mid-air | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

36 entries found.

"the resurgence of the Catholic Church from mid-16c. to early 17c. in response to the Protestant Reformation," 1840, from counter- + Reformation.

coat of arms (n.)

mid-14c., also simply coat (mid-14c.); originally a tunic embroidered or painted with heraldic armorial bearings (worn over armor, etc); see coat (n.) + arm (n.2) and compare Old French cote a armer. Sense transferred in Middle English to the heraldic arms themselves. Hence turncoat, one who put his coat on inside-out to hide the badge of his loyalty (1550s).

wild man (n.)

c. 1200, "man lacking in self-restraint," from wild (adj.) + man (n.). From mid-13c. as "primitive, savage." Late 14c. as a surname.

small beer (n.)

1560s, originally "weak beer;" used figuratively of small things or trifling matters. Small with the meaning "of low alcoholic content" is attested from mid-15c.

blank verse (n.)

"unrhymed pentameter," commonly used in English dramatic and epic poetry, 1580s; the thing itself is attested in English poetry from mid-16c. and is classical in origin.

common law (n.)

mid-14c., "the customary and unwritten laws of England as embodied in commentaries and old cases" (see common (adj.)), as opposed to statute law. Phrase common-law marriage is attested from 1909.

hand of glory (n.)

1707, originally a piece of mandrake root, translation of French maindeglorie, from a corruption of Latin mandragora "mandrake" (see mandrake). The dead man's hand charm is described from mid-15c., but not by this name.

ante meridiem

"of morning, before mid-day," 1560s, Latin, literally "before noon," from ante "before" (from PIE root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before") + accusative of meridies "midday, noon" (see meridian). Adjective antemeridian is attested from 1650s.

drawing room (n.)

"room appropriated for the reception of company," 1640s, short for withdrawing room (16c.; see withdraw), into which ladies would retire after dinner. Earlier in the sense of "private room" as draw-chamber (mid-15c.); drawyng chaumber (early 15c.).

at all (prep.)

"in any way," mid-14c., originally used only affirmatively (as in I Samuel xx.6 in KJV: "If thy father at all misse me"); now it is overwhelmingly used only in the negative or in interrogatory expressions, formerly also in literary attempts at Irish dialect.

Page 2

Trending words