late 14c., "profound depth," from Old French golf "a gulf, whirlpool," from Italian golfo "a gulf, a bay," from Late Latin colfos, from Greek kolpos "bay, gulf of the sea," earlier "trough between waves, fold of a loose garment," originally "bosom," the common notion being "curved shape." This is from PIE *kuolp- "arch, curve, vault" (compare Old English hwealf"vault," a-hwielfan "to overwhelm," Old Norse holfinn "vaulted," Old High German welban "to vault").
Latin sinus underwent the same development, being used first for "bosom," later for "gulf" (and in Medieval Latin, "hollow curve or cavity in the body"). The geographic sense "large tract of water extending into the land" (larger than a bay, smaller than a sea, but the distinction is not exact and not always observed) is in English from c. 1400, replacing Old English sæ-earm. Figurative sense of "a wide interval" is from 1550s. The U.S. Gulf States so called from 1836. The Gulf Stream (1775) takes its name from the Gulf of Mexico.
1850, American English, possibly an alteration of brother, or from British colloquial butty "companion" (1802), itself perhaps a variant of booty in booty fellow "confederate who shares plunder" (1520s). But butty, meaning "work-mate," also was a localized dialect word in England and Wales, attested since 18c., and long associated with coal miners. Short form bud is attested from 1851. Reduplicated form buddy-buddy (adj.) attested by 1952, American English.
Lenny Kent, a long-time fave here, is really in his element. ... After four weeks here he's got everyone in town saying, "Hiya, Buddy, Buddy" with a drawl simulating his. [Review of Ned Schuyler's 5 O'Clock Club, Miami Beach, Fla., Billboard, Nov. 12, 1949]
Buddy system is attested from 1920.
in 19c. American English political jargon synonymous with "Democratic Party in New York City," hence, late 19c., proverbial for "political and municipal corruption," from Tammany Hall, on 14th Street, headquarters of a social club incorporated 1789, named for Delaware Indian chief Tamanen, who sold land to William Penn in 1683 and '97. Around the time of the American Revolution he was popularly canonized as St. Tammany and taken as the "patron saint" of Pennsylvania and neighboring colonies, sometimes of the whole of America. He was assigned a feast day (May 1 Old Style, May 12 New Style) which was celebrated with festivities that raised money for charity, hence the easy transfer of the name to what was, at first, a benevolent association. The club's symbol was a tiger.
"one who looks on at card games and offers unwelcome advice," 1915, from Yiddish, agent noun from kibitz (q.v.). "Der Kibitzer" is noted as the name of a Yiddish humorous weekly published in New York from 1908-1912. ["The Jewish Press in New York City," 1918]
LICENSE TO "KIBITZ"
"This license entitles bearer to 'kibitz'; to sit near any table of players; to criticize, knock, boost or do anything that will abuse players.
"If a man makes a wrong play it is up to the 'kibitzer' to correct him, and the 'kibitzer' will be held personally responsible should the player lose, and this license will be forfeited.
"Any licensed 'kibitzer' not abiding by above rules and regulations Will be subject to fine or imprisonment."
[notice said to have been posed on the bulletin board of the club room of the Associated Traveling Salesmen of New York, quoted in The Clothier and Furnisher, March 1915]
Old English gliu, gliw, gleow "entertainment, mirth (usually implying music); jest, play, sport," also "music" and "mockery," presumably from a Proto-Germanic *gleujam but absent in other Germanic languages except for the rare Old Norse gly "joy;" probably related to the group of Germanic words in gl- with senses of "shining; smooth; radiant; joyful" (compare glad), from PIE root *ghel- (2) "to shine." A poetry word in Old English and Middle English, obsolete c. 1500-c. 1700, it somehow found its way back to currency late 18c. In Old English, an entertainer was a gleoman (female gleo-mægden).
Glee club (1814) is from the secondary sense of "musical composition for three or more solo voices, unaccompanied, in contrasting movement" (1650s), a form of musical entertainment that flourished 1760-1830.
1690s, from acid (adj.); originally loosely applied to any substance having a sour taste like vinegar, in modern chemistry it was gradually given more precise definitions from early 18c. and is given to many compounds which do not have such a taste.
The slang meaning "LSD-25" first recorded 1966 (see LSD).
When I was on acid I would see things that looked like beams of light, and I would hear things that sounded an awful lot like car horns. [Mitch Hedberg, 1968-2005, U.S. stand-up comic]
Acid rock (type performed or received by people using LSD) is also from 1966; acid house dance music style is 1988, probably from acid in the hallucinogenic sense + house "dance club DJ music style."
1859, slang shortening of public house (see public (adj.)), which originally meant "any building open to the public" (1570s), then "inn that provides food and is licensed to sell ale, wine, and spirits" (1660s), and finally "tavern" (1768). Simple public (n.) as short for public house is attested from 1709 and might have been the intermediate form. Pub crawl is attested by 1910 in British slang. Pub rock is from 1973 in England; popular in U.S. from 1976.
When, in the late '60s, rock 'n' roll suddenly became rock, there sprang up a network of bands that sought to preserve the old styles, that resisted the trend toward larger and larger concert halls. Because these groups preferred to play one-nighters on Britain's club circuit, their music came to be known as "pub rock." ["U.S. gets 'pub rock,'" Washington Post article in Newark (Ohio) Advocate, April 1, 1976]
1590s, intransitive, "dig a covered trench toward the enemy's position," from French saper, from sappe "spade," from Late Latin sappa "spade, mattock" (source also of Italian zappa, Spanish zapa "spade"), which is of unknown origin. The transitive sense of "undermine (a wall, etc.), render unstable by digging into or eating away the foundations" is from 1650s.
The extended transitive sense (of health, confidence, etc.), "weaken or destroy insidiously," is by 1755 and perhaps has been influenced or reinforced in sense by the verb form of sap (n.1), on the notion of "draining the vital sap from," and later by sap (v.2) "beat with a club or stick."
It also sometimes is used as a noun, "a narrow, covered ditch or trench by which a fortress or besieged place can be approached under fire" (1640s). Sap (n.) in the "tool for digging" sense also occasionally is met in 16th century English. Related: Sapped; sapping.
man's evening dress for semiformal occasions, 1889, named for Tuxedo Park, N.Y., a rural resort development for wealthy New Yorkers and site of a country club where it first was worn, supposedly in 1886. The name is an attractive subject for elaborate speculation, and connections with Algonquian words for "bear" or "wolf" were proposed. The authoritative Bright, however, says the tribe's name probably is originally a place name, perhaps Munsee Delaware (Algonquian) p'tuck-sepo "crooked river."
There was a hue and cry raised against the Tuxedo coat upon its first appearance because it was erroneously considered and widely written of as intended to displace the swallow tail. When the true import of the tailless dress coat came to be realized it was accepted promptly by swelldom, and now is widely recognized as one of the staple adjuncts of the jeunesse dorée. [Clothier and Furnisher, August 1889]
"a quick blow, dig, or thrust with the fist," by 1570s, probably from punch (v.). In early use it also could refer to blows with the foot or jabs with a staff or club. Originally especially of blows that sink in to some degree ("... whom he unmercifully bruises and batters from head to foot: here a slap in the chaps, there a black eye, now a punch in the stomach, and then a kick on the breech," Monthly Review, 1763).
The figurative sense of "forceful, vigorous quality" is recorded from 1911. Punch line (also punch-line) is from 1915, originally in popular-song writing. To beat (someone) to the punch in the figurative sense is from 1915, a metaphor from boxing (where it is attested by 1913). Punch-drunk "dazed from continued punching, having taken so many punches one can no longer feel it" is from 1915 (alternative form slug-nutty is from 1933; compare sleep-drunk, 1889, "confused and excited while being half awakened from a sound sleep").
