c. 1600, "the art of beautifying, art of anointing or decorating the human body," from Latinized form of Greek kosmetike (tekhnē) "the art of dress and ornament," from fem. of kosmetikos "skilled in adornment or arrangement," from kosmein "to arrange, adorn," from kosmos "order; ornament" (see cosmos). The adjective is feminine because tekhne is a feminine noun.
Meaning "a preparation for beautifying, preparation that renders the n soft and pure or improves the complexion" (originally also the hair) is attested from 1640s. Related: Cosmetics.
1640s, "pertaining to beauty, improving beauty," from French cosmétique (16c.), from Latinized form of Greek kosmetikos "skilled in adornment or arrangement," from kosmein "to arrange, adorn," from kosmos "order; ornament" (see cosmos). Related: Cosmetical (1550s). Of surgery, from 1926. Figurative sense of "superficial, affecting the appearance only" is from 1955. Related: Cosmetically.
c. 1200, "the universe, the world" (but not popular until 1848, when it was taken as the English equivalent to Humboldt's Kosmos in translations from German), from Latinized form of Greek kosmos "order, good order, orderly arrangement," a word with several main senses rooted in those notions: The verb kosmein meant generally "to dispose, prepare," but especially "to order and arrange (troops for battle), to set (an army) in array;" also "to establish (a government or regime);" "to deck, adorn, equip, dress" (especially of women). Thus kosmos had an important secondary sense of "ornaments of a woman's dress, decoration" (compare kosmokomes "dressing the hair," and cosmetic) as well as "the universe, the world."
Pythagoras is said to have been the first to apply this word to "the universe," perhaps originally meaning "the starry firmament," but it later was extended to the whole physical world, including the earth. For specific reference to "the world of people," the classical phrase was he oikoumene (ge) "the inhabited (earth)." Septuagint uses both kosmos and oikoumene. Kosmos also was used in Christian religious writing with a sense of "worldly life, this world (as opposed to the afterlife)," but the more frequent word for this was aiōn, literally "lifetime, age."
The word cosmos often suggested especially "the universe as an embodiment of order and harmony."
c. 1600, "dye or cosmetic from the henna plant," from Arabic hinna, name for the small thorny tree (Egyptian Privet), the leaves of which are used to make the reddish dye for the body or hair; said to be of Persian origin, from Arabic. Related: Hennaed (1860).
1620s, a kind of cosmetic (original citation describes it as "painting stuffe of the Levant"), from slick (v.). The meaning "smooth place on the surface of water caused by oil, etc." is attested from 1849. The meaning "a swindler, clever person" is attested from 1959. As "glossy magazine," by 1934.
mid-14c., "a look, a glance" (sense preserved in at first blush "at first glance"), also "a gleam, a gleaming" (late 14c.), from blush (v.). As "a reddening of the face" from 1590s. The meaning "a rosy color" is also from 1580s. As a cosmetic for coloring the face, perhaps 1712 (Pope) but outside poetic use the term is uncommon before 1960s.
early 15c., "black antimony, antimony sulfide" (a powder used medicinally and in alchemy), from Old French antimoine and directly from Medieval Latin antimonium (11c.), a word of obscure origin.
Probably it is a Latinization of later Greek stimmi "powdered antimony, black antimony" (a cosmetic used to paint the eyelids), from an Arabic source (such as al 'othmud), unless the Arabic word is from the Greek and the Latin is from Arabic (which would explain the a- as the Arabic direct article al-). Probably it is ultimately from Egyptian stm "powdered antimony;" the substance was used there as a cosmetic from at least 3000 B.C.E.
In French, by folk etymology, it became anti-moine "monk's bane." As the name of a brittle metallic element in a pure form, it is attested in English from 1788. Its chemical symbol Sb is for Stibium, the Latin name for "black antimony," which word also was used in English for black antimony. Related: Antimonial; antimoniac.
