missile | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

50 entries found.

name of a popular science fiction film released in 1977; also the informal name for a space-based missile defense system proposed in 1983 by U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

spitball (n.)

1846 in the schoolboy sense, "bit of paper chewed and rounded as a missile;" 1904 in the baseball sense, from spit (n.1) + ball (n.1).

payload (n.)

also pay-load, by 1914, from pay + load (n.). Originally the part of a truck's (later an aircraft's) load from which revenue is derived (passengers, cargo, mail); figurative sense of "bombs, etc. carried by a plane or missile" is from 1936.

firearm (n.)

also fire-arm, 1640s, from fire (n.) + arm (n.2). Anything which expels a missile by combustion of gunpowder (or a similar substance), from a pistol to a cannon. Related: Firearms.

Cuba

said to be from Taino (Arawakan) Cubanacan, the name of the people who occupied the island. Related: Cuban (1829), hence Cuban heel (1908); Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16-28, 1962).

brickbat (n.)

mid-16c., piece of brick (half or less) used as a missile, from brick (n.) + bat (n.1) in the sense "a lump, piece." Figurative use, of comments, insults, etc., is from 1640s.

crossbow (n.)

also cross-bow, "missile-throwing weapon consisting of a bow fixed athwart a stock," mid-15c., from cross (n.) + bow (n.1). Unknown to the ancients but common in Europe in the Middle Ages.

Exocet (n.)

1970, proprietary name of a rocket-propelled short-range guided missile, trademarked 1970 by Société Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale, from French exocet "flying fish" (16c.), from Latin exocoetus, from Greek exokoitos "sleeping fish, fish that sleeps upon the beach," from exō "outside" (see exo-) + koitos "bed."

bolt (v.)

from bolt (n.) in its various senses (especially "a missile" and "a fastening"); from a crossbow arrow's quick flight comes the meaning "to spring, to make a quick start" (early 13c.). Via the notion of fleeing game or runaway horses, this came to mean "to leave suddenly" (1610s). Meaning "to gulp down food" is from 1794. The meaning "to secure by means of a bolt" is from 1580s. Related: Bolted; bolting.

discharge (n.)

late 14c., "relief from misfortune," see discharge (v.). Meaning "release from work or duty" is from early 15c. Meaning "act of sending out or pouring forth" is from c. 1600; sense of "that which is emitted or poured forth" is from 1727. Meaning "action of firing off a firearm or other missile weapon" is from 1590s. Electricity sense is from 1794.

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