late 14c., Apocrifa, in reference to the apocryphal books of the Bible, from Late Latin apocrypha (scripta), from neuter plural of apocryphus "secret, not approved for public reading," from Greek apokryphos "hidden; obscure, hard to understand," thus "(books) of unknown authorship" (especially those included in  Septuagint and Vulgate but not originally written in Hebrew and not counted as genuine by the Jews), from apo "off, away" (see apo-) + kryptein "to hide" (see crypt).

Non-Biblical sense "writing of doubtful authorship or authenticity" is from 1735. Properly plural (the single would be Apocryphon or apocryphum), but commonly treated as a collective singular.

"letters of a language arranged in customary order," 1570s, from Late Latin alphabetum (Tertullian), from Greek alphabetos, from alpha + beta. Attested from early 15c. in a sense "learning or lore acquired through reading." Words for it in Old English included stæfræw, literally "row of letters," stæfrof "array of letters," and compare ABC.

It was a wise though a lazy cleric whom Luther mentions in his "Table Talk,"—the monk who, instead of reciting his breviary, used to run over the alphabet and then say, "O my God, take this alphabet, and put it together how you will." [William S. Walsh, "Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities," 1892]

Alphabet soup is attested by 1907.

1530s, "general course of instruction," from Modern Latin encyclopaedia (c. 1500), thought to be a false reading by Latin authors of Greek enkyklios paideia taken as "general education," but literally "training in a circle," i.e. the "circle" of arts and sciences, the essentials of a liberal education; from enkyklios "circular," also "general" (from en "in;" see in + kyklos "circle;" from PIE root *kwel- (1) "revolve, move round") + paideia "education, child-rearing," from pais (genitive paidos) "child" (see pedo-).

Modern sense of "reference work arranged alphabetically" is from 1640s, often applied specifically to the French Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des Sciences, des Arts, et des Métiers (1751-65). Related: Encyclopedist.

1911 (adj.) "having average or moderate cultural interest;" 1912 (n.) "person of average or moderate cultural interests," from middle (adj.) + brow (compare highbrow, lowbrow).

[T]here is an alarmingly wide chasm, I might almost say a vacuum, between the high-brow, who considers reading either as a trade or as a form of intellectual wrestling, and the low-brow, who is merely seeking for gross thrills. It is to be hoped that culture will soon be democratized through some less conventional system of education, giving rise to a new type that might be called the middle-brow, who will consider books as a source of intellectual enjoyment. ["The Nation," Jan, 25, 1912]

1610s, "slovenly woman," often with implications of moral looseness, probably from troll (v.) in sense of "roll about, wallow."

[A] certain Anne Hayward, wife of Gregory Hayward of Beighton, did in the parishe church of Beighton aforesaid in the time of Divine Service or Sermon there, and when the Minister was reading & praying, violently & boisterously presse & enter into the seat or place where one Elizabeth, wife of Robert Spurlinir, was quietly at her Devotion & Duty to Almighty God and then and there did quarrel chide & braule & being evilly & malitiously bent did use then and there many rayleing opprobrious Speeches & Invectives against the said Elizabeth calling her Tripe & Trallop, to the great disturbance both of the Minister and Congregation. [Archdeaconry of Sudbury, Suffolk, Court Proceedings, 1682]

1831, "iron rolled in large, flat plates for use in making steam boilers," from boiler + plate (n.). In newspaper (and now information technology) slang, the sense of "unit of writing that can be used over and over without change" is attested by 1887. The connecting notion probably is the permanence of the prepared plate compared to set type: From the 1870s to the 1950s, publicity items were cast or stamped in metal ready for the printing press and distributed to country newspapers as filler. An early provider was the American Press Association (1882). The largest supplier later was Western Newspaper Union.

An older name for it was plate-matter "type cast in a number of stereotype plates for insertion in different newspapers" (1878). Plate (n.) is attested by 1824 in printing as "a cast of a page of composed movable types." 

WITHIN the past ten years, "plate matter" has become more and more popular among out-of-town papers, and the more enterprising are discarding the ready prints and are using plate matter instead. For a long time there was a prejudice against "Boiler Plates," but editors of small, and even of prosperous papers, began to discover that better matter was going out in the plates than they could afford, individually, to pay for. It was found that the reading public did not care, so long as the reading columns were bright and newsy, whether they were set up in the local office or in New York. ["The Journalist Souvenir," 1887]

"loosely joined, ill-made or out of good condition; chaotic or likely to collapse," 1809, an alternative form of ramshackled, earlier ranshackled (1670s), an alteration of ransackled, past participle of ransackle (from the same source as ransack). "Said chiefly of carriages and houses" [OED]. This form of the word seems to have been originally Scottish.

Reading over this note to an American gentleman, he seemed to take alarm, lest the word ramshackle should be palmed on his country. I take it home willingly, as a Scotticism, and one well applied, as may be afterwards shown. [Robert Gourlay, "General Introduction to a Statistical Account of Upper Canada," London, 1822]

Jamieson's "Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language" (1825) has it as a noun meaning "thoughtless, ignorant fellow."