c. 1300, ladde "foot soldier," also "young male servant" (attested as a surname from late 12c.), possibly from a Scandinavian language (compare Norwegian -ladd, in compounds for "young man"), but of obscure origin in any case. OED hazards a guess on Middle English ladde, plural of the past participle of lead (v.), thus "one who is led" (by a lord). Liberman derives it from Old Norse ladd "hose; woolen stocking." "The development must have been from 'stocking,' 'foolish youth' to 'youngster of inferior status' and (with an ameliorated meaning) to 'young fellow.'" He adds, "Words for socks, stockings, and shoes seem to have been current as terms of abuse for and nicknames of fools." Meaning "boy, youth, young man" is from mid-15c.
late 13c., "covering of woven cloth or leather for the lower part of the leg, with or without feet," from late Old English hosa "covering for the leg," from Proto-Germanic *huson- (source also of Old Saxon, Old Norse hosa "covering for the leg between the knee and ankle," Middle High German hose "covering for the leg," German Hose "trousers," Danish hose "hose, stockings;" Middle Dutch hose, Dutch hoos "hose, stocking," also "spout, waterspout"), literally "covering," from PIE root *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal." Old French hose, Old Spanish huesa, Italian uosa are of Germanic origin.
From mid-15c. as "close-fitting garment resembling tights worn by men and boys."
The hose of the middle ages generally covered the person from the waist to the toes; they were secured to the upper garment by points or some similar device. At times the covering of one leg and side of the body was of different material and color from that of the other side. In the sixteenth century the leg-coverings were divided into two parts, and the word hose was applied rather to the breeches, the covering of the lower part of the leg and foot being called the stocking or nether-stock. [Century Dictionary]
Used in Middle English of various things resembling a stocking, such as the sheath or husk of an ear of grain; sense of "flexible rubber tube for conveying liquid" is first attested mid-14c.
parasitic insect infesting human hair and skin, Old English lus, from Proto-Germanic *lus (source also of Old Norse lus, Middle Dutch luus, Dutch luis, Old High German lus, German Laus), from PIE *lus- "louse" (source also of Welsh lleuen "louse").
The meaning "obnoxious person" is from 1630s. The plural lice (Old English lys) shows effects of i-mutation. Grose ["Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1785] has louse ladder "A stitch fallen in a stocking."
"tie or fastening to keep a stocking in place on the leg," early 14c., from Old North French gartier "band just above or below the knee" (Old French jartier, 14c., Modern French jarretière), from garet/jaret "bend of the knee," perhaps from Gaulish (compare Welsh garr "leg").
Garter in reference to the highest order of knighthood (mid-14c.) is from the Order of the Garter, the earliest records of which are entirely lost, but which according to Froissart was established c. 1344 by Edward III, though the usual story of how it came about is late (1614) and perhaps apocryphal. Garter-snake (1773) said to be so called from some fancied resemblance to a ribbon. Garter belt attested by 1913.
"harlot; bold, lascivious woman," early 14c., of uncertain origin. One theory connects it with Latin stuprata, fem. past participle of stuprare "have illicit sexual relations with," or Late Latin strupum "dishonor, violation." But evidence for this is wanting and others suggest Middle Dutch strompe "a stocking," or strompen "to stride, to stalk" (as a prostitute might a customer). The major sources don't seem to give much preference to any of these. Weekley notes "Gregory's Chronicle (c. 1450) has streppett in same sense." In 18c.-early 19c., often abbreviated as strum and also used as a verb, which led to some odd dictionary entries:
TO STRUM: to have carnal knowledge of a woman, also to play badly on the harpsichord or any other stringed instrument. [Capt. Francis Grose, "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1785]
"knitted or woven covering for the foot, short stocking," Middle English sok, from Old English socc "slipper, light shoe," from Latin soccus "slipper, light low-heeled shoe," probably a variant of Greek sykkhos, word for a kind of shoe, perhaps from Phrygian or another Asiatic language. Beekes pointes to a source that "supposes a loan from the Caucasus, which may also be found in Av[estan] haxa- [n.] 'sole of the foot' ...." The Latin word was borrowed generally in West Germanic (Middle Dutch socke, Dutch sok, Old High German soc, German Socke).
Also in reference to the kind of light shoe worn by ancient actors in comedy, hence, in phrases, sock as "comedy" as distinct from "tragedy" (represented by buskin). To knock the socks off (someone) "beat thoroughly" is recorded from 1845, American English colloquial. Colloquial put a sock in it "stop speaking" is by 1919. Teen slang sock hop is c. 1950, from dancing shoeless.
type of manufactured fiber, 1924, chosen by National Retail Dry Goods Association of America, probably from French rayon "beam of light, ray," from rai (see ray (n.1)) and so called because it is shiny. A marketer's alternative to the original patented name, artificial silk (1884) and the other marketing attempt, Glos, which was "killed by ridicule" [Draper's Record, June 14, 1924].
[T]he production of rayon in American plants, which in 1920 had been only eight million pounds, had by 1925 reached fifty-three million pounds. The flesh-colored stocking became as standard as the short skirt. ... No longer were silk stockings the mark of the rich; as the wife of a workingman with a total family income of $1,638 a year told the authors of Middletown, "No girl can wear cotton stockings to high school. Even in winter my children wear silk stockings with lisle or imitations underneath." [Frederick Lewis Allen, "Only Yesterday," 1931]
By coincidence, Old French rayon had been borrowed into Middle English centuries earlier as a name for a type of cloth.
"brownish-purple," literally "flea-color," 1787, from French puce "flea-color; flea," from Latin pucilem (nominative pulex) "flea," from PIE *plou- "flea" (source also of Sanskrit plusih, Greek psylla, Old Church Slavonic blucha, Lithuanian blusa, Armenian lu "flea").
[T]he couleur de Puce, or flea colour, and the couleur de Noix, or nut colour, are the reigning winter taste. [Westminster Magazine, January 1777]
Perhaps so called as the color of the scab or stain that marked a flea-bite; flea-bitten was a color word in English to describe whiter or gray spotted over with dark-reddish spots (by 1620s, often of the skins of horses, dogs, etc.). That it could be generally recognized as a color seems a testimony to our ancestors' intimacy with vermin.
OED sees no connection between this word and obsolete puke (16c.-18c.; hence Shakespeare's puke-stocking) as the name of a dark color of now-uncertain shade (Century Dictionary says perhaps reddish-brown, OED says bluish-black or inky; others suggest grey).
mid-15c. (earlier ren, late 14c.), "a spell of running, the act of running," from run (v.).
The Old English noun ryne/yrn (early Middle English rine) meant "a flowing, a course, a watercourse;" the modern sense of "small stream" is recorded from 1580s, mostly in Northern English dialect and American English. The sense of "a flowing or pouring, as of liquid" is by 1814. In reference to the action of a school of fish moving together, especially upstream or in-shore, by 1820.
From 1804 as "place where anything runs or may run." The meaning "the privilege of going through or over, free access" is from 1755. In. U.S. baseball, "feat of running around the bases without being put out" by 1856; the sense in cricket is from 1746.
Meaning "continuous stretch" (of something) is from 1670s. That of "continuous use, circulation, or observance" (as in run of luck) is by 1714. The general sense of "a continuous series or succession" has yielded many specific meanings, as "three or more playing cards in consecutive order" (1870). In music, "a rapid succession of consecutive tones," by 1835.
The financial meaning "extraordinary series or rush of demands on a bank, etc." is recorded from 1690s. The market sense of "sustained demand for something" is by 1816.
From 1712 as "a spell of sailing between two ports;" hence also "an excursion trip" (1819); "single trip by a railroad train" (1857); the military aircraft attack sense (as in bombing run) is from 1916. Hence also "a regular round in a vehicle" (as in paper run, milk run, etc.).
In printing, the meaning "total number of copies done in a single period of press-work" is from 1909. In publishing, "set or series of consecutive numbers of a periodical," by 1889.
Meaning "tear in a knitted garment or stocking" is from 1922, probably on the notion of "a failure caused by looseness, weakness, or giving way;" to run had a specialized sense in reference to machinery, "to slip, go awry" (1846), and in reference to lace it meant "to unravel, come undone" (1878). Also compare running stitch "loose, open stitch" (1848).
Phrase a run for one's money "satisfaction for trouble taken" is from 1872 in a figurative sense, from horse racing, where it implied real competition (1841).
