c. 1200, "to stretch out, to lay out; diffuse, disseminate" (transitive), also "to advance over a wide area" (intransitive); probably from Old English sprædan "to spread, stretch forth, extend" (especially in tosprædan "to spread out," and gesprædung "spreading"), from Proto-Germanic *spreit- (source also of Danish sprede, Old Swedish spreda, Middle Dutch spreiden, Old High German and German spreiten "to spread"), extended form of PIE root *sper- (4) "to strew" (see sprout (v.)).

Reflexive sense of "to be outspread" is from c. 1300; that of "to extend, expand" is attested from mid-14c. Transitive sense of "make (something) wide" is from late 14c. As an adjective from 1510s. Related: Spreading.

1570s, "semi-circular partial horseshoe," from French lunette (13c.), literally "little moon," diminutive of lune "moon," from Latin luna (see luna). Later applied to a wide range of objects and ornamentations resembling more or less a crescent moon.

late 14c., "shun (someone), refrain from (something), have nothing to do with (an action, a scandal, etc.), escape, evade," from Anglo-French avoider "to clear out, withdraw (oneself)," partially Englished from Old French esvuidier "to empty out," from es- "out" (see ex-) + vuidier "to be empty," from voide "empty, vast, wide, hollow, waste," from Latin vocivos "unoccupied, vacant," related to vacare "be empty" (from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out").

In Middle English with a wide range of meanings now obsolete: "to empty, rid, take out, remove, discharge from the body, send away; eject or banish; destroy, erase; depart from or abandon, go away." Current sense corresponds to Old French eviter with which it perhaps was confused. Related: Avoided; avoiding.

"having ample room, spacious, capacious," 1620s, from room (n.) + -y (2). Related: Roominess. Also used in this sense was roomsome (1580s); the earlier adjective simply was room (Middle English roum, Old English rum) "wide, broad, large, spacious."

also Algonkian, Native American people and language family, 1885, an ethnologist's word, from Algonquin, name of one of the tribes, + -ian. Both forms of the name have been used as adjectives and nouns. They originally were spread over a wide area of northeast and north-central North America, from Nova Scotia (Micmac) to Montana (Cheyenne). From 1890 in geology.

"soft tissues of the mouth," Old English goma "palate, side of the mouth" (single or plural), from a Germanic source represented by Old Norse gomi "palate," Old High German goumo; related to Lithuanian gomurys "palate," and perhaps from PIE root *ghieh- "to yawn, gape, be wide open."