radiate | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

11 entries found.

1610s, "issue or spread in all directions from a point in rays or straight lines," from Latin radiatus, past participle of radiare "to beam, shine, gleam; make beaming," from radius "beam of light; spoke of a wheel" (see radius). Meaning "be radiant, give off rays (of light or heat)" is from 1640s. Related: Radiated; radiates; radiating.

radiate (adj.)

"having rays, furnished with rays or ray-like parts, shining," 1660s, from Latin radiatus, past participle of radiare "to beam, shine, gleam; make beaming," from radius "beam of light; spoke of a wheel" (see radius).

radiative (adj.)

"having a tendency to radiate," 1820, from radiate (v.) + -ive. Related: Radiativity.

radiator (n.)

1832, "any thing which radiates," agent noun in Latin form from radiate (v.). Originally a stove-like apparatus, as a device designed to communicate heat from steam to a room by 1855; the sense of "cooling device in an internal combustion engine" is by 1899.

irradiate (v.)

c. 1600, "to cast beams of light upon," from Latin irradiatus, past participle of irradiare "shine forth, beam upon, illumine," from assimilated form of in- "into, in" (from PIE root *en "in") + radiare "to shine" (see radiate (v.)). Meaning "expose to radiation other than light" (originally X-rays) is from 1901. Related: Irradiated; irradiating.

aster (n.)

flower genus, 1706, from Latin aster "star," from Greek aster (from PIE root *ster- (2) "star"); so called for the radiate heads of the flowers. Originally used in English in the Latin sense (c. 1600) but this is obsolete.

branch (v.)

"send out shoots or new limbs," late 14c., also, of blood vessels, family trees, etc., "to be forked," from branch (n.). Meaning "to spread out from a center, radiate" is from c. 1400. Related: Branched; branching.

Leo

zodiac constellation, late Old English, from Latin leo "lion" (see lion). Meaning "person born under the sign of Leo" is from 1894. Leonid "meteor which appears to radiate from Leo" is from 1868; the annual shower peaks Nov. 14 and the stars fall in extreme profusion about every 33 years. The meteors are believed now to be associated with comet Tempel–Tuttle. The dim constellation Leo Minor was introduced 1690 by Hevelius.

lyre (n.)

harp-like instrument, c. 1200, from Old French lire "lyre" (12c.), from Latin lyra, from Greek lyra, a foreign loan-word of uncertain origin. The thing itself is said to be Egyptian, though it became the national musical instrument of ancient Greece. In 18c.-19c. especially the symbol of lyric poetry. Lyra as the name of the ancient northern constellation supposed to resemble a lyre is attested in English from 1650s; the Lyraid (1876) meteors (c. April 20) appear to radiate from there. The lyre-bird (1853) of Australia is so called from the shape of its tail. Related: Lyrate "shaped like a lyre."

newel (n.)

mid-14c., nouel, nowel, "pillar from which steps of a winding stair radiate, stone cut to form a step and a section of the central pillar of a spiral stair," from Old French noel, noiel, novel "knob, newel, kernel, stone" (Modern French noyau), from Vulgar Latin *nodellus "little knot," diminutive of Latin nodulus, itself a diminutive of nodus "knot" (from PIE root *ned- "to bind, tie").

Klein's sources suggest the French word may be from Gallo-Roman *nucale, from Latin nux "nut." The carpentry meaning "tall and more or less ornamental post at the top or bottom of a staircase" is from 1833 (newel-post in this sense is from 1798).

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