"cut a hole in the bottom or sides of a ship," especially to sink it, 1640s, from skottell (n.) "small, square hatchway or opening in a ship's deck" (late 15c.), from French escoutille (Modern French écoutille) or directly from Spanish escotilla "hatchway," diminutive of escota "opening in a garment," from escotar "cut (clothes to fit), cut out." This is perhaps from e- "out" (see ex-) + a word borrowed from a Germanic language (ultimately from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut"). Figurative sense of "deliberately sink or destroy one's own effort or project" is by 1888. Related: Scuttled; scuttling.
c. 1300, "an equal in rank, character, or status" (early 13c. in Anglo-Latin), from Anglo-French peir, Old French per (10c.), from Latin par "equal" (see par (n.)). Sense of "a nobleman of especial dignity" (late 14c.) is from Charlemagne's Twelve Peers in the old romances, who, like the Arthurian knights of the Round Table, originally were so called because all were equal. Sociological sense of "one of the same age group or social set" is from 1944. Peer review "evaluation of a scientific project by experts in the relevant field" is attested by 1970. Peer pressure is recorded by 1971.
"to climb (a wall) by or as by a ladder; attack with scaling ladders," late 14c., scalen, from Latin scala "ladder, flight of stairs," from *scansla, from stem of scandere "to climb" (see scan (v.)).
Middle English scale, "ladder used in sieges," is attested c. 1400, from the Latin noun. The verb in general and figurative use (of mountains, heights of pleasure, etc.) is from 16c.
Via scale (n.3) "standard of measure or estimation" comes the meaning "measure or regulate by a scale" (1798), the sense of "draw, project, or make according to scale" (by 1885), and scale down "cut or decrease proportionally in every part" (by 1887). Related: Scaled; scaling.
1610s, "discussion, debate" (a sense now obsolete), from Late Latin dissertationem (nominative dissertatio) "discourse," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin dissertare "debate, argue, examine, harangue," frequentative of disserere "discuss, examine," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + serere "to join together, put in a row, arrange (words)," from PIE root *ser- (2) "to line up."
Sense of "formal, written treatise" is from 1650s. Meaning "research paper required as a final project for a Ph.D or other doctoral degree" is attested by 1877 in reference to continental universities; it was in use in the U.S. by 1890. Related: Dissertational. There is no regular verb to go with it: Dissert (1620s, from French disserter, from Latin dissertare) is obsolete, and dissertate (1766) is marked "Unusual" in OED.
late 14c., bocchen "to repair," later, "repair clumsily, to spoil by unskillful work" (1520s); a word of unknown origin. Middle English Compendium writes that it is probably the same as bocchen "to swell up or fester; to bulge or project" (though this is attested only from early 15c. and OED denies a connection) which is from Old North French boche, Old French boce, a common Romanic word of uncertain origin. Related: Botched; botching.
As a noun, "a bungled or ill-finished part," it is recorded from c. 1600, perhaps from the verb, but compare Middle English bocche "a boil, a pathological swelling, a tumor" (late 14c.), used especially of glandular swellings from the plague, also figuratively "a corrupt person; a rotten condition" (late 14c.), "a hump on a cripple" (early 14c.), which probably also is from Old North French boche, Old French boce.
1708, "vaulted building; arched roof or ceiling," from Latin camera "a vault, vaulted room" (source also of Italian camera, Spanish camara, French chambre), from Greek kamara "vaulted chamber, anything with an arched cover," which is of uncertain origin. A doublet of chamber. Old Church Slavonic komora, Lithuanian kamara, Old Irish camra all are borrowings from Latin.
The word also was used from early 18c. as a short form of Modern Latin camera obscura "dark chamber" (a black box with a lens that could project images of external objects), contrasted with camera lucida (c. 1750, Latin for "light chamber"), which uses prisms to produce an image of a distant object on paper beneath the instrument which can be traced.
This sense was expanded to become the word for "picture-taking device used by photographers" (the thing a modification of the camera obscura) when modern photography began c. 1840. The word was extended to television filming devices from 1928. Camera-shy is attested from 1890. Camera-man is from 1908.
c. 1300, "a task, a project" (such as the labors of Hercules); later "exertion of the body; trouble, difficulty, hardship" (late 14c.), from Old French labor "toil, work, exertion, task; tribulation, suffering" (12c., Modern French labeur), from Latin labor "toil, exertion; hardship, pain, fatigue; a work, a product of labor," a word of uncertain origin. Some sources venture that it could be related to labere "to totter" on the notion of "tottering under a burden," but de Vaan finds this unconvincing. The native word is work.
Meaning "body of laborers considered as a class" (usually contrasted to capitalists) is from 1839; for the British political sense see labour. Sense of "physical exertions of childbirth" is attested from 1590s, short for labour of birthe (early 15c.); the sense also is found in Old French, and compare French en travail "in (childbirth) suffering" (see travail). Labor Day was first marked 1882 in New York City. The prison labor camp is attested from 1900. Labor-saving (adj.) is from 1776. Labor of love is by 1797.
"natural elevation rising more or less abruptly and attaining a conspicuous height," c. 1200, from Old French montaigne (Modern French montagne), from Vulgar Latin *montanea "mountain, mountain region," noun use of fem. of *montaneus "of a mountain, mountainous," from Latin montanus "mountainous, of mountains," from mons (genitive montis) "mountain" (from PIE root *men- (2) "to project").
Until 18c., applied to a fairly low elevation if it was prominent (such as Sussex Downs or the hills around Paris); compare hill (n.). As an adjective, "of or situated on a mountain," from late 14c.
Mountain dew "raw and inferior whiskey" is attested by 1839; earlier a type of Scotch whiskey (1816); Jamieson's 1825 "Supplement" to his Scottish dictionary defines it specifically as "A cant term for Highland whisky that has paid no duty." Mountain-climber is recorded from 1839; mountain-climbing from 1836. Mountain laurel is from 1754; mountain-lion "puma" is from 1849, American English; the mountain goat of the Western U.S. is so called by 1841 (by 1827 as Rocky Mountain goat).
late 13c., "forehead," from Old French front "forehead, brow" (12c.), from Latin frontem (nominative frons) "forehead, brow, front; countenance, expression (especially as an indicator of truthfulness or shame); facade of a building, forepart; external appearance; vanguard, front rank," a word of "no plausible etymology" (de Vaan). Perhaps literally "that which projects," from PIE *bhront-, from root *bhren- "to project, stand out" (see brink). Or from PIE *ser- (4), "base of prepositions and preverbs with the basic meaning 'above, over, up, upper'" [Watkins, not in Pokorny].
Sense "foremost part of anything" emerged in the English word mid-14c.; sense of "the face as expressive of temper or character" is from late 14c. (hence frontless "shameless," c. 1600). The military sense of "foremost part of an army" (mid-14c.) led to the meaning "field of operations in contact with the enemy" (1660s); home front is from 1919. Meaning "organized body of political forces" is from 1926. Sense of "public facade" is from 1891; that of "something serving as a cover for illegal activities" is from 1905. Adverbial phrase in front is from 1610s. Meteorological sense first recorded 1921.
Old English stician "to pierce, stab, transfix, goad," also "to remain embedded, stay fixed, be fastened," from Proto-Germanic *stik- "pierce, prick, be sharp" (source also of Old Saxon stekan, Old Frisian steka, Dutch stecken, Old High German stehhan, German stechen "to stab, prick"), from PIE *steig- "to stick; pointed" (source also of Latin instigare "to goad," instinguere "to incite, impel;" Greek stizein "to prick, puncture," stigma "mark made by a pointed instrument;" Old Persian tigra- "sharp, pointed;" Avestan tighri- "arrow;" Lithuanian stingu, stigti "to remain in place;" Russian stegati "to quilt").
Figurative sense of "to remain permanently in mind" is attested from c. 1300. Transitive sense of "to fasten (something) in place" is attested from late 13c. To stick out "project" is recorded from 1560s. Slang stick around "remain" is from 1912; stick it as a rude item of advice is first recorded 1922. Related: Stuck; sticking. Sticking point, beyond which one refuses to go, is from 1956; sticking-place, where any thing put will stay is from 1570s. Modern use generally is an echo of Shakespeare.
