city in South Carolina, U.S., named for King Charles II of England. In reference to a dance style characterized by side-kicks from the knee, from 1923 (as title of a song), 1925 as a dance, named for the city.
Whether the Charleston (dance) has come to stay or not, it behooves every open-minded hostess and musician to "try it out" anyhow. [Ethel P. Peyser, The Rotarian, July 1926]
district of London, so called because it was laid out c. 1768 and built by four brothers of a family named Adam; from Greek adelphos "brother," literally "from the same womb, co-uterine," from copulative prefix a- "together with" (see a- (3)) + delphys "womb," which is perhaps related to dolphin (q.v.). The district was the site of the popular Adelphi theater c. 1882-1900, which for a time gave its name to a style of performance.
masc. proper name, biblical father of David and ancestor of Jesus, from Latin, from Greek Iessai, from Hebrew Yishay, of unknown origin. A rod out of the stem of Jesse (Isaiah xi.1) is regarded by Christians as one of the great prophesies of the Old Testament foretelling the coming of Christ; hence Tree of Jesse "decorative image of the genealogy of Jesus, with Jesse as the root;" to give (someone) Jesse "punish severely" (1839) is American English, probably a play on the "rod" in the Biblical verse. Related: Jessean.
ancient city, modern Antakya in Turkey, anciently the capital of Syria, founded c. 300 B.C.E. by Seleucus I Nictor and named for his father, Antiochus. The name, also borne by several Syrian kings and an eclectic philosopher, is a Latinized form of Greek Antiokhos, literally "resistant, holding out against," from anti "against" (see anti-) + ekhein "to have, hold;" in intransitive use, "be in a given state or condition" (from PIE root *segh- "to hold"). Related: Antiochian.
1957, trademark registered 1959 by Wham-O Company; the prototype was modeled on pie tins from Mrs. Frisbie's Pies, made by the Frisbie Bakery of Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S. Middlebury College students began tossing them around in the 1930s (though Yale and Princeton also claim to have discovered their aerodynamic qualities).
Thirteen years ago the Wham-O Manufacturing Company of San Gabriel, Calif., ... brought out the first Frisbee. Wham-O purchased the rights from a Los Angeles building inspector named Fred Morrison, who in turn had been inspired by the airworthy pie tins of the Frisbie Bakery in Bridgeport, Conn. (which went out of business in March of 1958). He changed the spelling to avoid legal problems. [Sports Illustrated, Aug. 3, 1970]
The family name is attested in English records from 1226, from a place name in Leicestershire (Frisby on the Wreak), attested from 1086, from Old Danish, meaning "farmstead or village of the Frisians" (Old Norse Frisa, genitive plural of Frisr; see Frisian). Also see by (prep.).
"pertaining to or resembling the works of the legendary 3c. Gaelic bard Ossian," 1786, from Ossian, an Anglicization of Oisin, a name meaning literally "little fawn." James Macpherson claimed to have collected and translated his works (1760-1763) under the name Ossian, and the success of his poetic prose sparked a Celtic revival and fascination with the glamour of the lost world of the bards. The works ("Fingal" and others) turned out to be largely Macpherson's forgery, and the style later was regarded as bombastic, but the resulting swerve in European literature was real. Related: Ossianesque.
common conjoined prefix in Scottish and Irish names, from Old Celtic *makko-s "son." Cognate *makwos "son" produced Old Welsh map, Welsh mab, ap "son;" also probably cognate with Old English mago "son, attendant, servant," Old Norse mögr "son," Gothic magus "boy, servant," Old English mægð "maid" (see maiden).
Formerly often abbreviated to M' and followed by a capital letter, or spelled out Mac and then rarely used with a capital; as, M'Donald, Macdonald, McDonald.
1937, in reference to the many humorous malaprop remarks credited to U.S. film producer Samuel G. Goldwyn (1882-1974); the best-known, arguably, being "include me out." Goldwyn is perhaps less popular as the originator of such phrases in American English than baseball player Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (1925-2015), but there doesn't seem to be a noun form based on Berra's name in popular use. Also see bull (n.3). The surname typically is Old English goldwyn, literally "gold-friend."
1910, in reference to the set of Bohemian writers, artists, and intellectuals (including E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Vanessa and Clive Bell, John Maynard Keynes) centered on Lytton Strachey; so called from the London neighborhood where several lived and worked.
Women in love with buggers and buggers in love with womanizers, I don't know what the world is coming to. [Lytton Strachey]
The place name is recorded 1291 as Blemondesberi "manor held by the Blemond family," from Blémont in France. It was laid out for housing in 17c., fashionable from 18c.
an old name for a part of Burma and a word for the country in native speech, officially chosen by the military rulers of Burma in 1989. Reasons given for the change include casting off a relic of colonialism, or downplaying the connection to the Burman ethnic majority.
It should be pointed out that this renaming has virtually no impact on Burmese citizens speaking in Burmese, who continue to refer to both Myanma as well as Bama (this not unlike formal reference in the English language to 'The Netherlands' while informally using 'Holland'). [Gustaaf Houtman, "Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics," 1999]
