c. 1400, "a withdrawal from worldly affairs, asceticism," from Old French abstraction (14c.), from Late Latin abstractionem (nominative abstractio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin abstrahere "to drag away, detach, pull away, divert;" also figuratively, from assimilated form of ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + trahere "to draw" (from PIE root *tragh- "to draw, drag, move;" see tract (n.1)). Meaning "idea of something that has no actual existence" is from 1640s.
"make mentally into a thing; make (an abstraction) real or material; consider as a thing," 1854, a back-formation from reification or else from re-, stem of Latin res "thing, object; matter, affair, event; circumstance, condition" (see re) + -fy. Related: Reified; reifying.
compound formed by an acid joined to an alcohol, 1852, coined in German in 1848 by German chemist Leopold Gmelin (1788-1853), professor at Heidelberg. The name is "apparently a pure invention" [Flood], perhaps a contraction of or abstraction from Essigäther, the German name for ethyl acetate, from Essig "vinegar" + Äther "ether" (see ether). Essig is from Old High German ezzih, from a metathesis of Latin acetum (see vinegar).
1630s, "a cutting off (mentally), abstraction, freedom from inessential elements," from French précision (16c.) and directly from Latin praecisionem (nominative praecisio) "a cutting off," in Medieval Latin "precision," noun of action from past-participle stem of praecidere "to cut off, shorten," from prae "before" (see pre-) + -cidere, combining form of caedere "to cut" (from PIE root *kae-id- "to strike"). Meaning "quality or state of being precise" is from 1740.
also prosopopoeia, 1560s, from Latin prosopopoeia, from Greek prosōpopoiia "the putting of speeches into the mouths of others," from prosōpon "person; face; dramatic character," etymologically "that which is toward the eyes," from pros "to" (see pros-) + ōps "eye, face" (from PIE root *okw- "to see") + poiein "to make, form, do" (see poet). Generally, a rhetorical figure in which an imaginary or absent person, or abstraction or inanimate character, is made to speak or act. Sometimes Englished as prosopopy (1570s).
mid-14c., reuerye, "wild conduct, frolic," from Old French reverie, resverie "revelry, rejoicing, wantonness, raving, delirium" (Modern French rêverie), from resver "to dream, wander, rave" (12c., Modern French rêver), a word of uncertain origin (also the source of rave).
The meaning "a daydream" also "fit of abstract musing, state of mental abstraction" is attested from 1650s, a reborrowing from French, which might explain why this old word in English has not been fully nativized as revery. "The most obvious external feature marking this state is the apparent unconsciousness or imperfect perception of external objects" [Century Dictionary]. As a type of instrumental musical composition, it is attested from 1880. Related: Reverist.
Old English brun "dark, dusky," developing a definite color sense from 13c., from Proto-Germanic *brunaz (source also of Old Norse brunn, Danish brun, Old Frisian and Old High German brun, Dutch bruin, German braun), from PIE root *bher- (2) "bright; brown."
The Old English word also had a sense of "brightness, shining," preserved only in burnish. The Germanic word was adopted into Romanic (Middle Latin brunus, Italian and Spanish bruno, French brun).
Brown sugar is from 1704. Brown Bess, slang name for old British Army flintlock musket, is recorded by 1785. Brown study "state of mental abstraction or meditation" is from 1530s; OED says the notion is "gloomy." Brown-paper "kind of coarse, stout, unbleached paper used for wrapping" is from 1650s.
late 14c., "wording of anything written," from Old French texte, Old North French tixte "text, book; Gospels" (12c.), from Medieval Latin textus "the Scriptures, text, treatise," in Late Latin "written account, content, characters used in a document," from Latin textus "style or texture of a work," literally "thing woven," from past participle stem of texere "to weave, to join, fit together, braid, interweave, construct, fabricate, build" (from PIE root *teks- "to weave, to fabricate, to make; make wicker or wattle framework").
An ancient metaphor: thought is a thread, and the raconteur is a spinner of yarns — but the true storyteller, the poet, is a weaver. The scribes made this old and audible abstraction into a new and visible fact. After long practice, their work took on such an even, flexible texture that they called the written page a textus, which means cloth. [Robert Bringhurst, "The Elements of Typographic Style"]
To Socrates, a word (the name of a thing) is "an instrument of teaching and of separating reality, as a shuttle is an instrument of separating the web." The meaning "a digital text message" is by 2005.
Old English hwæt, referring to things in abstraction; also "why, wherefore; indeed, surely, truly," from Proto-Germanic pronoun *hwat (source also of Old Saxon hwat, Old Norse hvat, Danish hvad, Old Frisian hwet, Dutch wat, Old High German hwaz, German was, Gothic hva "what"), from PIE *kwod, neuter singular of *kwos "who," from PIE root *kwo-, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns. Corresponding to Latin quid.
Meaning "what did you say?" is recorded from c. 1300. As an adjective and adverb, in Old English. As a conjunction in late Old English. Exclamatory use was in Old English. What the _____ (devil, etc.) as an exclamation of surprise is from late 14c. As an interrogative expletive at the end of sentences from 1891; common in affected British speech. Or what as an alternative end to a question is first attested 1766. What have you "anything else one can think of" is from 1925. What's up? "what is happening?" first recorded 1881.
"To give one what for is to respond to his remonstrant what for? by further assault" [Weekley]. The phrase is attested from 1873; what for? as introducing a question is from 1760. To know what is what is from c. 1400; I'll tell you what to emphasize what is about to be said is in Shakespeare.
