gate | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

76 entries found.

"opening, entrance," Old English geat (plural geatu) "gate, door, opening, passage, hinged framework barrier," from Proto-Germanic *gatan (source also of Old Norse gat "opening, passage," Old Saxon gat "eye of a needle, hole," Old Frisian gat "hole, opening," Dutch gat "gap, hole, breach," German Gasse "street, lane, alley"), of unknown origin. Meaning "money collected from selling tickets" dates from 1896 (short for gate money, 1820). Gate-crasher is from 1926 as "uninvited party guest;" 1925 in reference to motorists who run railway gates. Finnish katu, Lettish gatua "street" are Germanic loan-words.

gate (v.)

"provide with a gate," 1906, from gate (n.). Originally of moulds. Related: Gated (1620s). Gated community recorded by 1989 (earliest reference to Emerald Bay, Laguna Beach, Calif.).

gate-keeper (n.)

also gatekeeper, 1570s, from gate (n.) + keeper. Figurative use by 1872.

gate-house (n.)

also gatehouse, "house for a gatekeeper," late 14c., from gate (n.) + house (n.).

flood-gate (n.)

early 13c. in the figurative sense "opportunity for a great venting" (especially with reference to tears or rain); literal sense is mid-15c. (gate designed to let water in or keep it out as desired, especially the lower gate of a lock); from flood (n.) + gate (n.).

tail-gate (n.)

1868, back panel on a wagon, hinged to swing down and open, from tail (n.1) + gate (n.). Extended by 1950 to hatchback door on an automobile. The verb (also tailgate) meaning "to drive too close behind another vehicle" is from 1951 ("Truck drivers know the practice of following too close as tail-gating" - "Popular Science," Jan. 1952); as an adjective, in reference to the open tail-gate of a parked car as a setting for a party or picnic, from 1958. Related: Tail-gating.

gateway (n.)

"passage, entrance," 1707, from gate (n.) + way (n.). Figurative use from 1842.

hellgate (n.)

also Hell-gate, "the entrance to Hell," Old English hellegat; see hell + gate (n.).

-gate

suffix attached to any word to indicate "scandal involving," 1973, abstracted from Watergate, the Washington, D.C., building complex that was home of the National Headquarters of the Democratic Party when it was burglarized June 17, 1972, by operatives later found to be working for the staff and re-election campaign of U.S. President Richard Nixon.

watergate (n.)

mid-14c., "channel for water;" late 14c., "flood-gate;" from water (n.1) + gate (n.). The name of a building in Washington, D.C., that housed the headquarters of the Democratic Party in the 1972 presidential election, it was burglarized June 17, 1972, which led to the resignation of President Nixon.

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