also gaslight, "light, or a provision for light, produced by combustion of coal gas; a gas-jet," 1808, from (illuminating) gas (n.1) + light (n.). Related: Gas-lighted; gas-lighting; gaslighting.
According to Wiktionary, "The verb sense derives from the 1938 stage play Gas Light, in which a husband attempts to convince his wife and others that she is insane by manipulating small elements of their environment."
1640s (Browne, from Gilbert's Modern Latin), from electric (q.v.) + -ity. Originally in reference to friction.
Electricity seems destined to play a most important part in the arts and industries. The question of its economical application to some purposes is still unsettled, but experiment has already proved that it will propel a street car better than a gas jet and give more light than a horse. [Ambrose Bierce, "The Cynic's Word Book," 1906]
Transitive meaning "to burn, set on fire" is from 1580s. Meaning "break out in violence of passion" is from 1540s; the sense of "unleash invective on a computer network" is from 1980s. Related: Flamed; flaming. To flame out, in reference to jet engines, is from 1950.
late 14c., intransitive, "to feel cold, grow cold;" c. 1400, transitive, "to make cold," from chill (n.). Related: Chilled; chilling; chillingly. Figurative use "discourage, dispirit" is from late 14c. Meaning "hang out" first recorded 1985; from earlier chill out "relax" (1979).
Sheila E. sizzles in the new flick, Krush Groove, but some New York critics couldn't groove with it because many of the terms are unfamiliar to them. Examples: breakin' out (slang for leaving), chill (for cool down) and death (for something that's really good). [Jet, Nov. 11, 1985]
"sudden mass terror," especially an exaggerated fright affecting a number of persons without visible cause or inspired by trifling cause or danger, 1708, from an earlier adjective (c. 1600, modifying fear, terror, etc.), from French panique (15c.), from Greek panikon, literally "pertaining to Pan," the god of woods and fields, who was the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. In the sense of "panic, fright" the Greek word is short for panikon deima "panic fright," from neuter of Panikos "of Pan."
The meaning "widespread apprehension in a trading community about financial matters" is recorded by 1757. Panic-stricken is attested from 1804. Panic attack attested by 1970. Panic button in a figurative sense is by 1948 in the jargon of jet pilots; the literal sense is by 1965 in reference to prison security.
And if he gets in a tight spot and doesn't know what to do, he "pushes the panic button for two minutes of disorganized confusion." During his first few weeks he may even find the panic button "stuck in the on position." ["How Jet Jockeys Are Made," Popular Science, December 1948]
Unlike much sex slang, its date of origin probably is pretty close to the date it first is attested in print: as recently as the early 1950s, military pilots could innocently talk of their jet planes as blow jobs according to the "Thesaurus of American Slang."
1848, "to throw overboard," especially to save a ship in danger, from jettison (n.) "act of throwing overboard" to lighten a ship. This noun was an 18c. Marine Insurance writers' restoration of the earlier form and original sense of the 15c. word that had become jetsam, probably because jetsam had taken on a sense of "things cast overboard" and an unambiguous word was needed for "act of casting things overboard."
Middle English jetteson (n.) "act of throwing overboard" is from Anglo-French getteson, Old French getaison "act of throwing (goods overboard)," especially to lighten a ship in distress, from Late Latin iactationem (nominative iactatio) "a throwing, act of throwing," noun of action from past participle stem of iactare "to throw, toss about" (from PIE root *ye- "to throw, impel"). Related: Jettisoned.
early 15c., from Old French jetee, getee "a jetty, a pier; a projecting part of a building," also "a throw," noun use of fem. past participle of jeter "to throw," from Latin iacēre "to lie, rest," related to iacere "to throw" (from PIE root *ye- "to throw, impel"). The notion is of a structure "thrown out" past what surrounds it.
