express | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

171 entries found.

late 14c., "represent in visual arts; put into words," from Old French espresser, expresser "press, squeeze out; speak one's mind" (Modern French exprimer), Medieval Latin expressare, frequentative of Latin exprimere "represent, describe, portray, imitate, translate," literally "to press out" (source also of Italian espresso); the sense evolution here perhaps is via an intermediary sense such as "clay, etc., that under pressure takes the form of an image," from ex "out" (see ex-) + pressare "to press, push," from Latin premere "to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress" (from PIE root *per- (4) "to strike"). Related: Expressed; expresses; expressing; expressible.

express (adj.)

late 14c., "stated explicitly, not implied, clearly made known" from Old French espres, expres (13c.), from Latin expressus "clearly presented, distinct, articulated precisely," past participle of exprimere (see express (v.1)). Also late 14c. as an adverb, "specially, on purpose;" it also doubled as an adverb in Old French. An express train (1841) originally was one that ran to a certain station.

express (v.2)

"to send by express service," 1716, from express (n.).

express (n.)

1610s, "special messenger," from express (adj.). Sense of "business or system for sending money or parcels" is by 1794.

expressly (adv.)

late 14c., "in detail, plainly," from express (adj.) + -ly (2). Meaning "for the express purpose" is c. 1600.

expressway (n.)

by 1945, American English, from express (adj.) + way (n.). Express highway is recorded by 1938.

expressive (adj.)

c. 1400, "tending to press out," from French expressif, from expres "clear, plain," from stem of Latin exprimere "to press out," also "to represent, describe" (see express (v.)). Meaning "full of expression" is from 1680s. Related: Expressively; expressiveness.

espresso (n.)

coffee made under steam pressure, 1945, from Italian (caffe) espresso, from espresso "pressed out," past participle of esprimere, from Latin exprimere "press out, squeeze out" (see express (v.1)). In reference to the steam pressure.

expression (n.)

early 15c., expressioun, "action of pressing out;" later "action of manifesting a feeling;" "a putting into words" (mid-15c.); from Late Latin expressionem (nominative expressio) "expression, vividness," in classical Latin "a pressing out, a projection," noun of action from past-participle stem of exprimere "represent, describe," literally "press out" (see express (v.)). Meaning "an action or creation that expresses feelings" is from 1620s. Of the face, from 1774. Occasionally the word also was used literally, for "the action of squeezing out." Related: Expressional.

inexpressible (adj.)

1620s, from in- (1) "not" + expressible (see express (v.)). Inexpressibles "trousers" is from 1790. Related: Inexpressibly.

I have retain'd the word BREECHES, as they are known by no other name amongst country folk.--The change from vulgarity to refinement, in cities and towns, has introduced other appellations; there they are generally called SMALL CLOTHES, but some ladies of high rank and extreme delicacy call them INEXPRESSIBLES. [footnote in "Poems Miscellaneous and Humorous," by Edward Nairne, Canterbury, 1791]

Inexpressibles is the earliest recorded and thus seems to have begotten the trend: Unmentionables (1806); indispensibles (1820); ineffables (1823); unutterables (1826); innominables (1827); and inexplicables (1829) followed.

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