head for the hills | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

1028 entries found.

city in southern California, U.S., 1911, earlier Beverly (1907), named for Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, summer home of then-U.S. President Taft, which ultimately is named for the Yorkshire town Beverly, which means, in Old English, "beaver lodge."

Cheviot (n.)

range of hills between Scotland and England, named for one of them, The Cheviot, attested from 12c. as Chiviet. The name is of uncertain origin; the second element is perhaps Old English geat "gate." As a breed of sheep, 1815.

Cotswold

range of hills in Gloucestershire, literally "wold where there are sheep-cotes;" see cote + wold. Related: Cotswolds.

Pensacola

city on the Gulf coast of the Florida panhandle, named for a Muskogean tribe, from Choctaw, literally "hair-people," from pashi "hair of the head" + oklah "people."

Quirinal

royal palace in Rome, later the Italian presidential palace, 1838, from Mons Quirinalis in Rome (one of the seven hills, site of a former Papal palace), from Quirinus, said to be the divine name of Romulus, but rather one of the original trinity of Roman gods, assimilated to Mars. His feast (Quirinalia) was Feb. 17, the day Romulus was said to have been translated to heaven. Used metonymically for "the Italian civil government" (1917), especially as distinguished from the Vatican.

Priscian (n.)

Late Latin Priscianus, name of the celebrated Roman grammarian (c. 500-530); commonly in the phrase break Priscian's head (1520s) "violate rules of grammar" (Latin diminuere Prisciani caput). For the name, see Priscilla.

Kennedy

Irish surname, said to be from Old Irish cinneide "ugly head."

Istria

peninsula near the head of the Adriatic Sea, Latin Istria, from Istaevones, name of a Germanic people there, of unknown origin. Related: Istrian (c. 1600).

Huron

North American lake, named for the native people who lived nearby, whose name is attested in English from 1650s, from French, from obsolete French huron "bristle-haired" (the French word frequently was used in reference to head-dresses, and that might be its original sense here), from Old French huré "bristly, unkempt, shaggy," which is of uncertain origin, but French sources indicate it probably is from Germanic.

Allen

masc. proper name and surname, variant of Alan (q.v.). In reference to a wrench, key, screw, etc. with a hexagonal socket or head, 1913, from the Allen Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.

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