mean | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

672 entries found.

place mentioned in Genesis xiv.18, from Hebrew Shālēm, usually said to be another name for Jerusalem and to mean "peace" (compare Hebrew shalom, Arabic salaam). A typical meetinghouse name among Baptists and Methodists, so much so that by mid-19c. it (along with Bethel and Ebenezer) had come to be used in Britain generically to mean "non-conformist chapel."

Horus

Egyptian hawk-headed god of dual relations, 1650s, from Latin Horus, from Greek Horos, from Egyptian Hor, said to mean literally "the high-flying one."

tundra (n.)

an Arctic steppe, 1841, from Russian tundra, from Lappish (Finno-Ugric) tundar, said to mean "elevated wasteland, high-topped hill," or "a marshy plain."

chop-house (n.)

1680s, "a mean house of entertainment, where provision ready dressed is sold" [Johnson], from chop (n.) in the "meat" sense + house (n.).

advisable (adj.)

1640s, "prudent, expedient," from advise (v.) + -able (q.v.). It also can mean "open to advice" (1660s), but this is rare.

credit-card (n.)

1952 in the modern sense; see credit (n.) + card (n.1). The phrase was used late 19c. to mean "traveler's check."

retaliatory (adj.)

"pertaining to or of the nature of retaliation," 1783; see retaliate + -ory. Alternative retaliative is attested from 1819 but seems more to mean "vindictive, revengeful."

drudge (n.)

late 15c., "one employed in mean, servile, or distasteful work, one who toils at uninteresting employments," from drudge (v.).

-cyte

word-forming element used in modern science to mean "of a cell," from Latinized form of Greek kytos "a hollow, receptacle, basket" (see cyto-).

edamame (n.)

fresh green soya beans in the pod, boiled, seasoned, and served as an appetizer, 1951, from Japanese, said to mean literally "twig bean."

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