masc. proper name, Germanic, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *fardi-nanth- and meaning literally "adventurer," with first element perhaps Proto-Germanic *fardiz "journey," abstract noun related to or from *far- "to fare, travel" (from PIE root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over"); second element is Proto-Germanic *nanthiz "risk," related to Old English neðan, Old High German nendan "to risk, venture."
U.S. car rental company, according to company history founded 1946 at Willow Run Airport in Detroit by U.S. businessman Warren Avis and named for him.
principal river in western Germany, from German Rhein, from Middle High German Rin, ultimately from Gaulish Renos, literally "that which flows" (from PIE root *rei- "to run, flow"). The spelling with -h- (also in Latin Rhenus; French Rhin) is from influence of the Greek form of the name, Rhenos.
1878, type of machine gun named for its inventor, U.S. armaments-maker Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (1826-1885). In Japanese, the word for "stapler" is hotchikisu after the E. H. Hotchkiss Company of Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S., early and prominent manufacturer of staplers (incorporated 1895, name from 1897), which apparently was run by relatives of the gun inventor. The surname (attested from late 15c. as Hochekys) is a variant of Hodgkin.
18c., the former English transliteration of the name of the major port city in southern China and the region around it, properly the name of the region, now known in English as Guangdong (formerly also transliterated as Quang-tung, Kwangtung), from guang "wide, large, vast" + dong "east." The city name itself is now transliterated as Guangzhou (guang, from the province name, + zhou "region"). One of the first Chinese cities open to Westerners; the older form of the name is from the British-run, Hong Kong-based Chinese postal system.
1930s, from Dempster-Dumpster trash-hauling mechanism, patented by Dempster Brothers and probably named from dump (v.) with the surname in mind. Dumpster diving attested from 1979. Dumpster fire, in figurative reference to a situation that is calamitous, foul, and unfixable (and possibly not worth the trouble of attempting to fix) or a person perceived as a walking cascade of failures and bad decisions, emerged into popularity in 2015, in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The surname (late 13c.) is a fem. form (but, like Baxter, probably used also of men) of Deemer, a North of England and Manx term for "a judge;" see deem (v.).
1566, "an outlaw," specifically "one of a class of Irish robbers noted for outrages and savage cruelty," from Irish toruighe "plunderer," originally "pursuer, searcher," from Old Irish toirighim "I pursue," from toir "pursuit," from Celtic *to-wo-ret- "a running up to," from PIE root *ret- "to run, roll" (see rotary).
About 1646, it emerged as a derogatory term for Irish Catholics dispossessed of their land (some of whom subsequently turned to outlawry); c. 1680 applied by Exclusioners to supporters of the Catholic Duke of York (later James II) in his succession to the throne of England. After 1689, Tory was the name of a British political party at first composed of Yorkist Tories of 1680. Superseded c. 1830 by Conservative, though it continues to be used colloquially. As an adjective from 1680s. In American history, Tory was the name given after 1769 to colonists who remained loyal to the crown; it represents their relative position in the pre-revolutionary English political order in the colonies.
A Tory has been properly defined to be a traitor in thought, but not in deed. The only description, by which the laws have endeavoured to come at them, was that of non-jurors, or persons refusing to take the oath of fidelity to the state. [Jefferson, "Notes on the State of Virginia"]
