- tropic
- c.1391, "either of the two circles in the celestial sphere which describe the northernmost and southernmost points of the ecliptic," from L.L. tropicus "of or pertaining to the solstice" (as a noun, "one of the tropics"), from L. tropicus "pertaining to a turn," from Gk. tropikos "of or pertaining to a turn or change, or to the solstice" (as a noun, "the solstice"), from trope "a turning" (see trope). The notion is of the point at which the sun "turns back" after reaching its northernmost or southernmost point in the sky. Extended 1527 to the corresponding latitudes on the earth's surface (23 degrees 28 minutes north and south); meaning "region between these parallels" is from 1837. Tropical "hot and lush like the climate of the tropics" is first attested 1834.
- putz
- "obnoxious man, fool," 1964, from Yiddish, from Ger. putz, lit. "finery, adornment," obviously used here in an ironic sense. Earlier in slang sense of "penis" (1934, in "Tropic of Cancer"); a non-ironic sense is in putz "Nativity display around a Christmas tree" (1902), from Pennsylvania Dutch.
- leak (v.)
- "to let water in or out" [Johnson], 1420, from M.Du. leken "to drip, to leak," or from O.N. leka, cognate of O.E. leccan "to moisten" (which did not survive into M.E.), all from P.Gmc. *lek- "deficiency" (cf. O.H.G. lecchen "to become dry," Ger. lechzen "to be parched with thirst"). The noun is from 1487. The figurative meaning "come to be known in spite of efforts at concealment" dates from at least 1832; transitive sense first recorded 1859; the noun in this sense dates from 1950. Noun sense of "act of urination" is from 1934 (first attested in "Tropic of Cancer"); but the verb meaning "to piss" is from 1596.
"Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney." ["I Hen. IV," II.i.22]