英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

beholden (adj.)[beholden 词源字典]: "under obligation," mid-14c., originally past participle of behold (and preserving the original past participle of hold), but a sense directly related to this usage is not recorded among the many and varied meanings attested for behold.[beholden etymology, beholden origin, 英语词源]
beholder (n.): late 14c., agent noun from behold.
behoof (n.): c. 1200, "use, benefit, advantage;" Old English had bihoflic "useful," implying *bihof "advantage, utility;" from Proto-Germanic *bi-hof "that which binds, requirement, obligation" (cognates: Old Frisian bihof "advantage," Dutch behoef, Middle High German bihuof "useful thing," German Behuf "benefit, use, advantage"). In the common Germanic compound, the first element, likely intensive, is cognate with be- and the second with Old English hof, past tense of hebban "to raise" (see heave (v.)). The original sense is perhaps, then, "taking up (for oneself)."
behoove (v.): Old English behofian "to have need of, have use for," verbal form of the ancient compound word represented by behoof.
Historically, it rimes with move, prove, but being now mainly a literary word, it is generally made to rime with rove, grove, by those who know it only in books. [OED]
behove: chiefly British English spelling of behoove.
beige (n.): 1858, "fine woolen fabric," from dialectal French beige "yellowish-gray, brownish-gray," from Old French bege "the natural color of wool and cotton; raw, not dyed" (13c.), of obscure origin. "Das Wort lebt namentlich in der Bourgogne und Fr. Comté, daneben aber auch im Südwesten" [Gamillscheg]. As a shade of color, it is attested from 1879. As an adjective by 1879.
beignet (n.): "fritter," 1835, from French beignet "fritter, eggroll, doughnut" (14c.), from Old French buigne "bump, lump," from Frankish or some other Germanic source (compare Middle High German bunge "clod, lump"), or from Gaulish *bunia (compare Gaelic bonnach).
Beijing: Chinese capital, from bei "north" + jing "capital" (as opposed to Nanking, literally "southern capital").
being (n.): c. 1300, "condition, state, circumstances; presence, fact of existing," early 14c., existence," from be + -ing. Sense of "that which physically exists, person or thing" (as in human being) is from late 14c.
Beirut: Lebanese capital, from Hebrew, literally "the wells," from be'erot, plural of be'er "well."
bejesus: mild expletive, 1908, perhaps from by Jesus. To beat the bejesus out of someone is from 1934.
bejewel (v.): 1550s, from be- + jewel. Related: Bejeweled.
beknow (v.): c. 1300, "to become acquainted with; to be aware or conscious of," from be- + know (v.). Related: Beknown; beknowing.
bel (n.): unit of power level in measuring sound, 1929, named for Scottish-born telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922).
Bel: heaven-and-earth god of Babylonian religion, from Akkadian Belu, literally "lord, owner, master," cognate with Hebrew ba'al.
bel (adj.): "beautiful," early 14c., from Old French bel, belle "beautiful, fair, fine" (see belle). "Naturalized in ME.; but after 1600 consciously French" [OED].
bel canto: 1894, Italian, literally "fine song."
bel paese: type of mild, creamy cheese, 1935, Italian proprietary name, literally "beautiful country or region."
belabor (v.): 1590s, "to exert one's strength upon," from be- + labor (v.). But figurative sense of "assail with words" is attested somewhat earlier (1590s); and belabored is attested from mid-15c. with a sense of "tilled, cultivated."
belabour (v.): chiefly British English spelling of belabor (q.v.); for spelling, see -or.