part | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

1740 entries found.

"cut off or clip an animal's tail," late 14c., from dok (n.) "fleshy part of an animal's tail" (mid-14c.), which is from Old English -docca "muscle" or an Old Norse equivalent, from Proto-Germanic *dokko "something round, bundle" (source also of Old Norse dokka "bundle; girl," Danish dukke "a bundle, bunch, ball of twine, straw, etc.," also "doll," German Docke "small column, bundle; doll, smart girl").

The general meaning "deduct a part from," especially "to reduce (someone's) pay for some infraction" is recorded by 1815. Related: Docked; docking.

ileum (n.)

lowest part of the small intestine, 1680s, medical Latin, from ileum, in medieval medicine "the part of the small intestines in the region of the flank," singular created from Latin ilia (pl.) "groin, flank," in classical Latin, "belly, the abdomen below the ribs," poetically, "entrails, guts." The word apparently was confused in Latin with Greek eileos "colic" (see ileus), or perhaps is a borrowing of it. The sense is "winding, turning," either via the Greek meaning or from the convolutions of the intestines. Earlier in English ylioun (late 14c.), from Medieval Latin ileon. Related: Ileitis; ileal.

bass (n.2)

"lowest part of a harmonized musical composition," c.1500, from bass (adj.) or cognate noun in Italian. Meaning "singer having a bass voice" is from 1590s. Meaning "bass-viol" is from 1702; that of "double-bass" is from 1927.

midst (n.)

"the middle; an interior or central part, point, or position," c. 1400, from Middle English middes (mid-14c.), from mid (adj.) + adverbial genitive -s. The unetymological -t is perhaps on model of superlatives (compare against).

extensor (n.)

"muscle which serves to straighten or extend any part of the body," 1713, short for medical Latin musculus extensor, from Late Latin extensor "stretcher," agent noun from Latin extendere "spread out, spread" (see extend).

block (n.2)

"obstruction," 1831, from block (v.1), also in part perhaps an extended sense of block (n.1). As a type of defensive shot in cricket, from 1825; in U.S. football, the act of obstructing another player, from 1912.

waist (n.)

late 14c., "middle part of the body," also "part of a garment fitted for the waist, portion of a garment that covers the waist" (but, due to fashion styles, often above or below it), probably from Old English *wæst "growth," hence, "where the body grows," from Proto-Germanic *wahs-tu- (source also of Old English wæstm, Old Norse vöxtr, Swedish växt, Old High German wahst "growth, increase," Gothic wahstus "stature," Old English weaxan "to grow" see wax (v.)), from PIE *wegs-, extended form of root *aug- (1) "to increase."

parquet (n.)

1816, "patterned wooden flooring," from French parquet "wooden flooring; enclosed portion of a park," from Old French parchet (14c.) "small compartment, enclosed space; part of a park or theater," diminutive of parc (see park (n.)).

Meaning "part of a theater auditorium at the front of the ground floor" is recorded by 1754 in a French context. The noun use in English has been influenced by the verb meaning "provide with a floor of parquet work" (attested from 1640s, from French parqueter. Related: Parquetry "inlaid flooring in which a pattern is formed by different types of wood" (1842).

radicle (n.)

1670s, in botany, "rootlet, part of the embryo of a plant which develops into the primary root," from Latin radicula, diminutive of radix "root" (from PIE root *wrād- "branch, root"). Anatomical sense of "branch of a nerve, vein, etc. resembling a root" is by 1830.

almost (adv.)

Old English eallmæst "nearly all, for the most part," literally "mostly all;" see all + most. Modern form is from 15c. The original sense is now typically expressed by almost all; sense of "very nearly, all but" is from c. 1200.

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