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abbreviation (n.)[abbreviation 词源字典]: mid-15c., from Middle French abréviation (15c.), from Late Latin abbreviationem (nominative abbreviatio), noun of action from past participle stem of abbreviare "shorten, make brief," from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + breviare "shorten," from brevis "short, low, little, shallow" (see brief (adj.)).[abbreviation etymology, abbreviation origin, 英语词源]
ABC (n.): "the alphabet," late 13c., abece. Sense "rudiments or fundamentals (of a subject)" is from late 14c. From 1944 (in a "Billboard" headline) as a shortening of American Broadcasting Company. Related: ABCs.
Abderian laughter (n.): from Abdera, in Thrace, whose citizens were proverbial as rustic simpletons who would laugh at anything or anyone they didn't understand (making their town the Hellenic equivalent of Gotham).
abdicate (v.): 1540s, "to disown, disinherit (children)," from Latin abdicatus, past participle of abdicare "to disown, disavow, reject" (specifically abdicare magistratu "renounce office"), from ab- "away" (see ab-) + dicare "proclaim," from stem of dicere "to speak, to say" (see diction). Meaning "divest oneself of office" first recorded 1610s. Related: Abdicated; abdicating.
abdication (n.): 1550s, "a disowning," from Latin abdicationem (nominative abdicatio) "renunciation, abdication," noun of action from past participle stem of abdicare (see abdicate); sense of "resignation of sovereignty" is from 1680s.
abdomen (n.): 1540s, "belly fat," from Latin abdomen "belly," which is of unknown origin, perhaps from abdere "conceal," with a sense of "concealment of the viscera," or else "what is concealed" by proper dress. De Vaan, however, finds this derivation "unfounded." Purely anatomical sense is from 1610s. Zoological sense of "posterior division of the bodies of arthropods" first recorded 1788.
abdominal (adj.): 1550s, from medical Latin abdominalis, from abdomen (genitive abdominis); see abdomen.
abdominals (n.): short for "abdominal muscles," attested by 1980; see abdominal.
abduce (v.): "to draw away" by persuasion, 1530s, from Latin abductus, past participle of abducere "to lead away" (see abduction). Related: Abduced; abducing.
abducent (adj.): 1713, from Latin abducentem (nominative abducens), present participle of abducere "to lead away" (see abduction).
abduct (v.): "to kidnap," 1834, probably a back-formation from abduction; also see abduce. Related: Abducted; abducting.
abduction (n.): 1620s, "a leading away," from Latin abductionem (nominative abductio), noun of action from past participle stem of abducere "to lead away, take away" (often by force), from ab- "away" (see ab-) + ducere "to lead" (see duke (n.)). The illegal activity so called from 1768; before that the word also was a term in surgery and logic. In the Mercian hymns, Latin abductione is glossed by Old English wiðlaednisse.
abeam (adv.): "at right angles to the mainmast," 1826, nautical, literally "on beam;" see a- (1) + beam (n.).
abecedary (n.): "primer, alphabet table," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin abecedarium "an ABC book," neuter of adjective abecedarius, used as a noun, from the first four letters of the Latin alphabet. Abecedarian (adj.) is attested from 1660s.
abed (adv.): Old English on bedde "in bed," from a- (1) + bed (n.). As one word from 17c.
Abel: masc. proper name, in Old Testament, second son of Adam and Eve, from Hebrew Hebhel, literally "breath," also "vanity."
Abenaki: see Abnaki.
aberrant (adj.): 1798, originally in natural history, from Latin aberrantem (nominative aberrans), present participle of aberrare "to wander away, go astray" (see aberration).
aberration (n.): 1590s, "a wandering, straying," from Latin aberrationem (nominative aberratio) "a wandering," noun of action from past participle stem of aberrare "to wander out of the way, lose the way, go astray," from ab- "away" (see ab-) + errare "to wander" (see err). Meaning "deviation from the normal type" first attested 1846.
abet (v.): late 14c. (implied in abetting), from Old French abeter "to bait, to harass with dogs," literally "to cause to bite," from a- "to" (see ad-) + beter "to bait," from Frankish or some other Germanic source, perhaps Low Franconian betan "incite," or Old Norse beita "cause to bite," from Proto-Germanic *baitjan, from PIE root *bheid- "to split" (see fissure). Related: Abetted; abetting.