late 14c., alteracioun, "change, transformation, action of altering," from Old French alteracion "change, alteration" (14c.), and directly from Medieval Latin alterationem (nominative alteratio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Late Latin alterare "to change," from Latin alter "the other (of the two)," from PIE root *al- (1) "beyond" + comparative suffix -ter (as in other). Meaning "change in character or appearance" is from 1530s; that of "change in ready-made clothes to suit a customer's specifications" is from 1901. Related: Alterations.

early 15c., (intransitive) "to come together, meet in the same place," usually for some public purpose, from Old French convenir "to come together; to suit, agree," from Latin convenire "to come together, meet together, assemble; unite, join, combine; agree with, accord; be suitable or proper (to)," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + venire "to come," from a suffixed form of PIE root *gwa- "to go, come."

Transitive sense of "call together, cause to assemble" is from 1590s. Related: Convened; convener; convening.

"courage," 1930, from Moxie, brand name of a bitter, non-alcoholic drink, 1885, perhaps as far back as 1876 as the name of a patent medicine advertised to "build up your nerve." Despite legendary origin stories put out by the company that made it, it is perhaps ultimately from a New England Indian word (it figures in river and lake names in Maine, where it is apparently from Abenaki and means "dark water"). Much-imitated in its day; in 1917 the Moxie Company won an infringement suit against a competitor's beverage marketed as "Proxie."

"act of carrying on a lawsuit," 1640s, from Late Latin litigationem (nominative litigatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin litigare "to dispute, quarrel; sue, go to court," from phrase litem agere "to drive a suit," from litem (nominative lis) "lawsuit, dispute, quarrel, strife" (which is of uncertain origin) + agere "to set in motion, drive forward" (from PIE root *ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move"). The word was earlier in English in a now obsolete sense "disputation" (1560s). Other legal terms in English from Latin lis included litiscontestation (15c.), litispendence (17c.).

late 14c., in church music, a composition said or sung after the Alleluia and before the Gospel, from Old French sequence "answering verses" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin sequentia "a following, a succession," from Latin sequentem (nominative sequens), present participle of sequi "to follow" (from PIE root *sekw- (1) "to follow").

In Church use, a partial loan-translation of Greek akolouthia, from akolouthos "following." By 1570s in the general sense of "a series of things following in a certain order, a succession," also in cards, "a run of three or more consecutive numbers of the same suit." By 1580s as "order of succession." In biochemistry in reference to nucleic acids, by 1959.