film noir | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

Hells Angels (n.)

motorcycle club, the name first attested 1957. They were called Black Rebels in the 1954 film "The Wild One." Earlier Hell's Angels had been used as the title of a film about World War I air combat (1930).

Bollywood

"film industry based in Mumbai, India," 1977, from Bombay (old name of Mumbai) + Hollywood.

Saran

U.S. trademark name for PVC used as a cling-film, 1940, by Dow Chemical Company.

Mae West

type of inflatable life jacket, 1940, military slang, in reference to the screen name of the buxom U.S. film star (1892-1980).

Star Wars (n.)

name of a popular science fiction film released in 1977; also the informal name for a space-based missile defense system proposed in 1983 by U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

Shangri La (n.)

imaginary earthly paradise, 1938, from Shangri La, name of Tibetan utopia in James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon" (1933, film version 1937). In Tibetan, la means "mountain pass."

Tony

masc. proper name, short for Anthony. Tony Curtis, style of men's haircut (usually with a D.A. at the back), is from 1956, from screen name of U.S. film star Bernard Schwarz (1925-2010).

Cinerama (n.)

proprietary name for a form of cinema film projected on a wide, curved screen, 1951, from cinema + -rama. Purists point out that the proper formation would be *Cinorama.

Manchuria

large part of China east of Mongolia and north of Korea, named for the Manchu (literally "pure") people + -ia. Related: Manchurian. Manchurian Candidate is 1959 as a novel, 1962 as a film.

Mylar (n.)

proper name for a polyester film, 1954, trademarked by E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co., Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A. Like many Du Pont names, it doesn't mean anything, they just liked the sound.

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