英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bedrock (n.)[bedrock 词源字典]: also bed-rock, 1850, from bed (n.) + rock (n.). Figurative use by 1869; as an adjective by 1881.[bedrock etymology, bedrock origin, 英语词源]
bedroom (n.): also bed-room, 1610s, from bed (n.) + room. Slightly earlier in a sense "sleeping space" (1580s). Replaced earlier bedchamber (late 14c.). First record of slang bedroom eyes is from 1901.
bedside (n.): late 14c., from bed (n.) + side. Bedside manner attested from 1869.
bedspread (n.): also bed-spread, 1845, American English, from bed (n.) + spread (n.).
bedstead (n.): c. 1400, from bed (n.) + stead; strictly "the place occupied by a bed," but usually "raised stand on which a bed sits."
bedtime (n.): also bed-time, early 13c., from bed (n.) + time (n.). Bed-time story attested from 1867.
bee (n.): stinging insect, Old English beo "bee," from Proto-Germanic *bion (cognates: Old Norse by, Old High German bia, Middle Dutch bie), possibly from PIE root *bhi- "quiver." Used metaphorically for "busy worker" since 1530s.

Sense of "meeting of neighbors to unite their labor for the benefit of one of their number," 1769, American English, probably is from comparison to the social activity of the insect; this was extended to other senses (such as spelling bee, first attested 1809; Raising-bee (1814) for building construction; also hanging bee "a lynching"). To have a bee in (one's) bonnet (1825), said of one who is harebrained or has an intense new notion or fancy, is said in Jamieson to be Scottish, perhaps from earlier expressions such as head full of bees (1510s), denoting mad mental activity.
bee's knees (n.): 1923, a survivor of a fad around this year for slang terms denoting "excellence" and based on animal anatomy. Also existed in the more ribald form bee's nuts. Other versions that lasted through the century are cat's whiskers (1923), cat's pajamas, cat's meow. More obscure examples are canary's tusks, cat's nuts and flea's eyebrows. The fad still had a heartbeat in Britain at the end of the century, as attested by the appearance of dog's bollocks in 1989. Bee's knee was used as far back as 1797 for "something insignificant."
bee-sting (n.): 1680s, from bee + sting (n.). Related: Bee-stung, which, of lips, is attested by 1845.
Beeb (n.): colloquial shortening of B.B.C., attested from 1967.
beech (n.): Old English bece "beech," from Proto-Germanic *bokjon (cognates: Old Norse bok, Dutch beuk, Flemish boek, Old High German buohha, German Buche, Middle Dutch boeke "beech"), from PIE root *bhagos "beech tree" (cognate with Greek phegos "oak," Latin fagus "beech;" see fagus).

Formerly with adjectival form beechen. Also see book (n.).
beef (n.): c. 1300, from Old French buef "ox; beef; ox hide" (11c., Modern French boeuf), from Latin bovem (nominative bos, genitive bovis) "ox, cow," from PIE root *gwou- "cow, ox, bull" (see cow (n.)). Original plural was beeves.
beef (v.): "to complain," slang, 1888, American English, from noun meaning "complaint" (1880s). The noun meaning "argument" is recorded from 1930s. The origin and signification are unclear; perhaps it traces to the common late 19c. complaint of U.S. soldiers about the quantity or quality of beef rations.
beef up (v.): "add strength," 1941, from college slang, from beef (n.) in slang sense of "muscle-power" (1851).
beefcake (n.): by 1952, "display of male pulchritude" in movies or magazines; said to have been modeled on cheesecake, but there seems to have been an actual foodstuff called beefcake around this time. The word seems to be little used in that literal sense since the other sense emerged.
beefeater (n.): "warder of the Tower of London," 1670s, a contemptuous reference to well-fed servants of the royal household; the notion is of "one who eats another's beef" (see eater, and compare Old English hlaf-æta "servant," literally "loaf-eater").
beefsteak (n.): also beef-steak, 1711, from beef (n.) + steak.
beefy (adj.): "brawny," 1743, from beef (n.) in colloquial extended sense "human muscle" + -y (2). Related: Beefiness.
beehive (n.): early 14c., from bee + hive (n.). As the name of a hairstyle, attested from 1960 (the style itself said to be popular from 1958). As the name of a star cluster in the constellation Cancer, from 1840 (see Praesepe).
beek (v.): "to bask in the warmth" of something, early 13c., a northern and Scottish word of unknown origin; perhaps ultimately connected to bake (v.).