plant native to Mexico and the southern U.S., by 1831, in a California context, from Mexican Spanish amole, name for various plant-roots used as detergents, from Nahuatl (Aztecan) amolli "soap-root."
"Western film" (featuring horse-riding cowboys and Indians), 1946, American English, from oat, as the typical food of horses. Oats opera (on the model of soap opera) is by 1937 in U.S. slang.
hard animal fat, used to make soap, candles, etc., mid-14c., talwgh, from a source (perhaps an unrecorded Old English word) cognate with Middle Low German talg "tallow," Middle Dutch talch, from Proto-Germanic *talga-, meaning perhaps originally "firm, compact material" (compare Gothic tulgus "firm, solid"). OED says related Scandinavian words probably are from continental Germanic.
also dish-pan, "pan in which dishes are washed," 1858, from dish (n.) + pan (n.). Dishpan hands "inflamed or sore hands caused by housework" is attested by 1935, an advertiser's phrase.
In 1922, Lever Brothers began to advertise Lux in this country to "rid your hands of that dishpan look." Without any break since then the company has alluded to "dishpan hands" which come from using soap that is too strong in alkaline content. [Printers' Ink, vol. 173, 1935]
c. 1300, rinsen, rincen, "subject to light washing; wash with water only" (originally in liturgy; from mid-13c. in surname Rinsfet), from Old French reincier (transitive) "to wash, cleanse" (12c., Modern French rincer), probably a dissimilation of recincier, from Vulgar Latin *recentiare "to make fresh, to wash, cleanse with water," from Late Latin recentare "to make fresh," from Latin recens "new, fresh" (see recent). OED says any similarity in form and sense with Old Norse hreinsa is "prob[ably] accidental."
In general use, of bowls, cups, etc., c. 1400; the meaning "wash (laundry) a second time to remove remaining impurities, soap, etc. that may have been left" is by c. 1500. Related: Rinsed; rinsing.
Old English læg, leag "lye, water impregnated with alkaline salt absorbed from the ashes of wood by leaching," from Proto-Germanic *laugo (source also of Middle Dutch loghe, Dutch loog, Old High German louga, German Lauge "lye"), from PIE root *leue- "to wash."
The substance formerly was used in place of soap, hence Old High German luhhen "to wash," Old Norse laug "hot bath, hot spring," Danish lørdag, Swedish lördag "Saturday," literally "washing-day," "the day appropriated by the Scandinavians to that exercise" [Century Dictionary]. Chamber-lye in early Modern English was the name for urine used as a detergent.
"barrel or cask for soap or liquor; iron vessel," according to Century Dictionary ranging from 72 to 120 gallons, c. 1400, from Old French ponchon, ponson "wine vessel" (13c.), of unknown origin.
Formally identical with puncheon (n.2) "pointed tool for punching or piercing," "but connexion of sense has not been found" [OED] and the best guess at it seems to be from the stamp or imprint impressed on the barrel via a puncheon. Uncertain connection with another puncheon "short slab of timber, strut, vertical wooden beam used as a support in building" (mid-14c., from Old French ponson, ponchon), which Middle English Compendium regards as identical. Punch (n.2) in the drink sense is too late to be the source of the "cask" sense.
1560s, "plane figure with five angles and five sides," from French pentagone (13c.) or directly from Late Latin pentagonum "pentagon," from Greek pentagōnon, a noun use of the neuter of the adjective pentagōnos "five-angled," from pente "five" (from PIE root *penkwe- "five") + gōnia "angle, corner" (from PIE root *genu- (1) "knee; angle"). The U.S. military headquarters known as the Pentagon was completed in 1942, and so called for its shape; used allusively for "U.S. military leadership" from 1945; Pentagonese "U.S. official military jargon" is by 1951. Related: Pentagonal.
In nature, pentagonal symmetry is rare in inanimate forms. Packed soap bubbles seem to strive for it but never quite succeed, and there are no mineral crystals with true pentagonal structures. But pentagonal geometry is basic to many living things, from roses and forget-me-nots to sea urchins and starfish. [Robert Bringhurst, "The Elements of Typographic Style," 1992]
late 12c., "stake or rod of iron used to fasten a door or gate," from Old French barre "beam, bar, gate, barrier" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *barra "bar, barrier," which some suggest is from Gaulish *barros "the bushy end" [Gamillscheg, etc.], but OED regards this as "discredited" because it "in no way suits the sense." Welsh bar "a bar, rail," Irish barra "a bar, spike" are said to be from English; German Barre, Danish barre, Russian barŭ are from Medieval Latin or Romanic.
The general sense of "anything which obstructs, hinders, or impedes" is from 1530s. Of soap, by 1833; of candy, by 1906 (the process itself dates to the 1840s), both from resemblance of shape. The meaning "bank of sand across a harbor or river mouth" is from 1580s, probably so called because it was an obstruction to navigation.
Bar graph is attested from 1925. Bar code first recorded 1963. Behind bars "in prison" is attested by 1934, American English.
