late 13c., "watercourse, water drainage channel along the side of a street," from Anglo-French gotere, Old French guitere, goutiere "gutter, spout" of water (12c., Modern French gouttière), from goute "a drop," from Latin gutta "a drop" (see gout). Meaning "furrow made by running water" is from 1580s. Meaning "trough under the eaves of a roof to carry off rainwater" is from mid-14c. Figurative sense of "low, profane" is from 1818. In printers' slang, from 1841.
"adorn, array or clothe with something ornamental" (as in deck the halls), early 15c., from Middle Dutch decken "to cover, put under roof," a nautical word, from Proto-Germanic *thakjan (source also of Old Frisian thekka, Old High German decchan, German decken), from PIE root *(s)teg- "to cover." Meaning "to cover, overspread" is from 1510s in English. Replaced Middle English thecchen, from Old English eccan(see thatch (v.), which is a doublet).Related: Decked; decking.
c. 1300, "mountain top, sharp peak, promontory," from Old French pinacle "top, gable" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin pinnaculum "peak, pinnacle, gable," extended form (via diminutive suffix, but not necessarily implying smallness) of Latin pinna "peak, point," (see pin (n.)). Figurative use is attested from c. 1400. The meaning "pointed turret on the buttress or roof of a building" is from late 14c.
Its constructive object is to give greater weight to the member which it crowns, in order that this may better resist some lateral pressure. The application of the term is generally limited to an ornamental spire-shaped structure, standing on parapets, angles, and buttresses, and often adorned with rich and varied devices. [Century Dictionary]
"two-wheeled, two-person, one-horse cab or carriage with the driver's seat above and behind," 1847, from James A. Hansom (1803-1882), English architect who designed such a vehicle c. 1834. The surname is from 17c., originally a nickname, handsome.
The fashionable form of the cab. The original design placed the driver at the side. The popular form was a type "with two big wheels, of very uncertain equilibrium and dangerous character, in which the driver was perched in a dicky placed high up at the back of the vehicle and took his instructions through a small trap-door in the roof. It was difficult to enter a hansom without soiling one's clothes." [Encyclopedia Britannica, 1929]
"a timber of considerable size set upright," from Old English post "pillar, doorpost," and from Old French post "post, upright beam," both from Latin postis "door, post, doorpost," in Medieval Latin "a beam, rod, pole," which is perhaps from Vulgar Latin *por- "forth," a variant of pro- (see pro-) + stare "to stand" (from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm").
Similar compounds are Sanskrit prstham "back, roof, peak," Avestan parshti "back," Greek pastas "porch in front of a house, colonnade," Middle High German virst "ridgepole," Lithuanian pirštas, Old Church Slavonic pristu "finger" (PIE *por-st-i-).
Later also of metal. As a type of hardness, lifelessness, deafness by early 15c.
"thin piece of wood, wooden tile for roofing," also one used as a writing tablet, late Old English scincle, scingul, variants of scindel, from Late Latin scindula (also the source of German Schindel), from Latin scandula "roof tile," from scindere "to cut, rend, tear asunder, split; split up, part, divide, separate" (from PIE *skind-, from root *skei- "to cut, split"). The form of Late Latin noun likely was altered by influence of Greek skhidax "split wood, piece of wood, lath."
The meaning "small signboard" especially one announcing a profession, is attested by 1842. The sense of "woman's short haircut" is by 1924; the verb meaning "to cut the hair so as to give the impression of overlapping shingles" is by 1857.
mid-15c., dekke, "covering extending from side to side over part of a ship," from a nautical use of Middle Dutch dec, decke "roof, covering," from Proto-Germanic *thakam (source also of thatch (n.)), from PIE root *(s)teg- "to cover."
Sense extended early in English from "covering" to "platform of a ship." Meaning "pack of cards necessary to play a game" is from 1590s, perhaps because they were stacked like decks of a ship. Tape-deck (1949) is in reference to the flat surface of old reel-to-reel tape recorders.
Deck-chair (1844) so called because they were used on ocean liners. On deck (by 1740) was in nautical use especially "ready for action or duty;" extended sense in baseball, of a batter waiting a turn at the plate, is by 1867. To clear the deck (1852) is to prepare a ship for action; it is perhaps a translation of French débarasser le pont.
also louvre, early 14c., "domed turret-like structure atop a building to disperse smoke and admit light," from Old French lovier, a word of uncertain origin. One theory [OED, Barnhart] connects it to Medieval Latin *lodarium, which might be from a Germanic source (compare Old High German louba "upper room, roof;" see lobby). Skeat and Klein's sources suggest it is from French l'ouvert, literally "the open place," from le, definite article, + past participle of ouvrir "to open." Century Dictionary finds this "quite untenable."
Meaning "overlapping strips in a window" (to let in air but keep out rain) first recorded 1550s. The form has been influenced by apparently unrelated French Louvre, the name of the palace in Paris, which is said to be so named because its builder, Philip Augustus, intended it as a wolf kennel. Related: Louvered, louvred.
Old English storc "stork," from Proto-Germanic *sturkaz (source also of Old Norse storkr, Swedish and Danish stork, Middle Dutch storc, Old High German storah, German Storch "stork"), from PIE root *ster- (1) "stiff." Perhaps so called with reference to the bird's stiff or rigid posture. But some connect the word to Greek torgos "vulture."
Old Church Slavonic struku, Russian sterkhu, Lithuanian starkus, Hungarian eszterag, Albanian sterkjok "stork" are said to be Germanic loan-words. The children's fable that babies are brought by storks (told by adults who aren't ready to go into the details) is in English by 1854, from German and Dutch nursery stories, no doubt from the notion that storks nesting on one's roof meant good luck, often in the form of family happiness.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cover, conceal."
It forms all or part of: chiaroscuro; cunnilingus; custody; cutaneous; cuticle; -cyte; cyto-; hide (v.1) "to conceal;" hide (n.1) "skin of a large animal;" hoard; hose; huddle; hut; kishke; lederhosen; meerschaum; obscure; scum; skewbald; skim; sky.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit kostha "enclosing wall," skunati "covers;" Greek kytos "a hollow, vessel," keutho "to cover, to hide," skynia "eyebrows;" Latin cutis "skin," ob-scurus "dark;" Lithuanian kiautas "husk," kūtis "stall;" Armenian ciw "roof;" Russian kishka "gut," literally "sheath;" Old English hyd "a hide, a skin," hydan "to hide, conceal; Old Norse sky "cloud;" Old English sceo "cloud;" Middle High German hode "scrotum;" Old High German scura, German Scheuer "barn;" Welsh cuddio "to hide."
