failing | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

19 entries found.

late 14c., "failure;" 1580s, "defect, fault," verbal noun from fail (v.).

1640s, failer, "a failing, deficiency," also "act of failing," from Anglo-French failer, Old French falir "be lacking; not succeed" (see fail (v.)). The verb in Anglo-French used as a noun; ending altered 17c. in English to conform with words in -ure. Meaning "thing or person considered as a failure" is from 1837.

nonconforming (adj.)

also non-conforming, "failing or refusing to conform," 1640s, from non- + conforming (see conform). Originally in religion, "refusing to follow the forms and regulations of the Church of England;" see nonconformist.

hit-and-run (adj.)

1940, in reference to military raids, etc., from hit (v.) + run (v.). As a noun phrase, Hit and run is from 1899 as a baseball play, 1924 as a driver failing to stop at an automobile accident he caused.

verruca (n.)

1560s, from Latin verruca "a wart; a hillock," also "a fault, failing," a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan suggests it is from a PIE word meaning "height, top," and compares Old Irish ferr "better," Sanskrit varsman- "height, top," Lithuanian viršus, Russian verx "top, upper part." Related: Verrucose.

decline (n.)

early 14c., "deterioration, degeneration, a sinking into an impaired or inferior condition," from Old French declin, from decliner "to sink, decline, degenerate" (see decline (v.)). Meaning "the time of life when physical and mental powers are failing" is short for decline of life (by 1711).

prop (v.)

"to support or prevent from falling by placing something under or against," mid-15c., probably from prop (n.1) or a related verb in Dutch. Meaning "support or sustain" in a general sense (especially a cause, institution, etc. at risk of failing) is from 1540s. Related: Propped; propping.

flunk (v.)

1823, American English college slang, original meaning "to back out, give up, fail," of obscure origin, traditionally said to be an alteration of British university slang funk "to be frightened, shrink from" (see funk (n.1)). Meaning "cause to fail, give a failing mark to" is from 1843. Related: Flunked; flunking.

foible (n.)

1640s, "weak point of a sword blade" (contrasted to forte), from French foible "a weak point, a weakness, failing," from noun use of Old French adjective feble "feeble" (see feeble). The spelling borrowed in English is obsolete in modern French, which uses faible. Extended sense of "weak point of character" is first recorded 1670s. Related: Foibles.

eclipse (n.)

c. 1300, from Old French eclipse "eclipse, darkness" (12c.), from Latin eclipsis, from Greek ekleipsis "an eclipse; an abandonment," literally "a failing, forsaking," from ekleipein "to forsake a usual place, fail to appear, be eclipsed," from ek "out" (see ex-) + leipein "to leave" (from PIE root *leikw- "to leave").

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