type of large-leaved North American tree with winged seeds, c. 1740, from an American Indian language of the Carolinas, perhaps Creek (Muskogean) /katalpa/, literally "head-wing."
"apparatus," 1820, American English, from fixing "act of putting in order" (c. 1600), verbal noun from fix (v.). American English sense of "food, garnishing" is attested from 1839.
acronym for not in my back yard, 1980, American English, supposedly coined by Walter Rodgers of the American Nuclear Society. Related" Nimbyism.
also prerevolutionary, "happening before a revolution," originally especially the American or French revolutions, by 1837 (American Monthly Magazine, October), from pre- "before" + revolution.
also killdee, species of large North American ring-plover, 1731, American English. The name is imitative of its shrill, two-syllable cry.
"pertaining to the state of consciousness when awaking from sleep," 1897, coined by English man of letters Frederic W. H. Myers (1843-1901) from hypno- "sleep" + second element from Greek pompe "sending away," from pempein "to send" (see pomp).
Hypnagogic — Illusions hypnagogiques (Maury) are the vivid illusions of sight or sound—"faces in the dark," etc.—which sometimes accompany the oncoming of sleep. To similar illusions accompanying the departure of sleep, as when a dream-figure persists for a few moments into waking life, I have given the name hypnopompic. [F.W.H. Myers, "Glossary of Terms used in Psychical Research," Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. xii, 1896-97, supplement]
By hypnagogic paramnesia I mean a false memory occurring in the antechamber of sleep, but not necessarily before sleep. Mr. Myers' invention of the word "hypnopompic" seems to me unnecessary except for pedantic reasons. I take the condition of consciousness to be almost the same whether the sleep is coming on or passing away. In the dream I have recorded it is even impossible to say whether the phenomenon is "hypnagogic" or "hypnopompic"; in such a case the twilight consciousness is as much conditioned by the sleep that is passing away as by the sleep that is coming on. [H. Ellis, "A Note on Hypnagogic Paramnesia," in Mind, vol. vi, 1897]
North American passerine bird, 1796, American English, earlier bob-lincoln, bob-o-Lincoln (1774), imitative of its hearty spring song.
1970, contraction of American Express, a trademark registered in U.S. 1950 by American Express Co., originally an express mail service. Its credit card dates from 1958.
"preserve (meat) by cutting into long thin strips and drying in the sun," 1707, American English, from American Spanish carquear, from charqui (see jerky). Related: Jerked.
