wide | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

158 entries found.

1969, Cockney pronunciation of bother "trouble" (q.v.), given wide extended usage in skinhead slang.

wife of Orpheus in Greek mythology, from Latinized form of Greek Eurydike, literally "wide justice," from eurys "wide" (see eury-) + dike "custom, usage; justice, right; court case," "custom, usage," and, via the notion of "right as dependent on custom," "law, a right; a judgment; a lawsuit, court case, trial; penalty awarded by a judge," from PIE *dika-, from root *deik- "to show," also "pronounce solemnly."

fess (n.)

wide horizontal band across an escutcheon, late 15c., from Old French faisce, from Latin fascia "a band" (see fasces).

effuse (adj.)

1520s, from Latin past-participle adjective effusus "poured out," also "extensive, vast, broad, wide" (see effuse (v.)).

Japheth

one of the three sons of Noah, from Late Latin Japheth, from Greek Iapheth, from Hebrew Yepheth, perhaps literally "enlargement," from causative form of the stem p-t-h "to be wide, spacious."

Cinerama (n.)

proprietary name for a form of cinema film projected on a wide, curved screen, 1951, from cinema + -rama. Purists point out that the proper formation would be *Cinorama.

*ghieh-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to yawn, gape, be wide open."

It forms all or part of: chaos; chasm; dehiscence; gap; gasp; gawp; hiatus; yawn.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit vijihite "to gape, be ajar;" Greek khainein, Latin hiare "to yawn, gape;" Old Church Slavonic zinoti "to open (one's mouth);" Russian razinut', Serbo-Croatian zinuti, Lithuanian žioju, žioti, Czech zivati "to yawn;" Old English ginian, gionian "open the mouth wide, yawn, gape," Old Norse gina "to yawn," Dutch geeuwen, Old High German ginen "to be wide open," German gähnen "to yawn."

anamorphic (adj.)

1904, in geology in reference to certain metamorphic rocks; see anamorphosis + -ic. Cinematographic use dates from 1954 in reference to lenses to fit wide-screen pictures onto standard screens.

Broadway

common street name, c. 1300 as "a wide road or street," from broad (adj.) + way (n.); the allusive use for "New York theater district" is first recorded 1881.

lax (adj.)

c. 1400, "loose" (in reference to bowels), from Latin laxus "wide, spacious, roomy," figuratively "loose, free, wide" (also used of indulgent rule and low prices), from PIE *lag-so-, suffixed form of root *sleg- "be slack, be languid."

In English, of rules, discipline, etc., from mid-15c. Related: Laxly; laxness. A transposed Vulgar Latin form yielded Old French lasche, French lâche. The laxists, though they formed no avowed school, were nonetheless condemned by Innocent XI in 1679.

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