawberry: O.E. streawberige, from streaw "straw" + berige "berry." There is no corresponding compound in any other Gmc. language; the reason for the name is uncertain, but perhaps it is in reference to the tiny chaff-like external seeds which cover the fruit. A cognate O.E. name was eorðberge "earth-berry" (cf. Mod.Ger. erdbeere). Strawberry blonde is attested from 1884.
ferule: c.1420, from M.E. ferula "fennel plant," from L. ferula "fennel plant or rod," probably related to festuca "stalk, straw, rod."
whisk (n.): late 14c., "quick stroke, sweeping movement," probably from O.N. visk "wisp," from P.Gmc. *wisk- "move quickly" (cf. M.Du. wisch, Du. wis, O.H.G. wisc, Ger. wisch "wisp, brush"), from PIE base *weis- "to turn, twist" (cf. Skt. veskah "noose," Czech vechet "a wisp of straw"). Meaning "implement for beating eggs, etc." first recorded 1570s.
forage (n.): early 14c., from O.Fr. forage, from fuerre "fodder, straw," from Frankish *fodr "food" (cf. O.H.G. fuotar, O.E. fodor); see fodder. The verb is first recorded early 15c. Related: Foraged; forager; foraging.
care: O.E. caru, cearu "sorrow, anxiety, grief," also "serious mental attention," from P.Gmc. *karo, from PIE base *gar- "cry out, scream." Sense of "charge, oversight, protection" is c.1400. The verb is O.E. carian, cearian "to feel concern or interest," from P.Gmc. *karojanan. Phrase couldn't care less is from 1946; could care less in the same sense (with an understood negative) is 1966. Care figures in many "similies of indifference" in the form don't care a _____, with the blank filled by fig, pin, button, cent, straw, rush, point, farthing, snap, etc.
pad (n.): 1554, "bundle of straw to lie on," possibly from Low Ger. or Flem. pad "sole of the foot." Meaning "cushion-like part of an animal foot" is from 1836 in Eng. Generalized sense of "something soft" is from c.1700; the sense of "a number of sheets fastened together" (in writing pad, drawing pad, etc.) is from 1865. Sense of "take off or landing place for a helicopter" is from 1960. The word persisted in underworld slang from early 18c. in the sense "sleeping place," and was popularized again c.1959, originally in beatnik speech (later hippie slang) in its original sense of "place to sleep temporarily." The verb meaning "to stuff, increase the amount of" is first recorded 1827, from the noun; transf. to expense accounts, etc. from 1913. Padded cell in an asylum or prison is from 1862 (padded room).
grass: O.E. græs, gærs "herb, plant, grass," from P.Gmc. grasan (cf. O.N., Ger., Goth. gras), from PIE *ghros- "young shoot, sprout," from base *gro-/*gre- "that which grows" (cf. L. gramen "grass"); related to grow and green. Sense of "marijuana" is first recorded 1938, Amer.Eng. Grasshopper is O.E. gærshoppa (cf. M.Swed. gräshoppare, Ger. Grashüpfer); as a term of reproach, from Eccl. xii.5. Grass widow (1528) was originally "discarded mistress" (cf. Ger. Strohwitwe, lit. "straw-widow"), probably in allusion to casual bedding. Sense of "married woman whose husband is absent" is from 1846.
"[G]rasse wydowes ... be yet as seuerall as a barbours chayre and neuer take but one at onys." [More, 1528]
end: O.E. ende, from P.Gmc. *andja (cf. O.Fris. enda, O.N. endir, O.H.G. enti), originally "the opposite side," from PIE *antjo "end, boundary," from base anta-/*anti- "opposite, in front of, before" (see ante). Original sense of "outermost part" is obsolete except in phrase ends of the earth. Sense of "destruction, death" was in O.E. Meaning "division or quarter of a town" was in O.E. The verb is from O.E. endian. The end "the last straw, the limit" (in a disparaging sense) is from 1929. The phrase end run is first attested 1902 in U.S. football; extended to military tactics in World War II; general fig. sense is from 1968. End time in ref. to the end of the world is from 1917. Be-all and end-all is from Shakespeare ("Macbeth" I.vii.5).
"Worldly wealth he cared not for, desiring onely to make both ends meet." [1662]
lot: O.E. hlot "object (anything from dice to straw, but often a chip of wood with a name inscribed on it) used to determine someone's share," also "what falls to a person by lot," from P.Gmc. *khlutom (cf. O.N. hlutr "lot, share," O.H.G. hluz "share of land," O.E. hleotan "to cast lots, to foretell"), of unknown origin. The object was placed with others in a receptacle, which was shaken, the winner being the one that fell out first. Hence, to cast lots. In some cases the lots were drawn by hand. The word was adopted from Gmc. into the Romanic languages (cf. lottery, lotto). Meaning "choice resulting from the lasting of lots" first attested c.1200. Sense of "plot of land" is first recorded 1630s (distribution of the best property in new settlements often determined by casting lot), that of "group, collection" is 1725, from notion of auction lots. The generalized sense of "great many" is first attested in 1812. To cast (one's) lot with another is to agree to share winnings.
structure: c.1440, "action or process of building or construction," from L. structura "a fitting together, adjustment, building," from structus, pp. of struere "to pile, build, assemble," related to strues "heap," from PIE *stere- "to spread, extend, stretch out" (cf. Skt. strnoti "strews, throws down;" Avestan star- "to spread out, stretch out;" Gk. stornymi "strew," stroma "bedding, mattress," sternon "breast, breastbone;" L. sternere "to stretch, extend;" O.C.S. stira, streti "spread," strama "district;" Rus. stroji "order;" Goth. straujan, O.H.G. strouwen, O.E. streowian "to sprinkle, strew;" O.E. streon "strain," streaw "straw, that which is scattered;" O.H.G. stirna "forehead," strala "arrow, lightning bolt;" O.Ir. fo-sernaim "spread out," srath "a wide river valley;" Welsh srat "plain"). Meaning "that which is constructed, a building or edifice" is from 1615. Structured "organized so as to produce results" is from 1959.