wet | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

128 entries found.

1889 [in Farmer, who calls it "A New England variant of splash"], ultimately imitative. Perhaps influenced by splish-splosh "sound made by feet walking through wet" (1881). Related: Sploshed; sploshing.

bedraggle (v.)

"to soil or wet by dragging in dirt or mud or from being rained upon," 1727, from be- + draggle "to drag or draw along damp ground or mud." Also in a similar sense were bedrabble (mid-15c.), bedaggle (1570s).

amah (n.)

"wet-nurse," 1839, Anglo-Indian, from Portuguese ama "nurse," from Medieval Latin amma "mother," from PIE root *am-, forming nursery words. Or from or combined with amma "mother" in Telegu, etc.

pin-oak (n.)

type of tree found in wet places in the Eastern U.S., from pin (n.) + oak; "so named in allusion to the persistent dead branches, which resemble pins driven into the trunk" [Century Dictionary].

anhydrous (adj.)

"containing no water," 1809, a modern coinage from Greek an- "not, without" (see an- (1)) + hydor "water" (from PIE root *wed- (1) "water; wet") + -ous. Greek did have anhydros "waterless," used of arid lands or corpses that had not been given proper funeral rites.

Nassau

capital of the Bahamas, a name attested from 1690s, given in honor of King William III of England (1650-1702), of the House of Orange-Nassau, from the duchy of Nassau in western Germany, named for a village in the Lahn valley, from Old High German nass "wet." Related: Nassauvian.

hydrate (v.)

1812 (implied in hydrated), "to form a hydrate, combine chemically with water," from hydrate (n.), perhaps modeled on French hydrater. From 1947 as "to restore moisture;" from Greek hydr-, stem of hydor "water" (from suffixed form of PIE root *wed- (1) "water; wet") + -ate (2). Related: Hydrating.

must (n.3)

"male elephant frenzy," 1878, from earlier adjective (1855), from Urdu mast "intoxicated, in rut," from Persian mast, literally "intoxicated," related to Sanskrit matta- "drunk, intoxicated," past participle of madati "boils, bubbles, gets drunk," from PIE root *mad- "wet, moist" (see mast (n.2)).

veteran (n.)

c. 1500, "old experienced soldier," from French vétéran, from Latin veteranus "old, aged, that has been long in use," especially of soldiers; as a plural noun, "old soldiers," from vetus (genitive veteris) "old, aged, advanced in years; of a former time," as a plural noun, vetores, "men of old, forefathers," from PIE *wet-es-, from root *wet- (2) "year" (source also of Sanskrit vatsa- "year," Greek etos "year," Hittite witish "year," Old Church Slavonic vetuchu "old," Old Lithuanian vetušas "old, aged;" and compare wether). Latin vetus also is the ultimate source of Italian vecchio, French vieux, Spanish viejo. General sense of "one who has seen long service in any office or position" is attested from 1590s. The adjective first recorded 1610s.

blanket (n.)

c. 1300, "coarse white woolen stuff," also "a large oblong piece of woolen cloth used for warmth as a bed-covering" (also as a cover for horses), from Old French blanchet "light wool or flannel cloth; an article made of this material," diminutive of blanc "white" (see blank (adj.)), which had a secondary sense of "a white cloth."

As an adjective, "providing for a number of contingencies," 1886 (blanket-clause in a contract). Wet blanket (1830) is from the notion of a person who throws a damper on social situations in the way a wet blanket smothers a fire. In U.S. history, a blanket Indian (1859) was one using the traditional garment instead of wearing Western dress.

Only 26,000 blanket Indians are left in the United States. [Atlantic Monthly, March 1906]

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