holding | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

168 entries found.

"false but common opinion, a vulgar error," 1610s, from Greek pseudodoxos "holding a false opinion," from pseudes "false" (see pseudo-) + doxa "opinion" (from dokein "to seem;" from PIE root *dek- "to take, accept"). Related: Pseudodoxal.

matchbox (n.)

also match-box, 1786, "box for holding matches," from match (n.1) + box (n.). The line of metal toy cars (sold in small boxes that resembled matchboxes) by Lesney Products dates to 1953.

bread-basket (n.)

1550s, "basket for holding bread," from bread (n.) + basket (n.). Slang meaning "belly, stomach" is attested from 1753, especially in pugilism. Another slang term for the belly was pudding-house (1590s).

platter (n.)

"large, shallow dish for holding eatables," late 13c., platere, from Anglo-French plater, Old French plate "metal plate" (see plate (n.)). Especially a large plate on which meat is placed to be carved.

grapnel (n.)

"small hook," especially one fixed on a rope and thrown for seizing and holding, late 14c., grapenel, from an assumed Anglo-French diminutive of grapon, from Old French grapil, grapin "hook," diminutive of grape "hook" (see grape). Earlier form was grapel (compare grapple (n.)).

in (adj.)

"that is within, internal," 1590s, from in (adv.). Sense of "holding power" (the in party) first recorded c. 1600; that of "exclusive" (the in-crowd, an in-joke) is from 1907 (in-group); that of "stylish, fashionable" (the in thing) is from 1960.

pillbox (n.)

also pill-box, "box for holding pills," 1730, from pill (n.) + box (n.). As a small round concrete machine gun nest, it came into use in World War I. As a type of hat, attested from 1958.

washer (n.2)

"flat ring for sealing joints or holding nuts," mid-14c., generally considered an agent noun of wash (v.), but the sense connection is difficult, and the noun may derive instead from the ancestor of French vis "screw, vise" (see vise).

priestcraft (n.)

late 15c., "business of being a priest, exercise of priestly functions," from priest + craft (n.). After rise of Protestantism and the Enlightenment, it acquired a pejorative sense of "arts and devices of ambitious priests for attaining and holding temporal power and social control" (1680s).

cross-check (n.)

1903 in research and accounting, from the verbal phrase, from cross (adv.) + check (v.1). As a verb in hockey, "obstruct by holding one's stick across an opponent," from 1901; as a noun by 1968. Related: Cross-checked; cross-checking.

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