cognomen of the mad, extravagant, and legendarily cruel third Roman emperor (12 C.E.-41 C.E.), born Gaius Caesar. The nickname is Latin, literally "little boot," given when he joined his father on military campaigns when still a toddler, in full, child-sized military gear; it is a diminutive of caliga "heavy military shoe," which is of unknown origin.

"mark on the hull of a British ship showing how deeply she may be loaded," 1876 (Plimsoll's mark), from Samuel Plimsoll (1824-1898), M.P. for Derby and advocate of shipping reforms (which were embodied in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 and required the load-line mark).

The sense was extended by 1907 to rubber-soled canvas shoe (equivalent of American English sneakers) because the band around the shoes that holds the two parts together reminded people of a ship's Plimsoll line; this sense perhaps also was reinforced by sound association with sole (n.1), which sometimes influenced the spelling to plimsole. The surname is of Huguenot origin.

fem. proper name, Old English Maria, Marie, name of the mother of Jesus, from Latin Maria, from Greek Mariam, Maria, from Aramaic Maryam, from Hebrew Miryam, name of the sister of Moses (Exodus xv), a word of unknown origin, said to mean literally "rebellion."

The nursery rhyme "Mary had a Little Lamb" was written early 1830 by Sarah Josepha Hale of Boston and published September 1830 in "Juvenile Miscellany," a popular magazine for children. Mary Jane is 1921 as the proprietary name of a kind of low-heeled shoe worn chiefly by young girls, 1928 as slang for marijuana. Mary Sue as a type of fictional character is attested by 1999, from the name of a character in the 1973 parody story A Trekkie's Tale.

city in Colorado, U.S., founded 1858 as Auraria ("golden"), renamed 1859 for Gen. James W. Denver (1817-1892), governor of the territory. The family name is from the place of that name in Norfolk, literally "ford or passage used by the Danes," from Old English Dena (genitive plural) + fær"journey, road, passage, expedition," from strong neuter of faran "to journey" (see fare (v.)).

The Denver boot or shoe (1967), a wheel clamp for illegally parked vehicles, supposedly was invented 1953 by Frank Marugg, pattern-maker and violinist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra. He was a friend of politicians and police department officials, and the city sheriff's department came to him for help in making a device to immobilize vehicles whose owners didn't pay parking tickets.